A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Criwshaw Moor, w.is given about the same time for a 

 rent of 4a'.' Some years later ( 1 300 to 1310) William 

 son of William son of Simon de Bickerstath gave to 

 Ralph son of Henry de Mossock in free marriage with 

 Anllla his daughter all his messuages and lands in 

 BickerstafFe and Aughton.' 



Richard de Mossock quickly follows ; probably he 

 was the son of Ralph. In 1327 he leased certain 

 lands in BickerstafFe,' and in 1332 he was plaintiff in 

 a suit of novel disseisin against Henry son of Simon 

 de Bickerstath, but did not prosecute it.* His son 

 Thomas is mentioned last in the remainders to the 

 lands of John son of Simon de Bickerstath, in a deed 

 made about 1 380.* It is possible that he did not long 

 survive his father, for in the first quarter of the 

 fifteenth century his son Henry comes into promi- 

 nence. Henry married, about 1410, Joan daughter 

 and coheir of John le Norreys of Much Woolton, who 

 brought him lands in Allerton, Woolton, Huyton, and 

 Garston, and from this time the family seem to have 

 had a house in Allerton. Henry had also a house in 

 Liverpool, and took part in the affairs of the town, 

 being mayor in 1426.° He had a dispute with Henry 

 Atherton, lord of BickerstafFe ; it was referred to the 

 arbitration of Sir Thomas Stanley, who decided that 

 Henry Mossock must pay a rent of ^d. and find a 

 man in harvest time.' 



He was succeeded by Thomas Mossock, who in the 

 time of Henry VII was followed by his son Henry.' 

 In 1493-4 he married Anne, daughter of Robert 

 Shakerley. ° He was followed by his son Thomas, 

 living in 1550.'° Thomas's son was another Henry, 

 who married Ellen daughter and coheir of Philip 

 Wettenhall." One or two deeds concerning him 

 have been preserved." He was buried at Ormskirk 

 on 22 November, 1593." His son and heir, Thomas, 



succeeded, being twenty-three years of age. He married 

 Margaret daughter of Laurence Ireland of Cunscough 

 in Melling, where the family seat was when the visi- 

 tation of 1664 was made." He survived his father 

 only three years, leaving a son and heir Henry, then 

 nine years of age." This Henry was still living in 

 1664, having weathered many storms. He married 

 Jane, a daughter and coheir of John Moore, son of 

 Edward Moore, of Bankhall.'^ In 1628, as a con- 

 victed recusant, he paid double to the subsidy ;" and 

 in 1 64 1 his two children, Thomas and Elizabeth, 

 appear in the recusant roll." As a matter of course 

 his estates were sequestrated by the Parliament ' for his 

 recusancy and delinquency," and in 1652 he made 

 complaint that Sir Thomas Stanley, ' taking advantage 

 of his condition,' had enclosed 

 a moss adjoining his estate, on 

 which he had right of depastur- 

 ing. The next year his estates 

 were sold to Anthony Shelley 

 under the third confiscation 

 Act, 1652." 



The son, Thomas Mossock, 

 was a lieutenant in the Royal 

 Forces, and was taken prisoner 

 at the battle of Ormskirk, in 

 1644.'" He married Anne, 

 daughter of Thomas Berington, 

 by whom he had a daughter 

 who died in infancy ; and secondly Anne, a 

 daughter and coheir of Richard Urmston, of West- 

 leigh, but appears to have had no issue by her." 

 The family seem to have recovered part at least 

 of their estates. To Thomas his brother Richard 

 succeeded," and was in possession in 1685," but 

 Mossock Hall and other lands went to the heirs of 



lOJCl 



Walmkslky of Show- 

 ley. Gules, on a chief 

 ermine Hvo hurts. 



' fCuerden MSS. ii, 231, n. 99. 



'^ Ibid.nn. 81, 98, 1 00. Thetwo former 

 of these are dated 4 Edw. I, and the last 

 8 Edw. I ; probably errors for Edw. II. 



» Ibid. n. 48. 



^ Assize R. 1411, m. 12. Richard con- 

 tributed 4^/. to the stipend of a priest at 

 Ormskirk in 1 366 ; Misc, (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 114. 



^ Kucrden MSS. ii, 268*, 2, and B8. 



" The M"s?ock Deeds (i 56 in number) 

 are given in Kuerden MSS. ii, 230—1. 

 Geoffrey Mossock occurs in 1432-3 ; n. 

 18. 



? Ibid. n. 105 ; it is dated 1437-8. In 

 a deed of 1417 Henry is described as 

 * parker ' ; ibid. n. 141. 



^ Richard Mossock, brother and execu- 

 tor of Godfrey Mossock, is mentioned in 

 1488; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 66, m. 

 6./. 



' Kuerden MSS. ii, 231,11. 107 ; 230^, 

 n. 49 J n. 26 is a receipt from Thomas son 

 of Robert Shakerley, late of Lathom, to 

 Henry Mossock, acknowledging 5 marks 

 from Thomas's rents in Shuttleworth, due 

 after the death of his mother Isabel ; it is 

 dated 1505-6. Henry Mossock was living 

 in 1 548, aged about 76 ; Depos. and Plead, 

 cited under Cunscough. 



1" Ibid. n. I 26 ; this i s an order to Robert 

 and John Hey of Aughton to build a bam 

 and carry it to Allerton. 



^^ With him begins the pedigree in Dug- 

 dale's l^sit. (Chet. Soc), 215. For the 

 marriage (indentures dated 4 July 1559) 

 see Kuerden MSS. ii, 230, n. 16, 47J it 

 is said that he had ,^40 in land with his 

 wife, but his son sold this estate to Lord 

 Chancellor Egcrton. A slightly different 



account is given in Ormerod, Ches. (ed. 

 Helsby), iii, 367. 



"Ibid. B. 133. In I 586 he purchased 

 land in Aughton called the Moor ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 48, m. 246. 



Early in Elizabeth's reign Henry Mos- 

 sock was accused of ousting Robert 

 Bickerstath from a tenement in Bicker- 

 st.irtc (Dceplache) held of Peter Stanley 

 and his wife Elizabeth and their son and 

 heir Thomas by lease dated in December, 

 1555. His answer was that his patrimony 

 lay adjacent, and that he had common of 

 pasture and turbary on Bickerstatfe moss 

 and a right of way to it through Deeplache ; 

 the plaintiff having stopped this way by a 

 hedge and ditch, he had made a passage. 

 This was after March 1562. A division 

 of the land had been made with the assent 

 of Mistress Jane Radcliffe, widow of 

 Thomas Stanley ; she had since (before 

 I 567) married Thomas Molyneux; Duchy 

 of Lane. Pleadings, Eliz.lxxv, B.4. She 

 was living in 1594, when Thomas Moly- 

 neux was described as of Nutfield, in 

 Surrey ; Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. 

 clxv. M. 6. She was dead in Nov. 1602 ; 

 ibid, ccvi, W. 10. 



"Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, n. 

 28. 



'* Hethenhead seems to have been the 

 name of the dwelling ; it is probably the 

 origin of M. Gregson's ' Heathenland.' 



1^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, n. 87. 

 The lands in Bickerstaffe were held of 

 Henry Sunley and Margaret his wife, in 

 the letter's right. 



" Her portion was ^^450 ; Kuerden 

 MSS. ii, 2304, n. 47. 



1? Norris D. (Brit. Mus.). 



280 



'8 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xiv, 233. 



•' Royalist Comf. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 202, 203; Index of 

 RoyalistSj 43. Kuerden notes a lease by 

 Henry and Thomas Mossock in 1654 jii, 

 231A, B. 128. Henry died in 1667 and 

 was buried 'in his own chancel' in Orms- 

 kirk church. In a letter from William 

 Blundell of Crosby is the record : ' Mr. 

 Mossock, the true penitent, died on the 

 most penitent saint's day, July 22 ' \ 

 Tram. Hist. Soc. xxxvi, 42. 



'" See the account of Aughton ; Civil 

 War Tracts (Chet. Soc), 204. 



^^ Kuerden MSS. ii, 230*, n, 47. 

 Anne Mossock died in 1699; f"' ^" 

 will see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, 

 i, 222. 



'^'^ A very unfavourable opinion of him 

 must be formed from his treatment of the 

 widow. When she claimed her dower 

 Richard objected that she had never been 

 ' lawfully coupled together in matrimony.' 

 About 1650 she was ' married to Thomas 

 Mossock, popish recusant, by Henry 

 Lathom, a popish priest, according to the 

 custom and with all the ceremonies used 

 in the Romish church.' A writ was di- 

 rected to the bishop of Chester to inquire, 

 but the result is not stated. (Note by J. P. 

 Earwaker.) She was living at Westleigh, 

 an indicted recusant, in 1678; Kenyan 

 MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 109. 



■*' Kuerden MSS. ii, 231*, n. 127. He 

 was buried at Ormskirk 21 July, 1692 

 He was at Douai College in 1644 and 

 1645; Douai Diaries, 46, 81. But see 

 Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), iii, 101. He wrote 

 the Mossock inscriptions in Ormskirk and 

 Aughton churches (1661). 



