A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



occurs, elsewhere the pebble beds of this series of the 

 new red sanJstone. By Ditton Brook and on the 

 Marsh there is a large area covered by alluvial deposits. 



The area measures 1,898 acres.' 



The road from Tarbock to Appleton passes, east- 

 wardly through the vill.ige, where it is joined by 

 others from Cronton and Hale. The Garston and 

 Widnes road crosses the southern corner of the town- 

 ship. The Cheshire Lines Committee's railway from 

 Liverpool to Manchester crosses the northern part, 

 with a station (Hough Green) near Ditchfield ; at 

 this point a line, passing through Ditton vilLige, 

 branches off to WiJnes. The London and North 

 Western line from Liverpool to Warrington crosses 

 the southern corner, with a station (Ditton Junction) 

 just upon the boundary of Halewood. 



The population in 190 1 numbered 2,605. 



There is a parish council. 



The first distinct record of DITTON is 

 MANORS in the Pipe Roll of 1 1 94, when Richard 

 de Ditton paid 20/. as his fine for having 

 the king's good will after participating in the rebellion 

 of John, count of Mortain.' The next entries are in 

 the roll of 1 20 1 -2, when Richard, Philip, and Adam 

 de Ditton paid their levies to a scutage ; ' and at the 

 same time Philip de Ditton paid I id. and Richard son 

 of Martin 3/., due upon a tallage.' Two years later 

 Richard son of Martin paid half a mark, and the same 

 was contributed jointly by Adam, Philip, and Henry.' 



The manor, assessed as a plough-land and held in 

 thegnage, had therefore been divided cirly into 

 several portions, the shares being thus described in 

 121 2 : ' Richard son of Martin holds half a plough- 

 land and pays therefor 10/. of farm ; Richard son of 

 Outi holds of him two oxgangs of land by 5/., and 

 Ralph one oxgang of land by zs. 6J. Adam, Robert, 

 \^incent, and Henry de Ditton hold half a plough- 

 land for 10/. of farm." The descent of the senior 

 moiety can be given only imperfectly ; half of it at 

 the end of the fourteenth century passed to a branch 

 of the Tyldesleys by marriage. The part of this 

 moiety held by Richard son of Outi descended to 

 the Ditchfields, but nothing is clear as to the fate 

 of that held by Ralph. The other moiety, after 

 being much subdivided, became consolidated into two 

 shares, of which the princip.il was again divided soon 

 after 1400 by the marriage of the coheirs with Henry 

 Blundell of Little Crosby and Richard Dawne, while 

 the smaller share passed by marriage to the Coney 

 family, by whom it seems to have been sold to the 

 Blundells.' This brief summary may assist in follow- 

 ing the more detailed account.' 



L The principal moiety appears to have descended 

 from the Richard son of Martin of 1 2 1 2 to a son 

 Robert,' whose son ' John son of Robert de Ditton ' 

 was in possession for a very long period, probably from 

 about 1250 to 1310.'° The next step in the succes- 

 sion is uncertain. Robert the clerk appears to have 



^ 1,936, of which 10 are inland water; 

 there are also 4 acres of tidal water ; 

 census of 1901. 



^ Farrer, Ljncs, Pif>e R. 78. 



'Ibid. 153. Richard de Ditton paid 

 one mark and half a mark ; possibly 

 there were two of the name. Philip and 

 Adam contributed each half a mark. The 

 next name is William son of Stephen, 

 paying the same ; and though he is not 

 styled * de Ditton,' yet it appears that one 

 of this name had formerly held an acre 

 here, which about 1270 was granted by 

 William del Marsh to William son of 

 Richard, the clerk of Upton, in free mar- 

 riage with Anota his daughter ; Kuerden 

 foL MS. 260, n. 578. 



' Lanci. Pifi R. 1 54. Between Philip 

 and Richard arc the names of Robert 

 son of Robert, Robert son of Roger, and 

 Adam son of Robert, 1 zJ. each. Ralph 

 son of Martin, 21. also occurs. 



» Ibid. 178-9. 



* Lanes. In-j. and Ex'^ntj (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 19, The several shares 

 of the four holders of the second moiety 

 are not given, but by a comparison of the 

 entries it is probable that Adam and 

 Henry each had a third, the other third 

 being held by Robert and Vincent, who 

 represent the Philip of the Pipe R. entry 

 last cited. It appears that Henr>' was 

 also a son of Philip, but his right to this 

 portion may have been derived from his 

 mother or his wife. The account in the 

 text of the separate shares shows that 

 though Henry's descendants had a sixth of 

 the manor they paid 4J. rent, and that the 

 other partners in the moiety paid 6s. in all. 



7 It will be most convenient to give 

 here the various accounts of the lordship 

 as recorded from time to time. 



In 1226 the tenants' names are not re- 

 corded, but 20J. for thegnage was paid ; 

 In^. and Ext€itSf 136, 



In 1298 John de Ditton and his part- 

 ners held Ditton, rendering zos. yearly, 

 and Stephen (de Ditton) did suit ; the 

 same (Stephen) also held a ridge of land 



for 6d. ; ibid. 287. Some charters of the 

 intermediate period give the names of 

 these partners. In one, of about 1250, 

 John de Ditton son of Robert, Richard 

 son of Adam, Henry son of Ralph, Randle 

 son of Richard son of Martin, as * lords of 

 Ditton,' attested a grant by Stephen son 

 of Adam de Ditton ; and in another, of 

 about the same date, the same description 

 is given of John son of Robert dc Ditton, 

 Richard son of Adam, Henry son of 

 Ralph, Richard de Holand, Richard son 

 of Robert son of Philip, and Hugh Fish, 

 as witnesses to another grant of the same 

 Stephen son of Adam ; Kuerden fol. MS. 

 197, n 639, and Blundell of Crosby evi- 

 dences (Towncley), K. 87. 



In the roll of the foreign rent of Derby- 

 shire in 1323-4 (Rentals and Surveys, 

 379, m. 8), it is recorded that 'Thomas 

 de Ditton holds the sixth part of the town 

 ot Ditton and renders 45. {sic) yearly ; 

 John de Ditton holds a moiety and renders 

 loj. j John son of John, a twelfth, ren- 

 dering i8y. 5 Robert son of Richard, a 

 ninth, rendering 21. ; Richard Fish, a 

 twelfth, paying i8</. ; and Thomas the 

 Smithy an eighteenth, paying izd.' 



The Survey of 1346 (Chet. Soc), 30, 

 gives a more detailed account : ' Ditton 

 was held in socage for one plough-land 

 and paid 20s. at the four quarter days ; 

 after the death of a tenant the rent was 

 doubled in the name of relief. The 

 tenants also owed suit to the county and 

 wapentake and puture of the Serjeants, and 

 were bound to go with the bailiffs of the 

 county and wapentake as far as the next 

 township to witness distraints as often 

 and when by their course it should hap- 

 pen, together with their other neighbours. 

 John de Ditton paid loj. and held a 

 moiety of the town for half a plough-land ; 

 for the other moiety Hugh de Ditton paid 

 31., holding the ninth and the eighteenth 

 parts of a plough-land ; Thomas son of 

 Stephen, 4J., having the sixth part ; Hugh 

 Fisher, lid., holding the twelfth, and 

 John Henryson, lij. holding the same.' 



A receipt for 31., by William de Hornby, 

 as the duke's receiver, was (about 1 360) 

 given to Robert son and heir of Hugh de 

 Ditton, ' for double rent in the name of 

 relief, for lands in Ditton ' ; Blundell of 

 Crosby D. K. 13. 



In the Duchy Feodary of 1483 (Duchy 

 of Lane. Misc. cxxx) it is stated that 

 ' Nicholas Blundell holds Ditton for 201, ' ; 

 but the words ' and his partners ' must be 

 understood. In Ditchfield deeds of 1481, 

 in an agreement concerning the division 

 of the commons, the following were the 

 shares allotted : One quarter to Nicholas 

 Blundell and Thomas Dawne ; a quarter 

 to Hugh Tyldesley and Henry Holt ; a 

 quarter to Henry Ditchfield and the heirs 

 of Dandy ; and the other quarter to Alan 

 Ditton, Robert Moore, and Henry Thomp- 

 son the Smith ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 

 247*, n. 68-70. 



8 The details are mainly taken from 

 charters abstracted by Kuerden, about a 

 hundred in the folio volume in the Chet- 

 ham Library, from the Blundell deeds, 

 and nearly as many more in his second 

 volume at the College of Arms, from the 

 Ditchfield deeds ; also a number from 

 Towneley's transcripts of the Blundell of 

 Crosby deeds, copied from Kuerden ; and 

 others among the Norris deeds (B.M.). 



^ This step is doubtful, but seems justi- 

 fied by the succession. It is probable that 

 the son of Richard son of Outi was also 

 Robert, so that there would be two con- 

 temporaries of the same name. 



" In 1270 he granted to Stephen son of 

 Adam de Ditton four * lands,* and Stephen 

 undertook to do suit to the county and 

 wapentake without loss to the grantor ; 

 Blundell of Crosby D. K. 118 ; Kuerden 

 foL MS. 96, n. 594. As John de Ditton he 

 was witness to a Bold charter which must 

 be dated before i 2 54 ; Bold D. (Hoghton), 

 1. 84 ; and to one as late as 1310 ; Nor- 

 ris D. (B.M.), n. 261. He is described as 

 John son of Robert as late as 1299, so that 

 there were not two Johns in succession 

 father and son; Kuerden foL p. z6o, a. 573. 



