WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



utilized for the magnificent domed building in which 

 the offices of the Dock Board are now housed ; two 

 of the main shoreward thoroughfares were continued 

 across the site of the dock direct to the pier-head ; 

 and the main entrance to the city has thus been 

 materially improved and dignified. 



The total water area of the docks (excluding those 

 on the Cheshire side of the river) now (1908) amounts 

 to 418 acres 320 yds., and the lineal quayage to 

 26 miles 1,083 yls. The continuous dock- wall fronts 

 the river for a distance of 7^- miles. 



In addition to the docks controlled by the Dock 

 Board, the London and North-Western Railway 

 has three docks at Garston, now within the limits 

 of the city, which have a water area of 14 acres 

 2,494 yds. 



As the period of the Dock Board's administration 

 has been the period of the rapid development in the 

 size of ships, which is in no port more marked than 

 in Liverpool, a large part of the Board's work has 

 consisted in maintaining a clear channel in the river. 

 The task of dredging the bar which impedes the 

 entrance to the river was seriously begun about 1 890. 

 Carried on by dredgers of unusual magnitude and 

 power, it has cost not far short of half a million of 

 money during the last fifteen years, but the result has 

 been to provide a clear deep-water passage, lacking 

 which Liverpool might have found it impossible to 

 maintain her control over ocean trade under the new 

 conditions. No account can here be given of the 

 other works of the Board, of its vast warehouses, of its 

 appliances for the disembarkation of cargo, or of the 

 immense floating stage, 2,478 ft. long, whereby the 

 landing of passengers at all times is rendered possible 

 despite the very great rise and fall of the tides in the 

 Mersey. 



The erection of a chapel at Liver- 

 CHURCHES pool was probably contemporaneous 

 with the foundation of the borough ; 

 burgages ' next to the chapel ' are mentioned in a 

 charter of the middle of the 1 3th century."' The 

 building is identified with the chapel of St. Mary 



LIVERPOOL 



del Key (or Quay) which was standing, 'a great 

 piece of antiquity,' used as the free school, in 1673."° 

 It was a chapel of ease to Walton, and without any 

 permanent endowment. 



In or before 1356 there was built, perhaps at the 

 cost of the town, the larger chapel of Our Lady 

 and St. Nicholas, which then became the chapel of 

 Liverpool. In the year named the king allowed the 

 mayor and commonalty to devote lands of the value 

 of ^10 a year to the maintenance of divine service 

 in the chapel according to an agreement they had 

 made with Henry, Duke of Lancaster,'" who him- 

 self gave an allowance of 12/. a year to the 

 chapel.'" 



In September 1361 the Bishop of Lichfield 

 granted a licence for burials in the churchyard, 

 during a visitation of plague ; '" and in the follow- 

 ing February he gave permission for the chapel and 

 cemetery of St. Nicholas of Liverpool to be conse- 

 crated ' by any Catholic bishop having the grace of 

 the Apostolic See and faculties for his office.' '" Shortly 

 afterwards William de Liverpool gave a rent of 6/. 8a'. 

 towards the stipend of the chaplain, as long as the 

 chantry should continue.'" The chantry referred to 

 was probably that at the altar of St. John, founded 

 by John de Liverpool to celebrate for the souls of 

 his ancestors, the priest of which was nominated 

 by the mayor and burgesses.'" Another ancient 

 chantry was that of St. Mary at the high altar,'*' 

 founded by Henry, Duke of Lancaster ; '" while 

 the succeeding duke, John of Gaunt, founded one 

 at the altar of St. Nicholas.'" There were thus 

 three priests in residence serving the chantries from 

 the latter part of the 14th century down to the 

 Reformation. 



Further endowments were acquired from time to 

 time ;"" and in 1459 the Bishop of Lichfield granted 

 an indulgence of forty days on the usual conditions 

 to contributors to the restoration of the old chapel of 

 St. Mary del Key and to the maintenance of a 

 chaplain there and of its ornaments, or to those who 

 should devoutly pray before her image."' This 



789 Most of the information relating to 

 this ancient chapel is derived from an 

 essay by Mr. John Elton in Trans, Hist, 

 Sac. (new ser.), xviii, 73-118, and the 

 documents there printed. 



Randle del Moore of Liverpool, who 

 occurs from 1246 onwards, granted to 

 Margerjr his daughter and John Gernet 

 half a burgage next to the chapel ; Moore 

 D. no. 264 (1). In the same deeds 'the 

 Chapel street ' is mentioned in 1318 (ibid, 

 no. 331 [71]), in a grant by John son of 

 Alan de Liverpool, to which John del 

 Moore was a witness. 



Liverpool was named as a chapelry in 

 1327 at the ordination of the vicarage of 

 Walton i Gastrell, Notitia Catr. (Chet. 

 Soc.}, ii, 191. 



7^0 Blome, Britannia (quoted by Pic- 

 ton). 



'■ii Elton, op. cit. 80, quoting Pat. 

 29 Edw. III. The rents were to be paid 

 * to certain chaplains to celebrate divine 

 service every day, for the souls of all the 

 faithful departed, in the chapel of Blessed 

 Mary and St. Nicholas of Liverpool, ac- 

 cording to the order of the mayor and 

 commonalty.' The sum of ,f 10 may in- 

 clude the endowments of the two chan- 

 tries of John de Liverpool and Henry 

 Duke of Lancaster. 



7<' Elton, op, cit. 79, quoting a rent 

 roll of 1395. 



7'» Ibid. 83, from Lich. Epis. Reg. v, 

 fol. 44. 



7" Ibid. 82, from Lich. Epis. Reg. v, 

 fol. 45. Facsimiles of this and the pre- 

 ceding entry are given. 



7<* Elton, op. cit. 86, from Moore 

 D. no. 466 (183), dated 6 Sept. 1361. 



7^8 William de Liverpool's phrase, ' as 

 may be ordained by the mayor and com- 

 monalty,' agrees with the above-quoted 

 licence of Edward III, and with the con- 

 dition of the chantry in 1548 ; Raines, 

 Chantries (Chet. Soc), 82. At this date 

 the priest (John Hurdes) did * sing and 

 celebrate there according to the statutes of 

 his foundation ' ; the plate and ornaments 

 were scanty ; the rents, derived, as were 

 those of the remaining chantries, from 

 burgages, houses, and lands in Liverpool, 

 amounted to loji. iJ. In 1534 the can- 

 tariat was Thomas Rowley, and the net 

 revenue was 731. ^.d.; the founders' names 

 were recorded as John de Liverpool and 

 John del Moore ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 

 V, 221. 



It was the duty of the priest of the 

 altar of St. John to say mass daily be- 

 tween five and six in the morning, so that 

 all labourers and well-disposed people 



43 



might come to hear it ; Picton, Munic. 

 Rec. i, 31. 



7''' Raines, op. cit. 86. Ralph Howorth 

 was the incumbent in 1548, 'celebrating 

 accordingly,' ' with the chalice and other 

 ornaments pertaining to the inhabitants 

 of the same town' j the gross income was 

 115s. Hi/., a chief rent of 2s. 2^. being 

 paid to the king's bailiff of West Derby. 

 Richard Frodsham was cantarist in 1534, 

 when the revenue was ^4. ys. ii(/. ; Valor 

 Ecd. (Rec. Com.), loc. cit. 



7<8 Duchy of Lane. Auditors' Accts. 

 bdle. 728, no. 1 1987. 



749 Raines, op. cit. 89. Richard Frod- 

 sham was in 1548 'the priest remaining 

 and celebrating there according to his 

 foundation ' 5 there were chalice, two sets 

 of vestments, and missal, and an endow- 

 ment of 1 141. 5</. Ralph Howorth was 

 cantarist in 1534, when the income was 

 755. ll</., the foundation being ascribed 

 to Henry and John, Dukes of Lancaster ; 

 Valor Eccl. loc. cit. Probably there has 

 been some transposition of the names of 

 the incumbents of these chantries. 



760 See Elton, op. cit. 86, 88. 



761 Lich. Epis. Reg. xii, fol. 124A. It 

 is described as 'the chapel of Blessed 

 Mary within the cemetery of the chapel 

 of the town of Liverpool,' 



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