WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



CROSS HALL may have taken its name from a 

 cross erected here by the Burscough canons. The 

 boundaries are detailed in the early charter of Bur- 

 scough Priory/ A later deed, dated 1229 and 

 entided * charter of the rent of Cross Hall,' grants 

 an annual rent of 2j. from this land, payable by 

 Roger and Reginald of the Cross and their successors 

 on behalf of Richard de Lathom.^ The tenants 

 seem to have been Welshmen ; they are called 

 le Waleys, and were perhaps kinsmen of the Aughton 

 family. Richard le Waleys was said by the prior of 

 Burscough to have erected a horse mill within the 

 latter's ' Land of the Cross ; ' but the parties came to 

 an arrangement by which Richard acknowledged the 

 prior's title and received the mill as tenant at a rent 

 of \zd} Another agreement, made about 1 280, 

 allowed the prior certain rights of way over Richard 

 le Waleys' land/ 



In 1309 Richard le Waleys of the Cross, the 

 younger, complained that William de Codesbecke, 

 Robert of the Cross the elder, and Adam his 

 brother, had disseised him of his free tenement in 

 Lathom ; the estate had been mortgaged to Eustace 

 de Codesbecke,* deceased, whose debt had not been 

 paid.® The Cross family retained an interest in the 



place to the end of the fourteenth century, the lords 

 of Lathom being superior to them as tenants of the 

 prior of Burscough/ 



Afterwards It appears to have reverted to the Stanleys 

 as successors to the Lathoms, and in the accounts 

 already quoted may be noticed the rent of y. paid to 

 the prior of Burscough. It came into the ownership 

 of the earls of Derby together with other lands of the 

 priory/ A junior branch of this family had Cross 

 Hall on lease from the earl," and Sir Thomas Stanley 

 of BickerstafFe was still holding it in 1653.*° 



Sir Thomas Stanley's eldest son was ancestor of the 

 earls of Derby. His second son, Peter," was father of 

 Thomas Stanley of Cross Hall, high sheriff in 1718,'^ 

 who died in 1733,^^ and to whose son Charles the 

 tenth earl of Derby bequeathed Cross Hall." His male 

 issue failing it devolved, in virtue of the terms of the 

 bequest, on the issue of Dr. Thomas Stanley, rector 

 of Winwick, the present owner being Mr. Edward 

 James Stanley. 



Apparently adjoining the estate of Cross Hall 

 was a messuage called Cross Place, in Westhead, 

 This was held until the end of the fourteenth century 

 by .the Cross family, and in the succeeding century 

 passed to the Woodwards of Shevington. It is now 



^ Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 349. * The land 

 which lies in the head of Burscough, along 

 the boundary of Stephen the Bald as far 

 as Edgeacres, between the highway of 

 Wirples Moss and the brook, of Edgeacres 

 (Eller Brook), as far as the boundary be- 

 tween Ormskirk and Brackenthwalte, and 

 so to Scarth ; from Scarth to Westhead, 

 and thence by Scakersdalehead Brook to 

 the ford going from Alton to Harleton ; 

 thence across to the division between the 

 lands of Geoffrey Travers and Stephen the 

 Bald,' i.e. the division between Blythe (in 

 Lathom) and Burscough. 



^ Burscough Reg. fol. 6. It would 

 appear from this that Richard de Lathom 

 held the land of the prior of Burscough, 

 and received from it zs. from the under- 

 tenants ; the latter were now to pay the 

 rent to the prior instead of to him. By 

 another charter Richard son of Robert 

 gave to Richard son of Richard de La- 

 thom his 'Land of the Cross' by the 

 boundary of Matthew son of Baldwin 

 to the way from Lathom to Ormskirk, 

 thence to Scathkeresdale, to Westfield, 

 and to the brook of Scathkeresdale ; by 

 this brook to Fulshaw, and so over to 

 Chow, lying between the lands of Richard 

 and Matthew ; Towneley's MS. OO, n. 

 1274. 



^ Burscough Reg. fol. 6h. 



■* Ibid. fol. 5^. There is mention of 

 the ford in the clough between Richard's 

 field and the field of Robert son of Walter 

 de Greetby. Richard of the Cross in 1278 

 successfully defended himself from a charge 

 that he had dispossessed Richard de 

 Bickerstath of common of pasture in 

 Lathom; Assize R. 1238, m. 34^. In 

 1 29 1 Robert son of Richard le Waleys, 

 and his brothers Henry and Adam, com- 

 plained that Richard le Waleys and others 

 had disseised them of a messuage and land 

 in Lathom, and the jurors endorsed their 

 claim; Assize R. 406. In 1292 Robert 

 son of Richard ' le Jeuene ' of the Cross 

 claimed certain land (30 acres) in Lathom 

 from Jordan de Kenyon ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 99. 



* See the account of Prescot church. 



* Assize R. 423, m. 2. The estate 

 is described as a messuage, 2 plough-lands 



of land, 6 acres of meadow, and 6 acres of 

 wood. The word * plough-lands ' here is 

 obviously not used in the sense of a mea- 

 sure of assessment. Robert of the Cross, 

 junior, in 1321 claimed from Robert de 

 Lathom and Katherine his wife a mes- 

 suage, a mill, o«f plough-land, &c,, of which 

 his great-grandfather was seised in the 

 time of Henry III. The pedigree Is thus 

 given : Robert le Waleys — s. and h. 

 Richard — s. and h. Richard — s. and h. 

 Robert, the plaintiff. The jury sustained 

 the claim and assessed the damages at 

 ^20 ; De Banc. R. 237, m. 143 t/. 



7 Cross Hall in Lathom was among 

 the lands of Sir Thomas de Lathom in 

 1375 ; deed enrolled on Duchy of Lane. 

 Chan. R. 3, § 3 'in tergo.* Robert son 

 of Robert of the Cross of Lathom occurs 

 In 1322; PFhalley Coucher (Chet. Soc), 

 iv, 1 137, Robert and John of the Cross 

 contributed 4J. %d. and lod. respectively 

 to the subsidy of 1332 ; Exch. Lay Subs. 

 (Rec. Soc), 25; Robert of the Cross of 

 Lathom and Isolda his wife were in 1334 

 defendants in a Wigan suit ; De Banc. 

 R. 300, m. 2i/. ; and In 1366 William, 

 Alice, and Isolda of the Cross contributed 

 to the chaplain of Ormskirk's salary ; 

 Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc), 118. The 

 two last-named occur also in the Poll Tax 

 Roll of 1 381 ; Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 1 30, 

 n. 24. 



The Crosses of Wlgan and Liverpool 

 may be descended from this family ; see 

 Crosse D. Tram, Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), 

 v~ix, M, 20, 14, 13, 23 E, William del 

 Crosse of Lathom had a house and land 

 there in 1386 ; Duchy of Lane. Cal. of 

 Chan. R. n. 3, § iii. See also Exch. 

 Misc. vol. 90, 233 (23 Edw. III). 



^ Though not expressly named it ap- 

 pears to have been included in the grant 

 of the site and lands of the priory ; see 

 the account of Burscough. 



^ See the account of BIckerstaffe. A 

 complaint by Jane Stanley, widow of 

 Henry Stanley, of Cross Hall, gives 

 some account of the tenure. The earl 

 of Derby in March, 1562, leased the 

 Cross Hall and the windmill there, also 

 the Edgeacres, Greetby Wood, &c. to Sir 

 George Stanley, from whom it came to 



255 



his son, the complainant's husband. The 

 latter enjoyed possession for some fourteen 

 years, until his death, intestate, in Sep- 

 tember, 1591. He had made mortgages 

 of part to Henry Stanley of Bickerstaffe, 

 his uncle, who had now taken out letters 

 of administration of the estate of Edward 

 Stanley, her husband's elder brother, and 

 threatened her interest. The grant of the 

 manor of Burscough was also involved. 

 The reply of the uncle was that he was 

 next of kin ; and that, as Henry Stanley, 

 junior, had not taken out letters of ad- 

 ministration to the estate of his elder 

 brother Edward, who also died intestate, 

 it was his duty to do so ; Duchy of Lane 

 Plead. Eliz. civ. S. i, S. ib. ; clix. S. 17 ; 

 ccxiii. S. 20. 



10 Royalist Comp, Papers^ ii, 232. 



11 Buried at Ormskirk, 27 Jan. 1686-7; 

 ' of Bickerstaffe.' 



I2p.i2.a L;V ; described as * of Cli- 

 theroe.' 



13 Burled at Ormskirk, 18 Apr. 1733, as 

 * of Cross Hall.' 



1"* The tenure had hitherto been lease- 

 hold under the earls of Derby ; Pal. of 

 Lane Feet of F, bdle. 276, m. 75. There 

 are a lease and release of Cross Hall in 

 the Knowsley Deeds, bdle. 24, «. 13, 14. 

 The terms of the will are : *To Charles 

 Stanley, eldest son of Thomas Stanley, 

 late of Cross Hall, deceased .... the 

 whole messuage of Cross Hall and all and 

 every messuage thereunto belonging .... 

 and from and after the decease of the said 

 Charles to the first and every other son of 

 the said Charles and heirs male in tall- 

 male. ..." In default of issue, to 

 Thomas and to James, the younger sons 

 of Thomas Stanley (described as Sir 

 Thomas) ; and then to Sir Edward Stanley 

 of Preston. To the last-named were be- 

 queathed all honours, castles, manors, 

 lands, tenements, &c., except Cross Hall, 

 and the next presentation to Winwick. 

 Dr. Thomas Stanley was father of an- 

 other Thomas, who was knight of the 

 shire (Whig) from 1780 to 1812 ; Pink 

 and Beavan, op. cit. 87. A younger son, 

 James, was grandfather of the present 

 owner, who for many years represented 

 the Bridgwater division of Somerset. 



