WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



SEFTON 



Anthony Molyneux, his curate, and four others 

 appearing. In 1562 Master Robert Ballard, the 

 rector, an opponent of the Elizabethan changes, 

 appeared by proxy, his curate coming in person ; 

 three others, nominally attached to the parish, were 

 absent. Next year the rector was described as de- 

 crepit, but his curate appeared ; the names of the 

 other three, entered from an old list by the registrar's 

 clerk, have been crossed out. In 1565, no one was 

 recorded but the rector, John Finch, whose name is 

 written over that of Robert Ballard.' John Finch 

 died or resigned shortly afterwards, and in 1568 

 John Nutter, afterwards dean of Chester, succeeded. 

 Though ' a preacher,' he seems to have been but a 

 money-seeking pluralist, who went with the times 

 and joined, perhaps rather to procure favour than 

 out of zeal, in the persecution of his recusant 

 parishioners.* He had in 1590 an assistant, who 

 was 'no preacher." About 1610 the conditions 

 remained unaltered ; the incumbent, Mr. Turner, 

 was a preacher, but the curate of Great Crosby was 

 not.* 



The Parliamentary Commissioners in 1650 were 

 satisfied with the two ministers they found in the 

 parish, but recommended that two more churches 

 should be erected, one at Ince Blundell and the 

 other at Litherland, ' both places being well situated 

 for conveniency of many inhabitants and distant from 

 any church or chapel two miles and upwards, the want 

 of such churches being the cause of loitering and 

 much ignorance and popery.' ' No steps, however, 

 seem to have been taken to build them. Bishop 

 Gastrell found that there were 310 families in the 

 parish in 1718, and 156 'Papists,' with two 

 chapels ; there was only one dissenting family.^ The 

 return of 1767 allows 603 'Papists' to Sefton and 

 1 54 to Crosby.' The growth of the seaside towns 

 during the last century has totally altered the con- 

 ditions ; the Nonconformists, for instance, formerly 



unknown, have now many churches and meeting- 

 places. 



There were only two endowed chantries in Sefton 

 church at the time of the confiscation in 1548, and 

 those were of recent establishment. By her will of 

 1528 Margaret Bulkeley, widow, gave various lands 

 to Sir William Leyland and other feoffees, to find 

 ' an able and honest priest to say and celebrate mass 

 and other divine service ... at the altar of our 

 Blessed Lady of Pity,' for her soul and the souls of 

 John Button and William Bulkeley, formerly her 

 husbands, and for others.' This chantry was in the 

 south chapel. Robert Parkinson, one of the feoffees, 

 was the only cantarist of the foundation ; he died in 

 or before 1554. The endowments, which included 

 the mill at Thornton, were valued at £j^ 14/. a year.' 

 The second chantry, in the north chapel, was founded 

 in 1535 by Edward Molyneux, rector.'" The only 

 priest was Thomas Kirkby, probably he whose pre- 

 sentation to Aughton caused much dispute." The 

 amount of the endowment was ^5 18/. ^d." 



In 171 8 Bishop Gastrell found 

 CHARITIES about ^400 had been given by 

 various persons to charities in the 

 parish, apart from Great Crosby School ; ' all these 

 sums,' he says, ' are in good hands and the interest 

 duly paid.'" The charity commissioners of 1828 

 found various ' poor's stocks ' in existence, the origin 

 of which was unknown.'* There was then only one 

 charity for the whole parish, and in 1898 it was 

 found to have been ' discontinued before living 

 memory.'" 



For Sefton quarter the poor's stock was ^^84 in 

 1828, but it had been lost before 1898.'" On the 

 other hand, a benefaction by Anne Molyneux in 

 1728 had been increased by several donations, and 

 the net income of j^6 4/. was in 1898 distributed by 

 the rector to six widows." The Netherton poor's 

 stock of £120 in 1828 is supposed to have included 



1 These particulars are from the Chest, 

 visit, lists for the years named. For the 

 ornaments of the church in 1552 see CA, 

 Goods (Chet. Soc), loi, 



^Croiby Rec. (Chet. Soc), 23. He 

 may have thought it advisable to take 

 action, for he was delated to the Govern- 

 ment as showing great favour to ' papists ' ; 

 Lydiate Hall^ 260, quoting S.P. Dom. 

 Eliz. ccxv. 



' Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 249 (quoting 

 S.P, Dom. Eliz, ccxxxv, «. 4). 



la 1592 the only presentation made 

 was against Ralph Williamson, who had 

 ' had a child christened and his wife 

 churched ; not known where,* and who 

 was excommunicated ; Trans, Hist, Soc, 

 (New Ser.), x, 190. 



* Kenyan MSS, (Hist. MSS. Com.), 13. 

 At the bishop's visitation in 1609 there 

 were the rector, his curate, two school- 

 masters, and a ' reader ' at Great Crosby ; 

 Raines MSS. xxii, Z98. 



s Commonwealth Ch, Surv, (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 85. The minister was 

 paying to Mrs. Moreton, wife of the 

 ejected rector, 'a delinquent,' a fifth part 

 of the profits, according to an order by 

 the committee. See Plund, Mins. Accts, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 4, 7, 54, 



^ Notitia Cestr, ii, 216. 



^ Return in the Chest. Dioc. Reg. 



8 Tram. Hist, Soc, xxxiv, 130-4. She 

 gave particular directions as to the ser- 

 vices to be performed. Once a quarter 

 the priest was to say ' Placebo, "Dirige," 



Commendation, and Mass of Requiem, with 

 all suffrages and services pertaining ; at 

 the anniversary of her death, or within 

 three days, an obit ; every Sunday, Wed- 

 nesday, and Friday, but on other days as 

 he was disposed, to say mass, adding a 

 De Profundis at the further lavatory ; on 

 Fridays once a quarter mass of the Name 

 of Jesus, and five times in the year mass 

 of the Five Wounds, for the souls of her- 

 self and others ; also mass on St. Mar- 

 garet's Day, before the image of this saint in 

 the church ; and on the five principal feasts 

 of Our Lady and on the Visitation, and 

 within their octaves, three masses of the 

 feast, with the collect, ' Deus, firma spes.' 

 The priest chosen was to be ' an able and 

 honest priest and learned to sing his plain- 

 song and to help to sing in the choir at 

 matins, mass, evensong, and other divine 

 service in the said church of Sefton on 

 festival days.' In addition, he was to 

 manage the properties assigned for the 

 foundation. 



'Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 109. 

 This chantry had a chalice, two old vest- 

 ments and a missal. The lands were in 

 Cuerdale and Thornton. See also Valor 

 Eccl, (Rec Com.), v, 223. 



The lands were granted by James I to 

 William Blake and others ; Pat. 4 Jas. I, 

 pt. xiii. 



1" Raines, op. cit. Ill ; Valor Eccl, (Rec. 

 Com.), V, 224. It would seem from 

 one of the deeds preserved at Croxteth 

 (Genl, i, 84) that the family were able 



65 



to rescue the intended endowment from 

 the king's hands. 



" See the account of Aughton, 



1^ Raines, op, cit. 1 14. The rent was 

 derived from a number of scattered pal- 

 cels of land. There was no plate. 



^ Notitia Cestr, ii, 219,221. Some 

 of the benefactions were appropriated to 

 particular townships. 



l^The accounts of the charities are 

 derived from the End. Char, Rep. for 

 the parish of Sefton, issued in 1899; 

 this includes a reprint of the report of 

 1828. 



"£ki/. Char. Rep. I, 8. Samuel 

 Thomas left ^5, the interest of which 

 was to provide, on St. Thomas's Day, 

 sixty penny loaves ; these were set 

 'on the parish bier, which was placed 

 for that purpose on the grave of the 

 donor.' 



16 Op. cit. I, 8. Of the ^84 ^30 had 

 been invested in the Ormskirk Work- 

 house and was Most' by the dissolution 

 of the old union in 1834 ; the remainder 

 was lent to the highway surveyors, and 

 interest seems to have been paid down to 

 1879. 



1? Anne Molyneux's gift was for bread 

 to be given to the poor on Sundays. 

 The augmentations came from William 

 Thompson of Litherland, 1829, who left 

 /loo — on this the poor of Litherland 

 have a claim — Robert Davenport of 

 Sefton, coachman, ,^5 in 1845, and am 

 unknown donor ,^3. 



9 



