WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



CHILDWALL 



trustees sold the hall and manorial rights to Lawrence 

 Richardson Baily of Liverpool,' after whose death in 

 1886 Mr. Thomas Clarke of Liverpool and Cork 

 purchased the estates and is the present lord of the 

 manor.' 



Three daughters were the issue of the above men- 

 tioned marriage between John le Norreys of Woolton 

 and Anilla Grelley, one of them being Joan, who 

 married Henry Mossock. In 141 7 by fine dealing 

 with lands in AUerton, Ditton, Huyton, and Speke, 

 the succession was arranged.' The Mossocks re- 

 tained property at Allerton until the seventeenth 

 century.* 



The Norrises of Speke also held land in Allerton of 

 the Lathoms. It was situate in the Marshfield and 

 had been the property of the Brooks family of 

 Garston.' 



Some part of the holding of Cockersand Abbey had 

 early been farmed to Ralph Saracen, a citizen of 

 Chester, who gave his right to the Hospital of 

 St. John the Baptist outside the Northgate, the 

 brethren thereof being bound to render 5^. yearly to 

 the abbey.* On the suppression of the abbey these 

 lands were granted to Thomas Holt,' and were after- 

 wards sold to Edward Molyneux.** 



Among the more recent landowners may be men- 

 tioned the Earles of Liverpool, 

 who began to purchase about 

 the beginning of last century. 

 Sir Hardman Earle, of Allerton 

 Tower, was made a baronet in 

 1869; he died in 1877, and 

 was succeeded by his son Sir 

 Thomas, who died in 1900, 

 and his grandson Sir Henry 

 Earle, D.S.O. General Sir Wil- 

 liam Earle, C.B., C.S.I., a son 

 of the first baronet, was killed 

 in the Soudan on 10 February, 

 1885 ; there is a statue to 

 commemorate him in front of 

 St. George's Hall, Liverpool. ° 



An enclosure of waste was made in 1822, the lords 

 of the manor at that time being Samuel Joseph Clegg 

 and James Willacey.'" 



Two small ' Papist ' estates were registered in 

 1717; William Walmesley of Liverpool, watchmaker, 

 ;^35 for a house held for the life of Anne his wife ; 



s 



Earle of Allerton 

 Tower. Or, three pal- 

 lets gules each charged 

 •with an escallop in chief 

 of the field. 



and Thomas Miller of Garston, for houses here and 

 at Garston, /'lo." 



The church of All Hallows was built in 1872 for 

 the accommodation of members of the Established 

 Church. A parish was formed for it in 1876. The 

 incumbents are presented by Mrs. Bibby. The 

 stained glass windows were designed by Sir E. Burne- 

 Jones and executed by William Morris. 



SPEKE 



Spec, Dom.Bk.; Spek, 13 17; Speck(e), 1320; Speke 

 common from thirteenth century, with variants as 

 Speek, 1332; Speyke, 1 500 ; once'Espeke' occurs. 

 In the sixteenth century frequently ' The Speke.' 



This district contains some of the best wheat grow- 

 ing land in the hundred, and has a considerable river 

 frontage opposite the widest portion of the River 

 Mersey. There are scattered plantations amongst 

 open fields, where barley and oats as well as wheat 

 grow well in light, sandy, or stiff clay soils. There 

 are no brooks. The village of Speke consists of a 

 small group of cottages near the church, a mile from 

 a railway station. Other houses are scattered thinly 

 over the district. The river bank in places is flat, 

 but principally consists of high clay banks. Upon 

 and about these the botanist may find many plants 

 locally uncommon. The geological formation con- 

 sists of the bunter series of the new red sandstone or 

 trias ; the pebble beds underlie the entire township. 

 The area is 2,504^ acres,'^ of which the demesne of 

 Speke Hall occupies 765 acres. Oglet" is a hamlet 

 by the Mersey. 



In 1 90 1 the population numbered 381. 



The road from Garston to Hale crosses Speke in 

 two branches, and is met at the village by the road 

 coming south from Woolton. The London and 

 North-Western Company's line from Liverpool to 

 Warrington passes through the northern part of the 

 township, and has a station. 



The remains of Hunt's Cross were described in 

 1895 as 'a displaced massive square stone socket, 

 lying in a barn, at the crossroads, near the station.' " 



At the boundary of Speke, Halewood, and Hale 

 there is a piece of land called Conleach. Here 

 formal challenge fights used to take place between the 

 inhabitants of the adjoining villages. 



* Ex Inform. Mr. T. Algernon Earle. 

 Mr. Baily was one of the members for 

 Liverpool in 1885. 



' Ex Inform. Mr. T. Clarke. 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 4, 

 m. 33 ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 230. See 

 also the accounts of Much Woolton for 

 Norreys, and of BickerstafFe for Mos- 

 sock. 



It would appear from a suit of 1352 

 that the father of John le Norreys had 

 then some land in Allerton, for he 

 appeared against Robert son of Robert, 

 son of Richard le Norreys of Burtonhead, 

 to claim a messuage and eight acres ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m. iiii (July) 

 and m. iiii (Oct.) 



Kuerden, loc. cit. records a grant in 

 Allerton to Alan le Norreys in 1336 from 

 John son of John, son of Simon de 

 Garston. 



■* In 1662 Richard Lathom of Allerton 

 granted Thomas Mossock 5^ acres 

 (Henthorn head), on the west of the 

 Mossock holding in Allerton, further 



enclosure being forbidden ; Kuerden loc, 

 cit. n. 20. 



5 Norris D. (B.M.), 11-18. Among 

 the Norris deeds are depositions respecting 

 the rights of common here, the Lathoms' 

 tenants objecting to those of the Norrises 

 sharing, on the ground that the property 

 in respect of which rights were claimed 

 lay beyond the boundary. 



* Cockersand Charlul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 561. The property was known as the 

 Moss Grange 5 Rentale de Cockersand (Chet. 

 Soc), 5. 



In 1523 Thomas Crue, clerk, master 

 of the Chester Hospital, leased out the 

 fields or closes called the Moss Grange 

 within the parish of Childwall for a term 

 of yy years, a rent of 335. ^d, being 

 payable. The lessees were Alice wife of 

 David ap Griffith and Robert Griffith ; 

 and after their death the latter's son 

 William held possession for about five 

 years, being forcibly expelled in May, 

 1537, by Sir William Norris and others. 

 Sir William ordered certain persons to 



murder Griffith if he came near the 

 place, according to his complaint ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Pleadings, Hen. VIH, x, G. 4. 



7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, n, 46. 



8 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 50, 

 m. 91 ; the rent of 5^. from Moss Grange 

 was included, 



^ An account of the family, with pedi- 

 grees and portraits, by Mr. T, Algernon 

 Earle, is given in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New 

 Ser.), yi, 13-76. 



10 Liverpool Corp. D. 



^"^ Engl. Cath, Non-jurors, 126, 155. 

 * C02. Walmesley the watchmaker ' dined 

 at Little Crosby in 1712 } N, Blundell's 

 Diary, 106. 



12 The 1901 Census Rep. gives 2,526, 

 including 9 acres of inland water j there 

 are also 1,037 acres of tidal water and 

 about 2,373 of foreshore. 



"^^ Ogetot, Oggelot, and Ogelote occur 

 early ; Oglot, Ogloth, also common ; 

 Okelot, 1321 ; Hoglote, 1384. 



!•* Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.J, xi, 

 237. 



