WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HUYTON 



A little hoard of silver and copper coins was dis- 

 covered at a farm called the Old Sprink in 1838.' 



The manor of TyiRBOCK was held 

 MANOR by Dot in 1066 in conjunction with 

 Huyton. It early became part of the 

 Widnes fee, and was held by the barons of Halton in 

 Cheshire as a member of their manor of Knowsley at 

 a rating of 3 plough-lands. It passed to the crown in 

 the same manner as the remainder of the fee." 



The Lathom family, holding Knowsley under 

 Widnes, twice assigned Tarbock as a portion for the 

 younger sons. About the end of the twelfth century 

 Richard son of Henry de Lathom was established 

 here, holding of the lord of Knowsley.' He appears 

 to have had three sons — Richard, Robert, and Henry.* 

 Richard de Torbock, son of Richard son of Henry, 

 was a witness to some Stanlaw charters. He granted 

 to the prior and convent of Burscough an annual rent 

 of 3/. from the mill which he held of them in 

 Tarbock.' 



His son Henry, later called Sir Henry de Torbock, 

 was also a witness to many Stanlaw and other charters, 

 in one place being described as bailiff between Ribble 

 and Mersey.' In 1247-8 he had acquittance of all 

 suits to county and hundred.' Nine years later he 

 secured the privilege of free warren in Tarbock, 

 Turton, Dalton, Whittle, and Bridehead ; also a 

 weekly market at Tarbock on Thursdays and an 



annual fair there on the eve, feast, and morrow of 

 St. Andrew.^ He married Ellen daughter of Jordan' 

 de Sankey, and her brother Robert gave as dowry 

 lands in Wrightington and conveyed or reconveyed- 

 the manor of Welch Whittle also." Henry held 

 Dalton of the lord of Lathom in 1242, and his name- 

 occurs as late as 1 2 5 i .'" 



His son and heir Robert succeeded him ; " and left 

 an only daughter and heiress Ellen, ' Lady of Tarbock,' 

 who being a minor became the ward of her feudal 

 superior, Robert de Lathom. He married her before 

 1283 to one of his younger sons, Henry de Lathom," 

 and thus for the second time a younger de Lathom 

 became ' lord of Tarbock.' " He and his wife Ellen 

 gave lands in Ridgate in Whiston to Burscough 

 Priory, the gift being confirmed by Henry de Lacy 

 and the bishop of Lichfield in 1287." A more 

 important act was his establishment of a private chapel 

 or oratory at Tarbock, which he engaged should be 

 no prejudice to the mother church of Huyton." His 

 name occurs in various pleas down to 1294.'' Ten 

 years later his widow Ellen de Torbock was plaintiff 

 or defendant in similar pleas, and so down to 1332, 

 about which time probably she died." 



She appears to have married a second husband, 

 called John de Torbock, perhaps from his wife's in- 

 heritance. He in 1329 arranged for the succession 

 of the manor of Tarbock and lands in Welch Whittle, 



1 W. T. Watkin, Roman Lanes. 237 ; 

 also Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 14, with plate. 



a y.C.H. Lanes, i, p. 283A. Dods. MSS. 

 cxxxi, fol. 3 3 ; Surv. 0/" 1 346 (Chet. Soc), 

 3 8, where Tarbock is put as 4 plough-lands, 

 and Huyton as 2, making 6 in all. 



^ He gave to St. Werburgh's at War- 

 burton the assart called Old Tarbock, the 

 eastern end of which stretched as far as 

 Haliwell Brook 5 the boundary followed 

 the bank to Cockshoot Head, ascended 

 the Cockshoot, went down the Cockshoot 

 to Oldfield (Haldefelde) lache as far as the 

 head of the old hedge, and along this hedge 

 to Haliwell Brook ; Cockersand Chartul. 

 (Chet. Soc), ii, 607. The same Richard 

 was a witness to the foundation charter 

 of Burscough Priory, endowed by his elder 

 brother Robert about 11 89; Farrer, 

 Lanes. Pipe R. 349-52. 



* Henry was a clerk ; to him the 

 church of Flixton was granted for life by 

 his uncle Roger son of Henry and Henry 

 son of Bernard, and his name occurs as a 

 witness to several charters. Ibid. 353, 

 354; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, 200, 

 291. Henry de Torbock the elder was 

 defendant in 1 246 ; Assize R. 404, m. 9. 



5 Whalley Coueber (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 573, 577 ; Burscough Reg. fol. 44*. 



6 Whalley Coucher, ii, 575, 580, 586, 

 &c Norris D. (B.IVI.), 730. 



7 Close R. 163. 



8 Chart. R. 41 Hen. HI, m. 2 ; the 

 ' decollation of St. John Baptist ' was at 

 first written for ' St. Andrew.' 



9 Assize R. 418, m. 4</.; Kuerden 

 MSS. iii, C. i6d. (end). 



1" Final Cone. (Rec Soc. Lanes, and 

 (V:hes.), i, 191.; Whalley Coucher (Chet. 

 Sc.c), i, 77. 



l"rom William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, 

 Hen ry de Torbock secured the right to 

 endbs-e his wood, to have free park and 

 beasts vf the forest, but not to make any 

 deer hey (saharium), paying a rent of a 

 sor sparro vhawk at St. Peter's Chains at 

 the castle 0. ' Liverpool. The bounds of 

 enclosure we. ■: — From the ditch which 

 was the bound-.ary between Tarbock and 



Ditton, up to the head of the ditch, then 

 straight to the Sumespitt, and then to 

 another Sumespitt and so to the pool 

 which was the boundary of Tarbock and 

 Hale [i.e. Halewood] ; following the pool 

 to Bradley Ford, then straight to Wulf- 

 stansholme, and following straight to the 

 ridding which Hugh the Miller had held, 

 and then straight to the ditch afore- 

 said. 



From Robert de Ferrers he obtained 

 leave to enclose his park, doing it 

 thoroughly well so that no beast of the 

 forest of West Derby should be able to 

 stray into it and be kept there ; within 

 bounds beginning at the road before the 

 dwelling of Sir Henry, along the road to 

 the little Benit (Beint), going round this 

 and following the ditch [fossum) to the 

 pales, following these to the road of the 

 Oldfield ; and along this road to the first- 

 named road in front of Sir Henry's door ; 

 Croxteth D. Z. i, 40 (copy in an inspexi- 

 mua of the deeds made in 1595). See 

 also Duchy of Lane Misc. Bks. xxv, 

 22 d. 



Richard de Torbock (about 1334) 

 claimed two parks within his manor ; 

 Duchy of Lane Forest Proc. 1-17, m. 

 3 (/. 6 ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 319. 



11 All that is recorded of him seems to 

 be that he gave an oxgang of land, or 

 rather a rent of 6s. %d. secured upon it, 

 to the priory of Norton in Cheshire ; 

 Croxteth D. Z. i, 29 ; Ormerod, Ches. 

 (ed. Helsby), i, 686. As however the 

 grant of the oxgang in the demesne of 

 Tarbock was ratified by Roger constable 

 of Chester (d. 1211), this Robert could 

 only have renewed an earlier grant. The 

 words 'Robert lord of Tarbock' may 

 refer to Robert son of Henry, the founder 

 of Burscough, the canons for which are 

 supposed to have come from Norton ; 

 Mon. Angl. vi, 314. 



12 Henry son of Robert de Lathom of 

 Tarbock and Ellen his wife were de- 

 fendants in a Turton suit in 1284 ; Assize 

 R. 1268, m. II ; see R. 1271, m. 12. 



13 Assize R. 418, m. ^d. He is usually- 

 called * Henry de Lathom, lord of Tar- 

 bock,' but his descendants were * de 

 Torbock' simply^ He accjuired the land 

 called Wulfstansholme from Nicholas of 

 Tarbock and regranted it to Simon the 

 son of Nicholas, with the common of 

 pasture, &c., but with the reservation of 

 his mills and riddings, and all improve- 

 ments ; the rent being two iron spurs of 

 the value of a silver penny ; Croxteth 

 D. Z. i, I, 2. 



^■* White, Parochial Antiq, i, 434 ; 

 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 460. The grant (1283) 

 is in the B.M, ; Add. MS. 20521. Ir» 

 1299 the prior of Burscough was warden 

 of a hospital for lepers at Ridgate ;.De 

 Banc. R. 131, m. 329, 



1^ Burscough Reg. fol. 44^. 



1^ Some of his charters are preserved in 

 Kuerden's volumes, iii, T. 2, 15-17. 

 For £20 sterling he quitclaimed to 

 Robert de Bold in 1284 all right in lands 

 in Bold formerly held by Sir Henry de 

 Torbock ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 1 94, «. 1 2. 



In 1294 Ellen de Torbock stated that 

 her husband, Henry de Lathom, had died 

 long ago in Scotland ; De Banc. R. 131, 

 m. 320. 



17 In one of her suits (1307) she claimed 

 from Henry de Huyton 20 acres of pas- 

 ture in Tarbock, into which she averred 

 that Henry had no entry except by Henry 

 de Lathom, formerly her husband, who- 

 demised them to him. The defendant,, 

 however, said that the land was in Huy- 

 ton and not in Tarbock ; De Banc. R, 

 164, m. 54. One of her latest suits 

 (1328-30) seems to have been about the- 

 same land ; the defendants on this oc- 

 casion did not appear, and she recovered 

 seisin ; De Banc. R. 274, m. 42 d, ; 275^ 

 m. 245 ; 282, m. %6 d. 



She and others were once accused of 

 disseising Richard Leprous and John 

 Leprous — the surname is noticeable — of 

 their tenement in Tarbock, but they were- 

 acquitted ; Assize R. 424, m. 6, 



Some of her charters are in Kuerden- 

 MSS. iii, T. 2 ; ii, fol, 266^. 



23 



