WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



SEFTON 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



Before 1 2 1 2 Richard de Molyneux had given to 

 his son Robert three oxgangs of land, to be held by 

 knight's service,' which, no doubt, constitute the parcel 

 called Arland, afterwards held by the Thornton 

 family.' Though described as ' in the vill of Sefton ' 

 it was in Netherton, but the earliest mention of this 

 place by name is in a charter of Richard de Molyneux 

 of Sefton in 1 3 18, granting his younger son Peter 

 certain lands, together with the water-mill in ' the 

 Netherton.' ' A junior branch of the Sefton family 

 appears to have settled here, for Simon de Molyneux 

 of Netherton is mentioned in 1373.* In 1433—4 

 William Fairfellow and Agnes his wife released their 

 lands here to Sir Richard Molyneux, Agnes making 

 oath that she had made no feoffment of her lands 

 in Sefton, except to a daughter of Simon de Moly- 

 neux, named Emmote, who had died at the age of 

 fourteen.' 



The township does not seem to have formed a dis- 

 tinct manor, but was included in Sefton.* A park 

 called the Stand or New Park was formed here early 

 in the seventeenth century,' but discontinued about 

 1800. Stand House preserves the name.' 



The story of St. Bennet's Church has been given in 

 the account of Sefton. 



LUNT 



Lund, 1295 ; Lont, 1302 ; Lond, T349 ; Lount, 

 1350 ; Lunt, 1396 ; the definite article was prefixed 

 down to the xvii cent. 



Lunt is situated in the flattest fen district drained 

 by the River Alt, which also forms its north-eastern 

 boundary. The marshy pastures are liable to floods 

 during winter and in wet seasons. In the southern 

 portion there are cultivated fields where cereals and 

 root-crops thrive in a soil consisting of a mixture of 

 sand and clay. Hedges are scanty and trees few and 

 far between. The geological formation is the same 

 as in Sefton. 



It was formerly a hamlet of Sefton, but its separa- 

 tion seems to have been accomplished before 1624.' 

 It has an area of 477 acres,'" and the population in 

 1 90 1 was 80. The road from Sefton to Ince Blun- 

 dell passes through it. 



St. Helen's well, close to Sefton church, is a wish- 

 ing well ; a pin had to be thrown in, and if it could 

 be seen at the bottom of the well the omen was 

 favourable." 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



Manorially Lunt seems to have been a member of 

 Sefton, but land in it is on one occasion said to have 

 been held of the lord of Warrington," suggesting a 

 territorial connexion with the adjoining township of 

 Thornton. 



Richard de Molyneux, some time before 1 2 1 2, gave 

 to Richard Branch and to Robert half a plough-land 

 to be held by knight's service and a rent of 6/.'^ In 

 1295 Robert son of Robert Branch granted to 

 Richard de Molyneux an oxgang of land in Lunt." 

 A family which took surname from the place may 

 have descended from Richard Branch." Other families 



' Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 13. 



' ' Arland in the vill of Sefton ' was 

 held in 1398 by the heirs of Robert Moly- 

 neux of Thornton ; Lanes. Inq, p.m. (Chet. 

 Soc), i, 70. The charter quoted in the 

 following note shows that it lay on the 

 border of Aintree. In 1779 fields in 

 Netherton were called Old and Little 

 * Ireland.' 



s Croxteth D. Genl. i, 10, 14. The 

 boundaries began at the water-mill, fol- 

 lowing the ' fleam ' of the mill stream to 

 the Croft ditch, and thence in a straight 

 line through the carr to the Alt ; up this 

 river as far as the Strindes, and thence to 

 the land of Robert de Molyneux called 

 Arland ; following the ditch of Arland to 

 the boundary of Aintree, and so to the 

 house of Adam Leanothewind and to the 

 cross on the Aintree boundary ; thence 

 by the boundaries of Walton and Lither- 

 land, the moss, and a ditch by Sefton field 

 to the mill pool and mill. 



* He was one of the feolfees of John 

 Blundell of Ince ; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 97. 



He may be the Simon de Molyneux 

 who fifteen to twenty years earlier was 

 plaintiff in a case concerning a house 

 and land in Sefton. This Simon was the 

 son of William (who had a brother Henry), 

 son of Adam de Molyneux, the owner of 

 the property in the time of Edward I ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 4, m. 25. 

 The case is also mentioned in Rolls 3, 5, 

 and 6, m. 5. The defendant was Henry 

 de Aintree ; and the doubtful point was 

 the soundness of mind of the claimant's 

 grandfather at the time he granted them 

 to his son Henry. 



William de Molyneux of Netherton, 

 clerk, occurs in 1419 ; Kuerden fol. MS. 

 315, B. 458. 



s Croxteth D. V. i, 2, 3. Their pro- 

 perty seems to have been derived from a 

 certain John del Dam, who in 1387 gave 



his lands in Netherton and Sefton to feof- 

 fees ; ibid. V. i, I. 



But few particulars concerning Nether- 

 ton have been preserved. In 141 5 

 Richard Wilson and Emmota his wife 

 released to Thomas de Osbaldeston and 

 his heirs all their right in the vill and 

 territory of Netherton ; Dods. MSS. cxlix. 

 In 1467 Roger Wright granted to Thomas 

 Molyneux his lands in Netherton ; Crox- 

 teth D.V. i, 4, 5. 



In 1 691 John Molyneux of Copy in 

 Netherton and George Bradley of Melling 

 and Ellen his wife (only daughter of 

 William Molyneux, late of Netherton), 

 sold Copy to the Hon. William Molyneux 

 of Croxteth ; draft deed at Croxteth. 



« The Halmote of Sefton took cogniz- 

 ance of what happened in * the Netherton ' ; 

 roll of 5 Hen. IV, preserved at Croxteth. 



^ A grant of free warren, made by 

 Jas. I on 2 Dec. 1615, mentions 'Sefton 

 and the park there ' among the Molyneux 

 manors to which it applies; Pat. 13 

 Jas. I, pt. x-xiii. So also does another 

 grant of 1637 ; Croxteth D. L. 



8 There are several allusions to it in N. 

 Blundell's Diary (e.g. p. Z2r) in the first 

 quarter of the eighteenth century. It is 

 marked Stand Park on Teesdale's map of 

 1830, but had 'gone to decay' even in 

 1770 ; Enfield, Li-verpool, 112. 



^ Gregson, Fragments, 1 6. 



1" 478, including 3 of inland water ; 

 Census Rep. 1901. 



11 Caroe and Gordon, Sefton, 54. 



12 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 16, where John Lunt of Lunt is stated to 

 have done homage at Warrington in 1505 

 for lands in Lunt. This is the only in- 

 stance of the kind, and may have been 

 an error ; the following entry concerns 

 John Lunt of Thornton. 



IS Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 13. William de Moly- 

 neux, son of Adam, granted land on the 



75 



Lunt Green to Robert son of Richard the 

 clerk of Thornton, at a rent of id., about 

 1260 ; Croxteth D. Ee. 2. 



» Ibid. X. i, I. 



15 The most prominent member of this 

 family was Richard de Lunt, clerk, who 

 in the fourteenth century was feoffee in 

 numerous instances for local families. In 

 1337 he granted to his son Henry a mes- 

 suage and croft in Lunt which he received 

 from Agnes his mother ; and twelve 

 years later Henry transferred them to 

 Robert le Breton ; ibid. X. iv, 6-7. 



Robert son of Roger de Lunt granted 

 to his son John in 1309 a house and cur- 

 tilage in Lunt ; ibid. X. iv, 4. 



Adam, son of Margery de Lunt, in 

 1302 granted to Peter, son of Richard 

 de Molyneux, all his land in the vill of 

 Sefton, lying in the Lunt, at a rent of 

 id. 



In 1317 Simon son of Adam de Lunt 

 gave a part of his land to his son Robert, 

 a rent of \d. being payable to the 

 chief lord; and in 1342 Robert son of 

 Robert son of John de Lunt sold land 

 m Lunt, called the Cole Yard, to Richard 

 de Molyneux ; ibid. X, i, 9-10. 



On the other hand Richard de Moly- 

 neux in 1336 demised to Margery 

 daughter of Simon de Lunt and Richard 

 her son, for the life of Henry de Lunt, a 

 messuage and curtilage in Sefton in the 

 Lunt ; ibid. Ee. 18. 



The Henry just named was probably 

 the son of Simon, who in 1 344 granted to 

 Richard de Molyneux and his heirs all his 

 lands, &c., ' as well in demesne as in re- 

 version, in the vill of Sefton in a certain 

 hamlet called the Lunt ' ; and four years 

 later Henry son of William son of Simon 

 de Lunt quitclaimed all his interest in these 

 lands ; ibid. X. i, 11-12. 



A William, son of Robert de Lunt, was 

 a contemporary ; as also a William, son 

 of Simon de Lunt ; ibid. X. i, 8 ; Y. i, 3. 



