WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



SEFTON 



of the Elizabethan legislation.' But few notices of 

 the priests who found a refuge here have been pre- 

 served ' until the Jesuits were placed in charge of the 

 mission about 1652, remaining there from that time 

 until 1786.* The Benedictines succeeded them, and 

 except for five years, continued until i860.* Secular 

 priests have since done service. In 1708 Fr. Aldred, 

 then resident, left the hall to live in the village, an 

 upper room in his cottage serving as a chapel ; ' in 

 1720 he removed to West Lane.° The present 

 church of St. Mary, designed by A. W. Pugin, and 

 built and endowed by William Blundell, grandfather 

 of the present lord of the manor, was consecrated in 

 1847. There is a burial ground attached. 



GREAT CROSBY 



Crossebi, 1 1 76 ; Major Grosseby, 1 2 1 1 ; Crosseby, 

 1212 ; Micle Crosseby, 1292 ; Much and Great 

 Crosby were both used in the sixteenth century. 



The ancient township of Great Crosby, which in- 

 cludes Waterloo, lies on the northern shore of the 

 estuary of the Mersey, with a level sandy beach ex- 

 tending over three miles from north-west to south- 

 east ; it stretches inland some two miles, and has an 

 area of 2,168 acres,' of which 1,907 acres belong to 

 the present diminished township. The population in 

 1901 was '7,555, and that of Waterloo 9,839. 



The country is flat and sandy, being in places still 

 very marshy, so that deep ditches, especially in the 

 north, are required to drain the fields and meadows. 

 The crops grown are principally oats, rye, and pota- 

 toes. At Hall Road there are golf-links on both 

 sides of the railway, and a broad stretch of sandhills, 

 yet unbuilt upon, extends along the northern half of 

 the sea coast. The geological formation consists of 

 the keaper series of the new red sandstone or trias, 

 being represented almost entirely by lower keuper 

 sandstones, but in the southern part of the township 

 the waterstone is found overlying the former. From 

 the shore inland for three-quarters of a mile the 

 underlying formation is obscured by blown sand. 



The village, which lies more than a mile inland, is 

 becoming modernized and growing quickly, especially 

 along the principal road, that from Liverpool to 

 Southport, which crosses the township in a northerly 

 direction, with roads branching off to the shore and 

 to Thornton. The Liverpool and Southport line of 



the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opened in 1 848, 

 with stations at Waterloo and Blundellsands, also 

 passes through the township. An electric tramway 

 connects Great Crosby with the Seaforth terminus of 

 the Liverpool Overhead Railway. 



The township of Waterloo has been carved out of 

 the southern part of Great Crosby. To the north of 

 it are Brighton le Sands and Blundellsands ; these 

 places consist principally of modern residences, which 

 afford Liverpool people convenient dwellings at the 

 seaside. In 1889 Colonel Nicholas Blundell gave 

 3^ acres to the local board for a recreation ground.' 



Crosby Channel forms the principal entrance to 

 the Mersey ; it is about three-quarters of a mile 

 wide. By constant dredging a sufficient depth of 

 water for the passage of the great liners is maintained. 

 There is a lightship in the channel. 



A copper token was struck in 1667 by a Crosby 

 man.' A view of the place in 171 5 is extant."" 

 The vilLige festival, known as the Goose Feast, was 

 kept in October." 



The Crosby races used to be held once or twice a 

 year — the first week of August was the proper time — 

 on a course on the shore side of Great and Little 

 Crosby, which had been ' stooped out ' by William 

 Blundell in 1654 at the request of Lord Molyneux. 

 The date is noticeable.'^ 



The little triangular green of the village is now 

 paved. Here is the ancient St. Michael's Well, which 

 has been covered in, and is surmounted with steps and 

 a- wooden cross." There are sundials dated 1 766 

 and 1795 at the Mulberries and Crosby House. 



The ' submerged forest ' off" the coast of Great and 

 Little Crosby was described as visible in 1796.'* 



A great boulder stone, found close by, is placed in 

 the village, protected by an iron railing. 



Lawrence Johnson, educated at Oxford and Douay, 

 executed in 1582 and declared ' Blessed ' by Leo XIII 

 in 1886, was son of Richard Johnson of Great Crosby, 

 and laboured for a short time in Lancashire." 



A local board for the part not included in Water- 

 loo-with-Seaforth was formed in 1863 ;'° this in 1894 

 became an urban district council with nine members. 

 GREAT CROSBT is not men- 



MJNOR tioned by name in Domesday Book, 



being in 1066 one of the six berewicks 



dependent on the royal manor of West Derby." This 



dependency continued after the Conquest, the manor. 



1 ' To the Blundells of Crosby the 

 Catholics of the south-west of Lanes, 

 were long indebted j for their domestic 

 chapel and the priest who served it were 

 at frequent intervals their only religious 

 help in penal times ' ; Jos. Gillow in 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xiii, 163-4. 



'In 1568 there were 'two priests at 

 the hall of Crosby,' who said mass com- 

 monly ; Gibson, Lydiaic Hall, 211 (quot- 

 ing S. P. Dom. Eliz. xlviii, n, 34). Chris- 

 topher Small, sometime fellow of Exeter 

 Coll. Oxf. found a refuge here for several 

 years 5 see the account of Lydiate. 

 In 1586 the curate of Sefton reported 

 that James Darwen, a seminary priest, 

 was received by Richard filundell of 

 Crosby ; Lydiate Hall, 240 (from Harl. 

 MS. 360, fol. yb). It was for harbour- 

 ing one Woodruff, a seminary priest, 

 that Richard was imprisoned in 1590; 

 Crosby Rec. 21. James Forde, another 

 jeminarist, was there in 1592; Gillow, 

 loc. cit. 



• Foley, Rec. S. J. v, 340-5. 



■* Gillow, loc. cit., where a list will be 

 found. 



» N. Blundell, Diary, 63. There is a 

 view of it opposite p. 72. 



^ Ibid. 163. There are numerous allu- 

 sions to the ' chapel ' and services in the 

 volume just quoted. On i July, 1721, 

 Bishop Witham confirmed 284 persons ; 

 p. 178. 



7 Including 7 acres of inland water, in 

 Census Rep. of 1901 — Waterloo and part 

 of Brighton le Sands being excluded ; 

 there are also 12 acres of tidal water 

 and 807 foreshore. The area of Great 

 Crosby and Litherland combined shows 

 an increase of 344 acres over that re- 

 corded on the Ordnance maps of 1848. 



8 End. Char. Rep. Sefton, 1 899, p. 27. 



9 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, JJ ; 

 there is a specimen in Warrington 

 Museum. 



10 Trans. Hist. Soc. vii, 179. 



" Goose Feast Sunday was the nearest 

 Sunday to St. Luke's Day. If the ancient 

 day were St. Michael's on 16 October, 



91 



St. Luke's, as the nearest remaining festi- 

 val in the calendar, would probably be 

 chosen after the Reformation. 



12 Ca-vaiier's Note Book, 222-4, 253* 

 It measured nearly two miles. The rules 

 of the races, as fixed in 1682, are printed 

 in the work cited, pp. 267-70. 



The races are often mentioned in the 

 Diary of Nicholas Blundell, who was also 

 a frequenter of the bowling green at 

 Crosby. 



13 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc xix, 178- 

 80. 



1^ Gent. Mag. Lib. Topog. vi, 260 ; from 

 the G.M. of 1796, where a plate was 

 given. 



1"' Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 

 635, where a number of references are 

 given. Foster, in Alumni Oxon., calls him 

 fellow of Brasenose, and refers to Oxf. 

 Hist. Soe. xii, 18. 



16 Land. Gaz. 24 April and 2 June, 

 1863. For Waterloo see below in the 

 account of Litherland. 



17 See F.C.H. Lanes, i, 283a. 



