WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HALSALL 



a right of turbary to Robert Molyneux in 1422.' 

 He occurs as witness to a charter in October, 1403. 

 Ellen the daughter of Thomas de Maghull, late of 

 Aintree, was in January, 1425-6, contracted in 

 marriage to Gilbert de Maghull, Thomas de Maghull 

 of Maghull, apparently the father of the latter, being 

 joined with him in the contract.' Thurstan de 

 Maghull of Aintree made a general feoffment of his 

 lands in 144 1 ; and he is mentioned again two years 

 later? 



From the witnesses to a deed of 1442 it appears 

 that there were in Maghull at least two families 

 bearing the local name, and possibly a third ; for 

 Thomas de Maghull of the Clent, Thomas de Mag- 

 hull of the Carr, and Richard de Maghull attest it.' 



The succession is again uncertain ; but in March, 

 1462-3 John Maghull, chaplain, granted to his 

 brother Nicholas all tenements in Maghull ; the 

 latter was son and heir of Thomas of the Carr.' 

 Matthew was the son and heir of Nicholas, and in 

 the next year he (an infant) received Mollington 

 Yard from his father's feoffees ; it had formerly been 

 held by Richard Maghull of the Clent." He lived 

 to a great age, and in i 508 enfeoffed Hugh Aughton 

 of North Meols and others of his lands.' His 

 grandson William (eldest son of Thomas Maghull of 

 Aintree) was contracted in marriage with the daughter 

 of one Stananought, but died before marriage.* 



Matthew's son Thomas, who had in 1 5 1 4 sold 

 lands to Sir William Molyneux,' was 'riotous and 

 unthrifty and evil disposed, and liked to sell all the 

 inheritance if it should descend to him ' ; after 

 William's death therefore he settled the succession 

 on Thomas's second son Robert.'" It had in 1507—8 

 been settled on Thomas, who married Isabel, daughter 

 of William Formby." The new arrangement was 



secured by a recovery at Lancaster ; " and in 1 5 3 5 

 the feoffees transferred to Robert Maghull and Alice 

 his wife certain lands in Maghull, Melling, and 

 Aintree." 



Robert Maghull died 11 August, 1543, leaving a 

 son and heir Richard, who being a minor, became 

 the king's ward, until in 1558 livery was granted 

 to him." The inquisition "^ states that Robert held 

 the manor of the king as of the duchy of Lancaster 

 by knight's service and the yearly rent of 2|(2'. ; the 

 clear value was ^^4. 



This family seems to have gone with the times in 

 religion, the name being absent from the list of 

 recusants in the parish. Richard Maghull purchased 

 some property in Liverpool in 1560, and soon after- 

 wards sold land in Aughton to Thomas Bootle ot 

 Melling." He joined in the partition of Maghull 

 made in 1568," and afterwards became Sir Richard 

 Molyneux's bailiff for the manor of West Derby, 

 appointing a deputy in 1587.'* His eldest son 

 Richard died early, and the succession fell to the 

 second son Andrew.'' Richard died on 27 July, 

 1606, holding the fourth part of the manor of 

 Maghull, with a capital messuage there called the 

 Carr House.™ His son Andrew having died before 

 him leaving a son Richard, this last was heir to his 

 grandfather and loj years of age." 



This Richard married Alice daughter of William 

 Clayton of Leyland, and had with her certain lands 

 in Leyland.^^ He recorded a pedigree at the visitation 

 of 1664-5. Of his sons, Richard, William, and John 

 died without issue, and Robert, who succeeded him, 

 is called a citizen of London in 1 664, and said to be 

 thirty-nine years of age.*' Robert Maghull died in 

 1674 ; his son William, who married Cecily, daughter 

 of Thomas Bootle of Melling,-* died in 1709, and 



^ Duchy of Lane. Depositions (Phil, 

 and Mary), Ixxix, m. I. In Sept. 1494, 

 Nicholas Bickerstath of Aughton, ninety 

 years of age, and Robert Walsh of the 

 same place, aged eighty-four, * at the 

 instance and request of Richard Hulme, 

 esquire, by way of charity and conscience,' 

 certified that * at no time in all their days ' 

 had they known any such person as Wil- 

 liam Maghull, lord of the fourth part of 

 the manor ; Croxteth D. 



»Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 47*, 48, 46. 

 Lands in Maghull, Lydiate, and Fazaker- 

 ley were assigned. * Ibid. fol. 47^, 48. 



■• HarL MS. 2042, fol. 48. The deed 

 is of interest, as it carries on the succes- 

 sion of the above-mentioned 'native' — 

 Dicon of Derbyshire. He left a son and 

 two daughters — Emma and Alice — the 

 former of whom had married Christopher 

 Molyneux, and the latter John Barber of 

 Aughton. Both being widows they agreed 

 to divide the property which had come 

 to them on the death of their brother 

 John without other heirs. In the follow- 

 ing year Alice Barber released her share 

 to "Thomas de Maghull of the Carr ; ibid. 

 The land was called Kennetshead, now 

 Kennessee ; it became the above-named 

 Gilbert's. Thomas in 1449 gave his 

 'manor' of Maghull to two trustees; 

 ibid. fol. 47 A. 



5 Ibid. fol. 48A; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 44, m. 2 d. 



6 Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 48A. 



7 Ibid. fol. 49. 



8 In 1530 the grandfather (being sixty- 

 six years of age) charged Sir William 

 Molyneux of Sefton with a breach of 

 trust in connexion with the covenants 



of the marriage. Sir William had ' caused 

 him to seal a deed, being unlearned and 

 not knowing what was written but by 

 his speeches,' and he found it advisable to 

 make his protest in open court at Lan- 

 caster ; ibid. fol. 49A. 



'Dods. MSS. cliii, fol. 128. 



i^Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 53i. In one 

 of his grants to Robert (of land called 

 Mollington) it is stated that ' the same 

 day Thomas Gaskin did take the said 

 land of Robert Maghull, and gave him 

 a penny called " God's penny," before 

 witnesses'; ibid. fol. 59A. 



^'Ibid. fol. 49. In 1497 Matthew 

 Maghull, son and heir of Nicholas, granted 

 to Isabel daughter of William Formby, on 

 her marriage with his son Thomas, the 

 Dam House in Sefton ; Croxteth D. X. 

 iv, 12. i^Hafi^ MS. 2042, fol. 49*. 



'» Ibid. fol. 50. 



^^ Ibid. fol. 51. In the inquisition he 

 was said to be over eight years old in 1543. 

 See also Dep. Keeper^! Rep. xxxix, App. 



557- 



15 Duchy of Lane, Inq. p.m. vii, 

 n. 10. The intermediate Halton fee is 

 not mentioned, nor yet the mesne lord- 

 ship of the Halsall family. It recites 

 several charters of Matthew and Robert 

 Maghull, and gives a detailed description 

 of the property, in which the following 

 field names occur ; To Carr House — Hoge 

 Hey, Rush Hey, New Hey, Cow Acre, 

 Oseys, Pele, Old Meadow, Qwarvys ; to 

 Oxhouse — Bottom Slack, Bottom Hill, 

 Long Hurst, Plum Field, Maghull Heys, 

 and Old Smith Carr Meadow. 



"Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 54A, 55, also 

 fol. 56. 



217 



"Ibid. fol. 5 1 A. 



'"Ibid. fol. 56. An abstract of the will 

 of his brother Anthony is given in fVills 

 (Chet. Soc. New Ser.), i, 221. 



1' Harl. MS. 2042, fols. 51, 52. 



^ There were also 14 messuages, loo 

 acres of land, &c., in Maghull, Sefton, 

 Lunt, and Netherton. He had leased 

 Kennetshead and made other similar 

 arrangements. The portion of the manor 

 of Maghull was held of the king as of 

 his duchy of Lancaster by a fourth of a 

 twenty-fourth of a knight's fee. 



^'^ Lanes. Inq, p.m. (K&c. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 66-^. The writ of Amo'veas 

 manus to the escheator is dated 27 Jan. 

 10 Jas. I ; Croxteth D. T. ii, 22. In 

 1597 an agreement had been made 

 between Thomas Halsall of Melling and 

 Richard Maghull of Maghull, touching the 

 marriage already made between Andrew, 

 son of the latter, and Anne, daughter of 

 the former ; Croxteth D. 



22 Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 52*. A door- 

 way of the manor-house has the initials and 

 date : 



"^ Dugdale, Vhit. (Chet. Soc.), 192. 

 On a building in the orchard is a stone 

 inscribed ; 



R '" K 

 11667 



** The will of Cecily Maghull alias 

 Male, widow of William Maghull, gentle- 

 man, dated 31 March, 1717, was proved 

 II May, 1721, at Chester. She desired 

 to be buried in Sefton near the bodies of 



28 



