A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



pute with much bitterness, 1 and it was not settled till 

 1719. The Gerards had then died out, and their 

 representative, Colonel Charles Mordaunt, having 

 brought an action against Robert Blundell of Ince, 

 a minor represented by his mother and guardian, 

 a final decision was given in favour of the defendant. 

 The manor has since descended with Ince Blundell, 

 and the lord of the manor, Mr. Charles Joseph Weld- 

 Blundell, owns the whole township. 



In 1246 the township was amerced in z zs. for a 

 wreck which had been concealed. 8 



There appears to have been no manor-house or 

 resident lord, nor did the place give a surname to any 

 family of note. It was not rated separately for sub- 

 sidies, &c., and for the hearth tax of Charles IPs 

 time it ranked only as a hamlet of North Meols ; in 

 1673 there were twenty-seven houses charged, only 

 one of which had more than a single hearth. 



In connexion with the Established Church 

 are three places of worship in Birkdale. The 

 earliest is St. James's, opened in 1857 " ; St. John's, 

 at first a mission church in connexion with it, became 

 a parish church in 1905 ; St. Peter's, preceded by a 

 school-chapel in 1870, was consecrated in 1872.* 

 The vicars are appointed by different bodies of 

 trustees. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a large church 

 in Aughton Road, called Wesley Chapel ; there are 

 also two mission chapels. The United Methodist 

 Free Church has a place of worship. The Congrega- 

 tionalists acquired a building here in 1877. 



There are two Roman Catholic churches, 

 St. Joseph's, built in 1867, and St. Teresa's, opened in 

 1884. The convent of Notre Dame is served 

 from the former. There is also the Birkdale Farm 

 Reformatory school. 



ORMSKIRK 



LATHOM 

 BURSCOUGH 



ORMSKIRK 

 SCARISBRICK 



BICKERSTAFFE 

 SKELMERSDALE 



The parish of Ormskirk comprises six townships 

 anciently arranged in four quarters, paying equally to 

 the county lay ; viz. (i) Ormskirk and Burscough, 

 each paying equally ; (ii) Lathom, (iii) Scarisbrick, 

 (iv) Bickerstaffe and Skelmersdale ; each quarter paid 

 2 is. M. when West Derby hundred paid /loo. 3 

 To the ancient fifteenth Burscough and Ormskirk 

 paid nothing, Lathom 2 \<)i. 4*2'., Scarisbrick 

 3 g/. \y., Bickerstaffe i 21. 6\<t., and Skelmers- 

 dale l I is. in all <) is. I I .W., when the hundred 

 paid 106 t)s. 6J. 4 



The parish is over nine miles in length from 

 north-west to south-east, and about five miles in width 

 from Ormskirk to the River Douglas. The area is 

 3 1, 009 V acres. The land is occupied as follows: 

 Arable, 23,578 acres ; permanent grass, 3,702 ; woods 

 and plantations, 961. A ridge rising about 240 ft. above 

 the Ordnance datum crosses it from east to west ; on 

 the southern slope lies Bickerstaffe, all the rest to the 

 north. The River Tawd and Eller Brook flow north- 

 wards through Lathom to join the Douglas ; the 

 Mere Brook, which derives its name from being for a 



while the boundary between Ormskirk and Aughton, 

 formerly ran into Martin Mere, on the northern 

 boundary of the parish, now drained. Several brooks 

 flow south through Bickerstaffe, to join the Alt or the 

 Mersey. Originally both northern and southern 

 boundaries were formed by a series of mosses ; but 

 these have now been drained. 



The parish derives its name from the church.' 

 The present boundaries indicate Ormskirk township 

 area to have been taken from Lathom and Burscough ; 

 so that some early lord of Lathom was perhaps the 

 founder of the church, his name being preserved 

 by it." 



The part of the parish lying on the northerly slope 

 of the ridge running westward from Upholland to 

 Aughton was before the Conquest included in the 

 privileged three-hide area, 9 while the portion which lay 

 upon the ridge and to the south of it Skelmersdale and 

 Bickerstaffe was outside it. This distinction did not 

 endure ; all the northern portion was granted to the 

 lords of Lathom in thegnage, the southern townships 

 being held by others as part of the forest fee, or in 



