A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



has no trace, except for a few remains of Elizabethan 

 black-letter texts ; and the piece of panelling with the 

 Ireland arms and date 1627, at the east end of the south 

 aisle, is the only old woodwork in the church, except 

 part of the stalls and the chancel roof already described. 

 It remains to notice the gabled building running 

 north and south, built into the angle of the tower 

 and south aisle. It was built to contain a grammar 

 school founded by Edward Halsall in 1593, and was 

 originally of two stories, the main entrance being the 

 now blocked doorway in the east wall, above which 

 are the Halsall arms with ' E. H. 1593.' The west 

 doorway, which is cut through the tower buttress, 

 gave access to the stairs to the upper room, and the 

 marks of their fitting remain in the tower plinth. 

 Over this doorway are two panels, the upper having 

 the Halsall arms and ' E. H. 1593,' and the lower a 

 now illegible inscription, the words of which have 

 fortunately been preserved : — 



ISTIUS EXSTRUCTAE CUM QUADAM DOTE PERENNI 

 EDWARDO HALSALLO LAUS TRIBUENDA SCHOLAE. 



The windows, of which there are two on the west 

 and one on the south, are of two lights with arched 

 heads, churchwarden gothic of the poorest, inserted 



The Old Rectory, Halsall (from a Drawing) 



after the removal of the upper floor. A fireplace 

 remains at both levels, and in the east wall is a 

 modern doorway into the south aisle. 



There are six bells, four recast In 1786, one cast 

 in 181 1, and another in 1887. The curfew bell is 

 rung in the winter months.' 



The church plate consists of several plain and 

 massive pieces, all made in London, viz. : a chalice 



and paten, 1609; chalice and paten, 1641; flagon 

 and paten, 1730 ; two small chalices, I 740. 



The register of baptisms begini in 1606, that of mar- 

 riages and burials in 1609; but they are irregularly kept 

 until 1662. From this time they seem to be perfect.' 

 From the dedication of the church * 

 JDVOIf'SON it has been supposed that Halsall 

 was one of the resting-places of St. 

 Cuthbert's body during its seven years' wandering 

 whilst the Danes were ravaging Northumbria (875- 

 83). The words of Simeon of Durham are wide 

 enough to cover this : the bearers ' wandered over all 

 the districts of the Northumbrians, with never any 

 fixed resting-place ' ; but the places he names — the 

 mouth of the Derwent, Whitherne, and Craik (Creca) 

 — point to Cumberland and Galloway rather than to 

 Lancashire.' 



The patronage, like the manor, was in dispute in 

 the early years of Edward I between Robert de 

 Vilers and Gilbert de Halsall,' but the latter seems 

 to have vindicated his right, as his descendants con- 

 tinued to present down to the sale of the manor to 

 the Gerards, when the advowson passed with it. In 

 1 719 and 1730 Peter Walter, a 'usurer' denounced 

 by Pope, presented ; ' and about 1 800 the lord of the 

 manor sold the advowson to Jonathan Blundell, 

 of Liverpool, whose descendant, the late Colonel 

 H. Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, was patron. 



The Taxatio of 1291 gives the value of Halsall 

 as ;^io.' The f^alor of Henry VIII places 

 it at j^2 8 10/.' The rectors have from time 

 to time had numerous disputes as to tithes and 

 other church property. Rector Henry de Lea 

 complained that in 1313 the lord of the manor 

 had seized his cart and horses owing to a dis- 

 puted right of digging turf.'° A later rector, 

 about 1520, leased the tithes of the township 

 of Halsall to his brother Thomas Halsall, the 

 lord of the manor, for 14 marks yearly. But 

 seven years later he had to complain that Thomas 

 would not pay the tithe-rent, and that he had 

 refused the rector's tenants the common of pas- 

 ture on Hall green, and common of turbary, 

 which had been customary." 

 Bishop Gastrell in 1 7 1 7 found the rectory worth 

 /300 per annum, Lady Mohun being patron. There 

 were two churchwardens, one chosen by the rector 

 and serving for Halsall township, the other by the 

 lord of the manor and serving for DownhoUand." 

 From this time onward the value of the 

 increased rapidly." The gross value 



rectory 

 now over 



' Tram. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xii, 224, 

 231. » Ibid. « Ibid. p. 230. 



^ In a charter dated I191 Mabel 

 daughter of William Geraet granted an 

 acre of land in Maghull, to God and 

 St. Cuthbert of HaUall. Dods. MSS. 

 xiiix, fol. 142^. 



' Sim. Dunelm. (Rolls Set.), i, 61-9. 

 The later wandering (995) seems to have 

 come no nearer Halsall than Ripon ; ibid, i, 

 78, 79- 



' De Banc. R. 10, m. 55 ; 11, m. 109. 



? Peter Walter, money scrivener and 

 clerk to the Middlesex justices, died in 

 '7+6, aged 83, leaving a fortune of 

 j^3oo,ooo to his grandson Peter Walter, 

 then M.P. for Shaftesbury ; LonJ. Mag. 

 1746, P- S°; HtralJ and Cn. viii, 1-4.. 



8 Pipt X,ct. Tax. (Rec. Com.), p. 249. 

 The ninth of the sheaves, &c, in 1341 



was valued at 19 marks ; Halsall, 841. 5^.; 

 the moiety of Snape, 61. ^d. ; Down- 

 hoUand, 32J. ; Lydiate, 501. id.; Mag- 

 hull, 291. 2d. ; and Melling, 501. %d. 

 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 40. 



9 Vakr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 224. 

 The sum was made up of assized rents of 

 lands belonging to the church, 321. 81/.; 

 tithes, ^21 1 01. id.; oblations and 

 Easter roll, ^5 6i. id. The fee of James 

 Halsall, the rector's bailiff, was 66j. id., 

 and synodals and procurations to the 

 archdeacon, i2j. 



" De Banc R. 211, m. 94. It is 

 noticeable that the rector asserted that 

 a quarter of the manor belonged to the 

 rectory, only three-quarters being held 

 by Robert de HalsalL The latter, how- 

 ever, claimed the whole, including the 

 portion of waste in Forth Green, near the 



High Street {regia strata), as to which the 

 dispute arose. In 1354 Richard de Hal- 

 sall, rector, claimed common of turbary 

 belonging to five messuages and five 

 oxgangs in Halsall, in right of the 

 church ; this was allowed, in spite of the 

 opposition of Otes de Halsall and Robert 

 de Meols ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, 

 m. ij. 



11 Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Hen. 

 VIII, V, H. 8. 



12 Notitia Ceur. (Chet. Soc), ii, 172. It 

 was the custom to tithe the eleventh cock 

 of hay and hattock of corn. 



" Matthew Gregson, about a hundred 

 years later, stated that 'the late Rector 

 Moore never received for his tithes more 

 ^^^ £'A°° per annum,' though the 

 rental of the parish was given as nearly 

 ^^25,000 ; Fragmenti, 215. 



