WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HALSALL 



ancient Eggergarth,' to the north of the Sudell 

 Brook, and forming a wedge between Aughton and 

 DownhoUand. In 1901 the people numbered 1,024. 



The highest point in Lydiate is near the southern 

 boundary, where the windmill stands, about 87 ft. 

 above sea level ; Eggergarth rises to 80 ft. on the 

 northern boundary. The country is chiefly agri- 

 cultural, occupied by market gardens and fields, where 

 potatoes and cabbages alternate with wheat and oats. 

 The soil is sand loam over a subsoil of peat. 

 Pastures are found principally in the low-lying 

 parts westwards. 



The Liverpool and Ormskirk road passes north- 

 eastwardly through the southern end of the township ; 

 another road branches off from this at the southern 

 boundary and goes north to DownhoUand and 

 Halsall. The houses are scattered along this road ; 

 the ruined chapel popularly called ' Lydiate Abbey ' 

 is on the left side of it about a mile north of the 

 boundary ; the old hall is just to the north. The 

 Leeds and Liverpool Canal winds its way through 

 the township. 



There is a parish council. 



' From the tower steeple ' of the ruin, wrote a 

 visitor in 181 3, 'the view over the low meadows of 

 Lydiate and Altcar, which are frequently flooded 

 after sudden and violent showers by the overflowing 

 of the River Alt, is very extensive, embracing the 

 whole of Formby Channel and part of the River 

 Mersey, and bounded only by the chain of mountains 

 terminating with the Ormshead.'* 



Traces of seven crosses were known or remembered 

 recently. The base of one remains near the hall ; 

 another, the School Brow cross, is buried beneath the 

 footpath ; it is reported that funerals used to stop 

 there while the mourners repeated the De Profundis? 



The wake was held in Ember week.' 



Uctred held LrUIJTE proper at the 

 MANORS death of Edward the Confessor. It was a 

 border township of the privileged three 

 hides, was rated as six oxgangs of land, and had wood- 

 land a league in length by 2 furlongs broad." The value 

 was 6^d., a great advance on the normal z^d., due 

 perhaps to the wood. Early in the twelfth century it 

 was granted to Pain de Vilers as part of his fee of 

 Warrington, to which it continued to belong,' and 

 Pain in turn granted it to William Gernet, to be held 

 by knight's service as three-fortieths of a knight's 

 fee.' In 1 2 1 2 his six oxgangs in Lydiate were in the 

 joint tenure of Benedict and Alan, sons of Simon.' 

 That Alan was the elder brother seems clear by the 

 order of the names in a quitclaim in 1202 by Simon 

 Blundel and Siegrith his wife to Alan and Benedict 

 de Lydiate, after an assize of ' mort d'ancestor ' had 

 been summoned between them, concerning two-thirds 

 of two oxgangs in Gildhouse and Sureheved.' As 

 Alan ' de Lydiate ' he granted to Cockersand a por- 

 tion of his land in the townfield in pure alms.'" 



His nephew William, son of Benedict de Lydiate, 

 gave his share of Orshawhead to Cockersand in alms," 

 and added a further piece of land.'* William le 

 Boteler, as overlord, ratified the Orshaw grants, giving 

 the bounds thus : In length from the cross on the 

 north side of Orshaw to the ditch on the south side, 

 in the further part of Orshaw field ; and in breadth, 

 from the brook on the west to the ditch under the 

 law on the east.'^ 



William de Lydiate was holding Lydiate of the heir 

 ot Emery le Boteler, in 1242.'* He seems to have 

 been still living in 1255, but to have died shortly 

 afterwards, leaving as his heir Benedict, probably his 

 son, whose widow Alice about 1270 made over to 

 Sir William le Boteler all her dower and whatever 

 claim she might have in land in the vill of Lydiate." 



1 Egergarth, 1292 ; Ekirgart and other 

 forms are found. The name has long been 

 disused. " Kaleidoscope, 8 July, 1 823. 



' Short Acct. of Lydiate, 1 1, 12 ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 170-1. 



* Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iv, 272. 



* F.C.H. Lanes, i, 285a. This wood was 

 probably on the west, for in Altcar also 

 there was, at least in later times, a wood 

 in the portion adjoining Lydiate. The 

 name Frith may point to the same fact. 



*■ In 1548 the following rents were 

 payable to the lord of Warrington from 

 the manor of Lydiate : Lawrence Ireland 

 51. \\d. and yd. ; Henry Halsall, 20</. ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 142. 



7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 8. It would appear 

 that Pain had first of all granted it to 

 Alan de Vilers his son, the latter bestow- 

 ing it upon Chester Abbey about 11 40; 

 St. Werburgh's Chartul. fol. 8. Possibly 

 the gift did not actually take effect, for 

 nothing further occurs in the chartulary 

 with respect to it. 



' There is nothing to show their con- 

 nexion with the former holder ; the 

 tenure suggests that the two brothers had 

 married two sisters who were coheiresses. 

 Alan was also lord of Halsall. 



' Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 20. Gildhouse (Gildus) is men- 

 tioned later as being in Lydiate ; the other 

 place seems lost. The ' two-thirds ' prob- 

 ably means that the father's widow was 

 still living. Siegrith may have been a 

 third sister, claiming her share (two ox- 

 gangs) in the manor. 



A charter of this time by Simon son of 

 Stainulf de Lydiate to the monks of 

 Cockersand grants all Tunesnape, both 

 wood and open, free from all secular ser- 

 vice ; the bounds begin from MaghuU 

 Pool to Rutende Brook, and from the 

 middle of the moss to the Alt opposite 

 Longley ; Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 635. The Alt is probably not 'Great 

 Alt ' (which does not touch Lydiate), but 

 the tributary brook called Sudell Brook 

 or Lydiate Brook ; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 



13. 14- 



1" The bounds are thus described : From 

 Sandyford to Murscough (Maircough is in 

 the north of the township, adjoining 

 DownhoUand), following the Alt round 

 the Hurst to the mill pool, across to the 

 mill road going ' by the edge of the wood,' 

 along this road to the edge of Orshaw, 

 and by another road to Sandyford ; Cocker- 

 sand Chartul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 634. 



" The monks were to have pasture for 

 four oxen, twelve cows, and three mares 

 and their offspring, pannage for twenty 

 pigs, with goats and sheep at the monks' 

 pleasure. The bounds are described with 

 great minuteness ; they mention Orshaw 

 law, Orshaw-syke, a cross and an oak 

 tree. Simon son of Alan (now styled ' de 

 Halsall') gave his share, William the 

 White of Gildhouse — perhaps son of the 

 Simon Blundel above mentioned — did 

 the same, and Robert de Orshaw gave half 

 of his land within the same bounds. The 

 abbey thus had grants of this land from 

 the overlords and tenant. In 1268 Adam 

 son of Robert de Orshaw held it by in- 



201 



heritance, paying l7.d. a year ; and on his 

 decease his heir would have to pay half a 

 piark and do homage to the monks ; ibid, 

 ii, 632-4. 



^^ It was thus bounded : From Sandy- 

 ford to Murscough, as far as the road from 

 DownhoUand ; turning to the moss and 

 as far as Rushy Hills on the south, and 

 thence to Orshaw dyke, and so back to 

 Sandyford ; ibid, ii, 636. 



The Cockersand rents from Lydiate in 

 1 501 amounted to a little over 20J., the 

 principal tenant being Nicholas Longback, 

 who rendered 13^. ^d. and 2 capons; 

 Rentale de Cockersand (Chet. Soc), 5, 7. 



13 Cockersand Chartul. ii, 636. 



1"* Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 147. 



'* Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 23. In 1276 

 she claimed her dower right in various 

 messuages, lands, and wood, and half a 

 water-mill from a number of holders in 

 Lydiate, including WiUiam son of Bene- 

 dict (an oxgang and a half, and half the 

 mill, &c.), Adam de Churchlee (an oxgang 

 and a half, &c.), Robert de Halsall (half 

 the mill, &c), Alice, widow of Roger de 

 Lydiate, Margery daughter of Gilbert de 

 Halsall, Simon son of Beatrice, Gamel 

 de Lydiate, Richard son of Adam (one ox- 

 gang, &c.), Roger son of Adam, Simon 

 the Provost, WiUiam the Serjeant, Richard 

 de Ince, Alan de SeuedhiU, and Adam de 

 Sefton. The total of the claims shows 

 that there were in this two-thirds of 

 the manor (4 oxgangs), 12 messuages, 

 79 acres of arable land, 60 acres of 

 wood, and a water-miU ; De Banc. R. 15, 

 m. 104. 



26 



