WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HALSALL 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel. 



There is a tradition that during the times of per- 

 secution mass was said secretly in an old building in 

 the manor-house grounds, but the public revival of 



the Roman Catholic services dates only from 1887, 

 when a barn was fitted up and used as a chapel. 

 In 1 890 the school chapel of St. George was 

 opened.' 



ALTCAR 



Acrer, Dom. Bk. (exceptional) ; Altekar, Aldekar, 

 Althekar about 1250; Altcarre, 1439; Alker, 1587; 

 Allkar, 1604. 



The situation and aspect of this parish and town- 

 ship are sufficiently indicated by its name — the carr 

 or marsh-land beside the Alt. It lies on the right 

 bank of this stream, as it flows north-westward, west- 

 ward, and then southward to the Mersey estuary. 



The boundary on the east is practically coincident 

 with the 25 ft. level, till it reaches Lydiate Brook at 

 the Frith Bridge. The old course of the Downhol- 

 land Brook, crossed by the old Fleam Bridge, was 

 the western boundary, but has been greatly altered, 

 and now is led straight to Alt Bridge.' The narrow 

 strip of land belonging to Altcar, which borders the 

 Alt down to its mouth, is over two miles in length. 

 On the widest portion, between the southern course 

 of the river and sea shore to the west, is the Altcar 

 rifle range. There is here a twelve-gun battery for 

 the defence of the Mersey. The population in 1 90 1 

 was 545. 



The area of the whole parish is 4,083 acres.* The 

 whole is flat and lies very low. The geological forma- 

 tion consists entirely of the lower keuper sandstone 

 of the trias or new red sandstone, which is obscured 

 in the western part of the township by fluviatile 

 and some blown sand. The village of Altcar, or 

 Great Altcar, with a long crooked street, is in the 

 north-west, on ground which is only about 1 2 ft. 

 above sea level. Hill House,' to the east of the 

 village, is 40 ft. above sea level. To the south of 

 this house is Carr Wood. Altcar Hall, a farmhouse, 

 adjoins the church at the west end of the village. 

 The township is very sparsely timbered ; small trees 

 are grouped about the scattered farms, and there are 



a few limited plantations to the east. As in other 

 low-lying townships the fields are mostly divided by 

 ditches, regularly-planted hawthorn hedges being seen 

 along the high roads and about the villages. Corn, 

 potatoes,' and other root crops are extensively culti- 

 vated, besides quantities of hay. There are now in 

 Altcar 2,670 acres of arable land, 829 in permanent 

 grass, and 55 of woods and plantations. 



The chief roads start from Alt Bridge ; that to 

 Ormskirk going north-east and east by a very devious 

 course through Altcar village, past Hill House." 



The Southport and Cheshire Lines Committee's 

 railway, opened in 1884, runs through the parish near 

 the eastern boundary, with two stations, called Lydiate, 

 and Altcar and Hill House. The Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire Company's Liverpool and Southport line 

 crosses the western portion, beyond Little Altcar. 



There was a sandstone quarry near Hill House ; 

 this is now filled with water. 



The history of this isolated place has been un- 

 eventful. One stormy incident, however, is recorded. 

 It arose out of the revival of religious persecution 

 caused by the Oates plot. In February, 1 68 1—2, 

 eight officers of the law visited Altcar to distrain the 

 goods of John Sutton and Margery Tickle, recusants. 

 They seized cattle accordingly, and waited from nine 

 to three o'clock expecting that the cattle would be 

 redeemed. Receiving an intimation of a projected 

 rescue the sheriff's men tried to get away with their 

 capture, but were opposed by a party of about 

 twenty men and women, armed with long staffs, 

 pitchforks, and muskets, who easily routed the officers, 

 beating them, leaving them in the mire, and driving 

 the cattle away. Six men were badly injured, two so 

 severely that life was despaired of.' There is nothing 



^ Formerly it seems to have reached 

 the main stream nearly half a mile to the 

 west of Alt Bridge, after encompassing the 

 hamlet called Little Altcar. 



For an account of the Alt Drainage Act 

 see Sefton. 



* 4,216, according to the census of 

 XQOI ; this includes 20 acres of inland 

 water. There are in addition an acre of 

 tidal water, and 132 acres of foreshore. 



3 This bears the inscription 



F 



E M 

 1673 



* Liverpool Cath.-Am. 1892. 



* 'An Irish vessel, part of its cargo 

 being potatoes, was wrecked in 1665 near 

 North Meols. The potatoes were gathered 

 from the sands, and some of them planted 

 in Altcar, and from that time to the 

 present the growth of potatoes has been 

 an important element in the Altcar 

 husbandry' ; Rev. W. Warburton in 

 Tram. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xi, 172. Full 

 use has been made of this essay, and the 

 editors have to thank the author for other 

 information readily afforded. 



* The road over Alt Bridge, through 

 Altcar and Lydiate to Aughton and Orms- 



kirk, is mentioned as of immemorial use 

 in a plea of 1 598 ; Duchy of Lane. Plead- 

 ings, £liz. clxxx, 22. 



There was formerly a small wooden 

 bridge over the Alt, near Ince Blundell 

 village, from which a footpath led to 

 Lydiate Hall. 



? See Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 

 pp. 134-9. 'The rioters are said to be all 

 papists,* writes Roger Kenyon's informant, 

 ' and above eight-and-twenty in number, 

 Mr. Justice Entwisle has been active to 

 apprehend them, but the constable of the 

 town, one John Tyrer (?), who denied to 

 go with the officers to preserve the peace, 

 made not that quick execution of his war- 

 rant against them he ought to have done, 

 so that they all fled and there's none to 

 be light on. Afterwards Mr. Entwisle 

 sent hue and cry after two of them, 

 Thomas Tickle and Edward Tickle his 

 brother, who were the authors of all the 

 mischief. But that way proved ineffectual, 

 and now Mr. Entwisle and Mr. Mayor of 

 Liverpool (Richard Windall) have ap- 

 pointed a sessions to be held at Altcar 

 upon Monday sennitt for inquiry.' 



Sir Thomas Preston wrote from Haigh : 

 ' The grandee papists here seem much 

 concerned at it, thinking it an obstruction 



221 



to their false petition, which before they 

 hoped might have prevented any new 

 process against them.' 



The inquisition arranged for took place 

 at Altcar on 20 February, and a true bill 

 was returned against Thomas and Edward 

 Tickle, John Sutton, senior, Ralph Star- 

 key the miller, and other yeomen and 

 husbandmen, for riot, assault, and rescue. 

 * Most of the town being papists or 

 popishly affected they will not tell who 

 they [the rioters] were j only upon the 

 inquisition ten were discovered, whereof 

 one is taken and sent to gaol. Warrants 

 are out against the rest, who, as I told 

 you in my last, are fled and lie hidden 

 privately in the country, waiting what 

 will become of the man that is so sore 

 wounded, who now (as the doctor sup- 

 poses) cannot live long alive, being every 

 day weaker and weaker.' 



The Justice Entwisle who showed 

 himself so active in the matter wrote 

 that he feared 'that party [the Protestant] 

 in Altcar is so slender that they dare not 

 deny the Roman whatsoever he is pleased 

 to call a neighbourly civility. I have 

 found the insolence of that party so high 

 in that town that the officers, in return to 

 my warrants for their present rents of 



