WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



reign of King Stephen to that of Henry IV the latter office was held by 

 the family of Walton of Walton-on-the-Hill by inheritance. In the fifteenth 

 century the master-forestership of West Derby became hereditary in the 

 Molyneuxes of Sefton, who also held the stewardship.^ 



In 1825 the hundred court leet continued to be held within a month of 

 Easter and Michaelmas ; it had jurisdiction, concurrently with the sessions, 

 in all criminal cases.^ The hundred court, held from three weeks to three 

 weeks, had jurisdiction in certain personal actions under 40J. in value. The 

 steward of the hundred, or his deputy, presided at these courts."* 



Henry III on 18 October, 1229, granted all the land between Ribble 

 and Mersey, including the vill of West Derby with the wapentake and the 

 forest, the borough of Liverpool, the vill of Salford with the wapentake, 

 and the wapentake of Leyland, to Ranulf, earl of Chester and Lincoln, to 

 hold in fee by rendering yearly at Michaelmas a mewed goshawk or 40J.* 

 The assized rent of the demesne, with the service of the tenants holding in 

 thegnage and at fee farm, and sake fee of the military tenants within the 

 hundred, then amounted to ^46 i6j-. zd} Upon the earl's death, in 1232, 

 without issue this fee descended to William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, in 

 right of Agnes his wife, one of the sisters and co-heirs of the earl of 

 Chester.* 



In 1226 the earl of Derby had a warrant for an allowance of jCio° ^ 

 year for keeping ward of the castles of Lancaster and West Derby, and of 

 the county.^ He appears to have assumed larger judicial powers between 

 Ribble and Mersey than the grant to the earl of Chester conveyed, and 

 also to have infringed the rights and liberties of the men of that region, 

 especially in respect of the forest ; in consequence he was temporarily 

 dispossessed of this fee.* The earl died in 1247,' having predeceased his 

 wife but a few weeks. That he was the builder of Liverpool Castle may be 



he had exacted from ' the commonalty of the wapentake ' at every writ of the king for knights' expenses at 

 Parliament loo/. beyond the sum rated and due. He was found guilty, and fined ^loo ; Ibid. R. 455. 



In 1732 the king leased to David Lawton of Prescot the profits of court of West Derby wapentake for 

 thirty-one years ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Books, xxvii, 'il d. 



' See e.g. Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 385. 



' ^zines' Lanes. Directory, 1825, i, 136 ; its powers were 'seldom called into exercise except to abate 

 nuisances and appoint the high and petty constables and other municipal officers. Its proceedings had two 

 singular characteristics — the entire absence of fees and lawyers.' 



'Ibid. p. 138; 'No suit can be removed by the defendant, before judgement, without bail to the 

 satisfaction of the court ; nor by the losing party, after judgement, without similar security in double the 

 amount of the judgement.' 



* Chart. R. 13 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 3 ; Cal. pp. 10 1-2. 



^ Pipe R. 10 Hen. Ill, Lanes. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. xlviii, 135-7). The earl had livery by 

 writ dated 19 Oct. 1229 ; Chse R. 1227-31, p. 221. 



° Chse R. 1231-4, p. 169. By writ dated 22 Nov. (1232) the castle and vill of West Derby and all the 

 late earl's lands between Ribble and Mersey were accorded to the earl of Derby in right of his wife. 



' Close R. (Rec. Com.), ii, izzb. 



* In 1 24 1-2 the three wapentakes of West Derby, Salford, and Leyland were seized into the king's hand 

 owing to transgressions committed by the earl and his bailiffs, but were again restored on 4 February, 1242, 

 subject to the reservation to the king of all pleas of the crown, all cattle detained against pledge and surety, 

 and attachments belonging to pleas of the crown, with liberty to the sheriff and coroners to have entry to the 

 said wapentakes to make inquiry of all pleas pertaining to the crown and the peace. The earl on his part 

 consented for himself and his heirs to treat the men between Ribble and Mersey in pleas of the forest and 

 all other pleas as they were treated and used in the time of King John, and up to the time when the then 

 king gave the land between Ribble and Mersey to Ranulf, earl of Chester, and that they would have only the 

 liberties and customs in those wapentakes of the men and all others there which they who held those wapen- 

 takes before the grant to the earl of Lincoln had and used. Fine R. 26 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 10. 



' Close R. 3 1 Hen. Ill, m. 2. 



