WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



William Aspinwall, who in the last-mentioned year 

 made a grant or transfer of lands to James Gorsuch.' 

 Directly afterwards William Moorcroft released certain 

 lands to William Aspinwall, and others to Humphrey 

 Aspinwall ; the latter were in 1 5 8 1 conveyed by 

 Humphrey and his wife Ellen to Roger Sankey/ 



A charter by Thomas, son of William de Cowdray, 

 made at Aspinwall in 1354, shows that he held lands 

 there and elsewhere in Scarisbrick.' 



Snape has some notice under Halsall. It was held 

 by the Scarisbricks of the Halsalls, as the inquisi- 

 tions show,* and parochially its position was uncertain. 

 It is now, however, reckoned as a hamlet of Scarisbrick 

 and within the parish of Ormskirk. It gave its name 

 to a local family of whom there are some traces.' 



Two plots of land in Harleton given by Walter de 

 Scarisbrick to Burscough Priory became known as 

 Moorcroft, and gave a name to the family which held 

 it of the canons.* 



John de Moorcroft's lands, or part of them, were 

 the subject of a dispute in 1292 ; he died seised of 

 them, and his son Robert held them for ten years or 

 more, when they were claimed from Robert's son 

 Hugh by his sisters Beatrice (wife of William Fraward) 

 and Margery (wife ot Richard le Ditcher), and by 

 Agnes, daughter of the Roger just named. The claim, 

 however, failed.' The Hugh de Moorcroft successful 

 in 1292 may be the Hudde father of Richard who 

 married Margery and had by her a son Richard, 

 enfeoffed of lands in 1327.' William Moorcroft, 

 yeoman, who died in 1608, held a messuage and land 

 in Harleton and Scarisbrick of the earl of Derby, as of 

 his manor of Burscough, by /^d. rent ; also lands in 

 Aughton. His son Humphrey, who had married 

 Agnes Holland, was his heir, and living at Harleton.' 



William Moorcroft, as a ' Papist,' in 171 7 registered a 

 small estate here.'" The family appears to have spread 

 to the adjoining townships." 



Shurlacres was adopted as surname by a local 

 family.'^ 



In 1 7 1 7 a number of ' Papists ' registered estates 

 here, including John Barton, Thomas Blundell, John 

 BuUen, Edward Cooke, William Culcheth, Robert 

 Draper, John and James Worthington, and Peter 

 Wright." 



The land-tax return of 1794 shows that Thomas 

 Eccleston paid about a third of the levy here ; the 

 remainder was in small sums. 



A school-chapel at Scarisbrick was founded in 1648, 

 when Henry Harrison alias Hill and Thomas Hill his 

 son and heir-apparent gave the Great Hey at Barclay 

 Hey to the inhabitants for a chapel or schbol. A 

 building was erected and was used as a chapel in 1650, 

 when Mr. Gawin Barkley, ' an able, orthodox, and 

 godly preaching minister,' was there, with a salary of 

 £^0 paid from Royalists' sequestrated estates." 



The Anglican church of St. Mark was built in 1 848 

 and consecrated in 1853 ; the vicar of Ormskirk is 

 patron. A district chapelry was formed for it in 

 1869.'' 



About 1 840 Richard Sephton, a member of Orms- 

 kirk Congregational Church, gathered a Sunday school, 

 for which in 1843 a small school-chapel was provided 

 at Drummersdale.'* 



Roman Catholic worship was suppressed for but a 

 short time at Scarisbrick, as the presence of Jesuit mis- 

 sionaries can be traced from the early years of the 

 seventeenth century. Several of them were members 

 of the Scarisbrick family, and a room in the hall was 

 used as a chapel until 18 12. An old tithe barn was 



^Scarisbrick D. nn. 191, 192, 195; 

 also Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 24, 

 m. 64. 



'^ Pal, of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 4.1, 

 m. 157, 160; 43, m. ^9- 



From these Aspinwalls, it is said, de- 

 scended the Aspinalls or Aspinwalls of 

 Toxteth and Hale, who sided with the 

 Parliament and attained a prominent posi- 

 tion in the second half of the seventeenth 

 century. 



3 Dods. MSS. cjtlii, 226. 



^ See also Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. 

 bdle. t, file 10 ; and Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 

 67, m. 7. 



^ Richard de Snape occurs about 1260. 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 31. Simon, son of Alan 

 de Snape, had a messuage and land in the 

 place in 1292, and Thomas, son of Alan 

 de Snape, occurs as plaintiff or defendant 

 in suits of ten years later ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 70 J also Assize R. 1321, m. 3 j 418, 

 m. 6a, II d, 



Richard, son of Siward de Snape, was 

 joined with Gilbert de Scarisbrick in de- 

 fending a claim to land brought by Robert 

 son of Richard le Feuer of Aughton, as 

 heir of his grandfather Robert le Feuer ; 

 De Banc. R. 225, m. 315. This land had 

 been granted by the grandfather to his 

 daughter Margery on her marriage with 

 Thomas de Broadhead. 



^ The first grant — for the soul of 

 Walter's wife Quenilda — was of land 

 within bounds beginning at the water- 

 course dividing Harleton from Ormskirk, 

 and going northward, eastward, and south- 

 ward till the boundary of Ormskirk was 

 reached again ; the second — for the soul 

 of his wife Margery — adjoined that held 

 by William de Moorcroft ; B'jrscough 



Reg. fol. 17. Walter de Scarisbrick gave 

 land also called Moorcroft to Adam and 

 Robert, the sons of Robert, * formerly lord 

 of Hurelton,' by bounds adjoining the 

 land of Robert de Bickerstath and Alice, 

 sister of the said Adam and John (?), 

 and so towards Aikilchoh, following the 

 ditch to the watercourse of Liverischalre, 

 ascending the same to the iirst-named 

 boundary ; also land called Wilkeruding, 

 bounded by Lamiput and by a watercourse 

 to Lamiford Vra, where the sheepfold was 

 in the time of their father. B. prior of 

 Burscough, and Roger, lord of Harleton, 

 were witnesses ; D. in poss. of Scaris- 

 brick Trustees. 



William de Moorcroft surrendered to 

 the priory his right in the land his brother 

 Henry held of him; Burse. Reg. fol. zob. 

 Another grant by William de Moorcroft 

 (about 1260) is in the Scarisbrick D. w. 6j. 

 Richard and Robert his sons also had 

 land ; and Roger son of John de Moor- 

 croft released to Robert de Marehalgh his 

 right in certain lands ; Scarisbrick D. 

 n. 29, 34. The seal of Roger is ap- 

 pended to the latter ; it shows an eight- 

 rayed star surrounded by the inscription 

 s' RoG* d' morkroft, the upstroke of the 

 T prolonged to make a cross. For a claim 

 of dower in 1278 by Alice, widow of 

 William de Moorcroft, against Simon 

 de Moorcroft, see De Banc. R. 24, 

 m. 58</. 



7 Assize R. 408, m. 38^/. Juliana, 

 the widow of Robert, now re-married to 

 Robert de Longton, also made a claim 

 against Beatrice Fraward ; ibid. m. 27 d. 



8 Scarisbrick D. n. 57. Almost con- 

 temporary were three brothers, Richard, 

 John, and Robert ; ibid. n. 5:, 59 ; and a 



275 



generation later William de Moorcroft 

 appears ; ibid. n. 86, 1 1 1. William son of 

 Hugh de Moorcroft granted part of Moor- 

 croft to Simon del Shaw in 1334 j D. in 

 poss. of Scarisbrick Trs. 



In 1564 Margaret Gorsuch, widow, re- 

 leased to Henry Moorcroft and Jane his 

 wife a messuage and lands in Scarisbrick 

 and Martin, in consideration of ^^80 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 26, m. 202. 



3 Land. Inq.p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, loi. 



^o Eng. Cath. Non-jurors^ 107-8. 



^^ Two of the name were rectors of 

 Aughton in the sixteenth century ; and 

 James Moorcroft had a mill and various 

 lands in the same parish in 1575. Prob- 

 ably he was the James Moorcroft who 

 had the mill there in 1551 ^ Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 259. James was 

 succeeded by his son Henry, who died in 

 1612, leaving a son and heir Richard, of 

 full age 5 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. See. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 281. See also the 

 inquisition taken after the death of 

 Richard Moorcroft of Burscough ; ibid, 

 i, 191. 



The Moorcrofts of Ormskirk recorded 

 a pedigree in 1664 j DugdaWs Visit. (Chet. 

 Soc), 209. 



^'^ In 1370 Joan, widow of Richard de 

 Shurlacres, sued Robert, son of Robert le 

 Spencer and Margery his wife for certain 

 land in Scarisbrick ; De Banc, R, 440, 

 m. 96. 



^3 Eng. Cath. Non-jurors^ 107—12. 



1'* Commonzvealth Ch, Sur'v* (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 92 ; Gastrell, Notitia, 

 ii, 199. 



1* Land. Gaz. 14 Dee. 1869. 



16 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. vi,j5o. 



