WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



recently increased at a rapid rate, and in 1901 num- 

 bered 2,187 persons. The country is extremely flat, 

 with much reclaimed marsh or mossland, drained by 

 'cuts' into the Sankey Brook, which, winding from 

 north to south-east and south, forms the boundary of 

 the township on those sides. It yields crops of wheat, 

 clover, and hay, and some potatoes and turnips on a 

 clay soil ; but on the north it becomes a coal-mining 

 district, and at Collins Green shafts of coal-mines are 

 prominent features in the landscape. The geological 

 formation illustrates the complete bunter series of the 

 new red sandstone. Bewsey and Dallam are upon 

 the upper mottled sandstone ; Burtonwood, Bradley 

 Hall, and Collins Green upon the pebble beds, the 

 remainder of the township being upon the lower 

 mottled sandstone, except a very small area of permian 

 rocks and coal measures occurring to the west of 

 Collins Green. The St. Helens and Sankey Canal, 

 after crossing Sankey Brook, passes through the south- 

 eastern end of the township near Dallam and Bewsey. 

 There is a station at Collins Green on the Manchester 

 and Liverpool section of the London and North 

 Western Railway, which enters the township on the 

 east over the celebrated Sankey Viaduct of nine arches, 

 each of 50 ft. span and varying from 60 ft. to 70 ft. 

 in height, one arch spanning Sankey Brook and 

 another the Sankey Canal. 1 



A school board was formed in 1876.' 



There is a parish council. 



Probably known before the Conquest 

 MANORS as 'Burtun' and held by one of the 

 thirty-four drengs of Warrington hundred 

 as a dependent manor or berewick of Warrington, this 

 manor was subsequently included in the demesne of 

 the lords of the honour of Lancaster, and by Henry I 

 put into his forest between Ribble and Mersey, when 

 it doubtless acquired its name of BURTONWOOD. In 

 1228 it was perambulated in accordance with the 

 charter of the forest of 1224-5, an< ^ was retained in 

 the king's forest within boundaries extending from 

 Hardsty on the west to Sankey Brook on the east, and 

 from Bradley Brook on the north to Ravens Lache on 

 the south, reserving therein to William le Boteler and 

 his heirs common of pasture and stock (instauri), mast- 

 fall for their swine, timber for their castle of Warring- 



WARRINGTON 



ton and other buildings and for fuel. 5 The right ot 

 taking estovers defines the extent of the interest in 

 this township held by the lords of Warrington. 



It passed about 1229 to the earl of Chester with 

 the rest of the comital demesne between Ribble and 

 Mersey, and subsequently to Ferrers, earl of Derby, 

 and we find William de Ferrers on 2 October, 1251, 

 granting to the abbey of Tiltey in Essex a house of the 

 foundation of his ancestor Robert de Ferrers in 1152 

 a messuage in ' Harderesley' in the Hey of Burton, 

 with 1 20 acres of land and wood around it (with liberty 

 to enclose the same), ample pasture for their stock and 

 plough beasts, and licence to make two water-mills 

 with weirs on the water of Sankey. 4 In December, 

 1251, William de Ferrers had a charter of free warren 

 in this manor. 5 Two years later he was plaintiff in 

 a suit with William le Boteler concerning common of 

 pasture in the Hey of Burton. 6 About the year 

 1264 Robert de Ferrers sold the manor to William 

 le Boteler for 900 marks, which the latter undertook 

 to pay by half-yearly instalments of i o. 7 In 1280 

 Edmund earl of Lancaster released to William le 

 Boteler a plot of land called Hardersley, in the wood 

 of Burton, which the abbot and monks of Tiltey had 

 sometime held of the earl of Ferrers." At the death 

 of the earl of Lancaster in 1296, William le Boteler 

 held the manor of him for one penny yearly service. 9 

 At what time the abbey of Tiltey sold or resigned 

 the estate of Hardersley is uncertain, but it was 

 probably purchased by William le Boteler before 

 1280. During the time of the monks' ownership 

 they seem to have established a grange here, within 

 an enclosure of wood or park, to which they gave the 

 name ' beau site,' afterwards softened to Beausee or 

 Bewsey. 10 Asearlyas the commencement of Edward It's 

 reign the lords of Warrington had made this their 

 country seat. 11 



In 1328, by deed dated at Bewsey, William le 

 Boteler demised to Matthew de Southworth, John 

 and Margaret, his children, a plat of land, meadow, 

 and waste in Burtonwood and in the old park of 

 Beausi,' and 1} acre in the field of Harderslegh, for 

 their lives and the life of the longest liver. 18 The 

 Botelers wisely refrained from granting estates in this 

 manor in fee, but demised tenements for lives or 



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