WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Robert had before 1249 married Maud, daughter 

 of Agnes de Bolers of Walcot near Chirbury by her 

 first husband, Peter de Montgomery, clerk ; a series 

 of lawsuits was necessary to recover the wife's Shrop- 

 shire inheritance.^ Robert is said to have accompanied 

 Edward I on his expedition against the Welsh in 

 1277,' and to the following year belongs the latest 

 document in which his name occurs — a grant of lands 

 to his son Nicholas.' 



This son succeeded him, and his name occurs down 

 to 1 3 19.* He was twice married.* His eldest son 

 David, who married Agnes de Molyneux, having died 



SEFTON 



before him,** the heir was his grandson Nicholas 

 Blundell.' The latter had already been contracted 

 in marriage with Aline, apparently the daughter of 

 Richard de Holland,^ and dying some time before 

 1351" left a son and heir John, a minor, whose 

 wardship and marriage fell to Sir John de Moly- 

 neux, in virtue of the Blundells' holding in Little 

 Crosby.*" John Blundell seems to have died about 

 1371,^^ without surviving issue, and Little Crosby 

 descended to his brother Henry, whose tenure endured 

 for some thirty-five years.*" 



His son, another Nicholas, succeeded. He was 



lister, Ralph*5 wife, an oxgang in Little 

 Crosby which Robert son of Thomas de 

 Ince formerly held, * until the grantor or 

 his heirs should enfeoff Ralph of an ox- 

 gang in Much Woolton,' then held by 

 Robert the Heir ; Blundell of Crosby D. 

 K. 270, K. 161. The original is at 

 Knowsley ; bdle. 1402, n. 9. 



1 Blundell of Crosby D. K. 165, 

 K. 305 ; Eyton, Shrops. xi, 162, 163. 

 Eyton does not seem to have known 

 Agncs's family name, which is of in- 

 terest as connecting her with the former 

 lords of Montgomery 5 op. cit. 1 20. 

 The charter K. 305 was executed in 

 the castle of Montgomery, among the wit- 

 nesses being Sir Adam de Montgomery, 

 Baldwin and Stephen de Bolers. 



* T. E. Gibson, Cavalier's Note Book, 6, 



s Blundell of Crosby D. K. 16+ ; the 

 ical shows the Hon rampant. The estate 

 included all the land Sir Robert had in 

 Ainsdale (wreck of the sea being reserved 

 to him), in Bold, Woolton, Crooks and the 

 Dale i and all his rents from Ravensmeols 

 and Liverpool. Nicholas was to render 

 for Ainsdale, &c,, 6 marks, and for Little 

 Crosby 2 marks. The penalty is notice- 

 able : ' Should he fail in making these 

 payments he shall give to the fabric of 

 the King's new work at Royland 

 [Rhuddlan] 5 marks for each term.' 

 The witnesses indicate that it was 

 executed in Shropshire ; they include 

 Masters Ralph de Freningham, Roger de 

 Seyton, and Ralph de Hengham, justices ; 

 Sir Peter Corbet, Sir Ralph Corbet, and 

 others. A similar grant, ibid. K. 203, 

 has on the seal the billety coat now borne 

 by the Blundells. Charles's Roll, edited 

 by Sir George J. Armytage in 1869, gives 

 as the arms of Robert Blundell (n. 331) : 

 Azure, ten billets or, four, three, two, and 

 one ; on a canton or a raven sable. In 

 the same Roll («. 466) Baldwin de 

 Boulers (?) has : Sable, a bend between 

 twelve billets argent. 



■* He was a collector of various sub- 

 sidies in 1295, 1301, and 1302; Pari. 

 fFrits ; Lanes. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 188, 236, 238. 



Several of his grants are known. By 

 one he gave an acre in Little Crosby * in 

 the Sand' to Nicholas son of Thomas de 

 Aykescho ; and to Adam son of the said 

 Thomas he gave half an oxgang which he 

 had bought from William son of Ralph de 

 Greenhol; Blundell of Crosby D. K. 299, 

 K. 254. From William son of Adam of 

 Little Crosby he made purchases in the 

 Branderth and elsewhere ; ibid. K. 148, 

 K. 307. 



^ His first wife was named Eleanor ; 

 by her he had three sons — David, William, 

 and Nicholas. Sir Robert, the father, 

 gave to his son Nicholas and Eleanor his 

 wife, on their marriage about 1270, all 

 his right in Great and Little Crosby and 

 Moorhouses ; ibid. K. 174. William, 

 one of the younger sons of this marriage, 



was contracted in 1298 to Joan daughter 

 of Griffith de la Lee, probably a Shropshire 

 man, and had all his grandmother's pro- 

 perty in Walcot, Chirbury, Lydbury, 

 Bishop's Castle, &c., settled upon him, so 

 that it appears no more in the Little 

 Crosby evidences; ibid. K. 154, K.. 185, 

 K. 187. The Bhmdens of Shropshire, 

 who recorded a pedigree in 1623, claimed 

 descent from the couple ; Shrop. Visit. 

 (Harl. Soc), 48. 



Nicholas son of Nicholas Blundell had 

 in 1 31 3-14 a grant of land in Wedholme 

 from Alan le Norreys, at an annual rent 

 of a grain of pepper. The grantor 

 describes the younger Nicholas as his 

 'next of kin and heir,' but the relation- 

 ship is otherwise unknown ; ICuerden 

 fol. MS. 73, n. 63c. 



The elder Nicholas married a Margery 

 for his second wife ; he had no issue by her ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. iiij d. ix. 

 Dower was assigned to her in 1321— 2 ; 

 Blundell of Crosby D. K. 186. She 

 afterwards married Thomas de Pentrith, 

 surviving until about 1335 ; K. 240. 



^ David died in or before 131 1, in 

 which year Richard de Molyneux, rector 

 of Sefton, refeoffed Nicholas Blundell and 

 Margery his wife of lands between Ribble 

 and Mersey, including a windmill at Little 

 Crosby ; after the death of her husband 

 Margery was to hold a moiety for her life, 

 paying 65. %d. a year to Nicholas son of 

 David Blundell, who was to have the 

 other half ; Blundell of Crosby D. K. 1 8 1 , 

 K. 273. 



Agnes, David's widow, afferwards mar- 

 ried Richard de Holland of Sutton, and 

 was living, the second time a widow, in 

 1335 ; ibid. K. 176 and K. 208. 



7 A grant of land in Little Crosby by 

 Nicholas son of David Blundell to Adam 

 son of his uncle Nicholas for a rent of ^d, 

 is in the Blundell of Crosby D. K. 303. 

 Abstracts of other grants by him are con- 

 tained in the same volume, including the 

 grant of a third of Little Crosby to his 

 son Richard on his marriage with Emma 

 in 1336 ; ibid. K.. 240. The wife was a 

 daughter of Thomas de Molyneux of 

 Sefton, and lands in Great Crosby also 

 were given ; ibid. K. 121. There do not 

 seem to have been any children by this 

 marriage. 



8 Ibid. K. 262 ; the original is at Little 

 Crosby. Nicholas Blundell, senior, agreed 

 to sustain Nicholas son of David in 

 victuals, clothing, and all other neces- 

 saries, Richard de Holland doing the same 

 for Aline, assisted by a contribution of 

 1 mark a year from Nicholas senior. 



'In 1328 he granted to Gilbert de 

 Halsall the ancestral manor of Ainsdale ; 

 ibid. K. 1S3. He was witness to charters 

 made in 1342 ; ibid, K. 32, K. 211. 



1" Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i,m.]d. 

 The plaintiff. Sir John, stated that 

 though he had ' often offered to John 

 son of Nicholas, whilst he was under 



87 



age, suitable marriage, &c. the said John, 

 rejecting that marriage, and without 

 satisfying the said John de Molyneux 

 respecting his marriage, intruded into his 

 lands and tenements.' It thus appears 

 that by July, 1351, John Blundell had 

 attained his majority and taken possession 

 of his father's lands. The result of the 

 suit is not given. In 1358 Sir John 

 de Molyneux, John son of Nicholas 

 Blundell and Ellen his wife, John Anyon 

 and Joan his wife, Margery widow of 

 Nicholas Blundell, and Emma widow of 

 Richard Blundell did not prosecute a 

 claim they made against William Blundell 

 of Ince ; Assize R. 438, m. 18. In the 

 following years also John Blundell appears 

 as plaintiff; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 7, 

 m. 2, 3, 4, 4^^. ; Assize R. 438, m. 7 ; 

 R. 441, m. I, idy ^d. 



In one of the pleas against John de 

 Liverpool is a pedigree of the Blundell 

 family ; it concerned an acre in Little 

 Crosby which Sir Robert Blundell had 

 given to Nicholas Blundell and Aline his 

 wife and their heirs, and which therefore 

 descended, through David their son, to 

 Nicholas son of David and so to the 

 claimant as son of Nicholas ; Assize R. 7, 

 m. 18. 



In 1364 John Blundell was called upon 

 to defend his title against John de Lan- 

 caster of Rainhill. The difference between 

 the charter of Richard de Molyneux, 

 rector of Sefton, and the later fine, in 

 which the name of Agnes de Molyneux 

 was omitted, has been pomted out. Under 

 the fine John de Lancaster was heir, but 

 John Blundell established the validity of 

 the earlier charter by which he as son of 

 Nicholas son of Agnes succeeded to Little 

 Crosby on the death of Sir John de 

 Molyneux without heirs ; De Banc, R. 

 418, m. 345; R. 425, m. 314^/. It 

 appeared that John de Molyneux was 

 under age when the charter was made. 



^1 William son of Adam de Liverpool 

 In 1361 granted to John Blundell a mes- 

 suage and land in Little Crosby ; and 

 three years later Richard son of Richard 

 de Molyneux of Little Crosby granted him 

 all the lands there he had received from 

 Richard his father ; Blundell of Crosby D. 

 K. 266, K.. 302. John was witness to 

 grants made by and to Henry Blundell of 

 Crosby in 1370 and 1371 ; ibid. K. 134, 

 K. 158. Some misdeeds of John and his 

 brother Henry, described in 1350 as 

 ' common malefactors,' are given In Assize 

 R. 452, m. I. 



12 In 1 361 Henry attested the grant to 

 John Blundell by William de Liverpool, 

 cited in the last note. In a similar 

 manner he occurs down to 1404 ; Blun- 

 dell of Crosby D. K. 13. In 1377 a 

 presentment was made against him for 

 trespass of cattle and fishing in the 

 Mersey ; Liverpool Corp. D. 



Although it would appear that Henry 

 Blundell of Crosby was the Henry son of 



