A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



This township measures about a mile and a half 

 in length by three-quarters acro5>, and has an area of 

 795 acres.' It consists of paric-like countr)- on the 

 southern slopes of a ridge which runs north-west and 

 south-east. The village of Much Woolton with its 

 residences, grounds, park, and golf-links occupies the 

 greater portion of the township. The eastern portion 

 is devoted to agriculture, crops of com, potatoes, 

 turnips, and hay thriving in the shelter of the wooded 

 hillside. The good and wide roads are pleasantly- 

 shaded by trees. The bunter series of the new red 

 sandstone or trias underlies the township ; the upper 

 mottled sandstones to a small extent in the eastern, 

 the pebble beds in the remaining portion. The 

 population in 1 90 1 was 4,731. 



The eastern and western boundaries lie along roads 

 from Liverpool which meet at the south-eastern 

 comer of the township, near the station (Hunt's 

 Cross) of the Cheshire Lines Committee's railway 

 from Liverpool to Manchester. A third road passes 

 between them through the centre, and this is crossed 

 at the village by the road to Garston. 



A local board was formed in 1866,' and was 

 succeeded by an urban district council of nine members 

 in 1894. There are a free library, opened in 1890, 

 and public baths, a village club and a mechanics' 

 institution, this last dating from 1849. 



A wake used to be held on the Green on Mid- 

 summer Day. A cross formerly stood in the centre 

 of the village ; the remains were standing until 1900,' 

 and after displacement have been re-erected. 



Two windmills are shown in a plan of 161 3, but 

 only one now exists, and that is in ruins. There is a 

 fine sandstone quarry. 



The Liverpool Convalescent Institution on the 

 hill side was built from the surplus of the Liverpool 

 fund for the relief of the Cotton Famine in 1862 ; 

 it is intended chiefly for patients who have been 

 treated at the Liverpool Hospitals, but there is a 

 wing for private patients. The police forces of 

 Liverpool and BootJe have an orphanage. 



The townships of MUCH and 



MANOR LITTLE If'OOLTON having early 

 come under the lordship of the Knights 

 Hospitallers were said to contain five plough-lands in 

 all. In 1066 there were here four manors, viz. : 

 I. Ulventune, with two plough-lands and half a league 

 of wood ; it was held by Uctred and worth beyond 

 the customary rent the normal 64.3'. 2, 3. Uvetone, 



with one plough-land ; held by two thegns for 

 tivo manon and worth ^oJ. 4. WibaUesUi, with 

 two plough-lands ; held by Ulbert and worth ()\d.* 

 Before the date of the Domesday Survey the whole 

 had become part of the Widnes fee, and before 1212 

 had been granted out in alms as follows : Two 

 plough-lands to the Hospitallers, by John, constable 

 of Chester, who himself was a crusader and died at 

 Tyre in i 190 ; three plough-lands to the abbey of 

 Stanlaw by his son Roger, who died in 121 i.' This 

 latter grant was in Little Woolton. 



The Hospitallers established a Camera at Woolton ; 

 in 1338 it had one messuage, fifty acres of land, five 

 acres of meadow, a water-mill, and ^^8 of annual 

 rent, and was let to farm for 20 marks.' The manor 

 of Much Woolton had the Hospitallers' lands in South 

 Lancashire attached to its jurisdiction, but was itself 

 subordinate to the preceptory of Yeveley or Stidd in 

 Derbyshire. A rent of 5/. a year for the five ' caryks * 

 (plough-lands) was paid by the Hospitallers to the 

 receiver of the honour of Halton." The superior 

 lordship was still supposed to reside in the barons of 

 Halton ; thus in the Halton feodary the two Wooltons 

 are said to be held as part of the Widnes fee for 

 five plough-lands and to pay the relief of half a knight's 

 fee, that is £z \os? It descended in the earldom and 

 duchy of Lancaster, and so to the crown.' 



In 1292 the prior of the Hospitallers was sum- 

 moned to answer the king by what right he claimed 

 waif, infangthief, outfangthief and gallows in Woolton, 

 fines for breach of the assize of bread and beer, and 

 to have the chattels of fugitives, condemned persons 

 and other felons in Woolton, Linacre, La More, 

 Bretharche, and about a hundred other places in the 

 county, and to be exempt from common fines and 

 amercements of the county and suits of county and 

 wapentake courts. The prior in reply showed the 

 charter of Henry III confirming all the possessions 

 and franchises of his order, which charter had been 

 duly confirmed by the king himself in 1280. The 

 right of gallows was claimed in Woolton only. It 

 was objected that in the case of lands more recently 

 acquired the prior was liable to the king for the 

 services rendered by previous tenants ; and the jury 

 very considerably limited the rights claimed.'" 



Probably the whole of the land was granted out in 

 small tenements." In 1327 the then prior made a 

 claim against William the Woodward of Woolton for 

 a reasonable account for the time he was bailiff in 



1 The Census Report gives 792 j no 

 inland water. 



2 Lond. Gj=. 17 July, 1866. 



* Lanes, and Cbes. Anti^. Soc. xix, 201 ; 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xi, 236. In 

 one of the Norris D. (B.M.), dated about 

 1600, is mentioned *a certain stone cross 

 now standing at the north end of the town 

 of Much Woolton.' 



< I'.CH. Lanes, i, 284^. 



* Inqs. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 41, and see the notes there. 

 John, constable of Chester, also gave the 

 Templars a plough-land, but its position is 

 unknown. 



® Hospitallers in England (Camd. Soc), 

 III. 



' Norris D. (B.M.), dated 11 March, 

 1515-16. 



s Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 708. 



'In 1324 Thomas earl of Lancaster 

 was found to have held Much Woolton for 

 five plough-lands (where ten plough-lands 

 made a knight's fee) as part of the fee 



of Widnes, in right of his wife Alice, 

 daughter and heir of the earl of Lincoln ; 

 and the prior of the Hospitallers was said 

 to hold Little Woolton without service, 

 so that Much Woolton bore the whole ; 

 Dods. MSS. cxzxi, fol. 33, 35A. 



In 1 346 the king was lord as heir of 

 Alice countess of Lincoln ; Survey of 

 1346 (Chet. Soc), 38. 



To the aid of 3 Henry IV, the Lords 

 of Much and Little Woolton paid 6s. %d. 

 as for a third of a knight's fee ; the 

 feodary of 9 Henry VI shows that the 

 king as heir of Alice countess of Lincoln 

 held five plough-lands here, while that of 

 1483 states that the prior of the Hospital 

 of St. John had a third of a fee. 



1" Plac. de quo JVarr. (Rec. Com.), 

 375. 376. 



^1 Some early charters granted by the 

 priors are extant. One dating from about 

 1 1 80 is by Ralph de Diva, prior of the 

 brothers of the hospital of Jerusalem in 

 England, who granted to Ralph the Cook 



114 



and his hctra two oxgangs in Woolton 

 which the brethren had by the gift of John, 

 constable of Chester ; they were to be held 

 in hereditary right by the service of 41. 

 annually paid to the Hospitallers* house, 

 and the third part of the chattels at death. 



Three by Prior Garner de Neapoli 

 (Nablous) grant respectively an oxgang to 

 Gilbert the Cook, and his heirs^ viz., one 

 of the two oxgangs which Hugh dc 

 Beaupeinne formerly held, for xid. yearly ; 

 an oxgang to Orm son of the widow of 

 Woolton, rendering 2J. yearly; and an 

 oxgang to Andrew de Woolton, for izd, 

 annual rent. These charters are dated 

 1187, 1 1 88, and 1 189 respectively. Orm 

 of Woolton occurs among the witnesses 

 to a Garston charter \c. 1215-20) j 

 PTkallty Ccuchery ii, 5 70. 



Prior Hugh de Alncto or Danet (proba- 

 bly between 1216 and i22o)gave Fulk dc 

 Woolton an oxgang on which the tenant 

 had already built, for izJ, yearly; and 

 Prior Robert dc Diva (about 1230) granted 



