WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



The Commonwealth surveyors of 1650 approved 

 him as * an able minister.' * Thomas Johnson stayed 

 at Halsall until his death at the end of 1660.* 



The later rectors do not call for any special 

 comment. 



Mention of a minor church officer, Robert Breckale, 

 the holy-water clerk, occurs in 1442.* 



There were two chantries. The first was founded 

 by Sir Henry Halsall, for a priest to celebrate for the 

 souls of himself and his ancestors ; a yearly obit to be 

 made by the chantry priest, and a taper of two pounds' 

 weight to be kept before the Trinity. This was at 

 the altar of Our Lady, and Thomas Norris was cele- 

 brating there at the time of the confiscation. There 

 was no plate, and the rental amounted to ^^4 4J. 5^^.* 



A second chantry was founded about 1520 by the 

 same Sir Henry Halsall in conjunction with Henry 

 Molyneux, priest,^ for a commemoration of their souls. 

 This was at the altar of St. Nicholas, and in 1547 

 Henry Halsall was celebrating there according to his 

 foundation. There was no plate, and the rental 



HALSALL 



amounted to no more than 64/. \d^ The chantry 

 priest was aged fifty-six in i 548 ; the full stipend was 

 paid to him as a pension in 1553. He died in 1561 

 or 1562, and was buried at Halsall.^ 



A free grammar school was established here in 1593 

 by Edward Halsall, life tenant of the family estates. 



Apart from schools ^ and the 



CHARITIES benefaction of John Goore to 

 Lydiate, the income of this amount- 

 ing now to ^136 a year,* the charities of Halsall are 

 inconsiderable,"* and are restricted to separate town- 

 shi"° '^ 



lips.' 



HALSALL 



Heleshala, Herleshala, Dom. Bk. ; Haleshal, 1224; 

 Haleshale, 1275 ; Halsale, 1278 and usual; Halshale, 

 1292 ; Halleshale, 1332 ; Halsall, xv century. 



This township had formerly a great moss on the 

 west, covering about half the surface, and constituting 

 an effectual boundary. Down to recent times there 



^ Commoniveahb Ch^ Survey (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), p. 86. For his living 

 he had a parsonage house and glebe lands 

 worth jf 8 a year ; the tithes of the town- 

 ship were £60 a year ; those of Snape, 

 paid in alternate years, were worth ^^25 

 a year ; from the tithe of Downholland 

 and Lydiate he received ^100, and there 

 were some other rents. He paid ^^20 

 a year to Mrs, Travers. 



* In his will, dated 14 March, 1659-60 

 and proved 27 April, i66i, he describes 

 himself as rector, and makes special men- 

 tion of property acquired in Brockhall and 

 Rainford. The inventory was made on 

 17 Dec, 1660 5 it is of interest as 

 naming the various apartments in the 

 parsonage — the hall, guest parlour, matted 

 chamber, little closet, great chamber, little 

 parlour, little closet in the entry, women's 

 parlour, fellowes chamber, stone chamber, 

 buttery chamber, buttery, larder, brew- 

 house, deyhouse, wet larder, kitchen, and 

 study. The value placed upon the goods 

 was £60 ; Will at Chest, 



8 PaL of Lane. Plea R, 4, m, 10^. 



* In 1534 the income was ^^4 6j. 8f/., 

 of which 6s. 8^. was distributed In alms 

 on the founder's obit day ; F'alor EccL 

 (Rec. Com.), v, 224. Charles Scarisbrick 

 in 1858 was paying to the crown a quit 

 rent of £z 41. $d. for this chantry ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Returns (Blue Book), p. 7. The 

 lands were in Melling, Downholland 

 (Calders meadow, Myrscolawe, &cO> 

 Aughton, Formby, Aintree, and Maghull. 



* This Henry Molyneux, priest, is men- 

 tioned as his brother by Hugh Molyneux 

 of Cranborne in Dorset, who in his will 

 (1508) left him an annuity in order to 

 help him to continue at Oxford. The will 

 also mentions Hugh's father, Richard 

 (buried at Halsall), his mother, Em- 

 mot, his wife, Agnes, and his chil- 

 dren. To Halsall church, where Hugh 

 was baptized, was left loj., and to the 

 wardens for keeping the light burning 

 before the image of Our Lady, 6s. %d. ; 

 Gisborne Molineux, Mem. of Molineux 

 Family^ 139. Henry Molyneux himself 

 * left Lancashire and went into the south 

 country ' before his death ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Pleadings, Hen. VIII, iii, H5. 



^ The gross rental in 1534 was found 

 to be 67J. I0(/., but i%d. and zs. were fixed 

 rents due to the earl of Derby and the 

 abbot of Cockersand : Valor EccL (Rec, 

 Com.), v, 224, The lands were in Lydiate, 

 Westhead, and Aughton. 



7 Raines, Lanes. Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 

 i, 115-119. The lands belonging to the 

 chantry of St. Nicholas were in May, 

 i549> granted to Thomas Ruthall for 

 twenty-one years, a yearly rent being re- 

 served ; this lease was sold to Richard 

 Halsall, the rector, and he complained that 

 certain persons had assembled in Aughton 

 and forcibly taken possession of part of his 

 property. Duchy of Lane. Pleadings (Phil, 

 and Mary), xxxiv. Hi 9. 



8 At Halsall, MaghuU, and Melling. 



® The following details are taken from 

 the End. Char. Rep. for Halsall, issued 

 1 902 ; this includes a reprint of the report 

 for 1828. 



John Goore, by his will dated 1669, be- 

 queathed his real estate and the residue 

 of his personal estate for the benefit of the 

 poor of Lydiate. He had a house and land 

 in Aughton, and land called Houghton's 

 Ground at Birscar in Scarisbrick ; and the 

 personal estate amounted to ^^340, which 

 was invested in land in Lydiate. In 1828 

 the income amounted to ^^97 45. a year, 

 most of which was distributed in sums of 

 51. to 205, at the half-yearly meetings of 

 the trustees. In 1861 a new scheme was 

 approved by the Charity Commissioners. 

 The net income, about ^120, is distribu- 

 ted partly in money and partly in clothing. 

 * An apparently complete series of accounts 

 from 1677 exists among the books of 

 the charity.' 



Anne Huyton of Lydiate, widow, by her 

 will of 1890, left ;^ioo for clothing 'the 

 deserving poor of the Protestant faith' ; 

 the income (^^3 175, 6d.) is distributed at 

 Christmas to poor members of the Church 

 of England belonging to Lydiate, mostly 

 widows. 



10 The Hon. and Rev. John Stanley, 

 sometime rector, left ^^50 to purchase 

 Bibles and Prayer Books for poor families in 

 Halsall parish. The stock is intact, and 

 every few years the accumulations of in- 

 terest are applied according to the bene- 

 factor's wish, the recipients being in prac- 

 tice chosen from the toivnship of Halsall. 



11 For Halsall and Downholland the 

 rent charge of ^^13 6s. Sd. given by Ed- 

 ward Halsall in 1593 is still paid by the 

 owner of the Sherdley Hall estate in Sutton 

 and Ditton, and is distributed to the poor 

 of the townships, Halsall receiving ^^12 

 and Downholland the rest. 



For Kfl/W/ itself there was a poor's stock 

 of j^74 contributed by Gabriel Haskayne 

 in 1661 and later benefactors. In 1828 



191 



five cottages were held for this trust, the 

 income being distributed partly in money 

 and partly in bread. Although some of 

 the cottages were destroyed about 1840 by 

 the lord of the manor, apparently without 

 compensation, on the expiry of the leases, 

 there are still four cottages, the rents of 

 which, amounting to ^^14 105., are dis- 

 tributed in annual gifts of blankets and 

 sheets and monthly doles of bread. Rob- 

 ert Watkinson in 1 8 1 6 left ^200, the in- 

 terest of half this sum to be distributed in 

 bread, and of the other half on St. John's 

 Day,at the discretion of the churchwardens. 

 In 1828 bread and linsey were distributed. 

 The bread is still distributed in monthly 

 doles, and the other half of the income is 

 spent in conjunction with the previous dis- 

 tribution of blankets and sheets. 



For Doivnholland donations to the 

 amount of ^^175 were given between 1599 

 and 1726, the eariiest being a gift of ^^lo 

 by Henry Slmpkin, and the latest j^ioo 

 by James Watkinson. The money was 

 used in the purchase of cottages, and in 

 1828 eleven were held on trust, of which 

 five were occupied rent-free by paupers, 

 and the rent of the others, ^^22 loj., was 

 carried to the account of the poor rate. 

 The commissioners disapproved of this 

 application, but shortly afterwards the 

 leases expired, and the property reverted to 

 the lord of the manor, the fund thus being 

 lost. In 1730 John Plumb gave his inter- 

 est in a house in Church Street, Ormskirk, 

 for the use of the poor of Downholland. 

 In 1828 his interest was stated to be a 

 moiety of the public house known as the 

 'Eagle and Child': and half the rent (^19) 

 was then paid to the overseer, and distri- 

 buted in money doles. In 1902 it was 

 found that the licence of the house having 

 been refused by the justices, the property 

 had been sold for j^426, and half the pro- 

 ceeds invested for Plumb's charity j the 

 income, £$ lu. 41^., is still distributed in 

 money doles at Christmas. 



The Lydiate charities — Goore and Huy- 

 ton — have been described. 



At MaghuU there was an ancient poor's 

 stock of ;^I20, the interest of which used 

 to be distributed on Good Friday. In 1 8 1 5 

 this was expended on a wharf on the Liver- 

 pool and Leeds Canal, let at ^^4 a year. 

 The Charity Commissioners disapproving, 

 the wharf was sold in 1828 for £120, 

 which is now invested in consols, and the 

 income (^3 12^. ^d.) is distributed every 

 Good Friday in doles of 31, Benjamin 



