A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



SEFTON 



SEFTON 

 NETHERTON 

 LUNT 

 THORNTON 



INCE BLUNDELL 

 LITTLE CROSBY 

 GREAT CROSBY 



LITHERLAND 

 ORRELL AND FORD 

 AINTREE 



This parish, lying on the coast near the entrance of 

 the Mersey and bounded on the east and north by the 

 River Alt, has an area of 1 2,68 7^ acres. The surface 

 is level and lies very low, so that in rainy seasons the 

 Alt floods a considerable extent of land ; the greatest 

 height is attained in the south, part of Orrell being 

 125 ft. above sea level. 



Anciently the townships were arranged in four 

 quarters as follows : i, Sefton, with Netherton and 

 Lunt ; ii, Ince Blundell, Little Crosby ; iii, Thorn- 

 ton, Great Crosby ; iv, Down Litherland with Orrell 

 and Ford, Aintree. Each quarter paid equally to the 

 county lay.' Within recent years the seaside town- 

 ships of Waterloo and Seaforth, governed in combina- 

 tion, have been formed from Great Crosby and 

 Litherland respectively. In these a large urban 

 population has grown up, but the greater part of the 

 area is still rural. The agricultural land of the 

 parish is mainly arable, viz. 7,356 acres; while 

 1,869 acres are in permanent grass, and 240 in woods 

 and plantations. The population in 1 90 1 was 



45,846. . . , , 



The parish has but little connexion with the general 

 history of the country. At Flodden Sir William 

 Molyneux of Sefton greatly distinguished himself, and 

 Henr)- Blundell of Little Crosby fell in the battle. 

 The change of religion made by Elizabeth was 

 most distasteful to the people. In 1624 and 1626 

 ' riots and rescues,' occasioned by the unwelcome 

 visits of the sheriff's officers to seize the cattle of the 

 recusant William Blundell of Little Crosby, became a 

 Star Chamber matter, resulting in the imposition of a 

 heavy fine upon the perpetrators.* As w.is to be ex- 

 pected, in the Civil War the gentry took the king's 

 side, and their possessions were consequently seques- 

 trated by the Parliament. The smaller people also 

 suffered.' The Lancishire Plot of 1 694 brought 

 more trouble on the district,' but the risings of I 71 5 

 and 1745 do not appear to have drawn any support 

 from Sefton. 



The principal landowners of the parish have long 



been the lords of Sefton, Ince Blundell, and Little 

 Crosby. In 1792 the eari of Sefton, Henry Blundell, 

 and Nicholas Blundell contributed ^^192 to the land 

 tax out of ^^48 1 charged upon the parish.' 



The life of the district in the first part of the 

 eighteenth century is well illustrated in Nicholas 

 Blundell's Diary. In the way of sports there were 

 hunting, coursing — the Liverpool hounds sometimes 

 going so far out as Little Crosby — horse-racing at 

 various places in the neighbourhood, as Great Crosby 

 and Aughton, cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and bowling 

 matches on the various greens. Visits were made 

 to Ormskirk — then relatively more important than at 

 present — to Lathom Spa, and to Liverpool ; the latter 

 place might be reached by road in the coach or over 

 the sands on horseback. Nicholas Blundell fulfilled 

 the usual duties of a landlord, as when he fixed ' the 

 boundaries between Great Crosby and the Moorhouses 

 that each town might know their liberty to fish in ' ;° 

 and there vvere discussions about .drainage, enclosures, 

 and other improvements, the Foremoss Pool gutter 

 being mentioned several times. Lord Molyneux 

 desired that ' the River Alt might be scoured as 

 usual,' and the setting and cutting of the star grass on 

 the sandhills had to be regulated. Smuggling was 

 also carried on : 'This night (says Squire Blundell) I 

 had a cargo of sixteen large ones brought to White 

 hall .... W.Ca. covered the cargo very well with 

 straw.' ' 



Every now and again, especially in winter, there 

 would be a ' merry night ' at the hall, when the 

 squire's sword dance might be performed or his tricks 

 of legerdemain exhibited to divert the company. 

 Companies of players seem to have visited the district 

 occasionally, performing here and there as they found 

 patronage and accommodation. Of local customs he 

 particularly notices the throwing at the cock on 

 Shrove Tuesday, and the dressing of the crosses at 

 Great Crosby and Ince Blundell on Midsummer Day. 

 The Goose Feast at Great Crosby was regularly 

 celebrated in the middle of October with great 



^ The assessment was not equally 

 shared by the townships in each quarter ; 

 thus Great Crosby paid u. td. and 

 Thornton Is. towards a levy of 21. (>d. j 

 Gregson, Frj^cnrs (ed. Harland), 16. 

 The levies for the ancient fifteenth were 

 as follows : Sefton, ^^i 195. 4^^. ; Thorn- 

 ton, 181. SJ. ; Ince Blundell, ^^l 11. 9ji. ; 

 Little Crosby, £1 6f. %J. ; Great Crosby, 

 £1 OS. 6^J. ; Litherland, l6j. 4J. ; Ain- 

 tree, lis. Si., making £- 151. when the 

 hundred paid ;^Io6 9;. 6J. ; ibid. iS. 



> Crisfy Ric. (Chet. Soc.;, 3 5-4+. 



' Elizabeth Abraham of Thornton, a 

 widow, took the oath of abjuration in 

 1649 to secure her cottage and little plot 

 of land ; Royalist Ccr.^. P. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches. ), i, 7—9. 



William Bootle alleged that ' his 

 father and mother were Catholics and by 

 threats and hard usage had endeavoured 

 to keep him from his church and to edu- 



cate him in popery, but finding they could 

 not prevail with him therein, turned him 

 out of doors' ; the authorities had seques- 

 tered his father's small estate at Holmore 

 Green in Thornton for recusancy, and 

 William would be ruined unless this 

 could be restored to him, now that his 

 father was dead j ibid, i, 210-13, Index of 

 Royalists (Index Soc), 42. The committee 

 did not altogether believe this story ; S.P. 

 Cat. ofCom.forComp, iv, 2844. 



Other humble ' delinquents' were Law- 

 rence Johnson and George Leyland of 

 Crosby, Ellen MaghuU of Aintree, and 

 Edmund Raphson of Ince Blundell ; 

 Royalist Comp. P. iv, 33, 93, 112, 172. 

 See also the case of Humphrey Blundell ; 

 ibid, i, 197. William Arnold, James 

 Rice, and Edward Rice of Crosby had 

 their estates sold under the Act of 1652 ; 

 Index of Royalists, 41, 43, 44. 



Edmund Ralphson of Ince Blundell 



58 



complained that hi8 discharge was re- 

 fused, though he was always a Protestant 

 and frequented the parish church ; he was 

 suffering through a confusion with another 

 of the same name and place; Cal. of Com. 

 for Comp. iv, 2627, His discharge was 

 granted. 



Thomas Rothwell of Great Crosby was 

 a victim of the other side ; he was arrested 

 by the Royalists while for a short time 

 they held the castle of Liverpool, and 

 charged with having enlisted under 

 Colonel Moore, which, as he was warned, 

 was enough to hang him ; Royalist Comp. 

 P. i, 43, 44. 



" Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 3 II, 

 319, 362, 369, 385. 



* Land tax returns at Preston. 



^ N. Blundell, Z);'flr>', 153. 



7 Ibid. 173. The goods appear to 

 have been caslcs of claret for Charlci 

 Howard. 



