WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



holding under them.^ In 1357 Thomas de Sutton 

 and Godith his wife purchased from Hugh the Cloth- 

 seller and Quenilda his wife, and Richard the Stringer 

 and Margery his wife, a messuage here ; * and other 

 similar acquisitions are recorded.* The borough 

 seems to have become extinct before the sixteenth 

 century. 



The Crosse family had lands in Ormskirk at an 

 early date,* and among other holders may be men- 

 tioned Croft,* Standish,^ Gerard,^ Scarisbrick,® and 

 Parr.^ A rental of 1524, compiled for the prior of 

 Burscough, gives a list of the tenants in Ormskirk,'** 

 and, there is a list of tenants at will dated 1522.'' 

 After the suppression of the priory an annual account 



was rendered to the king by his bailiff, giving full 

 details of tenants and services/^ The subsidy rolls also 

 supply lists of the inhabitants/^ 



The manor of Ormskirk, with its appurtenances, 

 the windmill called Greetby Mill, another windmill 

 and a water-mill, the new vicarage, and some other 

 tenements were in July, 1603, granted by James I to 

 William, earl of Derby, for ^^480;'* and from that 

 time the manor descended with the earldom. 



The town was governed by the court-leet, which 

 held its meetings in the old town hall in Church 

 Street.'* A local board of health was established in 

 1850,'*^ and its authority displaced that of the court- 

 leet, which was dissolved in 1876.'' The market 



^ A list of seventy-one inhabitants of 

 Ormskirk in 1366 is contained in the roll 

 of subscriptions to a chaplain's stipend. 

 The surnames are of all kinds — Robert de 

 Blythe, John the Tailor, Robert Nickson, 

 Adam Childsfather, &c. 5 Excb^ Lay Subs, 

 1332 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 109. 

 In 1346 the prior and convent of Bur- 

 scough acquired from Gilbert de Haydock 

 a tenement in Ormskirk in part satis- 

 faction of a licence from the king to 

 purchase lands to the value of 20 marks 

 yearly ; it consisted of a messuage and 

 2 acres held of the purchasers themselves 

 by a rent of zs. The preliminary Inq. 

 a.q.d. states that the prior held the tene- 

 ment of Sir Thomas de Lathom as parcel 

 of the manor of Lathom in free alms j 

 Sir Thomas holding this manor by a 

 service of i8j. (elsewhere 20s.) of Henry, 

 earl of Lancaster, and the latter of the king 

 as of the honour of Lancaster j Inq. p.m. 

 20 Edv\r. Ill (2), n. 59. 



2 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 154 -, 10 marks were paid. 



3 In 1384 Richard Shacklady of Orms- 

 kirk obtained from John de Eccleston of 

 Liverpool and Ellen his wife a messuage 

 in Ormskirk, 10 marks being paid ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 2, m. 25. The 

 following is a case of forfeiture : — Richard 

 the Parker of Lathom and Alina his wife 

 claimed 2 messuages and an acre of land 

 in Ormskirk from Thomas, prior of 

 Burscough, Richard de Litherland, Roger 

 the Flecher of Ormskirk and Margery his 

 wife, and Robert the clerk of Ormskirk. 

 The prior's answer, which the jury ac- 

 cepted, was that one Henry Rauf, clerk, a 

 bastard, had held the property, which on 

 his death passed to his son John as heir. 

 The latter dying without issue, his sister 

 Alina claimed, and entered ; but the prior 

 had ejected her as born before marriage, 

 and had lawfully taken possession ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Assize R. 4, m. 1 7. In the cases 

 of John de Teuland hanged for felony, 

 and Henry the Barker outlawed for the 

 same, their holdings — an acre and a 

 messuage with toft — were taken into the 

 hand of the duke of Lancaster for a year and 

 a day ; Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. Ill, pt ii, n. 3. 



^ Thus in 1316 Emma daughter of 

 Thomas de Ince and widow of William 

 son of Adam of the Cross of Wigan, sur- 

 rendered her dower right to lands, &c., in 

 Ormskirk to John of the Cross of Wigan \ 

 Towneley MS. GG. n. 2384. John de 

 Ince, who died in 1428, held in Ormskirk 

 a messuage and field called Selerfield and 

 half a messuage, of Hugh, prior of Bur- 

 scough. These descended to the Aughtons 

 of Aughton; Lanes. Inq. p, m. (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, 23. 



^ Thomas Croft of Ormskirk in 1437 

 gave to his son John and heirs burgages, 

 lands, and tenements in the town and 



townfields of Ormskirk ; with remainders 

 to Nicholas, Benedict, Hugh, and Joan, 

 brothers and sister of John, and to John, 

 Robert, and Elizabeth, children of Thomas 

 Oliver ^ , Towneley MS. DD. n. 210. 

 The will of John Croft, dated 6 August, 

 1492, after giving zos. to Brother Law- 

 rence Brown, of the Grey Friars of 

 Chester, for celebrating for his soul, left 

 all his lands, &c. to the children of his 

 son Robert in succession — Godfrey, John, 

 and Margaret ; and in default of heirs to 

 the heirs of the testator's son Richard. 

 Alice wife of the son Robert, and Godfrey 

 Hulme were appointed executors ; ibid. 

 n, 348. 



^ In May, 1481, Evan Standish of 

 Warrington, son of William Standish 

 deceased, surrendered to Hugh Standish 

 of Ormskirk all his right in the lands, &c. 

 which the latter held in Ormskirk and 

 Newburgh. Twenty-one years later these 

 lands were in the possession of Gilbert 

 Standish, who settled them upon his son 

 Robert and his heirs by Margaret daughter 

 and heir of Robert Croft. Towneley MS. 

 DD. 60, 234, 



~* Gilbert Gerard of Ormskirk, draper, 

 in 1482 obtained from Thomas Ayscough 

 of Aintree, a burgage in Burscough Street ; 

 Towneley MS. DD. n. 57. The tene- 

 ment of Gilbert Gerard was in 1498 

 granted by the prior of Burscough to 

 Thomas (son of Gilbert) Gerard and 

 Margery his wife, and Gilbert son of 

 Thomas, at a rent of 141. and the accus- 

 tomed services 5 for a heriot at death the 

 second best animal or ds. %d, was to be 

 given ; Gilbert Gerard, senior, and Joan 

 his wife were still living ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Mins. Accts. bdle. 136, n. 2198, m. 7. 

 The properties of Croft, Standish, and 

 Gerard were afterwards acquired by the 

 Heskeths of RufFord. 



^ The Scarisbrick Deeds [Trans. Hist. 

 Soc. New Ser. xii and xiii) contain some re- 

 ferences to Ormskirk. The earliest is an 

 undated grant by Adam de Edgeacre to 

 Richard son of MoUe of Eggergarth, con- 

 veying 2 acres lying in length between the 

 road to Wigan and the moss, and in width 

 between lands of William de Wakefield 

 and John Todd ; there was a rent of zs. 

 to the prior and canons of Burscough 5 

 K. 30. By another, («. 104), Richard de 

 Penwortham in 1369 demised lands and 

 buildings to Johnson of Alice, daughter 

 of Geoffrey de Ormskirk j and in the 

 following year Richard son of Alan del 

 Greve granted to Henry de Scarisbrick 

 lands which had descended to him after 

 the death of John son of John de Orms- 

 kirk ; n. 109. In 1402 Robert Bradshagh 

 acquired from John le Ring and Joan his 

 wife a burgage and a half burgage by the 

 churchyard ; n. 149. In the rental of 

 1524 James Bradshagh was holding lands 



263 



in the town by the rents of izd. and Sd. 

 The Scarisbricks also had in 1492 bur- 

 gages near the church j n. 179. 



^ In the reign of Edw. Ill Robert son 

 of Henry de Parr by his marriage with 

 Cecily daughter of John Whitehead of 

 Lathom, became possessed of lands in 

 Lathom and Ormskirk, which descended 

 with the other estates of the family ; 

 Ct. of Wards D. box 13a, n. FDi4, and 

 n. 47, m. 5. 



1'^ Duchy of Lane, Rentals, bdle. 5, 

 n. 16 ; some erasures have been made and 

 fresh names substituted. The list is 

 headed by the earl of Derby, who had six 

 different parcels, the rents in all amount- 

 ing to 155. id. Thomas Halsall, Thomas 

 Scarisbrick, James Scarisbrick, Ralph 

 Standish, Peter Gerard, chaplain, James 

 Bradshagh, Matthew Clifton, the widow 

 of Robert Standish, Roland Shacklady, 

 and others follow, including *thc priest of 

 Lady Perpitte ("St, Mary-land" in later 

 rental) and Thomas Croft for More- 

 lydyate.' The rents are often very small, 

 3i/., 6d. and izd. being common. The 

 names of the sub-tenants are given, and 

 in many cases those of former holders or 

 field names. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 4, n. 8. 

 The last name is Roger (corrected to 

 Thomas) Fairclough for a brewhouse 

 3J. /\.d, and for a tavern zs, 



^2 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 

 136, «. 2198, m. 6; this is the account 

 for 1535-6, the first rendered. Several 

 charters by the priors and convent of 

 Burscough are recited in full, including 

 one for the ' new vicarage ' 5 this in- 

 cluded various tithes, also the altarage and 

 sacristanship of the church. Eight shops, 

 let at yearly rentals, produced 14J. 8i ; 

 ten stallages in the Booths were farmed 

 for zzs., nine at 25. each, the other at 41. ; 

 and 6s. Sd. was the profit of the market 

 and of two fairs held at Pentecost and 

 at St. Bartholomew's {sic). 



^3 One for 1525 is in Lay Subs. R. bdle. 

 130, n, 84. 



1-* Pat. R. I Jas. I, pt. v, m. 6 ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Recs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 264. The original grant was 

 to William, earl of Derby, and Elizabeth 

 his wife and the heirs male of the body 

 of the earl. 



^5 On the Wednesday in the week after 

 Michaelmas Day j Balnes, Lanes, (ed. 

 1836), iv, 237. 



^^ Lond. Gaz. 16 July, 1850. 



17 Lea, op. eit. 10, 18, 19. The court- 

 leet was revived in 1890, but its functions 

 are merely ornamental. The regalia are 

 preserved : (i) Constable's staff, 5 ft. 6 in. 

 high, of heavy wood, with massive silver 

 knob; dated 1703. (2) Walking staff, 

 4 ft. with silver knob, 1790. (3) Two 

 mounted javelins, 7 ft. 6 in. high, in oak, 



