WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HUYTON 



As Edward Stanley his son and heir was only eleven 

 or twelve years old at his father's death/ his wardship 

 fell to the king, who placed him in the household of 

 Cardinal Wolsey.^ Of most of the Lancashire estates a 

 full account has been preserved for the first year of the 

 minority.* From these it appears that from Lanca- 

 shire the earl had a gross income of about £700, 

 which various allowances, fees, and charges reduced to 

 about ;^55o. Apart from this there was the produce 

 of the lands devoted to the maintenance of the house- 

 hold.* 



The young earl, brought up by Wolsey, and after 



the latter's fall married to Dorothy Howard, daughter 

 of the duke of Norfolk,^ appears to have gone with the 

 court. He was among the peers who asked the pope 

 to grant the king a divorce (1530) and he assisted as 

 cupbearer in the coronation of Anne Boleyn, being 

 then made knight of the Bath (1533). He was also 

 zealous in resisting the Northern risings under Aske 

 (1536-7),® and took a share of the plunder of the 

 monasteries, including Eynsham and ShefFord in 

 Oxfordshire.' He assisted at the coronation of 

 Edward VL In 1552 he was made lord-lieutenant 

 of Lancashire. 



otherwise at Sion or at Ashridge. Among 

 other bequests he confirmed his gift to 

 Dame Ellen Fairbaron, * ancres ' in his 

 almshouse at Lathom. 



Concerning the parcel of ground which 

 his ancestors had enclosed within the park 

 of Knowsley and granted to the priory of 

 Burscough he desired the prior to make a 

 ninety-nine years' lease of it to his heir, 

 and to take instead an equivalent amount 

 of land in Dalton, *to be measured by 

 rope and rood,' which would be much 

 more convenient for the canons, and ;^20 

 should be paid them for the erection of 

 a grange ; ;^30 was to be given for a bell 

 for Ormskirk church. 



His uncle Sir Edward Stanley, Lord 

 Mounteagle, having shown him great un- 

 kindness and breach of covenant, various 

 grants to him were revoked. These were 

 of the castle and demesne of Hornby and 

 an annuity of ;^loo from Barrelborough 

 in Derbyshire. Sir Edward also had the 

 manor of CoppuU for life. The earl had 

 St. George as his patron. He desired to 

 be buried ' according to mine honour 

 without any pomp or excess.' 



The executors named were Hugh Hes- 

 keth, bishop of Man; Sir Henry Halsall, 

 knight, steward of his house, Henry Sher- 

 man dean of his chapel, Thomas Hes- 

 keth, Edward Molyneux rector of Sefton, 

 Richard Hesketh, Richard Snede, and 

 Richard Halsall rector of Halsall ; and 

 the overseers were Cardinal Wolsey, Hugh 

 Oldham bishop of Exeter, Geoffrey Blythe 

 bishop of Chester, John Veysey dean of 

 the king's chapel, and Thomas Larke 

 rector of Winwick. The will itself is 

 preserved (P.C.C. 21 Bodfield) ; it is 

 undated, but written from 15 16 to 1519 ; 

 proved 27 June, 1524. 



The tenures of the various manors are 

 next set forth. In particular the manor 

 of Knowsley with Roby, and the various 

 tenements were held from the king as 

 of his duchy of Lancaster — the inter- 

 mediate fee of Halton being omitted — by 

 the service of one knight's fee, and the 

 yearly rent of 155. and were worth ^^lo 

 a year clear. The manors of Childwall, 

 Rainford, and Anglezark were held of 

 Lord La Warre (Manchester barony) by 

 fealty and the yearly rent of 35. and were 

 worth j^44 17J. 6d. per annum. The 

 premises in Ince Blundell were held of 

 Sir Thomas Butler (Warrington Barony) 

 by service unknown and were worth 

 261. $d. clear. 



^ He cameof age before 24 Jan. 1 5 30-1 

 when livery of his lands was given him ; 

 L. and P. Hen. VIU,v, 55. 



2 Rymer, Foedera (Syllabus), ii, 761. 



^ In the possession of Lord Lathom. 

 Rentals for other years of the minority 

 are in the Record Office. A brief sum- 

 mary and a list of the countess's dower 

 lands may be seen in Brewer's L, and P. 

 Hen. Villain, 11 86. 



* A more particular account of Knows- 

 ley and adjacent estates is here added : 



The account of William Brettargh, 

 bailiff for Knowsley, husband, with farm 

 of the manor and demesne lands, shows 

 rents at 35. or y. ^d. per acre from clo- 

 sures called Millheys, Broadmeynes, Long- 

 branderth, Shortbranderth, Copthorn hey, 

 Old Meadow, Whingbutts, Peascroft or 

 Barriers croft or Wheat croft, Ryecroft, 

 Rye hey, and Birches. These rents had 

 been fixed as far back as 1464 ; very slight 

 changes had been made in the rents of one 

 or two fields. Several of the meadows 

 had been included in a lease of the grazing 

 rights in the park made to Sir William 

 Stanley of Hooton and Andrew Barton of 

 Smithills at a rent of ^^i i is. 4*/., the 

 agistment itself being farmed for ^6. The 

 lessees were to have the herbage and use 

 of pasture lands and meadows specified in 

 the lease, with the profits of conies also, 

 but sufficient feeding was reserved for 

 the deer and other wild animals in the 

 park. 



The free tenants in Knowsley paid 

 421, gd. ; id.f the value of two pairs of 

 gloves, was paid by Nicholas Eltonhead 

 for the manor of Eltonhead in Prescot, 

 with appurtenances in Knowsley ; zd. for 

 a barbed arrow from Thomas Gillibrand 

 and Matthew Ashton. The peppercorn due 

 from John Harrington of Huyton for a 

 close in Knowsley had not been paid. In 

 Roby the free tenants paid 12s. ^d., and 

 2s. 8(f. (the value of 41b, of wax) came 

 from John Aldersey (lately from John 

 Huyton) for a house and six acres of land 

 there. 



The tenants at will in Knowsley and 

 Roby paid ^^78 lis. iid. according to the 

 old rental, but increases had been secured 

 from time to time, particularly from 

 various potters desirous to dig clay in the 

 park of Knowsley and make pots there. 

 Beside rent eachtenantin lieu of 'averages' 

 or work to be done on the lord's land paid 

 6d. for a plough and ^. for a harrow, but 

 if he had ^o plough 2d. The old services 

 are thus described : A tenant with a plough 

 should work for one day on the sowing of 

 the lord's oats, for the food of the said 

 lord, also for one day in the autumn when 

 demanded. 



A noteworthy payment is 245. the farm 

 of coal mines in Whiston. Turbary in 

 Knowsley Moss produced 31. id. ; ys. 

 came from the sale of the bark of trees in 

 the park cut down to make palings. The 

 profits of the rabbits, as stated above, be- 

 longed to the lessees of the agistment of 

 the park ; *ward and marriage* had pro- 

 duced nothing and no courts had been 

 held during the year. 



Payments made by the bailiff follow. 

 First was the rent paid to the king for the 

 lordship of Knowsley, now 195. 4J, per 

 annum. Other payments were disallowed 

 by the king's commissioners, including one 



161 



of 2s. id. as the price of 41b. of wax, 

 which had been paid to Huyton church 

 out of lands in Roby, according to an 

 ancient grant. 



The windmill at Roby was let at 205. 

 to Richard Whitfield instead of 26i. Sd. as 

 formerly ; it appears that the miller was 

 to do all the repairs required, except the 

 *po3tez* and the mill-stones. The water- 

 mill at Knowsley paid 105. only, instead 

 of 23J. 4i/., but the tenant William Heeton 

 was to do all repairs except the heavy 

 timber. 



Some small sums were respited for con- 

 sideration by the king's council. These 

 are not without interest. The wages of 

 Nicholas Gorsuch and others for making 

 and carrying hay from two acres of mea- 

 dow in the new coppice in the park to the 

 two deer houses, for the winter fodder of 

 the deer, came to /\j. 6d. Edmund Tyr- 

 hare and others had been employed in 

 felling trees and splitting the wood into 

 pales, rails and posts, for enclosing the 

 park and in carrying them, as also in set- 

 ting up and repairing the paling between 

 Longbarrow gate and Eccleston gate. 

 Their charges were 1 2d. a hundred for split- 

 ting the poles, and 2^d. a rod for erecting. 

 There had also been required 400 nails 

 called ' double spikings ' and 200 smaller 

 ones called * spikings' and others costing 

 in all 35. 10^. 



Childwall and Woolton grange were 

 farmed out to Richard Whitfield and 

 William his son for their lives for ^^20 a 

 year ; the lord to pay the rent resolute 

 and the fifteenth (when levied), and the 

 Whitfields to repair and maintain houses 

 and granges, also hedges and ditches. For 

 some reason the rent resolute (57^. 6^/.), 

 payable to the prior of the Hospitallers for 

 Woolton grange was disallowed by the 

 king's council. Lands bought by George 

 Lord Strange included Coxhead (Cokkes- 

 shade) House in Little Woolton, rented 

 at 1 55., and a cottage in Wavertree, rented 

 at 2J, These were copyhold under the 

 Hospitallers. 



* Pardons to the duke of Norfolk and 

 the earl of Derby, for this marriage, which 

 had taken place without the king's licence,, 

 were granted 21 Feb. 1529-30. The 

 bride is erroneously called Katherine ;, 

 L. and P. Hen. Fill, iv, 2810. 



A poem on the death of his second wife 

 Margaret, daughter of Ellis Barlow, is-, 

 printed in Halliwell's Pal. Anthology. 



® A volume of his correspondence at this: 

 time has been printed by the Chet. Soc* 

 (New Ser. xix.). 



7 St. Leonard's land In Knowsley andl 

 some other possessions of Burscough Priory 

 were granted to him in 1553, in exchange 

 for Derby House in London, now the 

 Heralds' College ; Pat. 6 Edw. VI, pt. iii, 

 m. 20. The chantry at Huyton had been 

 given to him and others in 1549; Pat. 

 3 Edw. VI, n. II. 



21 



