WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



SEFTON 



135° 



ORRELL AND FORD 



Orhull, 1280, 1 360; Orrell, or Orell, 

 onwards. 



Ford, 1 300 onwards ; Forde and Forth occur. 



This township is formed of two detached portions, 

 Orrell to the south and Ford to the north ; their 

 combined area is 727 acres.' The population in 

 1901 was 2,104. 



It has not been ascertained when Orrell and Ford 

 were separ.ited from Litherland to form a distinct 

 township ; they are not recognized in the county lay, 

 which was settled in 1624.* 



ORRELL lies on the border of Walton. It con- 

 tains the highest land in the parish of Sefton, about 

 125 ft. above the sea. Its area is 370 acres. The 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway from 

 Liverpool to Ormskirk runs along the southern 

 border, the tunnel being now almost completely 

 opened, and the Mersey and Fazakerley branch passes 

 through Orrell. A pedestal of an ancient cross still 

 exists, and there is a sundial at Springwell House.' 



Orrell occurs comparatively early as a well-defined 

 part of Litherland, as may be seen from the numerous 

 references already given in the account of the manor 

 of Litherland ; it is, for example, called a ' vill ' as 

 early as 13 10,* and its 'fields' are mentioned ;' but 

 there is nothing to show that it was ever a distinct 

 manor. It is described as a hamlet of Litherland in 



J 345-' 



One branch of the Demand family appears to have 

 taken the surname of Fox, and John son of Richard 

 Fox of Orrell occurs.' Another family of which 

 there is some mention took its surname from the 

 place.' 



From 1 894 the township had a parish council, 

 but Orrell was in 1905 taken into the borough of 

 Bootle. 



FORD occupies a corner between Litherland, 

 Great Crosby, and Sefton. It touches upon the open 

 country and shares the refreshing sea-breezes which 

 come from the west. The road from Litherland to 

 Sefton passes through it, as also the Leeds and Liver- 

 pool Canal. The separate area is 357 acres. The 

 ford from which the place takes its name was perhaps 

 one over the Rimrose Brook, which divides it from 

 Great Crosby." 



Ford is mentioned only casually in mediaeval 

 deeds, but appears to have given a surname to a 

 resident family.'" 



Early in the eighteenth century Thomas Syers of 

 the Ford appears to have been the principal resident." 



A Roman Catholic cemetery of 2 1 acres was opened 

 in 1855, and has the church of the Holy Sepulchre 

 adjoining it, built in 1861. There is also a convent 

 of nuns of the Good Shepherd who have an asylum 

 for penitent women, established in Everton in 1858 

 and removed to Ford in 1867 ; their church of the 

 Sacred Heart, built in 1887, is open to the public.'" 



AINTREE 



Aintree, 1226 ; Ayntre, 1292 — the usual mediae- 

 val spelling ; Eyntre occurs ; Ayntree and Ayntrie, 

 xvi cent. 



This triangular township forms the south-eastern 

 corner of the parish; its area is 850 acres ;" the 

 population in 1901 was 261. 



The county is extremely flat, and in the northern 



^ The census of 1 90 1 gives 727 acres ; 

 this includes 8 of inland water. 

 '^ Gregson, Fragments, 16. 

 ' Lanes, and Ches, Antiq, Sac. xix, 185. 

 ■* Croxteth D. G. ii, 2, quoted above. 

 There is no date, but the grantor was 

 Adam the Judge, son of William. An 

 earlier deed is that by which William de 

 Scaifreschage released to William de 

 Molyneux all his brother Hugh's lands in 

 Orrell ; ibid. G. i, I. 



In 1366 Margery, daughter of Robert 

 Knot, gave her husband, Matthew del 

 Plat, all her lands in the vill of Orrell ; 

 ibid. G. ii, 26. These lands descended to 

 Margery's son John del Plat, who in 1430 

 sold them to John de Bawdon ; Kuerden 

 fol. MS. 315, n. 458-60. 



* Croxteth D. G. ii, 5, quoted above ; 

 and G. ii, 1 1, the ' field ' of Orrell. 



^ Ibid. G. i, 13. In the inquisition 

 after the death of Sir Richard Molyneux 

 in 1623 the list of manors runs — *Down 

 Litherland alias Litherland, Orrell, Ford,' 

 &c.; but when the tenures are described 

 it is * the manor of Down Litherland and 

 other the premises in Down Litherland, 

 Linacre, Ford and Orrell ' ; Lanes, Inq, p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 383, 389. 

 7 Richard Fox son of William the 

 Demand quitclaimed to Richard de 

 Molyneux of Little Crosby his interest In 

 lands purchased from Margery de Orrell ; 

 Blundell of Crosby D. K. 197. Perhaps 

 it was the same Richard Fox who gave two 

 acres in Litherland to Agnes, daughter of 

 Christian of Great Crosby and Richard 

 their son ; Croxteth D. G. ii, 8. Earlier 

 probably than these deeds were the grants 

 of lands In Sefton to a Richard Fox made 

 by William de Molyneux ; ibid. Ee. 3, 4, 6. 



These lands are mentioned in a charter 

 of 1318 ; ibid. Gen. i, 8. 



In 1332 Richard the Demand and 

 William Fox of Litherland paid 21. each 

 to the subsidy ; Exeh, Lay Subs, (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 17 ; and in 1339 

 Richard Fox made a grant of lands in 

 Litherland to Richard de Molyneux of 

 Sefton ; Croxteth D. G. i, 9. 



John, son of Richard Fox of Orrell, in 

 1 35 1 and 1352 made claims against 

 Roger Hurdys of Orrell and Emma his 

 wife, and John Bayn of Orrell, concerning 

 small portions of land in Litherland ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i (Lent), m, 

 iij ; R. 2 (July), m. iiij. 



8 Adam de Orrell was a plaintiff in 

 1346 and 1347 ; De Banc. R. 345, m. 

 393 ; R. 350, m. 314^/; this suit con- 

 cerned lands given by Henry de Orrell to 

 Richard de Orrell and Ellen his wife, 

 parents of the claimant, in the time of 

 Edward II. 



William, son of Richard, son of William 

 de Orrell (living at the end of the thir- 

 teenth century), in 1356 claimed certain 

 lands held by Richard de Ince of Orrell 

 and Agnes his wife, in virtue of a grant 

 by Emma daughter of William de Orrell 

 to a former Richard de Ince ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 9 j R. 6, m. y d, j 

 Assize R. 438, m. 6. 



Some grants by and to William son of 

 Simon de Ince of Orrell may be seen in 

 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 230*, n, 64, 67, 68. 

 Here is also a release by Henry son of 

 Richard son of Adam de Orrell in 1368 ; 

 ibid. n. 72. 



' There was a Ford field in Great 

 Crosby. The following grant, however, 

 shows that there was another ford on the 



99 



Sefton boundary, which may have given 

 the name to this part of Litherland. 



Richard de Molyneux, rector of Sefton, 

 in 1328 granted his brother Thomas a 

 portion of the waste of Litherland, the 

 bounds of which are thus described : 

 * Beginning at the bridge of the Stany- 

 brigg and following the boundary of 

 Sefton as far as the Ford, and following 

 the Pool to the* ditch of the said Thomas, 

 and along this ditch to the Ford field and 

 then in a line to the road from the vill of 

 Litherland to the Stanybrigg, and along 

 this road to the ditch of the Stanybrigg, 

 and following this ditch to the first-named 

 boundary.* He added another part of the 

 waste, with turbary in his moss in Lither- 

 land, and other easements ; all to be held 

 from the chief lords by the gift of a rose 

 on St. John Baptist's day ; Dods. MSS. 

 liii, fol. ybb. The Stanybrigg and its 

 ditch, on the road between Litherland 

 and Sefton, are mentioned in another 

 charter, granting land in Sefton to the 

 same Thomas ; ibid. fol. J$b. 



'^'^ John del Ford granted land in Lither- 

 land to the rector of Sefton, who in 1310 

 gave it to Roger de Roby and Agnes his 

 wife ; Croxteth D. G. ii, 7 ; Ee. 15. 



Roger del Ford occurs in 1332 j Excb. 

 Lay Subs, 17. 



Alice de Ford granted land in the 

 Nether Broadmoor to Ralph de Molyneux 

 in 1 38 1-2 ; Blundell of Crosby D. IC. 6. 



11 N. BlundeWs Diary, 131, 14.5. The 

 will of Philip Syers of Down Litherland 

 was enrolled in the Common Pleas in 

 1778 5 R. 323, m, 282. 



12 Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1901. 



^8 853 acres, including 12 of inland 

 water ; Census Rep. of igoi. 



