WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HALSALL 



Among the curates and vicars of Melling, who are 

 presented by the rector of Halsall, have been : — 

 DC. 1665 Cuthbert Halsall 

 oc. 1 67 1 John Lowe 

 oc. 1676 Joseph Dresser 

 oc. 1689 Peter Dean, B.A.' 

 oc. 1733 Thomas Harrison 

 c. 1760 Glover Moore' 



1777 Benjamin Whitehead ' 



1 8 1 7 Matthew Chester ' 



1829 Miles Formby, M.A. (Brasenose Coll., 



Oxford) 

 1 849 John Kirkland Glazebrook, M.A. (Mag- 

 dalen Hall, Oxford) 

 1900 Joseph Sturdy Gardner, M.A. (Trinity 

 Coll., Dublin) 

 It appears that mass ceased to be said at Melling 

 when The Wood was sold about 1750.' It is now 

 occasionally said by the priest in charge of Maghull. 



MAGHULL 



Magele, Dom. Bk. ; Maghul, Maghyl, Maghale, 

 Maghal, Mauhale, 1292 ; Maghhal, 1303 ; Mauwell, 

 1351 ; Maghull, Maghell, 1353. These last two 

 forms and Maghale most general. In the xv cent, the 

 name was contracted to Maile or Male, which shows 

 the local pronunciation. Sometimes the article was 

 prefixed, 'The Maile.' 



Maghull is an agricultural township, situated in 

 flat country fairly well supplied with trees, gener- 

 ally grouped about the villages and farmsteads. The 

 land is divided into arable and pasture, the latter 

 mostly to the west, whilst numerous market gardens 

 thrive on a light sandy soil. Crops of potatoes 

 and other root crops, wheat and oats are success- 

 fully cultivated. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal 

 crosses the township from north to south-east ; the 

 upper end of Maghull village, with its sett-laid roads 

 and gaily painted houses, is a typical canal-side settle- 

 ment. The River Alt drains the low-lying ground 

 to the west, and forms the boundary of the township 

 in that direction. The total area is 2,098 acres.' 

 There was in 190 1 a population of 1,505. 



The principal road, leading from Liverpool to 

 Ormskirk, passes through the village from south to 

 north, and is joined on the east by the more circuitous 

 route through Melling, and on the west by the road 

 from Sefton. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Com- 

 pany's line from Liverpool to Preston crosses in a 

 north-easterly direction, and has a station called 

 Maghull. The Cheshire Lines Committee's railway 

 to Southport passes along the western border, where 

 there is a station called Sefton. 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



Three ancient crosses are known to have existed. 

 The pedestal of the 'Woodlands Cross' is visible 

 above the footpath at the junction of Green Lane 

 with the Liverpool and Ormskirk road. Others are 

 at Clent Farm (removed in 1890) and Back Lane.' 



A sundial on the lawn in front of the manor-house 

 has the motto and date, ' Volvenda dies, 1748.' 

 Another in the churchyard is dated 1781.' 



The Alt Drainage Act (1779) has the following 

 field names : Chew, Pushed Meadow, Lower Mean 

 Hey, and Lowest Alter. 



A writer in 1823 says : ' From the chapel yard is 

 an extensive view of the high land near Liverpool, 

 on which Everton church is a very prominent object ; 

 of Ince Hall and park ; and in the distance the two 

 landmarks of Formby.' He characterizes the village 

 as ' pleasant.' ' 



The wakes are held on Advent Sunday. 



There was a racecourse here for one of the Liver- 

 pool meetings until the Aintree course superseded it. 



Maghull manor-house is now used as an epileptics' 

 home. 



MAGHULL was one of Uctred's six 

 MANORS manors in 1066 ; its rating was half a 

 plough-land.'" Afterwards, like fourothers 

 of the group, it formed part of the Widnes fee held 

 by the barons of Halton in Cheshire, and this tenure 

 is regularly stated in the inquisitions down to the 

 seventeenth century. In 1 2 1 2 it was found that Alan 

 de Halsall held half a plough-land of Roger the con- 

 stable of Chester by knight's service." 



The Halsall family continued to be regarded as the 

 superior lords of Maghull, holding it for the twenty- 

 fourth part of a knight's fee, where 12 plough-lands 

 made such a fee. So it was recorded in the Gascon 

 scutage of 1242—3," and in the Halton Feodary, the 

 relief being stated as 5/." In the fourteenth century 

 the lordship seems to have passed from Halsall. 

 In 1355 the heir of Gilbert de Halsall was lord ; " 

 afterwards it was held by the Hulme family, as will 

 be seen later. 



Simon de Halsall, the son of Alan, made two grants 

 in Maghull. By one he gave to his son Richard the 

 whole of his land in the vill,'^ the service to be that by 

 which Simon himself held it — the twenty-fourth part 

 of a fee." 



Simon's other grant was made about 1 240. By it 

 he gave to William de Maghull and his heirs the 

 fourth part of all his vill of Maghull in demesne with 

 all its appurtenances, reserving two parcels of 40 acres 

 each in the woods. The service was to be that of a 

 judge or doomsman, acting as deputy of Simon and 

 his heirs, in the court of the chief lord at Widnes ; 



^ 'Conformable' in 1689; Kenyan 

 MSS. 229. He was curate of Halsall in 

 1665, and in the visitation of 1691 he is 

 still so styled. His will was proved in 

 1714, 



^ Afterwards rector of Halsall. 



* Also curate of Maghull. 



* Master of Crosby Grammar School. 



* Gillow, op. cit. V, 64. 



* 2,099 according to the census of 1 90 1 , 

 including 1 3 acres of inland water. 



7 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq, Soc. xix, 171. 



8 Trans, Hist, Soc, (New Ser.), xi, 255. 



* Kaleidoscope^ 8 July, 1823. 

 i» y,C,H, Lanes, i, 283*. 



^ Lanes, Inq, and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 43. 



About the same time Roger son of 

 Robert son of Outi granted to God and 

 St. Werburgh of Warburton an assart 

 which had belonged to Simon son of 

 Robert the Rider. It was marked out by 

 signs and crosses, and was to be held in 

 pure alms. This was confirmed or re- 

 granted by the superior lord, Alan de 

 Halsall, 'with the favour and assent of 

 Alice his wife.' Cockersand Chartul, (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, 543-4- 



1" Inq, and Extents, 149. 



1» Ormerod's Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 708. 

 There are one or two errors ; Halsall 

 is printed for Maghull, and Richard de 

 Halsall should be either Robert de Halsall 

 or Richard de Maghull. 



215 ■ 



" Feud. Aids, iii, 86. 



^5 Namely, two oxgangs in demesne and 

 two in service, with, all their easements, 

 &c., in wood and open country, in mosses, 

 marshes, waters, mills, bees, hawks, and 

 all other liberties named and unnamed, 

 also all his * natives' and their offspring. 

 He reserved for himself and heirs and the 

 men of Halsall, timber from the wood 

 and mast for their pigs. 



16 Dods. MSS, xxxix, fol. 140. 



It is not known what was the result of 

 this grant. Thomas son of Richard de 

 Halsall granted to Gilbert de Halsall, 

 about 1290, all the right he had in Carr- 

 field in Maghull j ibid. fol. 143^. 



