A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



occurs, elsewhere the pebble beds of this series of the 

 new red sandstone. By Ditton Brook and on the 

 Marsh there is a large area covered by alluvial deposits. 



The area measures 1,898 acres. 1 



The road from Tarbock to Appleton passes east- 

 wardly through the village, where it is joined by 

 others from Cronton and Hale. The Garston and 

 Widnes road crosses the southern corner of the town- 

 ship. The Cheshire Lines Committee's railway from 

 Liverpool to Manchester crosses the northern part, 

 with a station (Hough Green) near Ditchfield ; at 

 this point a line, passing through Ditto.i village, 

 branches off to WiJnes. The London and North 

 Western line from Liverpool to Warrington crosses 

 the southern corner, with a station (Ditton Junction) 

 just upon the boundary of Halewood. 



The population in 1901 numbered 2,605. 



There is a parish council. 



The first distinct record of DITTON is 

 MANORS in the Pipe Roll of 1 1 94, when Richard 

 de Ditton paid 2O/. as his fine for having 

 the king's good will after participating in the rebellion 

 of John, count of Mortain. 2 The next entries are in 

 the roll of 1201-2, when Richard, Philip, and Adam 

 de Ditton paid their levies to a scutage ; 3 and at the 

 same time Philip de Ditton paid \^d. and Richard son 

 of Martin 3^., due upon a tallage. 4 Two years later 

 Richard son of Martin paid half a mark, and the same 

 was contributed jointly by Adam, Philip, and Henry. 5 



The manor, assessed as a plough-land and held in 

 thegnage, had therefore been divided early into 

 several portions, the shares being thus described in 

 1212: ' Richard son of Martin holds half a plough- 

 land and pays therefor los. of farm ; Richard son of 

 Outi holds of him two oxgangs of land by 5/., and 

 Ralph one oxgang of land by is. 6d. Adam, Robert, 

 Vincent, and Henry de Ditton hold half a plough- 

 land for lo.f. of farm.' 6 The descent of the senior 

 moiety can be given only imperfectly ; half of it at 

 the end of the fourteenth century passed to a branch 

 of the Tyldesleys by marriage. The part of this 

 moiety held by Richard son of Outi descended to 

 the Ditchfields, but nothing is clear as to the fate 

 of that held by Ralph. The other moiety, after 

 being much subdivided, became consolidated into two 

 shares, of which the principal was again divided soon 

 after 1400 by the marriage of the coheirs with Henry 

 Blundell of Little Crosby and Richard Dawne, while 

 the smaller share passed by marriage to the Coney 

 family, by whom it seems to have been sold to the 

 Blundells. 7 This brief summary may assist in follow- 

 ing the more detailed account. 8 



I. The principal moiety appears to have descended 

 from the Richard son of Martin of 1212 to a son 

 Robert, 9 whose son ' John son of Robert de Ditton ' 

 was in possession for a very long period, probably from 

 about 1250 to 1310.' The next step in the succes- 

 sion is uncertain. Robert the clerk appears to have 



