WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



In 1662 Mrs. Joan Owen, mother of the heir, was 

 living in Bold Hall, which had twenty hearths ; Henry 

 Greene had Cranshaw and Holbrook. 1 



Two ' Papists ' registered estates in Bold in 1717: 

 Nicholas Lurkey of Eccleston, shoemaker ; and Mary 

 widow of John Longworth.* 



Sanki, 

 I 242, and 



GREAT SANKEY 

 Schonke, I 



Sonky, 



1202, 12 

 sually. 



Great Sankey is a flat country with open fields, 

 mostly under cultivation, where crops of potatoes and 

 wheat are raised on a loamy soil. Sankey Brook forms 

 the south-eastern boundary. On the north-east a brook 

 flowing into the Sankey divides it from Burtonwood, 

 and the Whittle Brook on the south serves for a 

 partition from Penketh. The area is 1,922,^ acres. 3 

 The surface gradually rises from the low land by 

 Sankey Brook to the north-west. The upper mot- 

 tled sandstone of the bunter series of the new red 

 sandstone is in evidence throughout this township 

 and Penketh, except where obscured by alluvial 

 deposits in the immediate vicinity of the River 

 Mersey. The village is situated on the border of 

 Penketh. The population numbered 1,034 ' n 

 1901. 



The principal road is that from Prescot to War- 

 rington, which is joined by others from Penketh and 

 from Burtonwood. The Cheshire Lines Committee's 

 railway crosses the centre of the township, having a 

 station (Sankey) at the village, opened in September, 

 1873. The London and North-Western line from 



PRESCOT 



Liverpool to Warrington crosses the southern corner, 

 and has a station (Sankey Bridges) opened about the 

 year 1852. 



The canal which winds along beside the Sankey 

 Brook has the credit of being the first work of the 

 kind in modern England, the Sankey Navigation 

 being formed in 1755.* The canal, which was 

 afterwards extended to Widnes, has been since 1864 

 under the control of the London and North-Western 

 Railway Company. 



The occupation of the inhabitants is still largely 

 agricultural. Wire mills and white-lead works have 

 been established on the Warrington side. 



The township is governed by a parish council ot 

 five members. 



The Warrington Corporation has a sanatorium, 

 built in 1903. 



This township, with Penketh as a 

 MJNOR hamlet, was included in the demesne of 

 the lords of Warrington. The manor of 

 GRE4T S4NKEr is mentioned in several Boteler 

 settlements and inquisitions, 5 and on the sale of their 

 estates about 1585 became the property of the Bolds 

 of Bold. 6 Sir Thomas Bold in 1610 granted it to 

 Thomas Tyldesley and Thomas Orme ; the latter 

 shortly afterwards resigned his interest, so that 

 Thomas Tyldesley was solely seised in 1613.' Within 

 fifteen years it had passed to Sir Thomas Ireland of 

 Bewsey, 8 and has since descended, with other estates 

 of this family, to Atherton, Gwillym, and Powys, 

 Lord Lilford being the present lord of the manor. 9 

 Manor courts were held yearly until 1888.' 



A branch of the Rixton family settled here ; " and 



lord of Bold in the first half of the thirteenth 

 century, had land called Langley Holt ; he 

 seems to have married a daughter of Emma 

 Mainwaring ; and had sons Richard and 



referring to this place are among the 

 Bold deeds at Warrington. By one (E. 5) 

 Gilbert son of Gilbert the Horse-keeper 

 (Equarin ?) released to his lord, Sir William 



nement,' whereas the original charter 

 acres granted j Assize R. 1400, m. 



