WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HALSALL 



the Serjeant all his latid in Mailing lying between 

 Thorpsbrook and the moor.' In 1327 Henry de 

 Bootle made provision for his sons, granting Abul- 

 thwaite in Melling to Thomas his son and heir, with 

 remainders to his other sons John and Henry ; while 

 to John he gave Northfield, with remainders to his 

 brothers.* Nicholas son of Henry de Bootle has 

 already been mentioned; he was living in 1324-5, 

 when Goditha widow of Thomas de Thorp claimed 

 from him dower in 3 acres in Melling.' Robert son 

 of Nicholas de Bootle in 1364 gave to Richard de 

 Rainford a house and some land in Melling (in a field 

 called Lounstowne), and the reversion of a third part 

 held by his mother Cecily in dower.' 



Thomas Bootle, who died at Melling on 10 Octo- 

 ber, 1597, held of Edmund Molyneux of The Wood 

 by a rent of 5/. ^d. two houses, 30 acres of land, &c. 

 in Melling, besides lands in the neighbouring town- 

 ships. His son and heir was Robert Bootle, then 

 aged thirty, who was the father of two sons, Ferdinand 

 and Edmund.' 



CUNSCOUGH seems to have been almost entirely 

 the property of the abbey of Cockersand.'^ After 

 the dissolution the abbey land here was granted to 

 Sir Thomas Holt of Gristlehurst ; ' he soon after- 

 wards sold it to Lawrence Ireland, and it has descended 

 with Lydiate.* In the inquisition after Lawrence 

 Ireland's death (1566) is recited a lease from him to 

 Thomas Tatlock and John his eldest son of a messuage 

 and land in Cunscough, with right of turbary, which 

 had been held previously by John Tatlock, father of 

 Thomas.' Lawrence Ireland, a younger son of the 

 owner, seems also to have settled there.'" The estate 

 was called a manor, held of the queen in chief, and 

 of the clear annual value of j^io." 



A complaint by Thomas Knowles, one of the 

 Ireland tenants, led to an inquiry in which some of 

 the usages of the old time were stated. For the 

 plaintiff it was alleged that the tenants had their 

 holdings ' by the custom of the manor,' and besides 

 their yearly rent used to pay to the abbot certain 

 capons at Christmas. As a ' fine ' the abbot used 

 commonly to take of an incoming tenant a year's 

 rent, and the cellarer then entered the name in the 



court roll and in the rental, so that he might have 

 the tenement for life, with remainder to his widow so 

 long as she did not marry again, and then to his 

 eldest son. It was never known that the abbot had 

 ever put any tenant out, and the present complainant 

 had succeeded his father Thurstan and his grandfather 

 Ralph. On the other side it was stated that this 

 Ralph had come in by marrying the former tenant's 

 widow, thus taking away the succession of the sons 

 of her former husband, by favour of her brother, 

 then bailiff of the manor. Sometimes also a younger 

 brother succeeded, as in the case of John son of Henry 

 Tatlock, whose elder brother William was passed 

 over. In the end it was decided that the plaintiff 

 had not proved the custom by which he claimed to 

 succeed.'* The crops on the land were oats, barley, 

 and flax.'^ 



Richard Molyneux, grandson of Sir William, 

 married a daughter of John Molyneux of The Wood 

 and settled in Cunscough, being returned as a free- 

 holder there in 1600.'* He was a justice of the 

 peace. An abstract of his last will is preserved by 

 Kuerden ; he desired to be buried in the chapel at 

 Melling ; he mentioned his son Richard, who was to 

 buy the capital messuage called Cunscough, and his 

 daughters Mary Wolfall, Frances Lathom, and Elinor." 

 The Mossocks of Bickerstaffe also obtained a hold- 

 ing in Cunscough. Thomas Mossock in the time of 

 Elizabeth married Margaret, a daughter of Lawrence 

 Ireland of Lydiate, and in the visitation of 1664-5 

 the family is described as Mossock of Cunscough. '° 



The Tatlocks can be traced from the thirteenth 

 century down to recent times, especially in con- 

 nexion with this portion of the township." The 

 following notes on their later history are taken 

 from the monograph by A. Patchett,'" in which may 

 be seen the evidences for the statements made. John 

 Tatlock, who died in 1598, had by his wife Kathe- 

 rine five sons and two daughters. The eldest son 

 Richard was of sufficient standing to be called upon 

 for a composition on refusing knighthood in the time 

 of Charles I ; " and he bequeathed ^20 to the poor 

 of Melling. By his wife Margaret he had a son John 

 and six daughters. He died in 1640, and was suc- 



^ Croxteth D. The first witnesses are 

 Robert de NeviU and Henry de Bootle. 



' Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 85 (Robert de 

 NeviU and William Gerard being wit- 

 nesses), 



' De Banco R. 253, m. 351. There 

 was yet another son, Robert, who in 1343 

 released to his brother John lands which 

 he had had from Henry their father ; 

 Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 85*. A year before 

 this Richard del Lunt (as trustee) had 

 given Abulthwaite to Thomas Byl for life, 

 with remainders to his sons William and 

 Henry, and ultimate remainder to Richard 

 de Molyneux of Sefton ; Croxteth D., 

 U. i, I. 



■• Ibid. U. ii, 5. 



' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p. m. xvii, n. 57. 



* For the tenants see Cockersand Cbartul. 

 iv, 1240, &c. 



It appears that los, was about 1540 

 paid by the canons to William Molyneux 5 

 Duchy of Lane. Rentals, 5/2. 



' Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. iv. 



s Lydiate Hall, 29. 



9 Henry and Robert Tatlock were 

 among the Cockersand tenants in 1501 ; 

 see Rental above cited. 



^^ Lawrence Ireland and William his 

 son in 1561 leased to the younger Law- 



rence the hall of Cunscough ; Gibson, 

 Lydiate Hall, 31. 



^1 Duchy of Lanes. Inq. p. m. xi, « . 3 3. 



li" Duchy of Lane. Dep. Edw. VI, L.i, 

 K.2 ; Dec. and Ord. Edw. VI, viii, fol. 

 205. 



18 Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Edw. VI, 

 xxix, K.5. 



" Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 238. In 1590 he was reported as 'of 

 very bad note in religion ; his wife a re- 

 cusant ' j Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 244. 



15 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 27 li, n. 167. 



1^ See the account of Bickerstaffe, 



17 Richard Tatlock, possibly the Richard 

 recorded as a Cockersand tenant in 1268, 

 granted to his sons Richard, Henry, and 

 William successively two acres of land in 

 Melling ; Croxteth D., U. i, 2. 



In 1333 Richard son of Stephen de 

 Bickerstatli gave all his land in Melling 

 to Richard son of Adam Tatlock, and in 

 1349 Thomas son of Richard Tatlock 

 gave a bond to his brothers Richard and 

 William and his sisters Joan, Agnes, and 

 Maud as to the payment of 20 marks of 

 silver ; ibid, U. i, 3, and Misc. 



Margery widow of Henry de Bootle 

 complained that Thomas son of Richard 

 Tatlock, with his father's support, took 



213 



some of her beasts which really belonged 

 to his brother's children ; Excheq. Misc. 

 xc, 220. 



Adam Tyrehare (as trustee) in 1364 

 enfeoffed Richard Tatlock and his heirs of 

 lands in Melling ; while in September, 

 1410, John de Cunscough gave Richard 

 Tatlock a fee farm of 8^. out of all his 

 lands in the same place j Croxteth D., 

 U. i, 4, 5. 



At the beginning of 1524 Robert Tat- 

 lock and his son John sold to Sir William 

 Molyneux of Sefton houses and lands and 

 a mill in Melling, with houses and lands 

 in Aughton and Liverpool, *for certain 

 sums of money paid , , , for relieving 

 them and the other children of the said 

 Robert'; ibid. U, i, 6-8. About three 

 years afterwards Sir William leased these 

 lands to Robert Tatlock for thirty years 

 at a peppercorn rent ; ibid. Ee. 34. 



John son ot Robert Tatlock married 

 EUen daughter of William Haakayne in 

 1509 ; see settlements of lands in Aughton 

 upon them in Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 53. 



18 Memorials of the Tatlocks of Cun- 

 scough (privately printed), iv, 6y pp. Liver- 

 pool, 1 90 1. 



13 Misc. (Rec. Soc, Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 214. 



