A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



still, in 1227, Henry III included it in his general 

 confirmation. Another confirmation was issued as 

 late as 1 331. Strange to say, after the monks had 

 taken such pains to vindicate their right to the place, 

 they showed no further interest in it, and it does not 

 appear either in the Valor or in Ministers' Accounts 

 of the sixteenth century.' 



The above-mentioned Multon is the earliest 

 manorial lord of Garston of whom there is any record. 

 He had three sons — Richard, Henry, and Ralph — 

 and perhaps Matthew was another son. To Henry 

 and to Matthew he made respective grants of three 

 oxgangs of land, for the rent of iz^d., and to the 

 ancestor of Thomas (living in 1212) he gave four 

 oxgangs at JOti. This ancestor may have been the 

 other son Ralph, who had at least one oxgang, after- 

 wards the property of Stanlaw.* Richard son of 

 Multon, who held Garston about 1 1 46, was the 

 father of Adam de Garston, who in 1201 and various 

 subsequent years paid his contributions to the scutages.' 

 Adam died in 1206, leaving a widow Margaret, after- 

 wards married to Richard de Liverpool,* and sons 

 Adam and Richard, both young. The wardship of 

 the heir was purchased by his uncle Robert de Ains- 

 dale.» 



Adam the son of Richard was lord of Garston for 

 many years, dying in 1265. He, like his father, 

 was a benefactor to monasteries.' He also granted to 

 Roger the miller of Barwe the third part of his mill 

 in Garston with a fishery in Mersey and half the 

 fishery of the mill pool.' Adam also came to an 

 agreement with Alan le Norreys about the fishing in 

 the pool of Garston, binding himself that none should 

 fish there without Alan's consent, under a penalty of 

 40/. to St. Mary of St. John's Church at Chester.' 

 He died about I 265, and at the inquest it was found 

 that he had held four plough-lands in Garston in chief 



of Robert de Ferrers, earl of Derby, by a rent of 20/. 

 per annum, doing suit to county and wapentake, and 

 that he held nothing of any one else. Of the land 

 seven oxgangs (worth 9/. 6 J.) were in demesne, and 

 twenty-five in service ; there was a mill worth a mark 

 yearly. His son John, of full age, was his next heir.* 



John de Garston gave in alms two small portions 

 of his waste in Aigburth to the monks of Stanlaw." 

 He appears to have died about 1285, leaving his 

 brother Adam as his heir ; and in the inquest of 

 1298 it was found that Adam de Garston had been 

 lord of the place, and that his heir was in the king's 

 hands by reason of minority." 



The succession at this point is doubtful. Probably 

 the ' Adam, son of Adam, formerly lord of Garston,' 

 who about the end of the thirteenth century made 

 grants to his brother Robert and his sister Margery, 

 was the son and heir ; " but a John son of Adam de 

 Garston occurs about the same time, leaving a 

 daughter Sibota and a son Robert." In any case, 

 however, the inheritance came to an Ellen de Garston, 

 who early in Edward II's reign married Robert de 

 Blackburn," thenceforward called ' lord of Garston.' 



It will here be convenient to give some notice of 

 the other branches of the Garston family. The 

 inquest of 1 2 1 2 shows the following members of it 

 holding portions of the land : (i) The heir of Adam de 

 Garston held four plough-lands of the king for 201. in 

 thegnage — this is the main line, whose fortunes 

 have been recounted ; (ii) Hugh son of Henry, three 

 oxgangs for 22 Ja'., of the gift of Multon ; (iii) Thomas, 

 four oxgangs for 2s. 6d., by the gift of Multon ; 

 (iv) Henry son of Matthew, three oxgangs for 22^.^., 

 of the gift of Multon ; (v) Simon, three oxgangs for 

 2 2 W., of the gift of the aforesaid Adam his brother; 

 these thirteen oxgangs were held of the lord of Garston ; 

 (vi) there were three acres held in alms." 



' Mon. Angl. iii, 521-3 ; Cat. Pal. 



J33°-34, P- 39- 



» fyhallcy CouchcT (Chet. Soc), ii, 564.. 



* Lanes. Pipe R. 279, 153, 178, 204. 

 Adam granted in alms to Cockersand Abbey 

 land from his demesne in Aigburth in the 

 western corner of the township with pas- 

 ture for 500 sheep and 20 cows, and for 

 oxen and draught horses ; and further land 

 upon the brook separating Garston from 

 Allerton, near St. Mary's Well, and be- 

 tween the * mencway ' of Halewood and 

 the direct road between the two vills 

 named; Cockenand Chartut. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 554* 557* ^^ ^^'° granted his brother 

 Simon three oxgangs at a rent of zz^d. ; 

 Lanes. In^. and Extents (Rcc. Soc Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 19. 



* Richard de Liverpool's Garston ditch 

 is mentioned in an early charter [f^halley 

 Coucherj ii, 565) ; and he was a witness 

 to other charters. 



' Ibid, ii, 555 ». ; Lanes. Pipe R. 279 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 128. The Ains- 

 dale family had lands in Garston ; see 

 Blundell of Crosby evidences (Towneley 

 MSS.), K. 16, 17; fVhalley Coueher, ii, 573. 



6 To Cockersand he gave additional land 

 in Aigburth, ' with the consent of all the 

 free tenants,' and another piece apparently 

 in the hamlet called Brooks ; Coekersand 

 Cbariul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 556-7. He gave 

 to Stanlaw Abbey land in Aigburth, with 

 the usual easements, for three marks of 

 silver, and an annual rent of id. or a pair 

 of gloves ; an oigang which Ralph, son of 

 Multon, had held ; a plot called ' farthing ' 

 with a right to use the road, going and 

 returning beyond the moor as far as the 



Mersey ; and other lands in the Rothcr- 

 rake, and elsewhere. He gave the monks 

 water rights also ; a fishery called the 

 Lachegard ; rights in the water adjoining, 

 for the benefit of the eonversi at Woolton 

 grange, the monks to use it as they pleased ; 

 liberty to make another fishery on the 

 Mersey anywhere as far as Otterspool ; 

 and lastly all the water running from his 

 mill at Garston into the Mersey, and a 

 place (wherever they might choose) to 

 make a tannery or fulling mill, with its 

 necess.Try pool. All these gifts were in 

 pure alms, with the reservation that the 

 monks should full for him the cloth made 

 in his own house, and that without pay- 

 ment ; ^bailey Coueher, ii, 559, 563-9, 



He granted to his uncle, William de 

 Backford, son of Adam, parson of that 

 place, half an oxgang in Alton (elsewhere 

 Hokum) in Garston, for a service of four 

 barbed and winged arrows each year ; and 

 to the hospital of St. John outside the 

 Northgate of Chester, some further land 

 with half a fishery on the river, which the 

 brethren afterwards granted to the same 

 William de Backford for a rent of izd. 

 This holding was with Adam's consent 

 transferred to the monks of Stanlaw ; 

 ibid, ii, 578-81. The originals of some 

 of these charters are among the Norris D. 

 (B.M.). He confirmed also for a present 

 of half a mark, the gift of three oxgangs 

 which Adam de Bickerstath had made to 

 the same abbey ; ibid, ii, 577. 



7 The grantor was to find wood for the 

 mill and carry it to the site, but Roger 

 was to make the mill ; as to the pool and 

 the millstones Adam was to be responsible 



122 



for two parts and the miller for one ; 

 Norris D. (B.M.), 662-3. 



^ Ibid. 665, Alan le Norreys had ac- 

 quired the half fishery on the millpool 

 granted to Roger de Barwe ; ibid. 730. 



To William son of Alan and Amicia 

 his wife Adam de Garston granted an ox- 

 gang of land formerly held by Suard the 

 thegn, and more recently by the grantor's 

 brother Richard, with the land in Aig- 

 burth and the fisheries appertaining to it, 

 the rent to be I %d. To his daughters 

 by Yseult his wife, Alice and Margery, he 

 gave 3J oxgangs with all liberties except 

 as to the fishes of his pool ; and to Simon 

 de Garston he allowed the 4 oxgangs for- 

 merly held by Henry and Alice, the parents 

 of Simon, for a rent of zs. 6d. ; ibid. 666, 

 668, 664.. 



His widow Hawise surrendered to the 

 monks of Stanlaw all her dower right in 

 the lands Adam had given them ; IVhalley 

 Coueher, ii, 584. 



^ Lanes, Inq. and Extents, 232. 



1° IVhalley Coueher, ii, 560-74 ; one of 

 them was in the Middle dole. 



To Adam son of Henry de Garston he 

 gave several plots of land — in the Gorttie- 

 hol, Humbeldale, Rotherrakes and else- 

 where ; while to Agnes, one of his sisters, 

 he gave lands in Echyndale moor ; and to 

 Adam son of William de Garston and 

 Ellen his wife a piece in the Brugegrevis : 

 Norris D. (B. M.), 690-3. 



'' Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 287. 



" Norris D. (B. M.), 673-4. 



" Ibid. 693, 763, 786, 822. 



'* The name is often spelt Blakeburn. 



^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 1 5. 



