A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



In 1 066 SPEKE was one of the manors 

 MANOR held by Uctred ; it was assessed at two 

 plough-lands and its value beyond the 

 customary rent was the normal sum of 6\d} When 

 the Lancashire forest was formed, Speke became part 

 of the fee attached to the chief forestership held by 

 the Gemet family and their descendants the Dacres.' 



The interest of the master foresters in Speke was, 

 however, merely that of supe- 

 rior lord after Roger Gernet, 

 living in 1170, had granted 

 the manor to Richard de 

 Molyneux of Sefton in free 

 marriage.' No service was 

 attached to the grant,* and 

 the Molyneux family did not 

 long retain Speke in their 

 immediate holding. Before 

 I Z06 half of the manor had 

 been granted in free marriage 

 with Richard's daughter to 

 William de Haselwell, a grant 

 confirmed by a charter of 

 Benedict Gemet as chief lord.' 



The other half of Speke seems to have been granted 

 by Adam de Molyneux to his younger son Roger, 

 together with Little Crosby and other lands,' and 

 descended to Sir John de Molyneux of Little Crosby, 

 who died about 1361. 



Under the nominal lordship of the chief forester 

 there were thus at the end of Henry Ill's reign the 

 mesne tenancy of Molyneux of Sefton,' and the 

 subordinate tenancies of Roger de Molyneux and 

 Patrick de Haselwell. William de Molyneux of 

 Sefton granted in free marriage with his daughter 

 Joan to Robert son of Richard Erneys, a citizen and 

 merchant of Chester, all his lands and wood in the 

 viU of Speke with the homages, wards, and reliefs of 

 the heirs of Patrick de Haselwell and Roger de 

 Molyneux, the grantor's brother.' This grant was 

 confirmed by Richard son of William de Molyneux 

 about I 290, or before the death of Robert Erneys.' 



Gernet, chief forester 

 of Lancashire. GuUi, 

 a lion rampant argent 

 crotvned or^ ivithin a 

 hordure engrailed of the 

 I ait. 



Erneys of CHCSTrn. 

 Argentf on a mound vert 

 an eagle ivitk zuingi en- 

 dorsed sable. 



The origin of the Erneys family seems to be un- 

 known. Robert FitzErneys was settled at Chester 

 early in the thirteenth century.'" He was sheriff of 

 the city in 1257 and 12^9, 

 and his nephew Robert, who 

 married Joan de Molyneux, 

 served in the same office several 

 times, and probably died during 

 his term in 1292-3." 



Richard, the son of Robert 

 and Joan, appears to have been 

 but an infant at his father's 

 death. The earliest deeds in 

 which he took an active part 

 concern the marriage ot his 

 sister Mabel with Thomas de 

 Carleton in 1308 ; but from 

 1 3 1 1 onwards many of his 



charters are extant. In 13 14 he and his mother 

 made an exchange of lands in Speke with John le 

 Norreys and Nicholaa his wife." In 1332 he granted 

 his manor of Speke to John le Norreys for life, by 

 the service of a rose yearly for the first four years, 

 and afterwards of 40 marks ; and at the end of 1339 

 he granted to Alan le Norreys, son and successor of 

 John, and to his sons Alan and Hugh for life all his 

 lands in Speke, and the rents of the free tenants and 

 tenants at will, by the ye.irly service of a rose for four 

 years and j^40 in silver afterwards." After this he 

 intervened but little in Speke. 



In 1 341 he made a small exchange of land with 

 Sir John de Molyneux, and a year afterwards a mar- 

 riage settlement was executed in favour of his son 

 Thomas and Agnes his wife, daughter of Alan le 

 Norreys." 



Probably Thomas died without issue, for the next 

 Erneys to be mentioned is Roger son and heir of 

 Richard Erneys, who in 1369 made a feoffment of 

 his lands and tenements, rents and services, mills and 

 fisheries, in the vill of Speke, &c.''' Richard Erneys, 

 the father, seems to have been still living in 1351, 

 and Roger is first mentioned nine years later in con- 

 junction with Sir John de Molyneux and Sir Henry 



1 y.C.H. Lanes, i, 284^. 



'^ In 1212 Roger Gernet was master 

 forester \ and at the inquest taken after 

 h'S death it was found that * in the vill of 

 Speke he held 2 plough-lands of William 

 carl of Ferrers ' j Lanes. Inq. and Extents 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 43, 188. 



In 1324 William de Dacre, who 

 married Joan the daughter and heir of 

 Benedict Gemet, held Speke; Dods. MSS. 

 cxxxi, fol. 33A. 



In the feodary of 1484 Lord Dacre, as 

 ' next of kin and heir of Roger Gemet,' is 

 called the chief lord \ Duchy of Lane. 

 Misc. cxxx. 



^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents^ 4. 



■* In 1251-2 * William de Molyneux 

 holds [2 plough-lands in Speke] in free 

 marriage and Roger Gernet received 

 nothing from them j ' Inq. and Extents, 188. 

 In I 524 Molyneux was said to hold Speke 

 by knight's service. 



^ * A very old deed sealed with a man 

 on horseback,' preserved by Kuerden (iv, 

 S. 19). Among the witnesses are Hubert 

 the Bastard then constable of Layc', and 

 Adam, dean ot Ryscham. 



For the Heswall family see Ormcrod, 

 Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 511. A John de 

 Haselwell occurs later as a witness to a 



charter, and in a suit in the hundred of 

 West Derby in 12465 Assize R. 404, 

 m. 19. 



• In 12''6 William de Molyneux, 

 Roger de Molyneux, Patrick de Haselwall 

 and Nicholaa his daughter, Alan le 

 Norreys and Margery his wife, with 

 Henry son of Cecily, were charged by 

 Thurstan de Holand with depriving him 

 of 100 acres of his land in Hale. It was 

 found that only 20 acres were within his 

 boundaries, and these he recovered ; As- 

 size R. 405, m. id. 



' This is not mentioned in the Moly- 

 neux inquisitions. A few charters exist 

 showing that William de Molyneux of 

 Sefton made various grants of land in 

 Speke to Robert son of Richard de Lay- 

 coc, William de AUerton, Thomas Redi- 

 man del Peyc, and Robert de Mossley ; 

 Norris D. (B.M.), 453-6. Some are 

 quoted subsequently. 

 8 Ibid. 480. 

 ' Ibid. 467. 



^^ It is possible that he was one of the 

 well-known Norman family of that name 

 who held lands in Essex, Norfolk, and 

 Lines. 



" Norris D. (B.M.). In 1274 he had 

 a licence to trade in wool and to export 



132 



it, except to the Flemings ; Cal. of Pat. 

 1272-81, p. 168. 



Various grants made by him are extant. 

 At Speke one of his first acts (1282) was 

 to come to an agreement with the other 

 holders there respecting the windmill. 

 He received a third part of it, including 

 the site, suit, right of way, and all other 

 easements ; the miller to be chosen by 

 the assent and will of the parties to keep 

 and serve the mill, and his necessary ex- 

 penses to be provided by them in their due 

 proportions ; Norris D. (B.M.), 481, 482. 



" Ibid. 486. Like his father Richard 

 Erneys is described as a citizen of Ches- 

 ter, and he duly served as sheriff and 

 mayor (1327-8). He and Joan his wife 

 purchased land in Speke from Adam son 

 of William de Allerton, and in 1332 he 

 acquired more from Elias son of Roger del 

 Hulle; ibid. 508, 508*, 516, 567, 479. 

 These he transferred in 1334 and 1339 to 

 Alan de Mossley and Ellen his wife and 

 their heirs; ibid. 521, 531. The wife 

 was probably the 'Ellen daughter of 

 Richard Erneys' whose land is mentioned 

 in some later deeds ; ibid. 563, 565. 



"Ibid. 517, 532, 533. 



" Ibid. 536, 541, 542. 



1^ Ibid. 584, 579. 



