A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



one from another, the grand staircase being at its 

 north-cast angle. Sefton Hall, the old house of the 

 Molyneux family, was dismantled in 1720, and this 

 wing doubtless marks the date at which its abandon- 

 ment in favour of Croxteth was finally decided on. 

 Work had been going on at a somewhat earlier time, 

 as a date of 1693 and the initials of William Moly- 

 neux on a spout-head behind the tower on the west 

 front go to prove. The stables also had been re- 

 built before this time by Carjll Molyneux in 1678, 

 and were added to in 1706. 



A north wing was added about 1 790, but has 

 recently (1902-4) been rebuilt to harmonize with the 

 west front, the old brewhouse and bakehouse, which 

 had been incorporated with the work of 1790, being 

 destroyed in the process. In 1874-7 an east front 

 was built and the south front lengthened to join it, 

 while the dining-room at the south end of the west 

 wing was lengthened southwards and the grand stair- 

 case renewed. 



The present house, therefore, is built round a quad- 

 rangle, and its greatest dimensions are 205 ft. by 135. 

 Its chief merit lies in the early eighteenth-century 

 work, the details of the panelling being very good, 

 but of the fittings of the old house little remains 

 except a small oak door, nail-studded like those at 

 Pool Hall (1576), Moor Rill (1566), and Hale Hall 

 (c 1600), and looking as if it were not now in its 

 original position. Its Y-shaped iron knocker is in a 



curious position near the upper hinge, and the door 

 may be part of a larger one cut down. 



New Hall, on the borders of Fazakerlcy and Walton, 

 became the property of the family of Molyneux of 

 Alt Grange about the end of the sixteenth century, 

 and early in the eighteenth seems to have become 

 their chief residence.' It is a 

 plain specimen of the |-| -shaped 

 type, and bears the date 1660. 

 It passed, with Huyton, to the 

 Unsworths, and was by Thomas 

 Molyneux-Seel sold to Arthur 

 Heywood, banker, of Liverpool.' 



The Norris family had an 

 estate here in the fourteenth 

 century, acquired by William, a 

 younger son of John le Norreys 

 of Speke.' It descended in the 

 fifteenth century to Thomas 

 Norris,* whose daughter and 

 heir Lettice married her dis- 

 tant cousin Thomas Norris of 

 Speke, and so carried the estate back to the parent 

 stock. One of their grandsons, William Norris, 

 was settled here, his estate remaining with his 

 descendants to the end of the seventeenth century.' 

 The family remained constant to the Roman Church 

 and had to face loss and suffering in consequence, 

 especially during the Commonwealth ; * thus the 



Norris of Wkst 

 Derby, Quarterly ar- 

 gent and gu/eSf in the 

 second and third quarters 

 a fret or, on a Jess azure 

 three mullets of the third. 



311. 4^. for the lives of Sir Richard and 

 his sons Vivian and Gilbert j and in 171 1 

 William Lord Molyneux, upon the grant 

 of the ladies of the manor, was admitted 

 to a parcel of waste land fronting Crox- 

 teth Hall, lying between Abraham's gar- 

 den and the gate leading from the hall to 

 Derby chapel, at the yearly rent \d. ; 

 Croxteth D. i, 22, 23, 25. 



At the West Derby Court in 1727 was 

 a surrender and recovery of Croxteth 

 Hall and other copyhold estates by Lord 

 Molyneux ; ibid. iv. There was a similar 

 surrender in 1775 ; ibid. 



' An account of this family will be 

 found under Ince Blundell and Huyton. 

 The pedigree recorded in 1664 describes 

 them ' of New Hall ; ' Dugdale, Visit. 

 (Chet. Soc), 203. 



John Molyneux of Croxteth purchased 

 from Edward Hey in 1579 land called the 

 Acres Field, and a dwelling called Town 

 Row House ; Croxteth D. Cc. i, i 2. An 

 old rental of the township (1750) shows 

 that New Hall was in Town Row quarter. 

 The Acres field had been the inheritance of 

 Alice, daughter of Thomas Eyves of 

 Liverpool, and wife of Roger Lancelyn of 

 Poulton Lancelyn ; their son William in 

 I 544 sold it to Richard Hey, the tenant, 

 father of Edward Hey ; Croxteth D. Cc. 

 i, 6-10. In 1721 John Molyneux of 

 West Derby and Elizabeth his grand- 

 mother sold ten acres of the New Hall pro- 

 perty called Acreslields ; Thomas Barron 

 and Isaac Greene of Liverpool were the 

 purchasers or their agents ; Piccope MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), iii, 214; from 6 roll of 

 Geo. I at Preston. 



' Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iv, 47. 



' As William son of John le Norreys 

 he was witness to a grant made to 

 his elder brother Alan in 1334; Nor- 

 ris D. (B.M.), n. 51. It appears that 

 Robert de Holand in the time of 

 Edward II alienated to William le Nor- 

 reys a messuage and forty acres in West 

 Derby, without licence ; and on the death 



of William le Norreys, 10 Aug. 1349, 

 his son Thomas entered and continued to 

 hold them without doing any service until 

 1 361, when the escheator took possession ; 

 L.T. R.Mem. R. 132, m. xiiij. They 

 were afterwards delivered to Thomas le 

 Norreys, who had to pay j^24 ; and by 

 I 369 he was quit ; Pipe R. 43 Edw. Ill, de 

 oblatis, r. xl. See also Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 2 (2), m. v. ; Assize R. 435, m. 

 30 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 345. 

 William le Norreys had land in West 

 Derby as early as J325 ; Assize R. 426, 

 m. 2 d. 



William, son of John le Norreys, had 

 in 1346 claimed certain land in Hale 

 from Maud, widow of Sir Robert de Hol- 

 and ; and the suit was continued by his 

 son Thomas in 1355 ; De Banc. R. 348, 

 m. 390</. ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 4, 

 m. 5. Thomas le Norreys of Derby, 

 and Margaret the widow of William were 

 charged with withholding 13s. 4^/. from 

 Joan, widow of Richard de Yorton, 

 clerk ; from this suit it would seem that 

 the grant in West Derby by Robert de 

 Holand was to John le Norreys, who 

 transferred it to his son William ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. iiij (Easter). 

 Thomas le Norreys and Hugh his brother 

 were sureties in 1359 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 7, m. 7. 



Joan, late wife of Thomas le Norreys, 

 and Ellen, late wife of Hugh le Norreys 

 and guardian of William the next of kin 

 and heir of the said Thomas, came to an 

 agreement as to Joan's dower in West 

 Derby, Form by, and Hale, in 1370; 

 Norris D. (Rydal Hall), F 14. Probably 

 therefore William was son (or grandson) 

 of Hugh le Norreys. 



* William, father of this, and cousin 

 and heir of the preceding, Thomas, came 

 of age in 1389, the king on 10 July 

 issuing a writ concerning his proof of 

 age and livery ; he had been bom and 

 baptized at Heswall ; Norris D. (B.M.), 

 "• 592. He died at the beginning of 



16 



1401, the inquisition after his death 

 (z Hen. IV) showing that he had held 

 lands in West Derby and three oxgangs 

 in Formby, of the king as duke of Lan- 

 caster, by knight's service j Towneley 

 MS. DD. B. 1447 ; Inq. p. m. (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, II. 



Thomas, his son and heir, was then 

 only six months old ; he gave proof of 

 age in 1422, having been in the wardship 

 of Isabel his mother ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. 

 xxxiii, App. 23. The covenant of mar- 

 riage of his daughter Lettice with Thomas 

 Norris of Speke is dated 1446 ; Raines, 

 Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc), i, 98 n. 



' A pedigree was recorded at the Visit, 

 of 1664 (Chet. Soc), 218. 



William Norris of West Derby had two 

 sons, Henry and John, both living in 1 566, 

 and named in a settlement by Sir William 

 Norris ; Norris D. (B.M.). 



Richard, the son and heir apparent of 

 Henry, was as early as 1544 married to 

 Ellen a daughter and co-heir of John 

 Toxteth of Aigburth, who was then 

 under fourteen years of age ; Norris D. 

 (B.M.), n. 24. This was apparently 

 the Richard who heads the recorded 

 pedigree. A fine concerning a settlement 

 of his estates, in 1589, is in Pal. of Lane 

 Feet of F. bdle. 51, m. 99. 



His son Andrew appears in the list of 

 freeholders in 1600; Misc. (Rec Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 241 ; from one of 

 the Clowes deeds (n. 40 ; 1589) it appears 

 that he was illegitimate. Andrew Norris 

 as a convicted recusant paid double to 

 the subsidy of 1628 ; Norris D. (B.M.). 

 He died about ten years later, his will 

 being proved in 1639 at Chest. He 

 had a numerous family ; Henry, the 

 eldest, was born about 1601 ; Visit. 



' Royalist Comp. P. (Rec Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iv, 219-23; petitions from 

 the younger sons and daughters of Andrew 

 Norris, deceased, claiming annuities, 

 &c. It was found that the sons were 

 recusants, and a third of their annuities 



