WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



century ; ' they are supposed to have acquired the 

 estate by marriage with an heiress of the Appleton 

 family.' 



A free passage over the Mersey was allowed very 

 early, two acres being granted as the fee of the 

 ferryman.' 



In the time of Mary and Elizabeth there were various 

 disputes between Roger Charnock, the royal farmer, and 

 the tenants of Widnes regarding marsh lands called 

 the Warth and Plocks, and Appleton mill.* 



The estate of Henry Wood of Widnes was sold 

 by order of the Parliamentary authorities in 1652.' 

 In 1666 there were in Widnes twenty-six dwell- 

 ings with three hearths and more paying to the tax ; 

 the principal residents were H.iwarden, Ditchfield, 

 Appleton, Plumpton, and Wright.^ John Chaddock 

 of Burtonwood, as a ' Papist,' in 1 7 1 7 registered his 

 cottage at Upton.' 



An interesting report on the state of the river bank 

 about 1828 was made by Edward Eyes on behalf of 

 the duchy.* 



It would appear that in the middle 

 BOROUGH ages a borough and market had been 

 established at Farnworth ; for there 

 are incidental notices, such as the eight ' burgages,' 

 &c., in Denton held by Randle Bold at his death in 

 1447, and the zod. for stallage collected in 1426 

 from tailors, mercers, and others, trading at Farnworth 

 on Sundays.' Coming to the present day, the Local 

 Government Act of 1858 was adopted by WIDNES 



PRESCOT 



in 1865,'° and further powers as to water, gas, &c., 

 were afterwards secured by various Acts. A borough, 

 with mayor and council of 24 members, was created 

 in 1892." The gas and water works were acquired 

 under an Improvement Act in 1867;'' the water 

 pumping stations are at Stockswell and Netherley, 

 and the reservoirs at Pex Hill. St. John's Market 

 was opened in 1875. The Libraries Act was adopted 

 in 1885, and the present technical schools and free 

 library were opened in 1896. The Appleton House 

 estate was acquired and opened as the Victoria Park 

 and Recreation Ground in 1900, the Victoria 

 Promenade at West Bank being opened at the same 

 time. The cemetery was opened in 1898. There 

 are hospitals for accidents, opened in 1878, and in- 

 fectious diseases, 1887. The population numbered 

 28,580 in 1901. 



Farnworth church, now called that of 

 CHURCH St. Luke, but anciently dedicated in 

 honour of St. Wilfrid, consists of chan- 

 cel 33 ft. by 22 ft. with north vestry and south 

 chapel, nave 60 ft. by 25 ft. with aisles, south 

 transept, north and south porches, and west tower 

 I o ft. square inside, and has grown to its present 

 form from an aisleless nave and chancel church of 

 which part of the west wall alone remains. It belonged, 

 as far as can now be ascertained, to c. 1 180-1200, and 

 its nave was of about the same dimensions as that 

 now standing. There are no evidences of alteration 

 till the fourteenth century, though such may of course 



Richard Smith, of the Peel House in 

 Farnworth, -was in 1582 reported to resort 

 to Bold, probably for mass, a resident 

 priest being his uncle ; Lydiate Hall, 221 

 (quoting Dom. Eliz. cliii, n. 62), 226. 

 About 1592 there was a dispute between 

 John Ogle, of Kohy and Whiston, and 

 Alexander Standish, of Duxbury, respect- 

 ing the Peel House in Appleton ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. ccxiii, 228. 



The Leigh family continue to be the 

 chief landowners. See the account of 

 Walton church. 



^ They used a variant of the Eaton 

 coat, one of those quartered by the Ha- 

 wardens of Woolston. It should be noted, 

 however, that a William de Hawarden 

 ■was here as early as 1332 ; Exch. Lay 

 Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 17. 



Pedigrees were recorded in 1613 and 

 1664 ; see the printed yisit, (Chet. Soc.) 

 of those ysaiSf 88 and 132 respectively. 

 John Hawarden was a freeholder in Apple- 

 ton in 1600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 242. The Hawardens, 

 with many others in Widnes, adhered to 

 the ancient faith, and in the recusant roll 

 of 1641 John Hawarden, gent., and three 

 other members of the family occur ; 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Sen), xiv, 241. He 

 does not appear to have taken arms for 

 the king in the Civil War, two-thirds of 

 his estate being sequestered * for recusancy 

 only' in 1654, when he petitioned to be 

 allowed to compound ; Royalist Cotxf. P. 

 iii, 172. 



The will of Edward Hawarden, of 

 Ditton, dated in Nov. 1648, and proved 

 at Chester in the following year, gave his 

 property, after the death of his wife Ellen, 

 to Edward Hawarden, youngest son of 

 the testator's nephew John. In 1717 

 Mary Hawarden, widow, as a 'Papist,' 

 registered an estate of ^37 in Halebank 

 for herself and her son John ; Cat/i. Non- 

 Jurors, 120. The will of Caryll Hawar- 

 den, dated 20 Oct. 1757, is enrolled at 



Preston ; Piccope MSS. iii, 372, from 

 32nd and 33rd rolls of Geo. II. Caryll 

 was in 1727 called nephew and heir of 

 Thomas Hawarden, deceased ; Croxteth 

 D. CC. iv. 



* Towards the close of the last [xviii] 

 century the family merged into that of 

 Fazakerley, and ultimately into that of 

 the Gillibrands ; ' Gillow, Bibliog. Diet, of 

 Engl. Caih. iii, 168, where will be found a 

 memoir of the most distinguished member 

 of the family, Edward Hawarden, D.D., 

 who died in 1735 (see also Diet. Nat. 

 Biog.) ; and incidental notices of many 

 others, including Thomas, eldest son of 

 CaryU Hawarden, the subject of a 

 * miraculous cure ' by the hand of the 

 Ven. Edmund Arrowsmith in 1736 ; 

 Foley, Rec. S.y.' ii, 6 1 (from the account 

 printed in 1737). In i8ti their estates 

 were sold; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), 

 iii, 722. 



'^ See the pedigree of 161 3. Disputes 

 in 1578 as to messuages and lands in 

 Widnes between John Appleton and John 

 Hawarden are recorded in Ducatus Lane. 

 iii, 63, 492. 



The Linacres of Widnes, with whom 

 the Hawai'dens intermarried, were also 

 recusants, and John Linacre's lands were 

 sold by the Parliamentary authorities in 

 1654; Cal. Com. for Comp. v, 3182. 



* The passage over the Mersey between 

 Widnes and Runcorn had with various 

 lands been granted to the Hospitallers by 

 John, constable of Chester ; and in 1190 

 Garner de Nablous, prior, granted the 

 same to Richard de la More. The latter 

 and heirs were to maintain a boat for the 

 purpose, and the gift was in the nature of 

 an alms, for ' all who should ask to cross 

 " for the love of God," were to have the 

 passage' ; Birch Chapel (Chet. Soc), 190. 



In 131 1 it was found that Richard 

 son of Henry del Shaw had held of the 

 earl of Lincoln two acres in Appleton for 

 maintaining the passage ; he was to have 



a boat and employ two men for it, con- 

 veying freely all wishing to cross either 

 way j Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 254 (from 

 Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. II, n. 51). 



At the beginning of 1366 the Black 

 Prince, as earl of Chester, forbade any 

 passage of the Mersey to be made except 

 at the places which had always been used 

 for crossing ; those who chose new ways 

 were to be arrested and imprisoned in 

 Chester Castle ; Add. MS. 32107, n. 227. 



■* Ducatus Lam. i, 293 ; ii, 122, 219 j 

 iii, 139, &c. 



* Index of Royalists, 41. 



John Lawton and his wife had lands 

 in Widnes, which were sequestered for 

 their recusancy ; their heir, John Croft, 

 who had * ever been conformable,' and 

 took the oath of abjuration, petitioned the 

 Parliamentary authorities for restoration ; 

 Royalist Comp. P. iv, 73. 



^ Lay Subs. 250-9. 



' Eng. Cath. Non-jurors, 123. 



^ Trans. Hist. Soc. xxii, 217. The 

 ferry was owned by Lord Cholmondeley as 

 lessee from the crown, but William Hurst 

 of West Bank claimed the right of free 

 passage by the ferry and a toll on goods 

 passing over his land. The marsh land 

 between the canal and the river was 

 divided into sixty-nine cowgates. 



9 Duchy of Lane. Ct. R. bdle. 5, n. 66 ; 

 4» "• 57' John Jackson Alanson of Ap- 

 pleton, in 1395, granted to Robert Jackson 

 of Ditton half an acre in Farnworth, half 

 a rood being near the Standelues, and the 

 rest * near the burgage of Nicholas Pecket 

 in Farnworth ' ; Bold D. (Warr.), G. 54. 



^1 Lond. Gaz. I Aug. 1865. 



^1 The date of incorporation is 26 May, 

 1892. The area of the borough is the 

 same as that of the township. There are 

 six wards, each with an alderman and 

 three councillors, viz. Farnworth, Simm's 

 Cross, Halton, Victoria, Waterloo, and 

 West Bank. 



12 JO & 31 Vic. cap. 126. 



389 



