WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



when Richard Formby ' was lord of this part of 



Formby and also curate of the chapel. He died in 



1832, and was succeeded by his son John Formby 



of MaghuU Hall,* whose son 



the Rev. Lonsdale Formby was, 



liice his grandfather, lord of the 



manor and incumbent of the 



chapel. Mr. John Formby, his 



only son, is the present lord of 



this portion of the manor. 



In 1 7 1 7 as ' papists ' John 

 Poole of Great Crosby, Richard 

 Rimmer, and Nicholas Summer 

 registered estates here.' 



Before the Conquest there 

 were in RJFEN MEOLS three 

 manors held by as many thegns ; 

 the assessment was half a hide, 

 and the value beyond the 

 normal 8/.* The whole was 

 the demesne of West Derby, 



Formby of Formby. 

 Argent, a lion rampant 

 gules, on a chief aaure 

 two do'vei argent. 



customary rent the 

 afterwards put into 



and in 1094 Roger 

 of Poitou gave the tithes of Meols, as of his other 

 demesne manors, to St. Martin of Seez.' Sixty years 

 later Henry II gave this vill, with Ainsdale and other 

 more important estates, to his falconer, Warin de 

 Lancaster, to hold by grand serjeanty, and John 

 count of Mortain confirmed the gift to Henry de 

 Lea, son of Warin, between 11 89 and 1 194,° and 

 again in 1 199 after becoming king.' In 1207 the 

 tenure of Raven Meols and Ainsdale was changed to 

 socage and a yearly service of 20s. ; five-sixths of 

 which was due from this vill.' The subsequent 



WALTON 



descent of the mesne lordship is the same as that of 

 Lea and the other manors of Henry son of Warin.' 



Between 1205 and 121 1 Henry de Lea granted 

 licence to William Blundell of Ince to erect a mill on 

 the Raven Meols side of the Alt, with the right to 

 take eels at the sluice ; the mill was given to the 

 monks of Whalley, who in 1329 agreed with Sir 

 Richard de Hoghton and his wife Sibyl to pay a rent 

 of a gilt spur, or 4a'., and reserve the eel fishery to 

 the lord of Raven Meols.'" 



The survey of 1212 shows that thirteen of the 

 twenty-four oxgangs had been granted to eight tenants. 

 The details are : Robert son of Osbert (de Ainsdale), 

 two oxgangs by serving the office of reeve ; Alan le 

 Brun, two oxgangs by a rent of 6s., these feoffments 

 were ' of ancient time ' ; Richard son of Henry, two 

 oxgangs for 6s. by grant of Warin de Lancaster ; and 

 the following held by gift of Henry de Lea ; Denise, 

 daughter of Thurstan, two oxgangs by 5/. rent ; 

 William, brother of the grantor, an oxgang by a 

 pound of pepper ; Edwin, two oxgangs by 5^. ; 

 Robert, one oxgang by y. ; Thomas, son of Sigge, 

 the same." In the inquest after the death of Henry 

 de Lea in 1289, it was stated that he held seven 

 oxgangs in demesne and five in service ; from which 

 it would appear that half the manor had been already 

 lost, probably by incursions of the sea." 



Some of these infeudations can be traced later. 

 The lands of Denise daughter of Thurstan descended 

 to Ellen, her daughter by William de Stanton ; " and 

 subsequently to the Banastres of Bank, who held them 

 for many generations." William de Lancaster, baron 



born at Formby, 23 April, 1701, took 

 the college oath at Douay in 1720' ; 

 Gillow, Bihl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. ii, 309. 



Sir Cuthbert Halsall and Richard Form- 

 by were the freeholders here in 1628, the 

 latter paying double as a convicted recu- 

 sant ; Norris D. (B.M.). The whole 

 township appears to have held to the same 

 religion, judging by the recusant list of 

 1641 ; there are several Formbys on it ; 

 Tram. Hist, Soc, (New Ser.), xiv, 238. 

 About 1630 Richard Formby the younger, 

 of Formby, was a trustee of the settlement 

 made by Edward Ireland of Lydiate j 

 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 37. 



About four years later Richard Formby 

 enfeoffed Edward Ireland and Peter Stanley 

 of his lands in Formby ; Kuerden, ii, fol. 

 268 b, n, 45. He is stated in the printed 

 pedigree to have married a daughter of 

 Edward Stanley of Moor Hall, at this 

 time. 



Richard Formby was in 1688 one of 

 the local gentlemen desired to see that the 

 North Meols roads were properly kept, and 

 report to the Quarter Sessions ; Kenyon 

 MSS, (Hist. MSS. Com.), 195. 



Richard Formby, esquire, was in 1709 

 one of the trustees of the school ; Gastrell, 

 Notitia, ii, 228. Mr. Formby of Formby 

 is frequently mentioned in N. Blundell's 

 Diary about 1720. In 1721 the bishop of 

 Chester appointed him on a commission 

 to inquire Into the patronage of the rectory 

 of Walton. He died 22 Dec. 1737, his 

 will being proved at Chester, leaving a 

 widow Mary, and a son John, fifteen years 

 of age J also daughters, Elizabeth^ who 

 married Robert Hesketh of Barton, Mary, 

 Dorothy, Catherine, and Alice as appears 

 by a deed of 1739 enrolled at Preston 

 (13 R. Geo. II) ; Piccope MSS. Hi, 266. 

 The son John is in the printed pedigree 

 stated to have graduated from Clare Hall, 

 Cambridge ; but this is an error. 



'In 1667 Cuthbert Formby . . . was 

 a recusant at Formby, and his son Thomas 

 registered his estate as a Catholic nonjuror 

 In 1 7 1 7 ' ; Gillow, loc. cit. ; Engl. Cath. 

 Nonjurors, 155. This estate was at Altcar. 



' As son of John Formby of Walton, 

 he entered Brasenose Coll. Oxf. in 1777, 

 aged seventeen, and graduated B.C.L. 

 in 1784. The will of John Formby of 

 Formby, esquire, was proved at Chester 

 in 1778. 



2 See the account of MaghuU. The later 

 generations of the descent have been taken 

 from Foster's Lanes. Pedigrees. 



John Formby's brother, Henry Green- 

 halgh Formby, had a son Henry, born in 

 1 816 and educated at Brasenose Coll. 

 Oxf. ; M.A. 1 841. Following the Oxford 

 Movement he was received into com- 

 munion with the Roman Church in 1846, 

 and was ordained priest. He was the 

 author of a large number of theological 

 and historical works j *his great aim was 

 to bring about a better knowledge of the 

 scriptures and the Catholic faith by pub- 

 lishing works profusely illustrated with 

 instructive pictures.' He died in 1884. 

 See Gillow, op. cit. 



^ Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 110, 118, 155. 

 John Poole's estate seems to have been 

 due to his marriage with the widow of 

 Robert Blundell of Ince. 



^ y.C.H. Lanes, i, 284a. 



' Lanes. Pipe R. 290. There was a dis- 

 pute in 1 193 between the rector of Walton 

 and the prior of Lancaster touching these 

 tithes ; Lane. Church (Chet. Soc), 112. 



s Lanes. Pipe R. 432. 



7 Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 26. 



8 Ibid. 171^. Henry de Lea gave 

 various lands in Raven Meols to Cocker- 

 sand Abbey ; Cockersand Chartul. ii, 

 565-6. 



9 See the accounts of Lea and Hoghton. 

 Free warren was granted in 1284 ; Chart. 



49 



R. 12 Edw. I, m. 4, «, 22. In 1324 Sir 

 Richard de Hoghton and Sibyl [de Lea] 

 his wife held the manor of Raven Meols 

 by a service of 16s. /\.d. for all services 

 without puture, bode, or witness ; Dods. 

 MS. cxxxi, fol. -^Sb. Richard and Sibyl 

 had in 1317 demised for life all their 

 demesne lands here, with pasture and 

 turbary in Ince, to William de Dudley and 

 Richard his son ; Add. MS. 32106, n. 734. 



Sir Adam de Hoghton contributed los, 

 to the aid of 1378 for the moiety and 

 tenth part of a knight's fee in Raven 

 Meols and Ainsdale with the members ; 

 Harl. MS. 2085, fol. 421^. 



In 1386, by a deed given at Raven 

 Meols Sir Richard de Hoghton gave the 

 manor to Henry his brother, son of Sir 

 Adam, to hold during the life of Sir 

 Adam's widow Ellen; Add. MS. 32106, 

 fl. 26. 



In the Feodary of 1489 Alexander de 

 Hoghton is stated to hold Raven Meols 

 and Ainsdale for i6s. 8(/. yearly ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Misc. Vols, cxxx, fol. xji. In 

 subsequent inq. p. m. the tenure of these 

 manors is described as the tenth part 

 of a knight's fee. 



10 fT/ialiey Gaucher (Chet. Soc), ii,497, 

 495> 5 '5* William Blundell had already 

 given a tithe of the multure of this mill 

 to Cockersand Abbey ; Chartul. ii, 568, 



^1 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 22. From 

 what follows it will be seen that the 

 rector of Walton had an oxgang here, no 

 doubt appropriated to the curate of 

 Formby. 



12 Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. I, n. 2 ; the yearly 

 service payable to the earl of Lancaster 

 remained unaltered at 165. %d. 



18 Dods. MSS. cxlii. fol. 69. 



1"* In 1292 three oxgangs were held by 

 the Banastre family, for Avice widow of 

 Nicholas dc Lea claimed dower in two 

 messuages and one oxgang held by Richard. 



7 



