A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



West Derby, but part at least seems to have been 

 granted by Count Roger of Poitou to the ancestor 

 of Molyneux of Sefton, being soon exchanged for a 

 moiety of Litherland.' The whole vill was then 

 afforested, and until 1604 continued to form part of 

 the forest of West Derby, being described as a ' Hay ' 

 in the earlier records, and as a 

 park from the time of Edward I. 

 A separate keeper or parker was 

 appointed for it.' The boun- 

 daries, somewhat within the 

 present ones, are described in 

 the perambulation of 1228.' 



In 1257 the yearly issues 

 of Toxteth amounted to 

 [j i\s. (>\d., arising from per- 

 quisites, agistment, and wood 

 sold/ At the death of Edmund, 

 earl of Lancaster, in 1296, 

 the issues of Toxteth, Croxteth, 

 and Simonswood amounted to 



j^8 3/. \od. per annum.' His son and successor, 

 Thomas, in 1 3 16, while a guest of the monks of 

 Whalley, then but recently translated from Stanlaw 

 in Cheshire, gave them Toxteth and Smithdown ; 

 they being dissatisfied with Whalley owing to the 

 lack of timber there for building.^ However, they 

 decided to stay at Whalley, and the grant of Toxteth 

 was revoked. Sir Robert de Holand being put in 

 possession of this and other manors in the hundred. 



Stanley of Lathom. 

 Argent^ on a bend azure 

 three stags* heads cabossed 

 or. 



which he held till the earl's attainder in 1322.' 

 Five years later Toxteth, with the other parks, was 

 granted to Henry, brother of Thomas of Lancaster, 

 on being allowed to succeed to the earldom and 

 estates.' 



By this time the profits of the park from the sale of 

 fuel, &c., had become more important than the 

 preservation of deer for the chase, and various leases 

 and grants were made.' The custody of the park, 

 after various changes,'" was in 1447 granted in fee to 

 Sir Thomas Stanley, controller of the household, at a 

 rent of 11/. j^d. yearly, with a lease also of the 

 turbary." This office descended 

 in the Stanley family until 1 596, 

 when William, earl of Derby, 

 sold the park with all his lands 

 and tenements there and in 

 Smithdown to Edmund Smoke 

 and Edward Aspinwall," who 

 subsequently made a number of 

 grants to kinsmen and others. 

 Eight years later the earl agreed 

 to sell the same to Sir Richard 

 Molyneux of Sefton," and after 

 various intermediate arrange- 

 ments " the transfer was com- 

 pleted in 1605," from which time the estate has 

 descended in the Molyneux family to the present earl 

 of Sefton. The disparking occurred about 1592.'* 



No courts have been held from about 1770, and 



Molyneux, Earl of 

 Sefton. Aizure, a cross 

 moline or. 



* Lanes. Inj. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanca. and Ches.), 14^ 



In 1 382 the prior of Lancaster received 

 481. 4^/. as tithes of Toxteth and Croxteth ; 

 Lane. Church (Chet. Soc), ii, 459. This 

 was probably the result of the grant of 

 demesne tithes by Roger of Poitou ; 

 Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 289. 



* In 1207 when William Gernet had 

 livery of the master forestership in suc- 

 cession to his father Benedict, the covert 

 of Toxteth and the arable lands belonging 

 to the underwood of the forest — probably 

 in the vill of West Derby — were excepted, 

 so that, no doubt, these had already 

 separate custodians ; ibid. 217. 



^ Ibid. 421. The bounds are thus 

 described : * Where Oskell's brook falls 

 into the McrH-\- ; up this brook to 

 Haghou meadow, from this to Brummesho, 

 following the syke to Brumlausic, and 

 across by the old turbaries upon two meres 

 as far as Lombethom ; from this point 

 going down to the " waterfall " of the head 

 of Otter pool, and down this pool into 

 the Mersey.' 



* Ldrics. In^. and Extents, 2IO. 



^ Ibid. 2S- ; this, however, included 

 all the receipts from the forest of West 

 Derby. 



6 IVhalUy C'.ucher (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 527-31. It appears from these charters 

 that part of Toxteth lay within an en- 

 closure of pales {claustura) and part of it 

 outside, and that Smithdown had for some 

 time past ceased to be within the fenced 

 park. 



? See the account of West Derby. 



8 Inq. p.m. I Edw. Ill, n. 88 ; the 

 issues of Toxteth for summer herbage 

 were then worth ;^l I a year. 



In a valuation made in 1331 the forest 

 of Toxteth, with Croxteth and Simons- 

 wood, was returned as worth ^13 31. iji. 

 a year. 



According to the extent of 1346, after 

 the death of Earl Henry, Toxteth Park 



contained by estimation 5 leagues in cir- 

 cuit \ the herbage was worth £17 a year ; 

 mast-fall, windfallen wood, &c., were not 

 valued; Add. MS. 32103, fol. 140. A 

 certain pasture called Smithdown yielded 

 an annual farm of 71. : ibid. fol. 142. 



Two years later a more detailed ac- 

 count returned the agistment in summer 

 and winter as worth ^10 12J. ^d. ; pan- 

 nage of swine, I 31. ^d. ; turbary of Smith- 

 down, 43J. ^d. ; turbary outside the park 

 near Black Mere, 4j. ; gorse sold in the 

 park, 6j. Sd. ; turbary outside the park, 

 nigh Liverpool, windfallen wood, bracken, 

 and perquisites of the wood-motes, nil. ; 

 Duchy of Lane Var. Accts. 32/17, fol. yi. 



"In 1338, Adam son of William dc 

 Liverpool had a grant in fuc from the 

 earl of one acre of turbary in Toxteth, 

 adjoining the park pale, for 6d. yearly ; 

 Add. MS. 3210;, ij. 104, 



In 1385 William de Liverpool had 

 licence from John duke of Lane, to 

 take two cartloads of gorse weekly from 

 the park for i zd. a year rent ; Def. 

 Keeper's Ref>. xxxii, App. 339. 



Another source of profit was indicated 

 in 1392 in a grant to Robert Baxter and 

 William Bolton to delve stones from the 

 quarry within the park ; Kuerden MSS. 

 ii, fol. 157. 



1" A grant to Baxter and Bolton, men- 

 tioned in the last note, had been made in 

 1383, of the custody of the herbage 

 within the park, the old turbary, &c., to 

 endure for twenty years at a rent of 

 24 marks ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 

 526. In 1394 they resigned the lease, 

 and it was given to Richard de Molyneux : 

 ibid. In 1403, this being resigned or 

 lost, a six years' lease was granted to 

 John Stonyhurst and Thomas Ashton at 

 a rent of 40 marks, with a proviso that 

 they should not sell turf within the town- 

 ship of Liverpool : ibid. 531. 



" Ibid. 539 ; the lease of the turbary 

 was to Sir Thomas Stanley and James 



42 



Harebrown, for seven years at 43J. 41/. 

 a year. 



In 1522, the park being in the king's 

 hands owing to the minority of Edward 

 earl of Derby, a stag of season was ordered 

 to be taken and delivered to the earl of 

 Devon. Croxteth D. Aa, i. 



1^ Croxteth D. Aa, 2 ; ^i,ioo was the 

 consideration named. 



Edward Aspinwall was one of the 

 founders of "Toxteth chapel ; he was 

 buried in the graveyard there in 1656. 

 His son married the sister of Sir Gilbert 

 Ireland of Hale. Nightingale, Lanes. Non- 

 conf. vi, 6y, 68. 



1' Croxteth D. Aa, 2a; ^1,100 was 

 again the price, of which j^200 had been 

 paid. It is not known whether Smolte 

 and Aspinwall had been acting for them- 

 selves or for Sir Richard Molyneux in the 

 previous transfer. The sale in 1604 was 

 made subject to a proviso that the earl 

 procured from the king the reversion in fee 

 expectant upon an estate tail granted to 

 the earl's father by Queen Elizabeth. 



'■i In July, 1604, Thomas Ireland 

 covenanted with Sir Richard Molyneux to 

 obtain from the king the reversion in fee of 

 the park and moss, in consideration of a 

 payment of ^500 ; and this was granted in 

 October, by letters patent, to Randle 

 WoUey and Thomas Dodd, citizens of 

 London, at the nomination of Sir Henry 

 Bromley, who afterwards transferred to Sir 

 Richard ; ibid. n. 12, 14 ; Pat. 2 Jas. i, 

 pt. xxi. The yearly rent of iij. 7j</. was 

 still to be paid to the crown. 



In the meantime Smolte and Aspinwall, 

 having made certain arrangements witfi 

 the tenants and farmers of the park, on 

 whose behalf and their own they had pur- 

 chased it, conveyed their interest to Sir 

 Richard. Croxteth D. Aa, n. 13. 



^* Ibid. n. 15; a fine concerning 24 

 messuages, 10 cottages, 2 mills, &c., in 

 Toxteth and Smithdown. 



" Duchy of Lane. Spec. Com. n. 671. 



