WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



CHILDWALL 



the pebble beds to the south-west of the Cheshire 

 Lines Railway and the upper mottled sandstones to the 

 north-east. The soil is loamy. 



An interesting road is that through the centre of 

 the township from Liverpool through the Old Swan 

 to Gateacre and Hale.' It is joined at the church by 

 a cross road from Wavertree ; another road from Old 

 Swan to Huyton runs along part of the northern 

 boundary. The Cheshire Lines Committee's Railway 

 from Manchester to Southport passes through the 

 centre of the township, and there is a station in Well 

 Lane, about a quarter of a mile east of the church. 

 The population in 1901 numbered 219. 



Jeremiah Markland, a celebrated classical scholar, 

 was born here in 1693, son of the vicar of Childwall.* 



' The roads from Liverpool,' wrote Samuel Derrick 

 in 1760, 'are deep and sandy; consequently rather 

 unpleasant ; but the views are rather extensive, par- 

 ticularly from a summerhouse on Childwall Hill, 

 about three miles distant, where you have a prospect 

 of fifteen counties and a good view of the sea. In 

 the skirts of this hill are several small villages with 

 gentlemen's seats scattered about, well covered and 

 for the most part delightfully situated.' ^ Gregson 

 also says : 'The views from the neighbourhood of the 

 church, from the hall, Gateacre, and as far as Woolton 

 Hall . . . are extensive and particularly fine. On 

 the west are seen with more distant eminences, 

 Aughton Hills, near Ormskirk, traversing a line of 

 country to the north-east. The prospect from Prescot 

 to Farnworth terminates on the south-east with a 

 distant view of the ruins of Halton Castle — now fast 

 mouldering away — a range of hills beyond, and 

 Norton Priory ... A large portion of the Mersey 

 water forms one of the features of this scene, and gives 

 great interest to a landscape that extends nearly 

 fifteen miles. . . This highly cultivated vale is inter- 

 spersed with more churches than are usually seen at 

 one view in Lancashire.' * 



A cross formerly stood on the roadside near Well 

 Lane ; the base is still there.' Another cross stood 

 on the boundary of the township, near the entrance 

 lodge of the hall ; on the opposite side of the road 

 are a number of ' seats ' cut in the rock. 



Well Acre is the name of a field in Well Lane just 

 below the church. Another well or pool at the 

 bottom of the slope to the north-east of the church 

 was known as Monk's Bath ; it was well protected by 

 an interior four-sided wall of masonry, and a stream 

 from it used to flow into the Childwall Brook a 

 short distance away.* Ashfield is the name of the 

 land round this well ; Mire Lake and Coneygrey 



are fields near the railway and the Little Woolton 

 boundary. 



A local board was formed in 1867 ;' since 1894 

 the township has been governed by an urban district 

 council of five members. 



Four Radmans held CHILDWALL in 

 MANOR 1 066 for four manors ; it was assessed at half 

 a hide, and its value beyond the customary 

 rent was 8/.* The place is mentioned again in 1094, 

 when Roger of Poitou gave the church to St. Martin 

 of Seez." Afterwards Child- 

 wall, with the adjoining Aller- 

 ton, was given to Albert Grelley, 

 baron of Manchester, and in 

 his successors the superior lord- 

 ship of the manor continued 

 to be vested. It is recorded 

 among the members of the 

 barony down to 1473.'° 



Under the lords of Man- 

 chester a subordinate fee of 

 6J plough-lands was created, of 

 which a portion was Child- 

 wall, being held in i 2 1 2 by '"'• 

 Richard son of Robert (de 



Lathom)." In 1282 and later the regular statement 

 is that the Lathoms held half a fee in Childwall." 

 In 1473 Thomas Lord Stanley, heir of the Lathoms, 

 held Childwall for half a knight's 

 fee, paying yearly for ' sake fee ' 

 4^. 6tl. and for ward of the 

 castle 5/." Later it appears to 

 have been consolidated with 

 Ralnford and Anglezark, and 

 these were held together of 

 Lord la Warre by Thomas 

 second earl of Derby, who died 

 1 52 I, by fealty and a rent 



Grelley, Lord of 

 Manchester. Gules, 

 three bendlets enhanced 





Lathom of Lathom. 

 Or, on a chief indented 

 a^ure three bezants. 



of 3/., the value being estimated 

 as j^44 17/. dd}^ A similar 

 statement is made in the in- 

 quisition after the death of 

 Ferdinando, fifth earl, who died in 1594, but the 

 value had declined to ^^30." 



In 1596 Childwall formed part of the lands settled 

 on Thomas Stanley,'* but reverted to the earl of Derby 

 in 1 614." During the Civil War the earl's estates were 

 sequestered by the Parliament. The manor was con- 

 tracted for sale in 1653 to Henry Nevill and Arthur 

 Samwell ; the mill, then in the occupation of Isabel 

 Broughton, to George Hurd and George Leaf, and other 

 land there to John Broughton." From another case 



^ At present the portion to the north 

 of the church is available for foot passen- 

 gers only ; from its direction and con- 

 nexion, it would seem to have been in 

 former times the principal roadway. 



2 He was educated at Christ's Hospital 

 and at Peterhouse, Camb. 5 he is still 

 counted among the illustrious scholars of 

 his university. He died at Milton, near 

 Dorking, in 1776. There is an account 

 of him in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



3 Letters from Leuerpoole, i, 29, quoted 

 in Baines' Lanes, (ed. Croston), v, 39. 



* Fragments (ed. Harland), 189 ; written 

 about 1 81 5. 



* Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xi, 237 ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 198. 



® The pool has now become dry, prob- 

 ably owing to the pumping carried on for 

 the water supply of the district, and it is 



filled up. The tithe map shows a path 

 leading down it, but this has now been 

 closed and added to the field. 



7 Lond. Gaz. 28 June, 1867. 



8 See F.C.H. Lanes, i, 2842. 



' Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 290, 298. 



^^ See, for example, Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 54, 154; Surmy of 1346 (Chet. Soc.) 

 42; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc), 379, 514, 



479- 



^^ Inq. and Extents, l.s.c. ; Feud. Aids, 

 iii. Si. 



12 Inq. and Extents, 250. In 1322 Robert 

 de Lathom held it, and in 1482 Lord 

 Stanley for half a fee owed homage and 

 fealty ; Mamecestre, 479. The lord of 

 Childwall had to provide a judge or dooms- 

 man at the court of Manchester ; ibid. 

 375- 



109 



1' Ibid. 514; see also Feud. Aids, 

 iii, 94. 



^'* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, n. 68. 



15 Add. MS. 32104, fol. 425*. 



15 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 59, m. 214. See also Pat. 44 Eliz. 

 pt. ii. 



17 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 85, 

 m. 15. 



18 Royalist Comf. P. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), ii, 147-56, 166-72, 237-8. 

 It was found that Childwall, among other 

 manors, had been assigned in 1637 as 

 security for the payment of ,^600 to 

 Elizabeth Lady Stanley (widow of Sir 

 Robert Stanley) and her sons, and this was 

 allowed to her in 1646 (she having be- 

 come the countess of Lincoln), and appears 

 to have been continued after the execution 

 of the earl in 165 1. 



