WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



lowest level, about 50 ft. above the Ordnance datum, 

 is reached ; the greatest height is about 100 ft., on the 

 south side of the township. The country is extremely 

 flat and treeless, with nothing to recommend it to the 

 passer-by, for it seems to be a district of straight 

 lines, devoid of any beauty. Rather bare fields on the 

 south and east under mixed cultivation give some 

 variety to the pasture land. The geological forma- 

 tion is triassic, the southern part of the township con- 

 sisting of pebble beds, and the northern part of the 

 upper mottled sandstone of the bunter series. The 

 population in 1901 numbered 1,887. 



Agriculture is the chief occupation, but the jam 

 works established here have attained considerable mag- 

 nitude, and on the Aintree border have given name to 

 a little town known as Hartley's Village. 



The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway 

 from Liverpool to Manchester crosses the township with 

 a station called Fazakerley, near which is a junction 

 with the branch line to the Liverpool docks. Here are 

 the company's signal works. The Cheshire Lines Com- 

 mittee's railways from Liverpool to Southport and to 

 the Mersey docks also pass through the township. 



TT 



^ ^ 



¥■ ^ 



WALTON 



The cottage homes for the children of the West 

 Derby Union are situated near the station. Harbreck 

 House has been transformed into an infectious diseases 

 hospital by the Liverpool Corporation. The Everton 

 Burial Board have a cemetery, 

 and the Jewish connexion have 

 a small burial-ground on the 

 Walton border. The West 

 Derby sewage farm occupies the 

 eastern edge of the township. 



The township was included in 

 the City of Liverpool in 1905. 



The early history 

 MJNOR of the manor is 

 obscure, Henry and 

 Richard de Fazakerley, the first 

 of the local family on record, 

 appearing towards the end of 

 the thirteenth century.' Richard had three sons — 

 Henry, Richard, and Robert ; " and Henry's son 

 Robert de Fazakerley was lord of the manor for 

 about forty years.' After his death the succession 

 is again uncertain. Robert de Fazakerley, who 



Fazakerley of Fa- 

 zakerley. Ermine, 

 three ban -vert. 



^ Henry de Fazakerley in 1276 re- 

 covered possession of half a messuage, 

 a horse-mill, and 15 acres of land 

 in Walton ; Assize R. 405, m. 3 d, 

 Richard de Fazakerley was one of the 

 tenants of Richard de Walton in 1292; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 61 d, 23. Richard 

 de Fazakerley and Henry his son were 

 ■witnesses to a grant by Richard, lord of 

 Walton, to Robert Cawdran of land in 

 Fazakerley, with free entry to moor and 

 wood and other easements ; Harl. MS. 

 2042, fol. 157. Richard was also a wit- 

 ness to a grant by his son Henry to 

 Robert his brother, with various easements 

 in 'the vill of Walton ' ; ibid. fol. 158*. 



^ Henry made grants to his brothers. 

 To Richard he gave land adjoining the 

 field of Fazakerley and with housebote 

 and heybote and quittance of pannage in 

 the wood of Walton ; Harl. MS. 2042, 

 fol. 154^. To Robert he made two 

 grants ; one of these was in Fazakerley 

 in the Little Ley, from the lane to the 

 ditch of the Bancroft, with easements in 

 Walton; ibid. fol. 155, 155^; see also 

 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 243. 



These brothers had descendants. There 

 was besides a family descended from 

 Margery de Fazakerley ; Harl. MS, 2042, 

 fols. 154-9, contains a number of their 

 charters. Thus Henry de Fazakerley 

 granted to John son of Margery, AUys- 

 croft in Fazakerley, one end of it touch- 

 ing the lane ; fol. 156. To John son of 

 Richard de Fazakerley, Richard son of 

 Henry de Walton made a grant ; fol. 155. 

 John had several sons. Richard was the 

 principal ; he gave to his son John in 

 1339 land between the North brook and 

 the land of another son, William ; fol. 1 54. 

 Alan son of John, son of Margery, had 

 grants from Richard Cordewan and Robert 

 son of John in 1325 ; fol. 155^. In 

 1349 John son of Richard gave all his 

 hereditary lands in the vill of Fazakerley, 

 with liberties in the vill of Walton, to 

 Henry son of John de Acres ; fol. 1 54. 

 These charters contain a number of local 

 names ; e.g. Fernicroft, Woodflat, Rayde- 

 gate, Fediwell, the Aldherth, Henheyde, 

 Old Orchard ; also names of other ten- 

 ants — Harebergh, Kekewich, Thornton, 

 and others. A charter of this branch 

 (1325) is printed in Trans. Hist. Soc. {Uevf 

 Ser.), i, 161. 



Henry son of Margery had a grant 



from Ellen daughter of William, son of 

 Richard de Fazakerley, of land called 

 the Twafalward, lying by the field of 

 Henry Bullock and touching the brook ; 

 Kuerden, iii, W. 10, n. 3. In this collec- 

 tion are grants from William and Thomas 

 sons of Gilbert, son of Robert de Faza- 

 kerley ; ibid. n. 21, 22. The former seems 

 to be the William son of Robert, son of 

 Henry de Fazakerley, of other deeds ; 

 n. 19, 23. 



3 Robert de Fazakerley attested many 

 of the grants referred to down to 1349, 

 while as early as 1315 he gave a portion 

 of meadow to Richard son of John son 

 of Margery ; Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 154/". 

 In 1323 a deed by him mentions his son 

 Richard, who was himself a grantor in 

 1329 ; fol. 156, 155*. A son Henry also 

 occurs in 1329; fol. 156. Another of 

 Robert's grants is dated 1338 ; fol. 158. 

 One of Henry son of Robert's grants, 

 made in 1339, is printed in Crosse D. 

 (Trans. Hist. Sue), n. 50. 



In 1 344 John son of Richard de Thing- 

 wall made a claim against Simon de 

 Walton and Eleanor his wife, and Henry 

 son of Robert de Fazakerley ; Assize R. 

 1435, m. 34. Robert son of Henry de 

 Fazakerley was a plaintiff concerning land 

 in Walton in 1352, Simon de Walton 

 being the defendant ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 2, m, j d. In another case at 

 the same time Richard son of Henry, son 

 of Robert de Fazakerley, was plaintiff ; 

 ibid. m. iij. Three years later Robert de 

 Fazakerley was plaintiff in a case in which 

 Richard son of John was one of the de- 

 fendants ; ibid. R. 4, m, 20. Henry son 

 of Robert took action against the same 

 defendant in the following year ; ibid. R. 5, 

 m. I ; and at the same time another Henry, 

 the son of Richard, was plaintiff against 

 John son of Richard, son of John ; ibid. 

 R. 5, m. 14. d. 



Next appears Hugh de Fazakerley (or 

 several of the name). In the year just 

 named, 1356, Hugh son of Robert, son 

 of Henry de Fazakerley, brought a suit 

 against Robert son of William de Walton ; 

 ibid. R. 5, m. 21. In the next year Hugh 

 son and heir of Richard, son and heir of 

 Robert was plaintiff ; ibid. R. 6, m. 2 ; 

 and Henry (? Hugh) son of Richard, the 

 son and heir of Robert de Fazakerley, 

 made a claim upon Dionysia the daughter 

 of William son of Richard de Fazakerley; 



29 



ibid. R. 6, m. 7 d. In this indecisive 

 state of the evidence it can only be re- 

 marked that Hugh de Fazakerley seems 

 to be the next important member of the 

 family after Robert ; he accompanied the 

 duke of Lane, to Brittany about 1356 

 to 1359 J Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 

 PP' 33^> 339' Iri '3^0 he was de- 

 fendant in a suit concerning a messuage 

 in Walton brought by John son of John 

 del Bridge 5 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 8, 

 m, 4. In 1379 Isabel vi'idow of Hugh de 

 Fazakerley gave a release of actions to 

 John de Taylor and Henry de Fazakerley, 

 the executors j Towneley MS. GG, «. 

 Z4gi, She was perhaps the Isabel, 

 widow of John de Toxteth, who in 14.19 

 was bound to Robert and John de Faza- 

 kerley ; ibid. n. 2831. 



In 1376 Thomas de Fazakerley acquired 

 messuages in Liverpool j and by fine, in 

 which Roger de Fazakerley was one 

 plaintiff, a messuage and 80 acres of land 

 and wood in Walton were secured to 

 Nicholas de Farington and Katherine his 

 wife for life, with a remainder to William 

 son of Thomas, son of Thomas de Faza- 

 kerley ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 190, 192. Thomas de Faza- 

 kerley purchased lands in Walton in 

 1381 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. i, 

 m. 12, William de Fazakerley was con- 

 cerned in 1384 in a fine concerning the 

 lands of Richard de Halsall and Emma his 

 wife ; ibid. bdle. i, m. 21. Thomas de 

 Fazakerley had licence for an oratory 

 within his manor of Derby in 1382; 

 Lich. Reg. v, fol. 35A. The same or a 

 later Thomas was godfather to Thomas 

 Ic Norreys of West Derby in 1402 j 

 Lanes. Inq.p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 11. The 

 Richard de Halsall just named had a son 

 Gilbert mentioned in local deeds. 



A prominent member of the family is 

 Roger de Fazakerley, to whom and to 

 Joan his wife letters of protection were 

 granted by the duke of Lane, in 1382 j 

 Dep, Keeper^ Rep. xl, App. p. 521,. 

 In the same year the bishop of Lichfield 

 allowed him to have divine service in 

 every oratory within his manors in the 

 diocese ; Lich. Reg. v, fol. 35^. This 

 Roger and Joan occur discreditably in the 

 story of the Lathoms ; see Lanes. Inq.p. w. 

 (Chet. Soc), i, 18-20. Thomas de Faza- 

 kerley was one of Roger's sureties in 

 1384 ; ibid, i, 21. 



