WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



his lands, &c., in DownhoUand which he had had 

 after the death of his father and mother.' Another 

 William Holland' in 1444-5 settled lands in the 

 same place upon Peter Holland and his wife Margaret, 

 with remainders to Richard, Ralph, Nicholas, John, 

 Henry, and Thomas Holland.' 



It is no doubt this Peter who survived till 15 13. 

 He seems to have married a second wife, Ellen, in 

 1478, when a settlement was made, the remainders 

 being to his son Robert and heirs male, and then to 

 a younger son Edmund.* Ellen survived her hus- 

 band, but some of the lands had been assigned to 

 Alice widow of Robert, who died without male 

 issue. Thus Edmund was heir to DownhoUand at 

 his father's death, and over forty years of age. The 

 service was the fourth part of a icnight's fee.' 



Edmund Holland very soon after his succession 

 sold his manors to Sir Henry Halsall of Halsall.'^ He 

 died about ten years afterwards, and in 1533-4. his 

 son and heir William released to Sir Thomas Halsall 

 all his claim in DownhoUand and Westleigh, Elizabeth, 

 widow of Edmund, having her dower assigned some 

 four years later.' From this time DownhoUand and 

 the half of Barton have descended with Halsall. 



Several disputes followed with the lords of neigh- 

 bouring townships — Altcar and Formby — as to 

 boundaries.' 



HASKJTNE, as stated above, was granted to the 



HALSALL 



Hospitallers in alms by Henry de HoUand.' The 

 hamlet of Haskayne gave a surname to a family who 

 prospered until in the seventeenth century they were 

 reciconed as gentry.'" One of them was a benefactor. 

 The Haricers of DownhoUand are commemorated 

 by an inscription in the vestry. The will (16 18) of 

 Thomas Haricer of Haskayne, gentleman, mentions 

 his nephews Richard and Henry, and demises lands in 

 Aughton and Barton." 



Thomas Johnson, Francis Farrer, and Richard 

 Moore, of DownhoUand, registered estates in 1 7 1 7 as 

 ' Papists.' '" 



As already stated BARTON was divided between 

 DownhoUand and Warrington. 



The four thegnage oxgangs of land appurtenant to 

 DownhoUand were divided by 1 2 1 2 between Adam 

 the brother of Henry de Holland " and an unnamed 

 sister or daughter on her marriage with Robert son of 

 Wronou. Robert son of Wronou de Barton gave to 

 Cockersand Abbey a selion of his land, extending 

 from the vill towards Harewer, in pure alms, for the 

 soul of King John in the first place, and then for his 

 own soul and those of his relatives.'' These two ox- 

 gangs seem to have returned into the possession of 

 the superior lord.'' 



The Halsall family early acquired an interest in 

 Barton and DownhoUand, and in 1292 Henry son of 

 Robert de Holland claimed tenements in Barton from 



^ Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 139, n. 13. 



2 William Holland of Downholland 

 ■was a witness in a Bedford suit in 1444 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6, m. 11. 



8 Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 141^, «. 41 ; 

 also Croxteth D. B. vi, 4. The rela- 

 tionships are not stated j probably Peter 

 was the son of Roger. 



* Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 138*, n. 11. 



* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, n. 30. 

 The younger son James appears to have 

 sold his part of the lands to the Halsalls 

 in 1520; Dods. MSS. xxxix, -fol. 141, n. 33, 



•35- 



The inquisition recites the will of 



Peter Holland, made in 1504, in which 



he made provision for his younger sons — 



James, Hugh, Henry, and William — by a 



charge on tenements in Westleigh ; a 



later will (1512) refers to his daughters 



Douce, Margery, and Ellen. 



« Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 138A, «. 8 ; by 

 deed enrolled at Lane, 14 Hen. VIH. 

 -At Croxteth is a deed by which Sir Henry 

 Halsall had a grant of the manors of 

 Downholland and Westleigh, &c., dated 

 4 Aug. 1 517. Sir Henry's sons Richard 

 {clerk) and James are named. 



'Ibid. fol. 141, n. II ; fol. 138*, ». 9. 



* See the account of Altcar ; also 

 Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Hen. VIII, 

 V, H. 5. 



Henry Halsall complained that on 

 10 Aug. 1553, Henry Norris and others 

 ef Formby, accompanied by twelve riotous 

 persons, had invaded the 4,000 acres of 

 moss and pasture in Downholland, called 

 Holland Moss, and had dug and carried 

 away 3,000 cartloads of turf and burnt 

 his turves; with 'unlawful dogs' and 

 otherwise they had driven his cattle 

 away, so that divers of them had been 

 * destroyed, drowned, and spilled in the 

 pools and marresses' of the moss. The 

 accused persons alleged that the disputed 

 ground — called the * common of Barton 

 pool and the Horseplecks' — was within 

 Formby, and an official inquiry was made 

 as to the boundaries. 



It was alleged for the complainant that 



the meres and bounds on the Formby 

 side were Barton pool head, the Scaling, 

 and the Black mere — this was east of 

 the Scaling, the White moss lying be- 

 tween. At the Scaling there used to be 

 a mere-stone, but this had been taken 

 away by the Formby men. Peter Holland 

 had been heard to claim the land for '16 

 rodfall' beyond Barton pool head. From 

 this spot ran the stream called Barton 

 pool ; its source was the reedy hook be- 

 tween Barton and Downholland, whence 

 it flowed westward to Typool and Barton 

 pool head. The boundary went along 

 this stream as far as Gossiche ditch, and by 

 this ditch to the Scaling, which was south 

 of the pool head and near Harvey House. 



One of the witnesses, Thomas Has- 

 kayne sixty years of age, had heard old 

 men say that there was formerly a water- 

 mill at the head of Barton pool, and that 

 the lords of Downholland took the profits 

 of it ; afterwards they removed the tim- 

 ber, and the mill fell into decay. It was 

 also stated that 'Master Norris of the 

 Speke' one time accompanied Roger 

 Holland home, after they had dined 

 together at Formby, and on coming to 

 the disputed land offered to buy it, to 

 the annoyance of Roger, who replied 

 that he thought their meeting had been 

 ' to make merry,' and he was not dis- 

 posed to sell his lands. The result was 

 in favour of the Halsall claim. See 

 Duchy of Lane. Depos., Phil, and Mary, 

 Ixiv, H. 2 ; Decrees and Orders, Phil, 

 and Mary, x, fol. 144A. 



A year or two later the complaint was 

 renewed, and the lords of Formby brought 

 evidence to show that the disputed ground, 

 called the Horse Hooks, was a 'mean and 

 indifferent ' plot, lying in the corner where 

 Downholland, Formby, and Altcar met, 

 being three-quarters of a mile from the 

 nearest dwelling-house in Formby, a mile 

 and a half from the nearest in Down- 

 holland, and a mile from the nearest in 

 Altcar. The case went on until 1588, 

 but the final decision does not seem to 

 have been preserved. See Duchy of 



199 



Lane, Depos. Phil, and Mary, Ixxv, H. 3 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Decrees and Orders, Phil. 

 and Mary, xi, fol. 269^ — an intermediate 

 order. 



^ Inq. and Extents^ 49 ; it is called 

 'two acres ' only. It is enumerated as 

 Downholland in the Plac. de quo Warr, 

 (Rec. Com.), 375. About 1540 the 

 following was the Hospitallers' rent 

 roll : Sir Thomas Halsall, \zd. \ Thomas 

 Haskayne, 6i/. ; Sir Thomas Halsall and 

 Robert Bootle, dd. ; Sir T. Halsall for a 

 messuage bought from David Holland, Zf/.; 

 Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. 



^"The name is frequently spelt Hes- 

 kayne or Hesken, and is confused with 

 Heskin in Leyland hundred. 



11 A. Patchett, Tatlocks ofCunscough^ 35. 



^^ Eng. Cath. Non-jurorsy 127 5 some of 

 these had property in neighbouring town- 

 ships. Alice, the daughter of Francis 

 Farrer, was in 1 722 noted as having 

 seen her angel guardian ; N. Blundell's 

 Diary, 188. 



^8 The children of Adam — William and 

 Christiana — have been mentioned ; it is 

 probable that his two oxgangs were divided 

 between them, and that the share of Alan 

 son of William descended to Emma the 

 wife of Simon de Wolvesegh, who sold 

 an oxgang to Roger de Holland. Of 

 Christiana's share nothing is positively 

 known, but a certain Henry son of 

 Dolfin de Barton quitclaimed to 'his 

 lord,' Roger son of Henry de Holland, 

 all his right in an oxgang in Barton ; 

 Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 143, n. 61. 



i"* Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 



631,754. 



15 Ellas de Barton son of Henry, the 

 grantor, was in possession of three oxgangs, 

 one of them apparently that of Henry 

 son of Dolfin, and another acquired from 

 William son of Robert son of Wronou ; 

 Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 143, «. 64. The 

 third, perhaps, came from another son of 

 Robert. The same William, grandson of 

 Wronou, quitclaimed all his right in the 

 four oxgangs in Barton to Henry son of 

 Alan de Holland ; ibid. k. 62. 



