WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WALTON 



threat of a fresh outbreak of persecution as a result of 

 the Oates plot appears to have broken the resolution 

 of * Mr. Norris of Derby,' who conformed to the 

 legally established religion in 1 68 1.' Norris Green 

 is supposed to indicate the site of their estate. 



The Moores' and Crosses' of Liverpool had lands 

 here about 1600. The Dwerryhouse family also 

 occur.* In 1631 Robert Fazakerley' and Robert 

 Mercer' of West Derby paid X'O e.ich on declining 

 knighthood. About the same time George Standish 

 had an estate here, which the Parliamentary authori- 

 ties sequestered for recusancy ; he died in 1653, and 

 his son and heir James, who was ' no recusant ' and 

 very poor, petitioned for a restoration, which was at 

 last granted.' 



The freeholders of 1600, in addition to families 

 already mentioned, were Robert Longworth and 

 Robert Bower." The landowners of 1628 contribut- 

 ing to the subsidy were Robert Fazakerley, Andrew 

 Norris, Hugh Rose, Ralph Mercer, and Hugh Riding." 

 Some other names occur among the sequestrations of 

 the Commonwealth period.'" 



The hearth tax of 1662 shows a number of 

 residents styled ' Mr.' viz : Richard Molyneux, Robert 

 Mercer, James Standish, Richard Lathom, Hugh 

 Rose, William Holme, and Joshua Ambrose the 

 curate. John Lyon and Alice Rycroft had houses of 

 five and four hearths respectively." 



Among the ' papists ' who registered estates in 1 7 1 7 

 were the following connected with this township : 

 William Lancaster of Ormskirk, Richard Whittle, 

 Margaret Pye, and Robert Chantrell.'" 



The first distinct allusion to the chapel 



CHURCH of West Derby occurs in the middle 

 of the fourteenth century." About a 

 century later there is mention of its reparation," and 

 in 1494 Henry VII allowed five marks out of the 

 issues of the manor towards the maintenance of a 

 chapel for the celebration of divine service within the 

 lordship." The next time it occurs is in connexion 

 with the spoliations of the Reformation period.'" 

 During the succeeding century its history is obscure ; 

 probably the new services were maintained more or 

 less regularly, a ' reading minister ' being supplied, as 



■was allowed ; the daughters were also 

 recusants. Their father's grant was 

 made in 1634, and he died about 1640. 

 Anne, one of the daughters, was in 1651 

 the wife of Richard Worthington. The 

 estates of Henry Norris, the eldest 

 brother, were under sequestration for 

 recusancy; they lay in Leigh, Pennington, 

 Worsley, Newton, West Derby, Liverpool, 

 and Litherland. 



John Norris, a brother of Henry, 

 married Eleanor Beaufoy, and three sons, 

 Charles, Richard, and Andrew, became 

 Jesuits. The last-named on entering the 

 English College, Rome, in 1673, stated 

 that he was born at Speke, educated in 

 Lancashire until fourteen or fifteen, and 

 then sent to St. Omer's; 'my parents and 

 relatives,' he said, ' are of the higher class 

 and are all Catholics. I have three 

 brothers but no sister. My father and 

 friends suffered much for religion ' ; Foley, 

 Rec. S. J. vi, 422 ; vii, 549-5 1> &=• 



1 This was probably Richard, son of 

 Henry Norris, aged 22 in 1 664 ; Vmt. 

 Thomas Marsden, vicar of Walton, wrote 

 in 1 68 1 asking favour for him, as he 

 was *not yet cleared in the Exchequer 

 for his recusancy and had heard his name 

 was in the list of such as should have ,^20 

 a month levied upon their heads.' Under 

 these circumstances Mr. Norris's con- 

 formity * to our church ' was ' as full as it 

 could be ' ; Kenyan MSS. (Hist. MSS. 

 Com.), 126. His act does not seem to 

 have saved the estates ; the family dis- 

 appear from notice, and much or all of 

 the property is held by the representatives 

 of John Pemberton Heywood, banker, of 

 Liverpool. 



2 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), i, 14 ; William Moore held 

 land of the king by ^^3 rent. 



In 1557 at West Derby Court Ralph 

 Hey, who had died since the previous 

 court holding a messuage and lands called 

 Sandeland, &c., was succeeded by his 

 brother Edward ; and at a court next year 

 Thomas Bolton leased to James Bolton 

 tenements, including land in Sandeland, 

 on which an annual rent was due to 

 John Moore ; Moore D. n. 600, 604. 

 In 1570 depositions were taken in a dis- 

 pute between John Moore and Edward 

 Hey of West Derby. Lawrence Breres 

 of Walton, aged 54, said that Ralph Hey, 

 elder brother of defendant, had told him 



of three meadows belonging to John 

 Moore, who through one of them had his 

 way to the Wythers wates. Richard 

 Hey, the father of Edward and Ralph, 

 had had a controversy in Henry VIII's 

 time with William Moore ; Ducatus Lane. 

 iii, 23. 



^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc), ii, 136 ; 

 a messuage and ten acres held of the king 

 by i.d. rent. See Crosse D. in Trans. Hist. 

 Soc. (New Ser.), vi-ix, n. 161, 209, 224. 

 The land was called Snodam or Snodon, 

 and was acquired in 1498 from Nicholas 

 Fazakerley ; in 1566 it was in the tenure 

 of Robert Fletcher. 



'' William Dwerryhouse, * yeoman,' of 

 West Derby, had in 1632 a demise of 

 lands in Kirkdale from John Moore ; in 

 1659 Anne Dwerryhouse, widow, was 

 one of the executors of William Dwerry- 

 house, 'gentleman,' deceased ; Moore 

 D. «. 616, 620. Anne Dwerryhouse, 

 by her will in 1672, devised lands for the 

 benefit of the school at West Derby. 



* Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 213. As a convicted recusant he paid 

 double to the subsidy in 1628 ; Norris D. 

 (B.M.). 



^ Misc. 1. c. William Mercer of Tue 

 Brook was a juror of West Derby in 

 1557. A pedigree was recorded in 1664 ; 

 Dugdale, Fisit. p. 197. 



The Mercers seem to have been, in 

 part at least, heirs of an older family 

 named , Fletcher. In 1568 Thomas 

 Fletcher sold to Ellen Fletcher, spinster, 

 daughter of John Fletcher (who was the 

 great-grandfather of Thomas), two closes 

 in West Derby called the Black flet Leys ; 

 Croxteth D. Cc. i, 19. This land, held in 

 1586 by Henry Mercer and the aforesaid 

 Ellen his wife (in her right), and by 

 Robert Boulton, was sold to Sir Richard 

 Molyneux ; ibid. Cc. i, 20, 21. Thomas 

 Fletcher died 28 February, 1584-5, hold- 

 ing a messuage and lands in West Derby, 

 by the twentieth part of a knight's fee ; 

 his son John was then a minor, but had 

 livery in February, 1588-9 ; ibid. Cc. ii, 9. 

 John, son and heir of Thomas Fletcher, 

 agreed to sell a messuage in West Derby 

 to Sir Richard Molyneux in 1586; 

 Croxteth D. Cc. 1, 1 6 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 48, n. 235. Thomas 

 Fletcher appears in the recusant roll of 

 1 641 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), 

 xiv, 237. 



17 



"^ Cai. Com. for Camp, iv, 3 151. In 

 1 519 Richard Standish of West Derby- 

 granted Sir William Molyneux a rent of 

 3J, charged on his lands ; Croxteth D. Cc. 

 i, la. Edward Standish of Derby was a 

 freeholder in 1600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 239. Their estate 

 seems to have been at Sandfield, for an 



old barn there is inscribed g. s. a. s. 



. . R. M. 



George Standish married Anne Aymount 

 of West Derby at Walton in April, 1628 ; 

 Registers. 



For Sandfield see Lanes, and Ches. Rec, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 243 — 

 between Mercer and Hallwood and other. 



3 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 240, 241. 



9 Norris D. (B.M.). 



^0 These seem to have been chiefly for 

 recusancy. Thus Richard Woods, * always 

 well affected,' took the oath of abjuration ; 

 Cal. Com. for Comp, iv, 2712. See ibid, 

 iv, 1940, 2861. 



11 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xvi, 135. 

 A bond (1587) by William Rose of Low 

 in West Derby is in Towneley MS. GG. 

 H. 2,420. 



1^ Estcourt and Payne, Engl, Catk. 

 Nonjurors^ pp. no, 120, 122, 148. 

 William Lancaster, a doctor, was the 

 founder of the present Ormskirk mission. 

 Robert Chantrell was a goldsmith. 



1^ It occurs thus: *John del Brakes 

 . , . struck and wounded Richard le Jay 

 in the chapel of Derby on Sunday next 

 after the feast of the Ascension, 1360'; 

 Assize R. 451, «. 3. 



l"* Okill, iv, 294 ; in the accounts of 

 Thomas Lord Stanley, as receiver for the 

 county, is an item of 13J. \d. for the 

 repair of the chapel within the manor of 

 Derby. In the reign of Edward IV, under 

 the sign-manual of Richard, duke of 

 Gloucester, the bailiff of the manor had 

 j^3 6j. %d. allowed for the repairs, because 

 the king, as lord of the manor, held his 

 courts in the chapel j Mins. Accts. 



15 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 170. A later 

 grant is in Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 

 xxii, p. 228 d. 



16 Ch. Gds. 1552 (Chet. Soc), p. 99 5 

 the chapel seems to have been but poorly 

 furnished. Also Raines, Chant. (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, 277. Robert Bolton was curate 

 1548, 1554; Visit, lists at Chest. 



