WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



There is a well, known as St. Thomas's, about 

 three hundred yards from the ruin. 1 The water was 

 said to be good for sore eyes. An ancient cross 

 on three steps stands beside the chantry ; on it is 

 the date 1627. 



Adjacent is the church of St. Thomas of Canter- 

 bury, built on land given in 1892 by Lord Gerard, 

 a descendant of the founder of the old chantry.* 



PARR 



Par, 1 246 ; Parr and Parre, xvth century. 



Parr is a township unpleasing to the eye, where 

 the natural amenities have been replaced by every- 

 thing unlovely that man could devise. Scarcely a 

 green tree is to be seen, whilst collieries, chemical 

 and iron works, huge banks and heaps of refuse, take 

 the place of woods and fields and green meadows. 

 Clouds of smoke and the fumes of chemical works 

 hang continually over the district. On the south-east 

 some waste mossland still remains, but altogether be- 

 reft of the vegetation which so often lends beauty 

 to these undisturbed tracts. 



The township has an area of 1,633 acres and is 

 divided by the Sankey Brook into two nearly equal 

 portions. It is bounded on the east by the Black 

 Brook, while the moss on the south originally formed 

 a physical division for Sutton, Parr, and Burtonwood. 

 The ground rises gradually north and south of the 

 bisecting brook, attaining nearly one hundred and 

 fifty feet at the northern boundary. With the ex- 

 ception of a small area of lower mottled sandstone 

 of the bunter series (new red sandstone) at Parr 

 Moss, the coal measures are in evidence through- 

 out the township. 



The principal road is that from St. Helens north- 

 eastwardly through Blackbrook to Ashton in Maker- 

 field, the hamlet of Pocket Nook being situated next 

 to St. Helens. 3 From this point another road takes a 

 winding course to Earlestown in the east ; passing 



PRESCOT 



Parr Stocks, Broad Oak, and Havannah. To the 

 south is Ashton's Green. 



A branch of the London and North Western Com- 

 pany's system, from St. Helens to Wigan, has a station 

 on the northern boundary, Carr Mill ; and the 

 Great Central's St. Helens and South Lancashire 

 line passes east and west through the township. 

 There are also a number of railways for the service 

 of the collieries, as Parr is a colliery district, the 

 whole township being undermined. The St. Helens 

 Canal crosses, alongside the Sankey Brook. 



A local board was formed in 1865,* but dissolved in 



1 869 on the absorption of the township into St. Helens. 



The manor formed part of the Master 



MJNOR Forester's fee, being held with Whiston 



by the Gernets, and then by the Dacres, 



of whom it was held by Travers of Whiston. 5 Under 



the latter an inferior or mesne manor was formed, 



held by the Lathoms 6 and Stanleys in succession.' 



In the thirteenth century there appear to have 

 been one or more families here bearing the local 

 name, but the manor was held 

 in moieties before 1290, Alan 

 de Halsall of Parr being then 

 lord of one moiety and Henry 

 de Parr of the other. 8 Alan 

 was the son of Richard de 

 Halsall by Denise, afterwards 

 the wife of Hugh de Worth- 

 ington, 9 and it will be con- 

 venient to distinguish the two 

 parts as the Halsall and Parr 

 moieties. 



I. The Halsall moiety was 

 held by Alan until 1301,' 



about which time probably he died. His son 

 Richard succeeded, and occurs down to 1335 ; he 

 was known as Richard de Parr. 11 His son Alan de 

 Parr was in possession in 1345, but died in or before 

 1367," when his son Robert followed him, and held 



PARR. -Argent, 

 dure engrailed sable. 



lor- 



377 



48 



