WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



the east the underlying millstone grit is thrown up by 

 a fault over a very small area. 



The township is mostly on high ground, 230 feet 

 being reached in the centre of the village. Its area 

 is 1,940^ acres.' The village of Skelmersdale lies in 

 the western corner ; to the north-east is the hamlet 

 called Stormy corner. The White Moss, now re- 

 claimed, anciently formed part of the boundary 

 between this township and BickerstafFe. 



The railway from Ormskirk to St. Helens passes 

 through the village, where there is a station. The 

 main highway leads east to Wigan, and west, dividing 

 into two, to Ormskirk. 



A local board of fifteen members governed the 

 township from 1874' until 1894, when it was re- 

 placed by an urban district council of fifteen members. 

 The gas and water works are the property of the 

 council. The population numbered 5,699 in 190 1. 

 According to Domesday Book SKEL- 



MANOR MERSDJLE was in 1066 held by 

 Uctred, who also held Dalton and 

 Uplitherland ; like these it was assessed as one plough- 

 land, and was worth the normal 321^. beyond the 

 usual rent.' Later it was part of the forest fee, held 

 by the Gemet family. The first of them known to 

 have held it, Vivian Gernet, gave Skelmersdale and 

 other manors to Robert Travers ; these were held in 

 1 2 1 2 by Henry Travers under Roger Gernet.* 



Already, however, there had been a sub-infeudation 

 of the manor in favour of Alan de Windle, for in 1 202 

 Edusa his widow claimed dower in this among other 

 manors, which she released to Alan's son Alan, upon 

 an assignment of her dower here and in other 



lands.' From the later history it is clear that before 

 1290 the Holands of Upholland held a mesne 

 manor here. 



The superior lordship descended from the Gernets 

 to the Dacres, with the rest of the forest fee.° The 

 Travers mesne manor descended like Whiston, but the 

 exact fate of it is unknown. The Holand inferior 

 mesne manor passed to the Lovels, and after the for- 

 feiture in 1487 was granted to Thomas earl of Derby.' 

 The Windle manor passed, like Windle itself, to the 

 Burnhulls and Gerards in succession ;* but in the 

 time of Elizabeth Sir Thomas Gerard sold it to Henry 

 Eccleston of Eccleston.' This family did not retain 

 it more than thirty years ; it was purchased by the 

 earl of Derby in 1615,'° and descended to Henrietta 

 Maria Lady Ashburnham," and was sold about 1717 

 to Thomas Ashhurst of Dalton." From Henry Ashhurst 

 it was purchased in 1751 by Sir Thomas Bootle,"and 

 has since descended with Lathom, the earl of Lathom 

 being now lord of the manor. His great-grandfather, 

 upon elevation to the peerage, took his title from it as 

 Baron Skelmersdale. 



The family of Ashhurst had lands in 1346" and 

 frequently occur later. The Huytons of Billinge held 

 land here as early as 1307." There was also a 

 family surnamed Flathyrale here in the fourteenth 

 century, as various suits show.'* The Swift family, 

 numerous in the district to the present time, appear 

 in some pleadings of 1556, when Peter Swift of 

 London claimed lands held by his father John in 

 Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, and Sefton." The father had 

 married for his first wife Margaret, daughter of Ralph 

 Atherton,'* having by her a daughter Joan, who, in 



^ 1,942, including twelve of inland 

 water ; Census, 1901. 



^ LonJ. Gaz. 3 Feb. 1874. 



s F.C.H. Lanes, i, 284A. 



■* Inq, and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 43, 44. 



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

 Ches.), i. 38. She received an oxgang 

 held by Ralph, a third of the oxgang held 

 by Levenat, the two making a third part 

 of half the manor ; also a third of the 

 meadow called Torkraell, a third part of 

 certain land called Tunstede (town-stead) 

 in Alan's demesne, and a third of the 

 mill. Alan, therefore, had half the manor 

 and demesne land and the mill. 



^ The Feodary of 1483 gives the com- 

 plete account thus : ' Thomas Gerard, 

 knight, holds Skelmersdale of Lord 

 Holand and Lovel, and the said Lord 

 Lovel of John Travers, and he of Lord 

 Dacre, and he of the honour of Lan- 

 caster.' The Extent 1323-4 gives Skel- 

 mersdale the first place among the manors 

 of this hundred held by William Dacre, 

 adding the name of Robert Travers of 

 Whiston as tenant ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi. 

 foL 33*. 



7 Sir Robert de Holand was defendant 

 in a suit referring to a tenement in Skel- 

 mersdale in 1354) Jolm de Langton the 

 younger and Isabel his wife being 

 claimants 5 they did not proceed ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. vij. The in- 

 quisition after the death of Sir Thomas 

 Gerard (1416) states that he held the 

 manor of Skelmersdale of Lady Maud 

 Lovel, Lady Holand, in socage and by a 

 rent of 6s, per annum ; Lanes. Inq. p,m. 

 [Chct. Soc], i, 123. The grant to 

 Thomas earl of Derby and his heirs male 

 was made early in 1489 with other con- 

 fiscated lands ; the manor is not dis- 

 tinctly mentioned ; it appears to have 



been considered part of Upholland ; Pat. 

 R. 4 Hen. VII. In the case of Cecily 

 Gerard the manor was said to be held of 

 the earl of Derby ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. 1 8 Hen. VII, iii, n. 95. The tenure is 

 similarly described in later inquisitions j 

 see Lanes. Inq. p.m. [Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.], i, 131. For fines concerning 

 the Gerards, see Pal. of Lane. Feet of F., 

 bdle. 24, m. 74; also bdle. 26, m. 168, 

 209. 



8 See the account of Windle. In 

 1276 Peter de BurnhuU and Alice his 

 wife, in the latter's right, took action 

 against some of the tenants of Skelmers- 

 dale ; De Banc. R. 17, m. 53. The 

 right of Alan, son of Peter de BurnhuU, 

 was recognized by a fine between him and 

 Robert de Lathom in 1300 ; Final 

 Cone, i, 189. 



® By fine in 1584 Henry Eccleston 

 secured from Sir Thomas Gerard, Eliza- 

 beth his wife, Thomas the son and heir 

 apparent, and Cecily his wife, the manor 

 of Skelmersdale with the appurtenances, 

 and with houses, mill, gardens, and lands, 

 and 20i. rent there. He also purchased 

 other lands in the township, which have 

 descended to the present owner of Scaris- 

 brick ; Pal. of Lane, Feet of F. bdle. 45, 

 m. 142, 25 ; also bdle. 46, m. 220. 



^'^ In July, 1611, Edward Eccleston, 

 with his wife and son, conveyed the 

 manor, with lands in Skelmersdale, 

 Lathom, and Dalton, to Robert Hudson, 

 and four years later (Aug. 161 5) Robert 

 Hudson and Jane his wife sold the manor 

 and lands to William, earl of Derby. 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 79, m. 3 ; 

 bdle. 88, m. 45. 



^1 It was among the manors of John 

 earl of Anglesey and Henrietta Maria 

 his wife in 1708 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 

 487, m. 4. James earl of Derby was 



283 



also interested in it ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 260, m. 53. 



^2 Thomas Ashhurst held it in 1721 ; 

 Pal. of Lane, Plea R. 512, m. 8. 



13 Ibid. R. 575, m. ^J. 



^■* Final Cone. Ji, 122. 



1* Robert de Huyton and Juliana, 

 widow of Richard, son of Robert de 

 Wolfall, had a suit as to the latter's 

 dower ; De Bane. R. 163, m. 3 ; also Final 

 Cone., ii, 42, for an agreement dated 1321. 

 John de Huyton of Skelmersdale was 

 among a number of defendants in a 

 suit brought in 1356 by Margery del 

 Town ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 20. 

 By fine in 1557 the feoffees of Thomas 

 Huyton restored to him his lands in 

 Skelmersdale, Burscough, and Knowsley, 

 three messuages, &c. and about 340 acres, 

 the succession to be to his heirs male, 

 with remainders to his daughters Mar- 

 garet and Ellen j Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 17, m. 27. 



ifi William de Hale claimed possession 

 of certain lands in right of his wife Maud, 

 daughter of a certain Adam de Flathyrale. 

 The latter, it would appear, had issue by 

 a later wife, Avice or Amice, viz. Mabel, 

 wife of Adam, son of Richard de Haysarm, 

 Avice, &c. to whom he devised the estate 

 when out of his mind, to the injury of 

 Maud; Assize R. 1424, m. 11 ; De Bane. 

 R. 347, m. 158 d.y &c. 



17 Duchy of Lane. Deposit. Ph. and M., 

 Ixxx, S. 3, The following account of the 

 family is given. John Swift had a son 

 John (d. about 15 18), father of the plaintiff 

 and of other sons — Arthur (a clerk aged 54 

 in 1556, chaplain to Lord Strange and 

 curate or rector of Bidston) and John (aged 

 about 65). They were by a second wife. 



18 Probably one of the illegitimate chil- 

 dren of Ralph Atherton of Bickerstaffe ; 

 see the account of the township. 



