WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



whether this estate reverted to the Blundells of Crosby 

 or passed to the heirs of Thomas.' 



Another portion, also originally an eighth, was 

 held in 1 2 1 2 by Roger Mallot or Malloc,' and de- 

 scended soon afterwards to Robert Mallot.' Thomas 

 Banastre held it by charter in 1298;* while in 1323-4 

 John and William sons of Roger had the same portion.' 

 A sub-division followed, and in 1 346 the tenants of 

 each of the three oxgangs of land which composed the 

 tenement were separately recorded thus : Richard de 

 Wall, paying is. 6 J. ; Robert de Wyresdale, Roger 

 Bolymer, and Margery daughter of Thomas Jordan- 

 son, y. ; and William Rogerson with John del Dale, 

 half; and Henry Woodvtfard, half, 3/.^ Some frag- 

 ments can be traced further, and appear to have been 

 acquired by Molyneux of Sefton.' 



The greater part of the land of the manor was held 

 in villeinage, and in the extent of 1 3 2 3-4 already 

 quoted is a list of the twenty-four holdings, the tene- 

 ments ranging from a quarter of an oxgang to three 

 and a half oxgangs, with a note appended that the 

 oxg.ing of land contained 5 acres, the assized rent 

 being at the rate of 4/. 6J. for each oxgang of land. 

 It is further stated that ' the commonalty of the town 

 of Crosby holds a certain field called the Ford, and 

 pays los. yearly at Michaelmas." The extent of 

 1346 enters much more minutely into the customs 



SEFTON 



and conditions of the township.' The free tenants 

 remained as formerly, but William de Liverpool, 

 clerk, and Nichola his wife, had acquired 6 acres next 

 Balifield by charter of the lord's father. '" 



In 1246 the town of Great Crosby was amerced 

 40^. for wreckage found on the shore, because the 

 booty was taken without warrant and hidden." 



In the reign of Henry VI there was a dispute 

 between Henry Blundell, lord of Little Crosby, and 

 the king's tenants of Great Crosby about the bounda- 

 ries. By the assent of Sir Richard Molyneux, steward 

 of the latter place, Thomas Lathom, then escheator, 

 was made arbitrator, and taking sixteen of the tenants 

 he rode with them himself to survey the boundary, set- 

 ting up the meres then and there, after which Henry 

 Blundell made a ditch along the boundary so marked 

 out." 



It was an established rule that no man should 

 build any house except within the precincts of the 

 town, wherefore the king's tenants in 1532 com- 

 plained that a certain Nicholas Johnson, supported by 

 James Blundell of Ince and about forty companions, 

 had built a house on a new site, in defiance of the 

 other tenants and the constables of the town. More- 

 over ' the said Nicholas, with eight others, for about 

 three weeks after the said house was built, armed 

 with bows, arrows, bucklers, &c., kept watch by 



also a relative. At the adjournment 

 William Blundell did not appear and was 

 non-suited. 



The charters appear to be some pre- 

 served by Kuerden. Nicholas Blundell, 

 about 13 1 5, had enfeoffed Richard de 

 Molyneux, rector of Sefton, of his lands, 

 and exchanged them for those which had 

 belonged to Simon de Walton ; Blundell 

 of Crosby D. K. 159. Soon afterwards 

 the rector granted to Nicholas and his wife 

 Margery the lands in Crosby which had 

 belonged to Simon de Walton as he had 

 had them from Nicholas ; the remainders 

 being to Nicholas son of Nicholas, and 

 then to Richard son of David Blundell 

 (brother of the younger Nicholas) ; ibid. 

 K. I2Z, and Kuerden fol. MS. 261, n. 

 487. 



Margery, as wife of Thomas Penreth, 

 in 1335 demised to Cecily, widow of 

 Thomas de Molyneux, her life interest in 

 the lands at Great Crosby ; Croxteth D, 

 D. i, I. 



^ On the one hand it appears that 

 Richard son of Nicholas Blundell, and 

 husband of Emma, had in 134.5 granted 

 all his lands in Great Crosby to Richard 

 son of Sir John de Molyneux of Little 

 Crosby ; and four years later Nicholas, 

 father of Richard, gave to his son Henry 

 the reversion of all the lands which had 

 been held by his mother Agnes, and then 

 by Emma widow of Richard ; Blundell of 

 Crosby D. K. 207, K. 205. 



On the other hand Thomas de Moly- 

 neux, as already shown, was the tenant in 

 1346; and his heirs, the Osbaldestons, 

 held lands in Great Crosby as part of their 

 manor of Edge in Sefton ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. xii, n. 28. The rent payable to 

 the duchy by the Blundells remained at 

 105. instead of being increased to 205. 



^ Inq. and Extents, 20 ; two of the four 

 oxgangs had been forfeited because 'his 

 ancestors put them to farm to the king's 

 rustics,' 



^Ibid. 136 ; Robert was paying 71. 6^/., 

 showing that one of the forfeited oxgangs 

 had been restored, 

 4 Ibid. 287. 



* Rentals and Surv. 379, m. 3. The 

 father, Roger, may have been the son of 

 Silvester mentioned in a previous note 5 

 Silvester land occurs in 1346 among the 

 field names. In 1292, however, Margery, 

 widow of Adam de Crosby, complained 

 that John son of Roger de Crosby, and 

 Roger son of Quenilda de Crosby, were 

 detaining a charter from her ; Assize 

 R. 408, m. n. 



6 Surz/ey of 1346 (Chet. Soc), 32. 



7 In 1393 it was found that Robert 

 Dickson of Great Crosby died seised of 

 a messuage, an oxgang of land, and a 

 sixth, which descended to Roger Robinson 

 as son and heir. This Roger had a 

 daughter Alice, wife of William Hig- 

 ginson, but she and her nine sons all 

 died before her husband. This husband 

 married again, and had a son Thomas 

 Wilson, who took possession unjustly, 

 as William Tue son of Agnes daughter of 

 Margery daughter of Simon the Porter, 

 brother of Roger Robinson, was the heir, 

 although Margery's sister Alice had re- 

 leased her right to William Higginson ; 

 Croxteth D. D. v, 6, 



William Tue granted his inheritance in 

 143 2 to John the Cook ; he about eighteen 

 months afterwards sold it to John son of 

 John of Great Crosby — i.e. John Johnson 

 — who shortly afterwards settled it on 

 himself and his wife Margaret for life, 

 and then to their son Robert and his sons 

 Thomas and Nicholas ; ibid. D. v, 7-12. 

 Richard, son of John the Cook, also granted 

 half an oxgang to John son of John de 

 Crosby In 1429 ; ibid. D. v, 5. 



Other Croxteth deeds concern lands of 

 the Newhouses family. In 1392 Henry 

 son of Robert del Newhouses settled his 

 hereditary lands on himself and his wife 

 Alice, with remainders to their children 

 John and Catherine, and then to Robert 

 and William sons of Richard del New- 

 houses ; ibid. D, v, 3-4. 



Richard Newhouse was a reeve of the 

 chapel in 1552; Ch. Goods (Chet, Soc), 

 104. 



8 Rentals and Surv. 379. 



9Add. MS. 32103, fol. 143^, 



93 



The villeins were liable for the reap- 

 ing of the lord's meadows at Derby, and 

 for carrying firewood during the lord's 

 stay in his castle of Liverpool, as also 

 timber for building the houses of the 

 same castle j these services were valued 

 at Is. ^^d. yearly for an oxgang in addition 

 to the rent of 4.S. 6d. above mentioned. 

 The villein was bound to come to the 

 lord's hallmote whenever summoned, could 

 not marry his daughter nor allow his son 

 to be coroner without payment for re- 

 demption to the lord, and must serve the 

 reeve without reward. At death the eldest 

 son (or nearest heir) of a villein had to 

 make satisfaction for the holding, as well 

 as he could, with the lord's minister, but 

 the widow's right to a third would be 

 allowed by a separate agreement ; the 

 chattels belonged to the lord wholly, after 

 payment of the dues of the church and 

 the debts of the deceased, one-third being 

 retained by him, and two-thirds returned 

 to the widow and the children or next 

 heirs. A list of the tenants at will fol- 

 lows, one of them did the ' services of 

 the Forland ' ; and also those of the 

 riddings, the latter being rented at is. ani 

 acre. 



It appears further that Thomas de 

 Molyneux was then bailiff of the wapen- 

 take. William Rogerson, a native, had- 

 part of an oxgang of the lord's escheat, as 

 of the free holding of Emma daughter of 

 Alan son of Simon, late his wife, and 

 owed ^d. to the free rent of the wapen- 

 take ; Roger son of Hugh, also a native 

 by blood, had free land of the inheritance 

 of Almar his wife. 



lOKnowsley D. bdle. 1402, n. 10; dated 

 at Knowsley, 8 July, 1343, and granting 

 6 acres of waste in the marsh of Great 

 Crosby, adjoining a place called the Bail- 

 liffeld, between the bounds of Crosby andi 

 Litherland, at a rent of p. ; also granting 

 an acre and a rood In Liverpool, 



1^ Assize R. 404, m. 19. 



i^Lansd. MS. 559, fol. 74^, Nlcholas 

 Lurting was one of the tenants. Thomas 

 de Lathom was escheator In various years 

 from 1431 to 1459. 



