WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



the east the underlying millstone grit is thrown up by 

 a fault over a very small area. 



The township is mostly on high ground, 230 feet 

 being reached in the centre of the village. Its area 

 is 1,940^ acres. 1 The village of Skelmersdale lies in 

 the western corner ; to the north-east is the hamlet 

 called Stormy corner. The White Moss, now re- 

 claimed, anciently formed part of the boundary 

 between this township and BickerstafFe. 



The railway from Ormskirk to St. Helens passes 

 through the village, where there is a station. The 

 main highway leads east to Wigan, and west, dividing 

 into two, to Ormskirk. 



A local board of fifteen members governed the 

 township from 1874* until 1894, when it was re- 

 placed by an urban district council of fifteen members. 

 The gas and water works are the property of the 

 council. The population numbered 5,699 in 1901. 

 According to Domesday BookSKEL- 



MJNOR MERSDJLE was in 1066 held by 

 Uctred, who also held Dalton and 

 Uplitherland ; like these it was assessed as one plough- 

 land, and was worth the normal 32^. beyond the 

 usual rent. 3 Later it was part of the forest fee, held 

 by the Gernet family. The first of them known to 

 have held it, Vivian Gernet, gave Skelmersdale and 

 other manors to Robert Travers ; these were held in 

 1 2 1 2 by Henry Travers under Roger Gernet. 4 



Already, however, there had been a sub-infeudation 

 of the manor in favour of Alan de Windle, for in 1 202 

 Edusa his widow claimed dower in this among other 

 manors, which she released to Alan's son Alan, upon 

 an assignment of her dower here and in other 



ORMSKIRK 



lands. 5 From the later history it is clear that before 

 1290 the Holands of Upholland held a mesne 

 manor here. 



The superior lordship descended from the Gernets 

 to the Dacres, with the rest of the forest fee. 6 The 

 Travers mesne manor descended like Whiston, but the 

 exact fate of it is unknown. The Holand inferior 

 mesne manor passed to the Levels, and after the for- 

 feiture in 1487 was granted to Thomas earl of Derby. 7 

 The Windle manor passed, like Windle itself, to the 

 Burnhulls and Gerards in succession; 8 but in the 

 time of Elizabeth Sir Thomas Gerard sold it to Henry 

 Eccleston of Eccleston. 9 This family did not retain 

 it more than thirty years ; it was purchased by the 

 earl of Derby in l6l5, 10 and descended to Henrietta 

 Maria Lady Ashburnham, u and was sold about 1717 

 to Thomas Ashhurst of Dalton. 18 From Henry Ashhurst 

 it was purchased in 1751 by Sir Thomas Bootle, 13 and 

 has since descended with Lathom, the earl of Lathom 

 being now lord of the manor. His great-grandfather, 

 upon elevation to the peerage, took his title from it as 

 Baron Skelmersdale. 



The family of Ashhurst had lands in 1346" and 

 frequently occur later. The Huytons of Billinge held 

 land here as early as I3O7. 15 There was also a 

 family surnamed Flathyrale here in the fourteenth 

 century, as various suits show. 16 The Swift family, 

 numerous in the district to the present time, appear 

 in some pleadings of 1556, when Peter Swift of 

 London claimed lands held by his father John in 

 Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, and Sefton. 17 The father had 

 married for his first wife Margaret, daughter of Ralph 

 Atherton , 18 having by her a daughter loan, who, in 



