WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



thegnage. It is interesting to notice that the earls of 

 Derby, descendants of the Lathoms, are still the most 

 prominent personages in the parish, holding a fragment 

 of the original lordship Newburgh ; while another 

 part Burscough and Ormskirk with the advowson 

 was regained after the suppression of the priory, and 

 Bickerstaffe has been acquired by marriage. 



It is difficult to find how far the religious changes 

 of the sixteenth century affected the district, apart 

 from the suppression of Burscough Priory. The 

 third earl of Derby was long opposed to Protestantism, 

 and the adherents of the Roman Church have 

 always been numerous, but no open opposition was 

 made to the re-establishment of the Edwardian 

 services and doctrines by Elizabeth, though the vicar 

 was disaffected. Ormskirk is named in 1586 as one 

 of the places which had entertained John Law, a 

 seminary priest, 1 but the number of ' convicted 

 recusants ' in the parish appears to have been insig- 

 nificant even before the more indulgent days of the 

 Stuarts. In 1590 the Scarisbricks and Gorsuches 

 were of evil note in religion, and Stanley of Bicker- 

 staffe indifferent; in 1628 there seem to have been 

 only three of the landowners convicted of recusancy, 

 and paying double, but the lists of minor recusants 

 and non-communicants in 1626 and 1641 are of great 

 length. 2 



Besides the manorial lords the earl of Derby, 

 Scarisbrick, and Stanley of Bickerstaffe the free- 

 holders in 1600 numbered nineteen. 3 



The confiscations of the Parliamentary authorities 

 in the Civil War period affected several families in 

 the neighbourhood, the principal being, of course, 

 that great ' delinquent ' James earl of Derby. In 

 Ormskirk itself a small case was that of Ellen wife of 

 John West. 4 In Bickerstaffe besides the Mossocks, 

 Peter Cropper and John Gore were victims.' 1 Anthony 



ORMSKIRK 



Beesley of Burscough, aged ninety-eight years, and ' like 

 to be turned out ' of his house and 2| acres of land, 

 ' and to go a-begging,' asked to be allowed to rent it, 

 as it had been sequestered. This was granted.' 

 Cuthbert Halsall, yeoman, had not borne arms against 

 the Parliament, but being a recusant his house and 

 lands were sequestered ; in 1650 he conformed to 

 the Established religion, took the oath of abjuration of 

 Popery, and afterwards asked for the restoration of his 

 property. 7 Alexander Breres of Lathom had been 

 within the garrison of Lathom House ; he, however, 

 took the National Covenant in March, 1 644, and at 

 the second siege showed himself friendly to the 

 attacking force. In 1 647 it was ordered that ' a fifth 

 of his estate, except the demesne of Croston, should 

 be allowed to so many of his children as should be 

 brought up in the Protestant religion.' 8 At Scaris- 

 brick the two families Scarisbrick and Gorsuch 

 suffered for their political and religious disagreements 

 with the ruling powers. Skelmersdale seems to have 

 escaped notice, except as involved in Lord Derby's 

 estates. 



On the Restoration Lathom ceased to be the chief 

 residence of the earls of Derby, a change which must 

 have had a considerable effect on the district. 



The hearth tax return of i666 9 gives some 

 indication of the prosperity of the parish ; the list 

 for Ormskirk town seems to be missing. In Burscough 

 there were four houses with three hearths and above, 

 James Starkie's having twelve ; in Lathom twenty- 

 two ; 10 in Scarisbrick eleven ; " in Bickerstaffe eight ; " 

 and in Skelmersdale nine. Nonconformity made its 

 appearance at Ormskirk and Bickerstaffe, while at the 

 latter place a Quakers' meeting-phce had been 

 established. The Gates Plot caused some renewal of 

 persecution of the adherents of the Roman Catholic- 

 faith. 13 



