WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



CHILDWALL 



le Norreys, in pleas concerning lands and encroach- 

 ments at Speke.' 



^n 1379 he made an arrangement with Cecil)', 

 widow of Sir John le Norreys, as to the custody of 

 the heir, Henry le Norreys.' The next step seems 

 to have been the marriage of Henry le Norreys with 

 Roger's daughter Alice ; and as the latter became 

 heir of the Erneys properties on the death of John 

 her brother about 1396,' the Norreys family acquired 

 the lordship of Speke, in which their subordinate 

 tenancy of a moiety became merged. 



It now becomes necessary to trace the story of this 

 family. Alan le Norreys of Formby * had at least 

 three sons, Henry, Alan, and John. The son Alan 

 about 1275 married Margery daughter of Sir P.itrick 

 de Haselwell. As dowry Sir Patrick granted ' half his 

 part of the vill of Speke, to wit the fourth part of 

 the whole vill, retaining nothing,' to Alan and his 

 heirs by Margery, performing the knight's service be- 

 longing to half a plough-land where 21^ ploughlands 

 made the fee of a knight.' About the same time 

 Sir Patrick gave the other half plough-land to his 

 daughter Nlcholaa and her heirs, who is found shortly 

 afterwards to have married John le Norreys, a brother 

 of Alan.' Thus the Haselwell moiety passed to the 

 Norreys family.' 



It is from the younger pair that the Norrises of 

 Speke derive their origin, for Alan* and Margery left 

 a son Patrick who died without issue in 1313, having 

 granted to his uncle John, son of Alan le Norreys, all 

 his lands and tenements, homages, rents and services 



of free men and natives and their sequel and chattels, 

 mills and sites of mills." John le Norreys thus be- 

 c.ime sole possessor of the Haselwell share of the 

 manor. He made several purchases and exchanges of 

 land, and by the lease in 1332 

 from Richard Erneys he further 

 improved his position.'" He 

 died shortly afterwards, his son 

 Alan succeeding. In 1334 '^^ 

 three lords of Speke, Sir John 

 de Molyneux, Alan le Norreys 

 and Richard Erneys, made an 

 agreement with Robert do Ire- 

 land, lord of Hale, respecting 

 the boundaries between the two 

 vills, as to which there had 

 recently been debate in a plea 

 of novel disseisin at Wigan." 

 Alan pursued his father's policy, 

 purchasing additional plots of 



land, making exchanges with Sir John de Molyneux, 

 and renewing the lease of the manor from Richard 

 Erneys." 



Alan died in 1349 or 1350." Henry his son, 

 who succeeded him as lord of the manor, had begun 

 to add to the estate, and in 1360, being made a knight 

 about that time,* exchanged certain lands with 

 Sir John de Molyneux, agreeing on the view of four 

 men that Sir John should have 4^ acres lying be- 

 tween Speke Greves and the vill of Speke, saving to 

 Sir Henry his mill, and should grant the same amount 



NnRRls 

 Quarterly 

 guleif in the second and 

 third quarters a fret or, 

 over all a Jess azure. 



1 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 8, m. 14 ; 

 Assize R. 441, m. 5. 



In 1367 Roger Erneys, being of full 

 age, received a fifth part of the manor of 

 Little Neston in Ches. in right of his 

 mother, Joan, sister and co-heir of John 

 le Blund (White) of Chest. ; Ormerod, 

 Cies. ii, 539. 



2 She and Geoffrey de Osbaldeston, 

 her second husband, were to take charge 

 of the land and the heir, viz. Henry son 

 and heir of Sir John, and half the manor 

 of Speke (the Norreys part). Should 

 Henry die while a minor they were to 

 have charge of his sister Katherine, pay- 

 ing to Roger or his executors 25 marks of 

 silver and an additional lo marks within 

 six months from Henry's death, supposing 

 that Katherine should in that event be 

 living and under 14 years of age ; Norris 

 D. (B.M.), 588. 



' Roger Erneys occurs down to 1395 ; 

 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. p. 98. 

 Most of these particulars are from the 

 Norris Charters ; one of them, dated 

 1421, is a grant to Sir Henry le Norreys 

 and Alice his wife, daughter and heir of 

 Roger Erneys. At the Chester Port moot 

 in June, 1395, John Erneys claimed an 

 oven as grandson and heir of Richard 

 Erneys. — Information of Mr. W. F. 

 Irvine. 



"• He was son of Hugh le Norreys. 

 His first wife was Margery by whom he 

 had Henry and Alan ; John was the 

 issue of a later marriage ; De Banc. R. 

 236, m. 177; 247, m. 170 <f. &c. 

 Henry's son Alan made many attempts 

 to secure the lands of his uncle Alan, 

 which were held by John le Norreys of 

 Speke. 



s Norris D. (B.M.), 457. 



« Ibid. 458. 



' The date of the marriage is fixed ap- 

 proximately by suits (1276-8) brought by 



Alan le Norreys and his wife Margery 

 and by Nicholaa de Haselwell against 

 Thurston de Holand, of Hale, concern- 

 ing boundaries j and by the agreement as 

 to the mill above mentioned made in 

 1282 between Robert Erneys and Joan 

 his wife on one side, and Alan le Norreys, 

 Margery his wife, John le Norreys and 

 Nicholaa his wife on the other } Assize R. 

 405, m. id.; 1238, m. 35; 1239, 

 m. 40</.; Norris D. (B.M.), 481, 482. 



8 He may be the Alan le Norreys of 

 Lanes, who had several official appoint- 

 ments 1 297-1 307. See Palgrave's Pari. 

 Writs, i, 761. 



9 Norris D. (B.M.), 506-7. This 

 disposition was further settled by a 

 fine in 1 320-1 between John de Nor- 

 reys, plaintiff, and John de Calveley 

 and Margaret his wife, deforciants, of a 

 fourth part of the manor of Speke. The 

 latter remitted all right to John le Nor- 

 reys, who gave them ;^io. About the 

 same time a corresponding agreement 

 was made regarding part of the manor of 

 Little Caldy in Cheshire — this being in 

 exchange for Speke. It would appear 

 that Margaret was the daughter of Alan 

 le Norreys and Margery, and that she, as 

 well as her brother Patrick, died without 

 issue, as their tenement in Little Caldy 

 afterwards reverted to Norreys of Speke, 

 who held it down to about 1 540, when 

 Sir William sold it ; Final Cone. (Rec. 

 See. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 40 ; Ormerod's 

 Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 489 ; Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxvii, App. 117. 



1° Norris D. (B.M.), 475, 477, 490> 

 517. John le Norreys was returned by 

 the sheriff' in 1324 as one of the 

 knights, &c., of the county holding lands 

 of the yearly value of ,^15 ; Pari, ff^rits, 

 ii (i), 639. 



^1 It was agreed to set up three crosses 

 and other bounds and marches, beginning 



from the one bound to the Wallbrook as 

 it descends to the Mersey, and following 

 the crosses and marches directly to the 

 ditch of Speke, and thence to the Cross- 

 field towards the north ; Norris D. 

 (B.M.), 520. 



12 Ibid. 518, 519, 553, &c. In 1334 

 he granted to Henry his son and his wife 

 Agnes, daughter of Robert de Ireland, 

 9^ acres in Speke in the Sheepcote Field 

 and 8 messuages and 39 acres held by 

 various tenants, for a service of a rose ; 

 ibid. 525. A few* years later he made 

 provision for his other sons ; in 1339 he 

 gave to his son John and his heirs a 

 messuage and two oxgangs in the town- 

 field of Speke, with turbary, pasture, and 

 other liberties, with remainders in 

 succession to John's brothers Richard, 

 William, Alan, and Hugh ; ibid. 530. 

 Later still he made provision for (a) 

 his sons Hugh, Alan, Richard, and 

 William, (b) Hugh, Alan, Richard and 

 John, and (c) Alan, Richard, and John ; 

 ibid. 550, 551,555- 



In 1335 Alan le Norreys of Speke 

 had exemption for life from being put on 

 juries, &c., unless his oath were necessary 

 pursuant to the statute, and from being 

 mayor, escheator, &c., against his will. 

 This was renewed in 1339. Cal. of Pat* 



1.338-40. P- 3 1 9- 



^3 In 1350 Katherine widow of Sir 

 Robert de Lathom sued Henry le Nor- 

 reys of Speke, John his brother, and John 

 Grelley, as executors of the will of Alan 

 le Norreys of Speke, for the sum of 

 40 marks, afterwards increased by ^20 5 

 De Banc. R, 362, m. 26^/.; 363, m. 

 79 rf.; 364, m. %()d.\ Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 1, m. 3 d. 



^■* He is not described as 'knight' in 

 August, 1360, but had become one before 

 next year ; cf. Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R, 8, m. 14 ; Assize R. 441, m. i d. 



