WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



PRESCOT 



Garnets.' In 1600 the only resident freeholders 

 seem to have been Thomas Lancaster and Simon 

 Garnet.' Thomas Parker, Ralph Glover and Ellis 

 his son, and Peter Glover of Sutton, registered estates 

 here in 171 7 as 'Papists." In 1785 the trustees 

 of John Lancaster, — Chorley, and Edward Faulkner 

 were the largest land-holders.* 



In connexion with the Established Church St. Anne's 

 was built in 1837 ; the patronage is held by Mr. James 

 Brierley. 



A Wesleyan Methodist church was built in 1858. 



Congregationalist preaching at the Holt began in 

 1828, but it was not till 1857 that a mission room 

 was erected; in 1 891 a stone church was built by 

 Miss Ruth Evans as a family memorial.' 



St. Bartholomevv's Church was built in 1840 by 

 Bartholomew Bretherton for the Roman Catholics of 

 the district.' There is also a convent of the Sisters of 

 St. Paul.' 



WINDLE 



Windhull, 1 201, and common ; Wyndhill, 1320 ; 

 Wyndhyll, Wyndill, Wyndell, Wyndle, xvi century. 



This tovraship, stretching from east to west for over 

 four miles, has a total area of 3,150 acres.' The 

 portion of it in the south-eastern corner was called 

 Hardshaw, 269 acres, and here, around St. Helen's 

 chapel, the modem town of this name has sprung up, 

 the borough including, since 1893, besides Hardshaw 

 proper, a portion of Windle amounting to 720 acres. 

 North of the town is Windleshaw, and to the west are 

 Cowley Hill and Denton's Green. On the south a 

 brook divides it from Eccleston, and is joined by the 

 Ralnford Brook, which runs across Windle. The 

 highest point to the west of the latter brook, 185 ft., 

 is at the northern boundary of St. Helens ; but to 

 the east over 260 ft. is attained at Moss Bank. 



For the most part the country is rather bare and 

 undulating. Windle Hill from the north looks fairly 

 steep, but from the south its height is completely 

 dwarfed. As a rule the hills of South Lancashire 

 have their steepest incline to the west, but Windle 

 Hill is an exception. The land is principally divided 

 into cultivated fields, where potatoes and corn are 

 chiefly produced. On the east the township possesses 

 more timber trees than westward, and there are more 

 pastures. The eastern boundary line runs through 

 Carr Mill Dam, a large sheet of water, with strictly 



preserved plantations surrounding it. In the extreme 

 north-west there is a narrow band of mossland, where 

 the surface soil consists of clay and peat. The town- 

 ship lies mainly upon the lower (gannister beds) 

 and middle coal measures, but at Windle Moss and 

 Blindfoot in the north-western corner, there inter- 

 venes the belt of lower mottled sandstone of the 

 bunter series which, superimposed upon the coal 

 measures, extends from Rainford village to the Chase 

 in Knowsley Park. 



The principal road is that from St. Helens to 

 Ormskirk. From St. Helens, where there is a station, 

 the London and North-Western Company's line^ 

 branch out in four directions — to Ormskirk, with 

 stations at Gerard's Bridge and Moss Bank ; to 

 Wigan, with one at Carr Mill ; to Liverpool, and to 

 Widnes. The Liverpool. St. Helens, and South 

 Lancashire Railway has its terminus here. 



The population of the reduced area was 841 in 

 1901. 



There are collieries and chemical works, but tan- 

 ning, formerly an important trade, has disappeared. 



John William Draper, chemist, and author of 

 scientific and historical works, was born at St. Helens 

 in 181 1. He was president of New York University 

 from 1850 to 1873, and died in 1882.' 



The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted 

 in 1864, but disapproved.'" The existing township is 

 governed by a parish council. 



The manor of WINDLE was among 

 MANORS those granted to Pain de Vilers, the first 

 baron of Warrington, and continued to 

 form part of this fee until the dispersal of the estate 

 about 1585. The customary rating was two plough- 

 lands, and in 1346 it was held of the earl of Lancaster 

 by the service of the third part of a knight's fee, £z 

 rent, and the usual suit to county and wapentake 

 courts." 



Pain de Vilers, the original grantee, gave one 

 plough-land, in marriage with his daughter Emma, to 

 Vivian Gernet ; their inheritance seems to have been 

 divided between daughters and granddaughters before 

 1 21 2, when Alan son of Alan was holding this half of 

 Windle of Robert de Vilers." Robert de Vilers per- 

 haps resigned his rights, for in 1242 his lordship was 

 in the hands of the earl of Ferrers." About 1 260 

 Robert de Ferrers granted his right in Windle to 

 William le Boteler of Warrington, thus abolishing the 

 mesne lordship formerly held by Vilers." Robert de 



selions in Rainhill ; also the reversion of 

 the dower of Emma, widow of the gran- 

 tor's brother William ; Blundell of Crosby 

 Evidences, K. 70, K. 250. William son 

 of Roger de Lee in 1362 granted to his 

 son John a messuage and all his land in 

 Rainhill, except 2 acres which Richard 

 Sherlock held of the grantor in a place 

 called the Lee ; Kuerden, foL MS. 249, 

 Richard, son and heir of Henry de Lee, 

 in 1426-7 sold to Henry Blundell of 

 Little Crosby and Ditton all his lands in 

 Rainhill; ibid. 213, 249. 



' The origin of the Garnet interest 

 may have been the Molyneux of Ritherope 

 charter already quoted. William Garnet 

 and James his son made a settlement of 

 their lands in 1550; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 14, m. 279. For a dispute 

 between James Garnet and Richard Gar- 

 net and others in 1552, touching lands in 

 Rainhill and Bold, see Ducatus Lane, i, 

 253- Simon Garnet also occurs similarly 



in 1569 and 1593 ; on the latter occasion 

 John and James Garnet alias Lyon were 

 Joined with him ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdles. 31, m. 82 ; 55, m. 112. 



^ Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 238, 240. In 1628 the landowners pay- 

 ing to the subsidy were Thomas Lancas- 

 ter, the heirs of Hugh Lee, John Barnes 

 for Garnet's lands, and Henry Sutton ; 

 Norris D. (B.M.). 



' Eng. Cath. Non-jurors, 121, 122, 

 118. 



■• Land Tax Ret. at Preston. 



^ Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iv, 168. 



^ Twelve entries appear on the recusant 

 roll of 1626; Lay Subs. 131/318. 



T Li-uerpool Cath. Ann. 1901 ; End. 

 Char. (Prescot) Rep. 1902, p. 69. One of 

 the first priests at St. Bartholomew's was 

 James Austin Mason, previously a Wes- 

 leyan minister ; for his works see Gillow, 

 Bihliog. Diet, iv, 512. 



* The reduced area comprised 2,130 



acres, including 34 of inland water^ ac- 

 cording to the census of 1901. 



9 See Diet. Nat. Biog, He wrote an 

 account of the Intellectual Development of 

 Europe* 



^^ Lond. Ga%> 16 Dec. 1864. 



11 SuT-veyoi 1 346 (Chet. Soc), p. 38. See 

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

 Ches.), ii, ig6 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 

 6, m. 3^/. ; Towneley MS. DD. n. 1510, 

 an inquisition of 1441. It appears from 

 the inquisition after the death of Sir 

 Thomas Gerard in 1622 that Sir Peter 

 Legh had acquired the superior lordship 

 formerly held by the Botelers ; Lanes, Inq^ 

 p.m, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 300. 



^"^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 8. Compare the account of Hal- 

 sail. The other half of Windle may be 

 represented by Hardshaw, held by the 

 Hospitallers. 



18 Ibid. 147. 



1* Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 212^, «. 178. 



