WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WALTON 



past New Hall in Carr Lane to Walton village. Carr 

 Lane was a continuation of a road from Liverpool 

 which crossed the Tue Brook at Club Moor,' and went 

 deviously onward to Kirkby. In this part of the 

 towTiship are now the hamlet of Dog and Gun, with 

 the West Derby Cemetery, opened 1884, to the west, 

 and the district called Gill Moss. From Derby mill 

 mentioned above a lane led south past Blackmoor 

 Moss.' A little to the east stood the Round House, 

 otherwise known as Sandfield.' 



The roads above described continue to be the main 

 thoroughfares. Most of them are traversed by the 

 Liverpool tramway system, which facilitates access to 

 the village, as also to Old Swan and Knotty Ash, 

 where there is a junction with the South-west Lanca- 

 shire tramway system. The London and North- 

 western Company's line outward from Liverpool 

 passes through the township, the important station of 

 Edge Hill being situated within it ; the original 

 terminus (1830) of the Liverpool and Manchester 

 Railway was a little distance away, in Crown Street. 

 The same company's branch line from Edge Hill to 

 Bootle, formed about 1866, has stations at Edge Lane, 

 Stanley, Tue Brook, and Breck Road, opened in 1870. 

 The Cheshire Lines Committee's Southport Railway 

 also passes through, more to the east, with stations at 

 Knotty Ash and West Derby, opened in 1884. 



WEST DERBr was the capital manor 

 MANOR of the hundred, to which it gave name. 

 As a royal manor it stands first in 

 Domesday Book in the description of the land 

 ' Between Ribble and Mersey,' and with its six 

 berewicks was assessed at four hides ; there was land 

 for fifteen ploughs ; and a forest two leagues long and 

 one broad, with an aery of hawks. King Edward 

 held it in 1066, and by the Conqueror it was given 



to Roger of Poitou who had temporarily lost his 

 fief before 1086 ; ' but in 1094 Count Roger gave the 

 tithe of his demesne in this vill to the abbey of St. 

 Martin of Ste.' It is possible that he built the 

 castle here. After his banishment in 1 102 West 

 Derby with his other manors escheated to the 

 crown, and was about 1 1 1 5 granted to Stephen of 

 Blois as part of the honour of Lancaster.' 



West Derby is next mentioned in 1 169, when it 

 and the other members of the demesne in the hun- 

 dred were tallaged at j^l I 3/. ^dJ The castle was 

 repaired in 1197 at a cost of loo/.,' and after the 

 death of King Richard a garrison was stationed in it 

 to preserve the peace of the county ; ° three years 

 later considerable additions and repairs were carried 

 out.'" During his struggle with the barons King John 

 kept a suiRcient garrison here," and for some years 

 the castle seems to have been occupied ; " by 1 297, 

 however, it had ceased to exist, for it was returned 

 that ' in the town fields of Derby there was a certain 

 site of an old castle, where the capital rnessuage used 

 to be, with the circuit of the ditches.' " 



At the beginning of the thirteenth century the vill 

 was farmed by the king's bondmen or villeins at an 

 ancient assized rent of ^^6, which the king had aug- 

 mented by j^2 since Easter, 1201." A considerable 

 number of the people were removed to Liverpool in 

 1208 to form the new borough, and the sheriff had 

 an allowance of the farm of the hundred, probably to 

 make up for his loss on this account." There was 

 anciently a considerable area of woodland, extending 

 to 2,880 customary acres at the date of Domesday. 

 In 1228 the boundaries of this were described by the 

 knights who made the perambulation of the forest." 

 The clearing and improvement of the land went on 

 rapidly," and in 1296 there were 30J burgages held 



1 A considerable village has now grown 

 up at this place. 



' The name occurs in the Forest Pleas 

 Roll of 1334- The old parsonage, close 

 by, 5 still standing. 



' It is a late seventeenth-century build- 

 ing, and was the property of William 

 Molyneux in 1823. 



< V.C.H. Lanes, i, 278. The six bere- 

 wicks were Hale, Garston, Liverpool, 

 Everton, Great Crosby, part of Walton, 

 and perhaps Thingwall and Aintree. 



' Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 290. 



6 KC.H. Lanes, i, 292. 



'Farrer, op. cit. 12; 331. 4^. was 

 contributed by West Derby separately 

 in 1 177 ; Ibid. 35. 



9 Ibid. 97. 



' Ibid. 105 ; jf4 los. was spent on 

 provisions for the knights and men 

 therein. 



W Ibid. 147 ; Henry Travers and Henry 

 de Walton were in charge of the works, 

 which cost £6 gs. jd. 



" Ibid. 250 ; there were 140 footmen, 

 and ten knights and cross-bowmen ; 

 £y 101. was paid for the repair of the 

 castle. See also Chst R. (Rec. Com.), 



+77*- . , , , 



12 Between 121 8 and 1225 considerable 

 sums were laid out upon the castle ; 

 Pipe R. 2-9 Hen. III. In 1227 the 

 sum of jT^ II J. 8</. was spent on im- 

 proving the drawbridge and houses within 

 the castle ; Pipe R. 2 Hen. Ill, ro. i. 



" Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and dies.), 284. The erection 

 of Liverpool Castle probably accounts for 

 the neglect and ruin of that at West 

 Derby. The Castle field, with a slight 



rising of the ground to the north-east of 

 the village, marks the site. 



^* Lanes. Pipe R. 131 ; 220-1. The 

 assized rent was reduced to ,^3 125. 6d. 

 after the separation of Liverpool from the 

 manor ; Inq. and Extents^ 136. A tal- 

 lage of £\ lys. Sd. was made in 1226 ; 

 ibid. 135. 



15 Lanes. Pipe R. 220. Two officials 

 of the manor at this time are known. 

 Richard, the reeve of Derby, was charged 

 J mark in the tallage of 1202; ibid. 

 151; and in 121 2 he held two oxgangs of 

 land by serjeanty of being reeve of the 

 wapentake and keeping ward of the king's 

 teams and distresses put into the pound ; 

 Inq. and Extents, 26. Richard gave to 

 Cockersand Abbey land at Scales in West 

 Derby, with easements belonging to his 

 fee, between Blackmoor and the Dale ; 

 and Luke, son of Thomas de Derby, gave 

 lands here and in Lancaster ; Coekersand 

 Chartul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 562, 563. 



Adam son of Gille, also called Adam 

 Gerard, also held two oxgangs of land, 

 worth 4J., to be Serjeant under Henry de 

 Walton, master-serjeant of the wapen- 

 take ; Inq. and Extents, 26, 116. 



In 1237 William de Ferrers confirmed 

 to Luke de Derby, the reeve, and Geoffrey 

 the clerk, the sons of the above-named 

 Richard (who was son of Roger, son of 

 Gamel, son of Bruning), two oxgangs of 

 land which their ancestor had held of 

 King William ; ibid. 26 n. The accounts 

 of Luke the reeve for 1256 are printed 

 ibid. 208, 209. Geoffrey de Derby, 

 clerk, attested a charter about 1250; 

 Whalley Caueher (Chet. Soc), ii, 523. 

 Robert de Derby the reeve, in 1336, 



13 



substantiated his claim to housebote, 

 haybote, and other liberties for his houses 

 in Blackmoor and Derby, in virtue of the 

 Ferrers grant ; Add. MS. 32105, fol. 89^. 



Others occur who were obviously im- 

 portant officials. For instance ; Master 

 Simon de Derby, e. 1200; ibid, i, 288. 

 Master Roger de Derby, c. 1230 ; ibid, i, 

 60 ; Inq. and Extents, 130 (clerk) ; Final 

 Cone. (Rec* Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 55 n. He was ancestor of the Formby 

 family. Master Robert de Derby, e. 

 1240 ; Whalley Coueher, ii, 503. Jordan 

 de Derby; ibid, ii, 503. Jordan de Derby 

 and Alice his wife were plaintiffs in a 

 Walton suit in 1276; Assize R. 405, 

 m. 1 d. S(imon) son of Elwina de Derby ; 

 Whalley Coueher, iii, 853. 



'* Lanes. Pipe R. 422 ; the portion 

 which they decided to belong to the 

 forest was called * the wood {boseus) of 

 Derby ' ; its bounds began at the broad 

 appletree in Harum carr, went through 

 the middle of the carr to Hasellen hurst 

 where the footpath comes out of the 

 grove (nemus) to beyond Longlee, which 

 stretches from Derby towards K-irkby ; 

 beyond Longlee and Muke brooks, ascend- 

 ing these to Thrumthorndale brook, and 

 going up by this to the open ground of 

 Thingwall acres. It is further stated that 

 'the neighbouring vills had common of 

 herbage and other things in this wood ; and 

 the men of Derby had all necessaries in it.' 



17 Successive lords of Lancaster made 

 numerous grants of land at a rate which 

 advanced from 4.d. an acre in the reign of 

 Henry III to I2d. in that of Edward III. 



In 1297 the tenants of Derby held of 

 the approvement of the wastes 251 J acres 



