WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



NORTH MEOLS 



keystone and imposts, and wooden luffer-boards. 

 There are drafted angle quoins on all three stages of 

 the tower. The second stage is divided from that 

 above by a moulded string, and has on its south face 

 a tablet with an arched head. At the top of the 

 ground stage is a plain square string.' 



There are two bells in the tower : a small one 

 without inscription of about i8 in. in diameter at the 

 rim, and a larger one, presented in 1750 by John and 

 Henry Hesketh, wine merchants in Preston." 



The church plate consists of two chalices, a paten, 

 and a large flagon.^ 



The first register begins in i 594. ; the second in 

 1600. 



There are some Fleetwood and Hesketh monu- 

 ments. In the churchyard is a brass plate commemo- 

 rating Thomas Rimmer, mariner, who had been 

 ' captive in Barbary for sixteen years and six months.' 

 He died in 171 3. 



The known history of the church 

 JDyOJrSON goes back to the time of King 

 Stephen, when Warin Bussel granted 

 it to Evesham, the abbey to provide a chaplain. 

 Warin's son Richard confirmed his father's gifts, 

 including ' 2s. from the chapel of Meols.' * Down 

 to the suppression of the monasteries the abbots of 

 Evesham continued to be patrons, presenting the 

 rectors and receiving the pension of zs. a year, later 

 increased to half a mark.' The church was riot 

 taxed in the valuation made by order of Nicholas IV, 



about 1291, 'on account of its insignificance.' In 

 I 341 the value of the ninth of sheaves, fleeces, and 

 lambs was stated to be 40/., for which Meols with 

 Crossens answered." In 1534 the income from 

 lands, tithe, and all sources was estimated at £S 19/., 

 out of which a pension of 6s. id. was paid to the 

 prior of Penwortham, and 8/. id. for synodals and 

 procurations.' 



In I 543 the patronage was granted by Henry VIII 

 to John Fleetwood of Penwortham,* in whose family 

 it descended until, on the death of Henry Fleetwood 

 in 1 746, without issue, it passed under a settlement 

 of 1725 to his grand-nephew Walter Chetwynd ot 

 Grendon, Warwickshire. In I 748 a private Act of 

 Parliament was procured by the trustees, enabling 

 them to sell parts of the estates, and in the same year 

 they presented John Baldwin to the rectory ; this 

 was no doubt by arrangement with his father, Thomas 

 Baldwin, rector of Liverpool, who next year bought 

 the advowson. The latter died in 1752, and the 

 right descended to his son Thomas, vicar of Leyland, 

 who in 1793 sold the next presentation to John Ford 

 of Bristol, who immediately nominated his son. Two 

 years later the advowson was sold to Thomas Wood- 

 cock for X933> ''^'^ '^°'- '°"§ afterwards was again 

 sold, this time to Robert Hesketh of North Meols ; 

 it has since descended with his moiety of the 

 manor, Mr. C. H. Bibby-Hesketh being the present 

 patron. 



The gross annual value is now given as ^800. 



The following is a list of the rectors : — 



Date 

 oc. 1178 . 

 f. 1 190 

 c. 1250 . . 

 before 1281 

 16 April, 1300 

 13 May, 1300 

 20 Dec. 1 3 14 

 22 Sept. 1339 



8 May, 1342 

 before 1352 . 



3 May, 1358 



Rector Patron 



Adam the Clerk ' — — 



Osbert'" 



Robert " 



Mr. Thomas le Boteler '^ . . . . 



Henry de Hampton " Evesham Abbey 



Nicholas de Hercy " „ 



Robert de Preston " „ 



John le White "^ 



Stephen de Claveriey " . . . . „ 



William Abel '* 



Adam del Meols '" „ 



Cause of Vacancy 



1 It is intended to rebuild and enlarge 

 the church, only the tower and spire and 

 the south wall of the present one being 

 retained. 



2 The inscription is — 



ex dong johs. hesket & hencl hesketh 



mercat' 



w. H : I B : R R : ward 1750 



and beneath, with the royal arms between 



LUKE ASHTON. WIGGAN. 



s The chalices are of bell-bowl shape 

 with plain trumpet-shaped stems and a 

 floral scroll pattern repeated three times 

 round the upper part of the bowl. The 

 Roman capital B points to their having 

 been made in London in 1579-80. The 

 paten is probably of the date 1637-8 

 (italic U in shield). The flagon is a tall 

 and massive piece of plate, bearing the 

 Hesketh arms on a lozenge, and the 

 inscription — 



THE GIFT OF MARY HESKETH, 1 757. 



■* For the grants and various confirma- 

 tions see Penwortham Priory (Chet. Soc), 

 4-8. 



5 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 223. 



* Nonarum Inij. (Rec. Com.), 40. 

 ^ Valor Eccl. loc. cit. 



* Pat. 34 Hen. VIH, pt. viii, m. 3 (25). 



He had in 1539 secured a 99-years' lease 

 of the lordship of Penwortham, &c., from 

 the abbot of Evesham ; Piccope MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), xvi, 158. 



' ' Adam the clerk of Meols ' was in 

 1 178 fined J mark for an offence against 

 the forest laws j Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 38. 

 It is not certain that he should be reckoned 

 among the rectors. 



1" ' Osbert the chaplain of Meols ' was 

 witness to a Burscough charter made be- 

 tween 1 1 89 and 1 1 92; Duchy of Lane. 

 Anc. D. L. 270. 



11 To ' Robert the parson of North 

 Meols ' was granted by Thomas, son of 

 Malle of Longton, a house in Longton, 

 it being given to him * and to the heirs 

 of his body' ; Kuerden's fol. MS. 236. 

 About 1270 'Robert the Clerk of Meols,' 

 possibly the same, was witness to a charter 

 of Madoc de Aughton. 



1^ Master Thomas le Boteler, parson of 

 the church of North Meols, on going 

 beyond seas with his father, Adam le 

 Boteler, had letters of protection in Dec. 

 1281 ; these were extended in the follow- 

 ing April ; Cal. Pat. R. 10 £dw. I, 4, 15. 

 He was plaintiff in 1290 ; De Banc. R. 

 86, m. 144. 



'■' Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. 4A. Henry de 



227 



res. N. de Hercy 

 res. R. de Preston 

 res. J. le White 



. . . res. W. Abel 



Hampton had been presented in the 

 previous December. 



" Ibid. fol. 8i. N. de Hercy resigned 

 2 Oct. 1314. " Ibid. fol.6ii. 



^^ Ibid, ii, fol. 113^. There was an ex- 

 change between Robert de Preston and 

 John le White, the latter having been vicar 

 of Leyland. 



17 Ibid. fol. 1 1 5*. 



18 William Abel, rector of North Meols, 

 obtained licence on 14 July, 13 52, to say 

 mass, &c. for the soul of the earl of 

 Huntingdon for the two years next follow- 

 ing; Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 1 3. The phrase 

 imistendi obsequiis may imply residence 

 at some place away from his parish. On 

 27 Sept. 1355, he obtained leave of absence 

 for a year ; ibid. fol. 14A. 



1' Ibid. fol. 1 34i, 13;. Adam del Meols 

 exchanged benefices with William Abel, 

 the latter becoming rector of Christleton 

 in his place. In 1353 he procured licence 

 from the pope to choose a confessor with 

 power to grant plenary remission at the 

 hour of death \ Cal. Papal Letters^ iii, 

 504. He died about 5 Oct. 1369. Emma, 

 his daughter by Maud de Croston, married 

 successively Richard Banastre and William 

 de Thornton ; Towneley MS. OO, nn. 

 1566, 1588. 



