WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



CHILDWALL 



Formerly there was a ford in general use. John 

 Walley of Runcorn in 14.23, in attempting to ride 

 across to Weston by it with two horses laden with 

 fish from Formby, was drowned, though the fish-laden 

 horses crossed safely. In 1465 the court rolls record 

 that a certain John Jackson of the north country and 

 some companions crossed by it with horses, cattle, and 

 sheep, and were stopped by the bailiff until they paid 

 the toll called 'stallage." The ford was in constant 

 use in the Civil War period and later, being mentioned 

 in the deeds of the Halsall charity bequest in 1734. 



M. Gregson in 18 17 mentions a project for em- 

 banking the Mersey from the marsh at Ditton down to 

 Garston or even to Knott's Hole at the Dingle. 

 ' Opposite the Dungeon two miles of land in breadth 

 might be enclosed before the present salt works, where 

 the river is fordable at low water.' ' 



In the early part of the last century a fair for toys 

 and pedlery was held on 1 9 November, when a large 

 number of persons called freemen, chosen by the 

 manor court, appointed a mayor. A wake was held 

 on the Sunday next to 1 5 August.' The Great 

 Court of Hale used to be held on the Wednesday 

 before St. Andrew's Day, and a court-leet and court- 

 baron on Michaelmas Day, when constables, coroner 

 (for Hale only),' water bailiffs, burleymen, aletasters, 

 and house and fire lookers were chosen ; ' but courts 

 have not been held for many years. 



The lord had a toll {^ti.) from every vessel casting 

 anchor within the bounds.' It was the duty of the 

 water bailiff to collect this due or to make distraint 

 for it. From the old court rolls it appears that money 

 found on a drowned man brought ashore at Hale, like 

 other things cast up by the river, went to the lord as 

 ' dower of the sea.' ' 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



HJLE with HALE WOOD formed 



MANOR one of the six berewicks of King Edward's 



manor of West Derby in 1066.' By 



Roger the Poitevin its tithes were in 1094 granted to 



the abbey of St. Martin of Seez. The gift was con- 



firmed by John when count of Mortain, and by 

 Henry III in 1227.° 



The manor remained in the king's hands during the 

 twelfth century.'" Henry II, after his first coronation, 

 placed part of it — perhaps that afterwards known a* 

 Halewood — within the forest, viz. from the Flaxpool 

 to the Quintbridge ; but it was disafforested in 

 Henry Ill's reign, according to the charter of the 

 forest." The assized rent of ^^4 10/. was increased in 

 1200 by ^2 los., so that in later years the sheriff of 

 the county answered for £j to the treasury." 



By charter, dated at Rouen, 9 November, 1203, 

 King John granted to Richard de Meath " the vill of 

 Hale in its entirety, rendering every Michaelmas for 

 all service the increased rent of £j above mentioned. 

 The vill was to be held by Richard and his heirs by 

 hereditary right." 



The words as to descent by hereditary right led to 

 trouble. Richard de Meath was a clerk and beneficed, 

 having been presented to Swineford church in 1203 

 and again in 1207," so that he may have been in holy 

 orders. Yet he allied himself with one Cecily de 

 Columbers,'* and had four sons and two daughters by 

 her. In 1226-7 he granted to Cecily de Columbers 

 and her children begotten by him and their heirs the 

 vill of Hale and its appurtenances, to be held of 

 Richard himself during his life, and after his death of 

 his brother Henry de Walton and his heirs, ' who,' 

 he declared, ' are my heirs.' The remainders were to 

 Cecily's children in turn — Richard, Geoffrey, Adam, 

 Henry, Emma, and Cecily ; ' and so to all other 

 children that the said Cecily may have by me.' The 

 holder was to pay annually to Henry de Walton and 

 his heirs the £j due to the king and I2(/., or a 

 pound of pepper, in addition." About the same 

 time (viz. on 19 July, 1227) Henry III confirmed 

 his father's grants to Richard, as well as the latter's 

 charter granting Hale to Henry de Walton and his 

 heirs.'* 



Richard de Meath lived for several years after this 

 charter,'^ dying, it is supposed, about 1235. He was 



^ Family of Ireland Blackburne, 75, 79. 



2 Fragments (ed. Harland), 214. It was 

 about here that William Maasey of Pud- 

 dington crossed the river on horseback in 

 1 7 1 5, after the Jacobite overthrow at Pres- 

 ton ; Ormerod, Ches, (ed. Helsby), ii, 560. 



' Baines, Land. (ed. 1836), iv, 751. 



■* A coroner for the manor of Hale con- 

 tinues to act. 



° On 26 November, 141 6, the officers 

 appointed were : Reeve, constable, two 

 burleymen, and two affeerers, all to serve 

 till the ensuing Michaelmas. 



** This is still claimed. 



" Fam. of Ireland Slackburne, 61-78, 

 where the bailiff's warrant is printed 



(■755)- 



^ A plea on the Hale charter roll 

 states the king had had Hale in his own 

 hands and cultivated 8 oxgangs 5 the 

 grantee demised it to his natives at a 

 farm rent, and Adam Austin, his grand- 

 son, desired to recover the 8 oxgangs. 



3 Lanes. Pipe R. 290, 299 ; Rot. Lit. 

 Claus. ii, 206. 



^0 Hale contributed two marks to the 

 aid levied in 23 Hen. II in anticipation 

 of an expedition to Normandy, and i 

 mark to the tallage made by Richard 

 Malboise(4 John) -^ Lanes. Pipe R. 35, 151. 



11 Whalley Couc^er (Chet. Soc), ii, 372. 



12 Lanes. Pipe R. 131, 147, 163, &c. 



^^ One of the clerks of the Exchequer, 

 and son of Gilbert de Walton. 



^^ Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 1 13. A reser- 

 vation of hunting and pleas of the crown 

 is cancelled on the charter roll. In re- 

 turn Richard promised 10 marks and a 

 palfrey worth 5 marks, to which he after- 

 wards added another palfrey and a chaseour. 

 He paid 2 marks as recorded in the Pipe 

 Roll, and in 121 5 the king sent word to 

 the sheriff to take security from Richard 

 de Meath for the payment of four palfreys, 

 and thereupon to put him in seisin of his 

 estates in Walton, Formby, and Hale. 

 This instruction was repeated by 

 Hen. Ill in 1222. See Lanes. Pipe R. 

 167, &c. 5 Close R. (Rec. Com.), i, 477^. 

 The reservation as to hunting, &c., ap- 

 pears uncancelled on the Pipe Roll. 



i*P^^ John, 29, 75. 



^^ She is supposed to have been Cecily 

 de Vernai, wife of Philip de Columbers, 

 who died in 1216 ; W. F. Irvine, *The 

 Irelands of Hale* (^Trans. Hist. Sdc. 1900, 

 p. 141). 



17 Charter on the Hale Chart. R. The 

 witnesses included Ralph bishop of 

 Chichester and chancellor (1226-43), 

 several of the king's clerks, Sir William 

 le Boteler (d. 1233), Sir Gerard de 

 Hethewell, acting sheriff of Lanes. 

 (11 Henry III) — this name fixing the 

 date — and Roger de Ireland. 



18 Charter R. 19, 11 Hen. Ill, pt. 2 

 (where the hunting, &c., are again re- 

 served) ; Orlg. 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 8. 



141 



1^ A grant of the site of a mill in the 

 pool between Hale and Ditton, together 

 with half the water and fish there, was 

 made to him by some of the tenants of 

 Hale, he to pay them p. annually j 

 Hale D. In 14 Hen. Ill he was in- 

 volved in a dispute as to boundaries with 

 the lords of Speke — John de Haselwell 

 and Adam de Molyneux — and the dispute 

 was not settled till the middle of the next 

 century. Shortly afterwards he and his 

 brother Henry were called to account for 

 assarts made and mills raised, and other 

 matters in Hale 5 Cur. Reg. 104, m. 12 j 

 107, m. 9 (/. 29 d. He had had dis- 

 putes with the * men of Hales ' already ; 

 for in 1226 they had complained to the 

 king that Richard had ousted them from 

 their common of pasture and had also 

 taken away their corn and meadows,, 

 and he was accordingly commanded to 

 let them enjoy all such rights herein as 

 they had formerly held ; Rot. Lit, Claus, 

 ii, 121. 



A charter of his (or of his son Richard) 

 is extant, granting Alan le Norreys for 

 his homage and service all the lands from 

 the ditch towards Sulepool, as far as the 

 Meneway towards Morecote, and so going 

 down to the land of Roger son of 

 Geoffrey ; with pasture for his cattle and 

 pannage for twenty pigs in Halewood ;, 

 the only service being an annual rent ot 

 25. ed. ; Norris D. (Rydal Hall), F. 1. 



