A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



attaining his majority about 1502.' He took part in 

 three expeditions to Scotland, capturing two banners 

 at Flodden, and receiving a letter of thanks from 

 Henry VIII.' It was perhaps in his time that 

 Croxteth became the principal residence of the 

 family, as Leyland found it in 1535 : 'Mr. Moly- 

 neuz, a knight of great lands, two miles from Prescot, 

 dwelleth at a place called Croxteth." In 1545 

 William Molyneux assigned certain lands to his son 

 Richard to enable the latter to maintain hospitality 

 within the manor place of Sefton.* He died in 

 1548.' 



His son and heir Richard had special livery of 

 his lands on 1 3 June in that year.' He was made 

 a knight at the coronation of Queen Mary in 

 1553,' and was sheriff of Lancashire in 1566.' 

 Before his death on 3 January, 1568— 9,' having ap- 

 parently shown some conformity to the established 

 religion, 'he received absolution and did vow that he 

 would take the pope to be supreme head of the 

 Church.' '» 



The heir was his grandson Richard, son of William 

 Molyneux, only ten years of age." He was given 

 into the guardianship of Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master 



of the Rolls, one of the stricter Protestants of the 

 time, and eventually married his guardian's eldest 

 daughter." He was made a knight in 1586," twice 

 served as sheriff," became receiver of the duchy," and 

 in 161 1 was created a baronet, the second to hold 

 the new dignity." Although, as might be expected 

 from his training, he remained outwardly a Protestant, 

 and joined in the persecution of the Blundclls of 

 Crosby," it was in 1590 reported that while he 

 ' made show of good conformity,' many of his com- 

 pany were ' of evil note ' in religion." Consequently 

 it is not surprising to find that his descendants in the 

 freer time of the Stuarts reverted openly to the Roman 

 Catholic faith." He died 24 February, 1622-3," 3"<1 

 was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard, who five 

 years later was raised to the peerage of Ireland as 

 Viscount Molyneux of Maryborough." He did not 

 long enjoy his new honour, dying 8 May, 1636, at 

 Croxteth, holding the hereditary offices of forester of 

 West Derbyshire, steward within the wapentakes of Sal- 

 ford and West Derby, and constable of the castle of Liver- 

 pool; and possessed of the manors of Sefton, Netherton, 

 and Lunt, with many other manors and lands." His 

 son and heir, Richard, seventeen years of age, was 



^ Richard Molyneux was patron of 

 Sefton in 14S9. 



Early in 1500 William Molyneux was 

 described as 'son and heir* of Sir 

 Thomas, showing that Richard had died 

 in hit minority ; Croxteth D. N. 5. On 

 24 September, 1 502, the representative 

 of his father's feoffees granted various 

 premises to William Molyneux ; Duchy 

 of Lane, Inq. p.m. v. n. 39. 



' See the inscription on his brass in 

 Sefton church. The letter is at Croxteth, 

 as are the summonses to be ready in 1536 

 to join the carl of Shrewsbury (no doubt 

 against the Pilgrimage of Grace), and in 

 1 542 to advance against the Scots ; 

 Croxteth D. Genl. i, 73, 75, 76, 78. 



For a fuller account of him see Dicf, 

 Nar. Btog. and Gillow, BM. Did. of Engl. 

 Catb. V, 71. 



The printed Fiiili. begin at this time 

 (Chet. Soc.) j the Molyneux of Sefton 

 pedigrees will be found as follows : 1533, 



P- >55 i '^''". P- 'Oj ; >6>3, P- 13' i 

 1664, p. 204. 



• Itin. vii, 48. 



* Croxteth D. Genl. i, 80. 



' Brass at Sefton church. His will, 

 dated I 547, it among the Croxteth Deeds ; 

 Genl. i, 81. The inquisition preserved 

 says nothing of hit Sefton landt ; it con- 

 cemi only the Clifton estates which he 

 held in right of his second wife, and 

 which descended to his son by her, 

 Thomas Molyneux, then over twenty-one 

 years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 vii, rt. 6. Thomas dying without issue 

 they went to his sister Anne, wife of 

 Henry Halsall of Halsail ; f-lsit. of 1533, 

 P- '35- 



' Dep. Keeper^! Rep. xxjUj^ Af^.^.^^-j. 



1 Metcalfe, Bk. of Knigits, 109 ; the 

 second quarter of the arms recorded is 

 peculiar. 



« P.R.O. List, 73. 



' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, n. 35. 

 This states that he held the manor of 

 Sefton and the patronage of the church 

 there, and various lands in Sefton, 

 Netherton, and Lunt of the queen as of 

 her manor of West Derby in socage, by 

 fealty and doing suit at the wapentake of 

 West Derby from three weeks to three 

 weeks ; it was worth £^0 31. 6^J. Also 

 he held five plough-lands in Sefton of 



the queen as of her duchy of Lane, for 

 the twelfth part of a knight's fee, the 

 value being lor. This statement is 

 repeated in later inquisitions, e.g. Lanes. 

 ln!f, p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 iii, 389 ; but there it nothing to show 

 how the * manor ' of Sefton came to be 

 separated from the * five plough-lands ' (in- 

 stead of the six of Domesday Book) and 

 the two portions to be held in socage and 

 by knight's service respectively. 



Sir Richard had acquired Altcar and 

 various other lands. 



His brass is in Sefton church. By his 

 first wife he had a numerous offspring. 

 The inquisition states that he married his 

 second wife, Eleanor Eyves, widow, on 

 30 September, 1565, and that five unmar- 

 ried daughters were living at Croxteth — 

 Alice, Anne, Ellen, Mary, and Eleanor. 

 Eleanor was still living in 1602 ; Ducafut 

 Lane, iii, 468. 



The eldest son William died before his 

 father, on 11 June, i ^6^, and was buried 

 at Standish ; Dods. MSS. v, fol. 61. The 

 other sons were Richard, of Cunscough 

 in Mclling; John, of Alt Grange and New 

 Hall in West Derby ; Anthony, and 

 Alexander. Of these the first three held 

 constantly to the Roman Catholic religion, 

 Anthony being shipped off to the West 

 Indies in 1586 for his recusancy (Gillow, 

 Bihl. Diet. 0/ Engl. Calh-Jus, v, 72 ; will 

 in Gisbome Molineux, op. cit. 142) ; but 

 Alexander embraced the new order and 

 became rector of Walton. 



""Gibson, Lydiaie Hall, 211 (quoting 

 S.P.Dom. Eliz. xlviii, n. 3 5). Sir Richard's 

 son John, and his daughters Anne, Joan, 

 and Alice made the same vow. 



" Inq. p.m. above cited. The marriage 

 covenant of William, son and heir ap- 

 parent of Sir Richard Molyneux, and 

 Bridget, daughter of John Caryll and 

 sister of Thomas Caryll, is dated 2 June, 

 1558 ; Croxteth D. Genl. i, 85. A fur- 

 ther arrangement was made in 1 5 6 1 ; 

 ibid, ii, I. 



" The Visit.ai i ^6y gives him a daughter 

 of Lord Strange as bride ; p. 104. 



" Metcalfe,B/i.o/Arn/|'Arj, 136. In 1589 

 he purchased Edge and other Osbaldeston 

 lands in the parish of Sefton; Croxteth 

 D. X. iii, 4. 



" In 1588 and 1596 ; P. R. O. Lisr, 



73. He represented the county in Parlia- 

 ment in 1586, 1592, and 1603 ; Pink 

 and Beavan, op. cit. 66, 68, 69. 



" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 364. 



'" G. E. C. Complete Baronetage, i, 3. 



'' CroihyRcc. (Chet. Soc), 23. 



^^ Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 243 (quoting 

 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, «. 4). 



1* The most distinguished of his sons 

 was Sir Vivian Molyneux, for whom see 

 Wood's Athenae, and Gillow, op, cit. v, 

 70. Both Richard, the eldest, and Vivian 

 were sent up to Oxf. ; Foster, Alumni. 



'^ Land. In^.p.m. (Rec. Soc, Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 383-91, The manor of Tar- 

 bock was a fresh acquisition. The son 

 and heir, Richard, was then aged twenty- 

 nine and more. Their race-horses were 

 kept at Walton ; Assheton, Journ. (Chet. 

 Soc), 79. 



Sir Richard's will is printed in Gisborne 

 Molineux, op. cit. 142. 



2' G. E. C. Complete Peerage, v, 326. He 

 had been made a knight in 1603 (Met- 

 calfe, a*. o/'ATn/fArj, 164); and had served 

 at knight of the shire in 1625 and 1628 ; 

 Pink and Beavan, op. cit. 70. During 

 his father's lifetime in 1614 he had sat 

 for Wigan ; ibid. 224. 



** Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, n. 

 59 ; Croxteth D. Genl. iii, 10. The 

 estates of the family had by this time at- 

 tained their greatest extent, and the fol- 

 lowing brief view may be given : The 

 manors of Sefton, Netherton, and Lunt, 

 the 'five plough-lands' being described at 

 a twelfth part of a knight't fee ; various 

 lands in the same ; the manors of Thorn- 

 ton, Hulmore, and Ince Blundell, and 

 lands there ; the manor of Down Lither- 

 land, with lands there and in Linacre, 

 Ford, and Orrell ; the manor of Little 



Crosby, Moorhouscs and Great Crosby 



the manor of Great Crosby itself, re- 

 cently granted, is not meant by this ; the 

 manor of Aintrce and lands there ; the 

 manors of Walton and Fazakerley and 

 the advowson of the church of Walton • 

 various tcnemenu in Kirkdale ; three- 

 quarters of the manor of Maghull ; the 

 manors (or parts) of Melling, Aughton, 

 Eccleston and Heskin, Euxton (with lands 

 there and in Cuerden, Whittle-le-Woodt, 

 Farington, and Leyland;, Lydiate, Fithwick 

 (and landt. Sec. in Fith« .ck, Ribbleton and 



