WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WALTON 



benefactions ' 



and shares with 

 .apprenticing funds of £i6j 

 donations of Eleanor Gleast 



West Derby 



in the 

 a year arising from 

 and Thomas Aspe.^ 

 West Derby itself has a few special endowments.* In 

 connexion with the Old Toxteth chapel there was, in 

 1828, a sum oi £z a year available for the poor/ 



WEST DERBY 



Derbei, Dom. Bk. West Derbi, 11 77. 



This township extends over four miles from north 

 to south, and three and a half from east to west, having 

 a total area of 6,203 acres.* A portionof it was taken 

 within the municipal borough of Liverpool as early as 

 1835 )^ ^^*^ ^^^ greater part of the remainder in 

 1895 ;^ the rural division outside Liverpool contains 

 2,594 acres. The population of the whole in 1901 



was I 32,669, only 2,1 19 belonging to the part outside 

 the city. 



The portion absorbed by Liverpool in 1835 formed 

 a ward of the borough, known as West Derby Ward ; 

 this was in 1895 divided into three — Low Hill, Ken- 

 sington, and Edge Hill, while the portion then freshly 

 included was divided into two wards — Fairfield and 

 West Derby ; the division between them being the 

 railway from Edge Hill to the Bootle docks. The 

 rural portion of the township is governed by a parish 

 council.^. 



In the eighteenth century the township was divided 

 into four quarters : Woodside, on the east ; Town row, 

 embracing the village and the north-west portion ; Low 

 Hill, on the border of Liverpool ; and Ackers End, the 

 Old Swan district.^ 



The township lies on the edge of the open country, 

 where the smoke-laden air of the city is exchanged 



incumbent and wardens of Formby Pro- 

 testant church for the benefit of the poor. 

 The fund, in charge of the late Rev. 

 Lonsdale Formby, was productive till 

 1892, when he became dangerously ill ; 

 the place of its deposit has not been 

 <liscovered. 



The late Arthur Ashtongave j^5oo, as 

 a memorial of his wife, for the poor 

 of St. Luke's ecclesiastical district ; and 

 a like sum for Holy Trinity district. 

 The interest, j^i6 loi., is distributed 

 accordingly. 



^ A rent-charge of £\o on an estate 

 formerly belonging to Nehemiah Cowley at 

 Billinge, In 1828 to his son Thomas Cow- 

 ley, and now to — Taylor, is paid to the 

 incumbent, who gives ^^9 to the schools 

 and ^1 to the St. Thomas's day dole. 



William Fleetwood left a charge of £^z 

 for the poor on his estate at Kirkby (be- 

 longing in 1828 to John Johnson). 

 Lawrence Pickup of Liverpool left ^10 

 for poor people of Kirkby being Protes- 

 tants and attending the chapel of Kirkby. 

 The Rev. William Mount, incumbent, 

 left ^20 for the poor of Kirkby and 

 Simonswood. These benefactions are 

 united as the St. Thomas's day dole. 

 The Fleetwood estate now belongs to 

 Lord Sefton, who pays the ^^2 rent-charge. 

 Sums of loj. and 20J. for the other gifts 

 were paid out of the rates until 1849, 

 when payment ceased. From 1863 to 

 1897 payment from the constable rate was 

 resumed 5 at present the voluntary church 

 rate is charged with them. Attendance 

 at the church service is not now required. 

 The ;^20 left by Mr. Mount was used for 

 roofing the chapel, and in 1828 the 20J. 

 was paid out of the chapel rate. 



In 1851 Mary and Eliza Cort, daugh- 

 ters of the Rev. Robert Cort, lately 

 incumbent, gave a rent-charge of ^^lo out 

 of a house and lands at Arkholme for the 

 benefit of eight poor persons of Kirkby 

 and six of Simonswood. Their father 

 had died intestate, but he had intended to 

 make this gift. The rent-charge was 

 redeemed in 1883, and is represented by 

 j^333 consols, producing £% 6s. %d. a 

 year. Eliza Alice Cort in iSdgleft ^f 300, 

 for fuel and clothing for the poor of 

 Kirkby and Simonswood ; this produces 

 £7 15^' 8^- a year. 



Robert Dudgeon of Liverpool in 1858 

 left money for a coal fund and for alms- 

 houses. The bequests were void in law, 

 but the executor paid ^^8 a year to the 

 vicar of Kirkby as interest on the residue 

 of ;^305, and his executors have since 

 continued it. 



2 Thomas Aspe in 1698 gave a mes- 

 suage and lands in West Derby, which in 

 1828 produced ^^25 a year, for the bind- 

 ing of a poor child apprentice, Kirkby 

 and West Derby sharing equally j the 

 Woodside quarter of the latter township 

 was that intended to be benefited. Eleanor 

 Gleast in 1699 devised land in Page 

 Moss, also a rent-charge of 40J. out of 

 Henshaw's fields and Button's field, for 

 binding poor Protestant children appren- 

 tices, limited to those born in the manor 

 and township of West Derby. These 

 charities have always been administered 

 together, after the moiety of Aspe's be- 

 quest had been allowed for Kirkby. In 

 1828 there was a surplus of ^^368 of 

 unexpended balances, the income being 

 greater than the demands upon it. 



New arrangements were made between 

 1862 and 1864, separate bodies of trustees 

 for Kirkby and West Derby being ap- 

 pointed by the Charity Commissioners ; 

 the balance then amounted to ^^1,400. 

 A fresh scheme was made in 1903. The 

 Aspe estate consists of a messuage and 

 land in Yew Tree Lane, bringing a rent of 

 j^40. The Gleast estate consists of a 

 house and land at Page Moss, let at ^^45 

 a year ; a rent-charge of 30J. out of 

 Henshaw's field 5 a rent-charge of loj. 

 out of Button's field, now divided into 

 numerous building plots; and ^^3,2 10 

 consols, producing ;^8o 5;. ^d. The 

 income is still employed In apprenticing, 

 but the number of applications is decreas- 

 ing ; the candidates must be Protestants 

 and born in West Derby. No attention 

 is paid to the limitation of Aspe's bequest 

 to the Woodside quarter, partly because 

 the bounds are not accurately known. 



8 Anne Dwerrihouse in 1672 be- 

 queathed a charge on lands in Thingwall 

 for twelve loaves to be distributed at 

 West Derby chapel every Sunday. One 

 Stones gave land to the vicar of Walton, 

 charged with ^^i a year to the poor of 

 West Derby. James Woods in 1678 left 

 money for four weekly loaves ; In 1828 

 \js. ^d. was received for this charity out 

 of Chapel croft. Elizabeth Smarley in 

 1780 left £60 for the provision of Bibles 

 and Common Prayer-books ; she also left 

 £^ 5J. a year for a schoolmistress at 

 West Derby, but this was void In law. 



Andrew Mercer in 1689 charged land 

 with £1 a year for a bread charity, but 

 he probably revoked it, as nothing further 

 is known of it. 



The Dwerrihouse and Woods charities 

 are now administered together. The 

 rent-charge on Thingwall was redeemed 



I I 



In 1894 by Henry Yates Thompson, then 

 owner, ;^io8 being invested in Govern- 

 ment stock ; the other rent-charge has 

 also been redeemed by the transfer of 

 ^28 India Stock to the official trustees. 

 The income, ^3 m. 4(f., is distributed 

 weekly at St. Mary's church in loaves to 

 four poor persons, members of the Church 

 of England. The rector of Walton pays 

 the £\ for Stone's charity, but the land 

 charged is not exactly known. It is dis- 

 tributed with the share of Fazakerley's 

 charity in doles of money. The Income 

 of Smarley's bequest is now given by the 

 rector in Bibles and Prayer-books to 

 children attending the Sunday-school. 



Miss Jane Segar of Everton in 1869 

 left ;^200 for the West Derby poor, but 

 only half of this sum was received, the 

 estate being insufficient. The income is 

 united with that derived from a bequest 

 by Adam Dugdale, of Dovecot House, who 

 in 1839 left ;^ioo for the benefit of the 

 poor, being members of the Church of 

 England. The income is paid in food of 

 the value of 31. weekly, to four poor 

 widows. 



■^ The sums left by John Burgess and 

 others for * a preaching Protestant ortho- 

 dox minister' at the chapel, included also 

 ^50 for poor housekeepers. In 1828 £z 

 was paid, as the interest of this, to a very 

 aged woman, mother of the chapel clerk. 



^ The Census report of 1901 gives the 

 area in Liverpool as — West, 675 acres ; 

 East, 2,936 acres. Including 14 acres inland 

 water; that of the rural portion being 2,594 

 acres. Including 8 of inland water ; total, 

 6,205 acres, 



^ The boundaries were settled bv 11 

 Geo. IV and i Will. IV, cap. 15. 



7 Loc. Gov. Bd. Order, P 1147. 



8 The Local Government Act of 1858 

 was In 1 860 adopted by the township — i.e. 

 except the portion which had been taken 

 into Liverpool ; Land. Gaz, 3 April, i860. 

 The local board became an urban dis- 

 trict council in 1894, which was in 1895 

 dissolved by the extension of Liverpool. 

 Among the works undertaken by the 

 local board was the sewage farm in Fazak- 

 erley. 



^ A valuation book compiled In 1750 

 shows that Croxteth Hall, Finch Lane, and 

 Ackers Hall were in Woodside ; Club 

 Moor, Tue Brook, and the Village in 

 Town Row ; Old Swan, Knotty Ash, and 

 B^ad Green In Ackers End, as were 

 West Derby Mill and the Old Parsonage. 



Ackers End Itself was a farm of 23 acres, 

 lying between Old Swan and Broad Green, 

 now part of Highfield House estate. 



