WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Thomas Weld and Mary his wife ; a lawsuit followed, 

 owing to his custom of calling Joseph Weld, Edward/ 

 This error appeared in the will, but the intention 

 being clear Thomas Weld obtained possession of the 

 estates, assuming the additional surname of Blundell. 

 Dying in 1887 he was succeeded by his son Mr. 

 Charles Joseph Weld-Blundell, the present lord of the 

 manor. 



Two early lists of the free tenants have been pre- 

 served.* The principal tenants were the Ballards,^ 

 who in the end established their claim to a third of 

 the manor.* The inheritance had about 1560 come 

 to two daughters of Richard Ballard, named Cecily and 

 Dorothy, who had married respectively Richard 



SEFTON 



Thome and Thomas Massingberd. Cecily sold 

 her moiety to Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton,* and 

 Dorothy hers to William Blundell,^ whose son 

 Thomas sold to Sir Richard Molyneux, grandson of 

 the last-named Sir Richard.^ 



The Molyneux family had already possessed an 

 interest in the township,® and on the suppression 

 of Whalley Abbey" and the confiscation of its lands in 

 1537, Richard Molyneux purchased JLT GRANGE 

 from Thomas Holt, to whom it had been granted by 

 Henry VIII.^" This portion of Ince still remains in 

 the possession of the earl of Sefton. With regard to 

 other lands an exchange was effected with Henry 

 Blundell in 1772." 



1 Gibson, op. cit. 136-4.4, where the 

 will is printed together with an account 

 of the subsequent disputes. 



To several of his tenants he directed 

 that leases should be given of their hold- 

 ings at half the current rent ; but his 

 liberality is stated to have had evil effects ; 

 ibid, xxviii. 



5* In 1283 they were William Knott, 

 Alan the Young, Gilbert Blanchard, 

 Adam de Crosby, Henry son of William, 

 Peter de Leylandshire, Robert de Pekko, 

 Robert the Chanon, Alan his brother, and 

 Simon, son of Adam ; fVkalley Couchery 

 ii, 511. Some of these occur in adjacent 

 townships ; the last-named was Simon, son 

 of Adam de Lunt, defendant in a fishery 

 case in 1292 \ Assize R. 408, m. 43. 



For 1344 a fuller list has been pre- 

 served ; Gibson, Lydiate Hally 96. 



^ This name occurs also in Litherland 

 and Little Crosby. Robert Ballardson 

 contributed to the subsidy of 1332 ; Excb, 

 Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 8. In the previous year Maud, widow of 

 William Ballard, had been plaintiff in an 

 Ince Blundell suit ; Assize R. 1404, m. 

 27. In a similar suit Robert Ballard was 

 a plaintiff in 1337 ; Assize R. I424, m. 

 II. Richard Ballard in 1340 had a grant 

 of land in Bold ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 

 196/., n. 33. 



In 1351 Emma, widow of Robert Bal- 

 lard, and Thomas,his son, were joined with 

 Robert de Knoll and Joan his wife, and 

 Lawrence Nowell and Katherine his wife 

 in a plea of novel disseisin brought against 

 William Blundell touching tenements in 

 Ince. The plaintiffs did not prosecute 

 and were non-suited, their pledges being 

 John and William Ballard ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. i, m. ij. Richard de 

 Knoll and Joan his wife, a daughter 

 of John de Clough, in 1357 sold their 

 lands to Richard de Sefton ; and shortly 

 afterwards Lawrence Nowell and Kather- 

 ine his wife (perhaps another daughter) 

 sold to the same purchaser all the lands 

 descending to Katherine on the death of 

 her father; Croxteth D. O. ii, Ii, 10. 

 Three years later William Blundell of 

 _ Ince released all his right in the lands 

 formerly held of him by John de Clough 

 by knight's service and a rent of zs. gd.j 

 and y^d. for relief ; the new possessor 

 was Richard de Aughton ; ibid. O. ii, 12. 

 There are other notices of these transac- 

 tions in Final Cone, ii, 155 ; Defi. 

 Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 337 ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 6, m. 3. 



Thomas Ballard in 1344 bought land 

 of Robert son of Collt of Ince ; and this 

 he sold, as bought of Robert Floke, to the 

 same Richard de Aughton in 1364; 

 Croxteth D. O. ii, 8, 13. A few years 

 later Richard de Aughton made a settle- 

 ment of the lands he had acquired in Ince, 



together with his lands and mill in Thorn- 

 ton, the remainder being to his son Rich- 

 ard ; ibid. O. ii, 14-16. In 1417 Tho- 

 mas, son of Richard de Aughton enfeoffed 

 John Totty and another of his lands; 

 ibid. O. ii, 20. There does not seem to 

 be anything further known of these 

 Aughtons, but their lands, as will be seen, 

 were acquired by Molyneux of Sefton. 



Thomas Ballard and Margery his wife 

 in 1355 claimed fourteen acres in Ince 

 from William Blundell and Joan his wife ; 

 the agreement stated that Thomas Ballard 

 should pay 1 5^. a year, carry with his 

 wagons, and give services with plough and 

 harrow like William Blundell's other 

 tenants ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R, 4, m. 

 16. Thomas and William Ballard paid 

 to the poll tax of 1381 ; Lay Subs. Lanes. 

 130/24. 



Robert, son and heir of Thomas Bal- 

 lard of Ince, quitclaimed to Sir John de 

 Bold in 1409-10 all rights to the land in 

 Bold he had by his father and his mother 

 Emma ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 202A, w. dj. 



The dispute between the Ballards and 

 Blundells which began in 1463 has been 

 mentioned in the text. 



^ In 1 505 Robert Ballard secured a right 

 to a third of the waste, and in 1509 sold 

 a moiety of his waste to William Moly- 

 neux of Sefton ; Croxteth D. O. i, 1-3. 



^ In 1562 Richard Thome and Cecily 

 his wife sold to Sir Richard Molyneux 

 their moiety of the third part of the 

 manor of Ince Blundell, with lands, mills, 

 &c., there and in the Moorhouses, North 

 End, Melling, the Old Marsh, the Low 

 Marsh, the Elcom acre, and Black carr ; 

 ibid. O. i, 4, 5, 7 ; also Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 191. 



^ Thomas Massingberd and Dorothy 

 his wife, a daughter and co-heir of Rich- 

 ard Ballard, in 1569 sold this half; Crox- 

 teth D. O. i, 9 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 33, m. 138. 



^ Thomas, son and heir of William 

 Blundell, sold to Sir Richard Molyneux 

 in 1579 i and at the same time an agree- 

 ment to divide the waste was made be- 

 tween Sir Richard and Robert Blundell 

 of Ince ; ibid. O. i, 1 1, 10. 



This appears to be the * manor of North 

 End ' named in the later Molyneux in- 

 quisitions, &c. 



8 By a charter of about 1260 William 

 de Molyneux, son of Adam, granted to 

 Richard Flock a messuage and lands in 

 Ince Marsh, which had descended to the 

 grantor after the death of Richard his 

 brother ; Trans. Hist, Soc. xxxiii, 266. 

 This charter is similar to that given in 

 the Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 12, m. 27 i, 

 quoted below. 



Lands in Ince are mentioned among 

 the possessions of Richard de Molyneux 

 in 1361 ; Croxteth D. Genl. i, 35. 



83 



A certain John Molyneux and Katherine 

 his wife in 1438 granted all their lands in 

 Downholland, Lydiate, Ince Blundell and 

 the Moorhouses, to Jamea Molyneux ; 

 ibid. Genl. i, 53, 54. 



The lands of Sir William Molyneux in 

 1548 were stated to be held of the heirs 

 of James Blundell in socage by a rent of 

 zs. gd.'y twenty years later they had 

 grown to a * manor,' but were still held of 

 the Blundells, though no rent was pay- 

 able ; in 1623 the tenure was unknown ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, n. 2 ; xiii, 

 n. 35 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iii, 389. 



^ The monks' ofHcial in charge was 

 called the 'Granger of Alt' in 1283; 

 Whalley Coucher, ii, 505. The mill was 

 held by a miller whose right descended to 

 his sons ; Alexander, the miller of Alt, 

 gave his son Thomas certain property, in- 

 cluding a third part of the mill, some- 

 time before 1250 ; Simon, son of Alexan- 

 der, released to the monks his third part 

 of the mill held by his father by hereditary 

 right, the monks having paid him looi.; 

 and for zos. they purchased from the 

 widow her dower right ; ibid, ii, 495—7. 



But little occurs to show the con- 

 nexion of the abbey with the township. 

 The abbot, from 1347 to 1351 prosecuted 

 William Blundell of Ince and others for 

 money owing; De Bane. R. 352, m. 

 xxiiij f/. R. 360, m. 37. At last the 

 sheriff was ordered to distrain, notwith- 

 standing the liberty of Henry, earl of 

 Lancaster ; Henry Blundell and John his 

 brother were among the mainpernors ; 

 ibid. R. 364, m. 91. 



In 1366 John Amerison was charged 

 by the abbot with waste of lands in Ince ; 

 De Banc. R. 424, m. 279. 



On the other hand in 1441 Henry 

 Blundell proceeded against John, abbot of 

 Whalley, for damage in Little Crosby and 

 Inee caused by a flood, which he alleged 

 to be due to the abbot's neglect to repair 

 a ditch ; the abbot replied that the water 

 running by the ditch was the Alt flowing 

 and re-flowing to and from the sea, and 

 that he was under no special obligation to 

 repair it ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 3, 

 m. zob. 



The abbot made a claim for common 

 of pasture about 1500; Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 124. 



10 The grant of Alt Grange to Thomas 

 Holt was by letters patent dated i Aug, 

 1543, a rent of ^^4 lOi. o^d. being 

 reserved to the crown, and he sold it in 

 the following November to Richard, son 

 and heir apparent of Sir William Moly- 

 neux ; Croxteth D. X. ii, i, 2, 5 ; Pat. 

 35 Hen. VIII, pt. iv. The tenant's 

 name was Moorcroft. 



11 The list of the lands exchanged i» 

 printed in the Sefton Abstract of Title. 



