A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Thus by the year 1564 three parts of the manor 

 had come into the possession of Henry Halsall, from 

 whom the estate descended to Sir Cuthbert Halsall ; 

 he in 1631 sold it to Robert BlundeU,' in whose 

 descendants it has descended, in the same manner as 

 Ince Blundcll, to Mr. Charles Weld-BlundeU, the 

 present lord of this share. 



The remaining portion, traditionally seven oxgangs 

 out of the thirty-two, was the share of the Formby 

 family. It appears that Master Roger de Derby held 

 seven oxgangs in Formby, five of Henry de Walton, 



and two of William de Lee, the latter in turn prob- 

 ably holding of the same Henry. To Hugh de 

 Corona, son of Master Roger, Henry de Nottingham 

 granted these seven oxgangs, with the principal 

 messuage and all his men, as well free as others, at a 

 rent of I 5/. zd. a year and a pair of white gloves.' 

 This Hugh de Corona is no doubt the Hugh 

 de Formby ' whose son Adam de Formby held seven 

 oxgangs here in 1327.* From that time only frag- 

 mentary notices are obtainable of the family,' except 

 in the sixteenth century,* until the eighteenth century 



Beetham quarter), and Aughton of North 

 Meols (who held of Bold of Bold), ii. ; 

 Rentals and Surv. portf. 22, n. 21. 



As to the Gerard share, in 1 5 1 3 Joan, 

 formerly the wife of Nicholas Fazakerley, 

 released to Peter Gerard, clerk, what she 

 had in Formby (Kuerden MSS. ii, 268*, 

 H. 42) ; and in 1640 Thomas Gerard of 

 Aughton made a feoffment of the ' lord- 

 ship of Formby ' and various lands. Ibid. 

 269, n. 7. The rent of 4J. ^d. was paid 

 in 1617 ; Lanes. Inj. f.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 47. 



The Aughton share descended to Bar- 

 naby Kitchin of North Meols ; ibid, i, 

 27. 



In 1446 the four lords of Formby were 

 John Warren, Thomas Beetham, Thomas 

 Norris, and William Formby ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 9, m. 18*. In 1553 they 

 were Sir Edward Warren, Edward earl of 

 Derby, Sir Richard Molyneux, and William 

 Formby ; Duchy of Lane. Depos. Ph. and 

 Marv, liiv, H. 2. 



1 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 119, 

 Lent, 7 Chas. I. The sale included the 

 advowson of the church at Formby. 



» Formby Chart, n. i. Henry de Not- 

 tingham was no doubt a trustee. The 

 service Is that due from 6J oxgangs. 



A contirmatory charter from Avice, 

 daughter of Roger de Derby, to the same 

 Hugh, describes him as son of Anilia de 

 Corona ^ ibid. n. 2. Probably therefore 

 Master Roger had been twice married, 

 .\vice being a daughter by the former wife, 

 and Hugh the son of Anilia de Corona 5 

 he was at first known by his mother's 

 surname, the family being of some conse- 

 quence in Cheshire ; see Ormcrod, Ches, 

 (ed. Helsbv), iii, 654. 



Hugh de Corona and Nicholas his 

 brother were the principal witnesses to 

 Avice's grant. 



* Hugh de Formby gave to William de 

 Dudley a ridge lying in the Scalciands, 

 between lands of Richard d'Evyas, then 

 lord of half the vill, and touching the 

 highway at one end. *The Priest's* 

 seems to have been the name of a holding 

 which gave a surname to the tenant, oc- 

 curring in this and other charters, Norris 

 D. (B.M.), n. 418. To the same William 

 de Dudley Alan, son of Alan le Norreys, 

 granted half an oxgang ; Hugh de Formby 

 was one of the witnesses ; ibid. n. 419. 

 William de Dudley afterwards granted the 

 former plot to his son Robert ; ibid. n. 5. 



Hugh, son of Master Robert de Derby 

 granted to Robert, son of Richard de 

 Formby, the son of Albinus the priest, a 

 selion in the Wray, stretching from the 

 garden of .-Vlan le Norreys to Hang Lane ; 

 also the garden which the grantor had in 

 Rysin Bridge and the messuage which 

 Roger de Argarmeols held ; Formby 

 Chart, n. 3. 



Hugyn, son of Master Robert de Derby, 

 was fined for not answ*ering a summons in 

 1246 ; Assize R. 404, m. 19. 



* Norris D. (B.M.), n. 423 5 a grant by 



Simon le Waleys, son of Henry, rector of 

 Standish, to Robert Dudley and Margery 

 his wife, of land called Rikounisfield with 

 the house thereon, to be held of the chief 

 lords by services due, viz. to Adam de 

 Formby yearly iJ., for so much of that 

 land as belongs to 7 oxgangs. Adam de 

 Formby and William his brother were 

 witnesses. 



Two of Adam's grants are extant. 

 In 1328 he gave to Adam son of Richard 

 de Ainsdale part of Dykesland stote ; 

 ibid. n. 424. In the same year he gave 

 to Nicholas le Norreys, probably as trus- 

 tee, all his lands in the vill of Formby, 

 except the oxgang held by Ameria, daughter 

 of Robert de Hesketh, by the grantor's 

 gift, and the messuage of the rector of 

 Walton ; Formby Chart. Adam de Formby 

 attested a charter in 1 340 ; Norris D. 

 (B.M.), B. 427. 



Besides the William just mentioned as 

 Adam's brother, Hugh de Formby seems 

 to have had other children. Thus Roger 

 son of Hugh de Formby granted land for- 

 merly tenanted by Richard de Birkdale to 

 William son of Robert the reeve ; this 

 lay between lands of Beetham on one side 

 and Stockport on the other ; Norris D. 

 (B.M.), n. 420. Roger attested a local 

 charter in 1 303 ; fVhalley Couchcr, ii, 



518. 



Richard, son of Hugh de Formby, was 

 plaintiff in 1304 ^ Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 204. Possibly it was 

 his son, as William, son of Richard Hog- 

 son of Formby, who made a grant to Alan, 

 son of John le Norreys of Speke ; Norris 

 D. (B.M.), n. 7. 



There were, however, other families 

 using the local surname, e.g. William, son 

 of William de Formby, and Margery his 

 wife, at Ince in 1301 ; Final Cone. 1, 195. 

 A Margery, widow of William de Formby, 

 was living in 1370; Moore D. n. 219. 

 Richard son of Maud de Formby had a 

 grant here; Norris D. (B.M.), n. 421, 

 Richard son of Orm de Formby, the father 

 being also called the Forester, was a wit- 

 ness to local charters ; ibid. n. 4, 416. 



Two other grants concerning Rikounis- 

 field may be added 5 one from Stephen del 

 Priests to John le Norreys, describing it 

 as between the land formerly Dame Mar- 

 gery de Samlesbury's and the great pit on 

 the north ; the other from Richard, son of 

 Richard, son of Orm the Forester ; Norris 

 D.(B.M.),n. 3,417. 



A John, son of Adam de Formby, held 

 a burgage in Liverpool in 133 1 ; Moore 

 D. n. 173. His son John held one in 

 1346. 



Thomas, son of John de Formby, 

 married Eleanor, a daughter and co-heir 

 of Richard le Waleys of Uplitherland ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 183. 



^ Hugh and Roger de Formby appear in 

 the poU-tajc list of 1381 j Lay Subs. Lanes. 

 13C/24. 



William de Formby made a feoffment 

 of his lands in 1428, and the feoffees 



48 



granted a portion of land to John Vausc 

 and Joan his wife, daughter of William de 

 Formby, lying between lands of Beetham 

 and Norris, and extending from the high- 

 way between Old Formby and Altcar, to a 

 dyke on the west ; Formby Chart, n. 4-6. 

 Ralph Formby was the heir of William, 

 but the relationship is not stated ; he was 

 in possession in the time of Edw. IV 

 (1463, 1474) ; ibid. n. 8, 9, 14. He 

 agreed to enfeoff Richard Sutton of Form- 

 by in a parcel of land called the Turnacres, 

 and an 'oxayong' ; ibid. n. 7. 



William Formby, of Formby, esquire, 

 was witness to a grant In 1485 ; ibid, n, 

 16 ; William Formby, no doubt the same, 

 was the first witness to a grant of lands 

 made in 1493 by William Ainsdale of 

 Formby to Nicholas Reynold ; the Long- 

 dale, Shortdale, and Devil Gap are named 

 in it ; ibid. n. 22. Robert was the son 

 and heir of Nicholas Reynold in 15 10; 

 ibid. n. 23. 



<■ William Formby, who may be identical 

 with the William of the last note, held 

 lands in Formby in socage by the rent of 

 151. ; he made feoffments in 1521 and in 

 1523 in favour of Maud, widow of his son 

 Richard, his own sons Ellis and Gilbert, 

 with remainder to his heir, William the son 

 of the said Richard. He died 29 March, 

 1523, when William, the grandson, was 

 aged twelve years or more ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. v, n. 54. For Ellis Formby, 

 see Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chee.), i, 197. 



The younger William was one of the 

 defendants to a complaint by Henry Hal- 

 sall in 1553, concerning trespass on Down- 

 holland Moss ; he described himself as 

 lord of the fourth part of the manor of 

 Formby, by descent from his grandfather, 

 William Formby ; Duchy of Lane. Depos. 

 Ph. and Mary, Ixiv, H. 2. He made a 

 grant in the 'Dereles' in 1533 ; Formby 

 Chart, n. 36. Two years later he was en- 

 gaged to marry Anne, daughter of Margery 

 Singleton of Snape ; ibid. n. 3 1. He died 

 in 1565, holding the same estate as above, 

 by 1 51. rent and a pair of white gloves ; 

 this may be compared with the services 

 due from Hugh de Corona. The heir 

 was his son Richard, aged twenty-seven ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, «. 35. 



The son may have been the Richard 

 Formby whose arrest caused a riot in 

 1557 ; Duchy Plead, iii, 255-7. Richard 

 Formby was the only freeholder recorded 

 in Formby in 1600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc, 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 239. 



The family adhered to the Roman Church, 

 which may be one reason for the obscurity 

 in which for more than a century they are 

 involved. Richard Formby and Joan his 

 wife were presented in 1598 for absenting 

 themselves from service ; Visitation Lists : 

 ' Richard Formby of Formby, gent., was 

 fined for recusancy in the beginning of 

 James I's reign, and the family continued 

 regularly on the recusant rolls until the end 

 of Charles II's reign. Richard Formby 



