A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



pute with much bitterness," and it was not settled till 

 1 7 19. The Gerards had then died out, and their 

 representative. Colonel Charles Mordaunt, having 

 brought an action against Robert Blundell of Ince, 

 a minor represented by his mother and guardian, 

 a final decision was given in favour of the defendant. 

 The manor has since descended with Ince Blundell, 

 and the lord of the manor, Mr. Charles Joseph Weld- 

 Blundell, owns the whole township. 



In 1246 the township was amerced in 22/. for a 

 wreck which had been concealed.' 



There appears to have been no manor-house or 

 resident lord, nor did the place give a surname to any 

 family of note. It was not rated separately for sub- 

 sidies, &c., and for the hearth tax of Charles II's 

 time it ranked only as a hamlet of North Meols ; in 

 1673 there were twenty-seven houses charged, only 

 one of which had more than a single hearth. 



In connexion with the Established Church there 

 are three places of worship in Birkdale. The 

 earliest is St. James's, opened in 1857 '; St. John's, 

 at first a mission church in connexion with it, became 

 a parish church in 1905 ; St. Peter's, preceded by a 

 school-chapel in 1870, was consecrated in 1872.* 

 The vicars are appointed by different bodies of 

 trustees. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a large church 

 in Aughton Road, called Wesley Chapel ; there are 

 also two mission chapels. The United Methodist 

 Free Church has a place of worship. The Congrega- 

 tionalists acquired a building here in 1877. 



There are two Roman Catholic churches, 

 St. Joseph's, built in 1867, and St. Teresa's, opened in 

 1884. The convent of Notre Dame is served 

 from the former. There is also the Birkdale Farm 

 Reformatory school. 



ORMSKIRK 



LATHOM 

 BURSCOUGH 



ORMSKIRK 

 SCARISBRICK 



BICKERSTAFFE 

 SKELMERSDALE 



The parish of Ormskirk comprises six townships 

 anciently arranged in four quarters, paying equally to 

 the county lay ; viz. (i) Ormskirk and Burscough, 

 each paying equally ; (ii) Lathom, (iii) Scarisbrick, 

 (iv) Bickerstaffe and Skelmersdale ; each quarter paid 

 jf2 u. 9 J. when West Derby hundred paid j^ioo.' 

 To the ancient fifteenth Burscough and Ormskirk 

 paid nothing, Lathom £2 19/. 4a'., Scarisbrick 

 j[^ 9/. i^d., Bickerstaffe £1 zs. 6^J., and Skelmers- 

 dale j^i I IS. — in all £q IS. 1 1^^., when the hundred 

 paid ;^io6 gs. 6 J.* 



The parish is over nine miles in length from 

 north-west to south-east, and about five miles in width 

 from Ormskirk to the River Douglas. The area is 

 3l,oo9.V acres. The land is occupied as follows: 

 Arable, 23,578 acres ; permanent grass, 3,702 ; woods 

 and plantations, 961. A ridgerisingabout 240 ft. above 

 the Ordnance datum crosses it from east to west ; on 

 the southern slope lies Bickerstaffe, all the rest to the 

 north. The River Tawd and Ellcr Brook flow north- 

 wards through Lathom to join the Douglas ; the 

 Mere Brook, which derives its name from being for a 



while the boundary between Ormskirk and Aughton, 

 formerly ran into Martin Mere, on the northern 

 boundary of the parish, now drained. Several brooks 

 flow south through Bickerstaflis, to join the Alt or the 

 Mersey. Originally both northern and southern 

 boundaries were formed by a series of mosses ; but 

 these have now been drained. 



The parish derives its name from the church.' 

 The present boundaries indicate Ormskirk township 

 area to have been taken from Lathom and Burscough ; 

 so that some early lord of Lathom was perhaps the 

 founder of the church, his name being preserved 

 by it." 



The part of the parish lying on the northerly slope 

 of the ridge running westward from UphoUand to 

 Aughton was before the Conquest included in the 

 privileged three-hide area," while the portion which lay 

 upon the ridge and to the south of it — Skelmersdale and 

 Bickerstaffe — was outside it. This distinction did not 

 endure ; all the northern portion was granted to the 

 lords of Lathom in thegnagc, the southern townships 

 being held by others as part of the forest fee, or in 



* Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 1 14-15, 121-4. 



Many interesting points occur in the 

 depositions. In l66z William Norris of 

 Ainsdale, bailiff in succession to Sir Cuth- 

 bert Halsall and the Blundells, stated that 

 shipwreck and all things cast up by the 

 sea were taken formerly to Sir Cuthbcrt's 

 manor-house, but after the sale, to Robert 

 Blundell. Once a sturgeon had been cast 

 ashore at Ainsdale and it was removed in 

 a wagon to Ince Blundell. Another wit- 

 ness remembered in the earlier period a 

 porpoise being cast up at Birkdale; it 

 was cut in pieces and carried on men's 

 backs to Halsall. 



The rector of North Meols in 1644 

 deposed that he received the tithes of 

 com and grain from Birkdale ; Birkdale 

 Brook was the boundary, and he received 

 nothing from lands to the east of that. 

 Confirmatory evidence was given by the 

 constables of Halsall and the tithe- 

 gatherer of Formby. For the Blundells 

 it was stated that the boundary was 

 further to the east than this ; it began at 



Gcttern Mere and so down the walk mill- 

 hey ditch southward ; out of this another 

 ditch, called the division ditch, went 

 northward between Halsall and Ainsdale, 

 going toward Renacrcs (in Halsall) east- 

 ward to a place called Kettlesgreave ; at 

 the end whereof was another ditch run- 

 ning partly westwards to White Otter 

 Mere, on the north side of which was 

 another ditch between Rcnacres and 

 Birkdale as far as Birkdale Cop. To 

 some extent this is confirmed by a state- 

 ment at the earlier trial that a boat 

 having been cast ashore it was delivered 

 to Robert Blundell, who refitted it and 

 used it on White Otter Mere. There 

 was a privilege of fishing, known as the 

 Common Soynt, on the Halsall side of 

 the boundary ; Duchy of Lane. Depos, 

 1664, n. 10, 10^. 



In 1701 a fisherman of Meols de- 

 scribed Birkdale as distinguished into 

 several sections ; the main portion in the 

 centre was called* the Heys,' from its 

 enclosed land ; here the dwelling-houses 



238 



were situated. Between this district and 

 the sea was the common called * the 

 Hawes,* where the Starr hills were. To 

 the cast were the Mosses, divided from 

 the Heys by a brook. Duchy of Lane. 

 Depos. 1701, n. 3. These and other 

 depositions are printed in North Meols, 

 103-10, 



" Assize R. 404, m. 10. 



' Gregson, Fragmenli (ed. Harland), 



22. 



< Ibid. 18. 



^ A district was assigned in 1S65 ; 

 Land. Gaz. 1 9 May. 



« For district ibid. 5 Feb. 1875. 



7 So also do the parishes of Eccles and 

 St. Michael's on Wyre ; but there there 

 arc no townships so named. 



' As it is rare in England that a founder 

 gives his name to a church it has been sug- 

 gested by the Rev. John Sephton that Orra 

 was a recluse who built an oratory here 

 and acquired some local celebrity. 



« y.C.H. Lena, i, 273. 



