WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



CHILDWALL 



The Calderstones estate, formed in 1828 by Joseph 

 Need Walker of Liverpool/ has lately been purchased 

 by the corporation of Liverpool. The ' famous Aller- 

 ton oak,' mentioned in the Directory of 1825, still 

 stands on the lavi^n of the house, a very large and 

 ancient tree. 



A local board was formed in 1868 ;* in 1894. it 

 became an urban district council of nine members. 



JLLERTON was in 1066 held by 

 MJNOR three thegns for as many manors, the 

 assessment being half a hide, and the 

 value above the customary rent the normal 8;.* In 

 the twelfth century it became a member of the barony 

 of Manchester. It is not mentioned by name in the 

 survey of 121 2, but had apparently before that time 

 been held in conjunction with Childwall by the lords 

 of Lathom, who had recently resigned their rights here.* 



There was here about the same time a family who 

 bore the local surname. Richard son of Robert de 

 Allerton gave to the canons of St. Werburgh of 

 Warburton whatsoever in Aigburth belonged to his 

 fourteen oxgangs of land in Allerton, as shown by the 

 marks and crosses of the brethren, with common 

 rights and easements of his fee in Allerton. His son 

 Robert, with the assent of his uncle Gilbert, son of 

 Robert de Allerton, granted three acres between the 

 ' Twiss ' and St. Mary's Spring, next to the four acres 

 given them by Richard son of Robert son of Henry. 

 He further gave his portion of ten oxgangs of land 

 upon Flasbuttes in the east of Aigburth, between the 

 Stonebridge and the moss.* 



In 1 241, an assize of mort d'ancestor having been 

 summoned between Robert son of Richard de Aller- 

 ton and Geoffrey de Chetham and Margaret his wife, 

 the former quitclaimed his right in twelve oxgangs of 

 land in Allerton, i.e. half the manor, to Thomas 

 Grelley, lord of Manchester, who had been called to 

 warrant.® From this time no resident family assumed 

 the local name.' The superior lordship thus formally 

 recognized continued to be held by the barons of 

 Manchester down to the seventeenth century.** 



A subordinate manor of Allerton was formed for 

 one of the members of the Grelley family, the earliest 

 known tenant being John Grelley. His son Robert 

 and widow Joan were in 1306 holding respectively 

 two-thirds and a third of the manor, which were 

 claimed by Thomas son of Robert Grelley, the superior 

 lord, by writ of formedon.^ Robert, however, con- 

 tinued to hold the manor until the beginning of 

 Edward Ill's reign,^** when he was succeeded by his 

 son John,'^ whose name occurs down to about 1380, 

 In 1382 Isabel, widow of John Grelley, negotiated 

 the marriage of her daughter Anilla with John 

 le Norreys of Much Woolton.'^ 



The descent of the manor is obscure at this point. 

 Probably there was an elder daughter who inherited 

 it. It was afterwards held by the Lathoms of Far- 

 bold. Their earliest appearance in Allerton is in 

 1 44 1, when Edward de Lathom obtained by fine 

 from Richard de Pemberton and Elizabeth his wife 

 six messuages, a mill and lands here.'^ A confirma- 

 tion of the descent is obtainable from two Mossock 



^ The house was previously called the 

 Old House. 



2 Land* Gaz. 3 January, 1868. 



8 KC.H. Lanes, i, 284a. 



"* In 1 209 Robert Grelley, then baron 

 of Manchester, laid claim to certain 

 services which Richard son of Robert 

 ought to render him from a tenement 

 in Allerton, and the matter was settled 

 by the latter resigning to the superior 

 lord the tenement concerned. Final Cone. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 35, 36. 

 It appears certain that this Richard was 

 Richard son of Robert de Lathom, from 

 a claim to the manor made as late as 

 1316 by Robert de Lathom, by a writ 

 De a-uo against Robert Grelley. In the 

 pleadings the Lathom pedigree is traced 

 back to the tenant of 1209. De Banc. 

 R. 216, m. 129 i/. ; 219, m. iizd. 



It was no doubt the same Richard son 

 of Robert who gave half a culture here — 

 viz., half of Exstanesfold — to the priory 

 of Burscough. Mom. Angl- vi, 460. It 

 was held of the priory about 1400 by 

 John de Blackburn of Garston, in socage 

 by a rent of 4^. yearly. Towneley's 

 MSS. DD, 1457. After the dissolution 

 it was acquired by the Ditchfields of 

 Ditton. Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 

 n. 19. 



^ Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 559-61. Land in Allerton is mentioned 

 among the possessions of the abbey in 

 1292 in the Plactta de quo Warranto 

 {Rec. Com.), p. 339. In 1501 the abbey 

 received a rent of (>%. Sd. from Thomas 

 Plomb, and 6d. for Puntercroft from Sir 

 William Norris. Cockersand Chartul. 

 (Chet. Soc), 1249. 



The Richard son of Robert son of 

 Henry is obviously the lord of Lathom. 



The ' Twiss,' a tongue of land be- 

 tween two brooks, is mentioned in a 

 grant by Richard son of Robert de 



Allerton to Gilbert, son of Robert de 

 Liverpool, of three acres (24 ft. in length) 

 in Catranscroft and the Twiss, reaching 

 to the lands of Cockersand and the 

 Hospitallers, and lying among the land 

 bought by Gilbert from Richard son of 

 Robert de Lathom. Blundell of Crosby 

 evidences (Towneley MS.), K.. 198. 



fi Final Cone, i, 91. Geoffrey de 

 Chetham twelve years later appeared as 

 complainant, alleging that the monks 

 of Stanlaw had forcibly taken some of 

 his turf and beaten his men ; Abbrcu. 

 Plae. (Rec Com.), p. 130 ; Cur. Reg. R. 

 150, ni. 9. 



7 William de Allerton and his sons had 

 lands in the adjoining township of Speke. 

 He may have been ancestor of the 

 William son of Thomas de Allerton, a 

 claimant of land here in 1362, whose 

 great-grandfather was named William ; 

 De Banc. R. 410, m. 63. 



^ In 1327 John de la Warre held this 

 manor, with appurtenances, by the service 

 of the fourth part of a knight's fee and 

 suit to county and wapentake by the 

 hands of Robert Grelley his tenant ; 

 Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 35. 



In 1346 it with Childwall and Dalton 

 formed half a fee, suit to county and 

 wapentake being performed by John 

 Grelley; Surv. of 1346 (Chet. Soc), 42. 

 There is a similar record in other aids. 



In 1623 Allerton was held of Edward 

 Mosley as of the manor of Manchester 

 by knight's service and it/. rent; Lanes. 

 Jnq. p.m. (Rec. Soc Lanes, and Ches.), 

 iii, 406. 



9 De Banc R. 161, m. 481. He also 

 claimed lands in Chorlton-upon-Medlock 

 from them and in Garston from Adam 

 de Ireland and Avina his wife. 



^^ In 1327 Ellen Grelley contributed 

 to the subsidy, but in 1332 Robert 

 Grelley is the name given ; Exch, Lay 



129 



Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 4. 

 In 1323 the justices, William dc Hcrle 

 and Geoffrey Le Scrope, stayed a night 

 at the house of Robert de Gredele in 

 Derbyshire ; Assize R. 425, m. 14. 



1^ See Mamecestre (Chet, Soc), ii, 266 ; 

 also Norris D. (B,M.), «. 782. 



John Grelley was made a verderer 

 in 1334; Duchy of Lane For. Proc, 

 1/17. In 1334 and later John Grelley 

 disposed of his lands in Chorlton by Man- 

 chester. In 1389 he is spoken of as 

 * lately deceased.' His armorial seal 

 shows the Grelley coat, without difference. 

 See De Trafford D. n. 19, 124-5. J^'^^'^ 

 Grelley and Isabel his wife are named in 

 13^8 ; Assize R. 438, m. 14. 



13 Norris D. (B.M.), n. 390. The writ 

 of Diem el. extr. on the death of John 

 Grelley was issued i March, 13 80-1 ; 

 Dep. Keeper's Rep, xxxii, App. p. 354. 



A Gilbert Grelley occurs in Woolton 

 between 1350 and 1360. In 1345 John 

 and Gilbert Grelley had pardons on 

 condition of serving in Gascony when 

 summoned ; Cal.ofPat. 1 343-5, pp. 530-1. 



18 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdlc 8, 

 n. 62 ; 6, m. 40. The interval is partly 

 filled by the occurrence of William de 

 Slene, during the greater part of 

 Richard II's reign, as appears from the 

 Norris deeds of this time. He con- 

 tributed to the poll tax of 1381 ; and in 

 1391 the bishop of Lichfield granted him 

 a licence for an oratory within his manor- 

 house in the parish of Childwall ; Lich. 

 Reg. vi, fol. 127. He is also mentioned 

 in the Chetham Society's volume of 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. It is obvious that he 

 was for the time lord of the manor, but 

 there is nothing to show the reason for 

 it. He may have married the eldest 

 daughter of John Grelley ; all that is 

 known is that he married the widow of 

 John de Rainford. 



17 



