A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Icxal evidences contain a number of the field names 

 as they existed in the fourteenth century, many of 

 which will be found in the notes.' 



The landowners contributing to the subsidy in 1628 

 were, besides those already mentioned, Alexander 

 Rigby, Nicholas Croft, and Ellen Denton ; the last- 

 named paid double as a convicted recusant.* In 1666 

 the principal houses in the hearth-tax list were those 

 of John Hoghton and Thethar Lathom, both ap- 

 parently non-resident.' Margaret widow of James 

 Hoghton, described as of Halewood, registered a small 

 estate here in 1 71 7.* The principal landowners in 

 1785 were Nicholas Blimdell, — Watldns, and John 

 Shaw.' About 1820 they were William Blundell, 

 John Watkins, and — Shaw of Everton.' 



The Society of Friends have a charity estate.' 



An Enclosure Act was passed in 1 797. 



An ecclesiastical parish has been formed here, the 

 church of St. Michael having been built in 1 871, and a 

 district assigned in 1 875.' It is in the gift of trustees. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel, built in 

 i860 ; and an iron mission chapel. 



The first building for Roman Catholic worship ' was 

 a school erected in 1 860 by the Marchioness Stapleton- 

 Bretherton.who when the German Jesuits'" were exiled 

 gave them the Hall, formerly called the Grove, in 

 1872, and afterwards built the church of St. Michael, 

 opened in 1878. These Jesuits left Ditton in 1895 ; 

 for a time the church remained in charge of the 

 English Jesuits, but has now been given up to the 

 secular clergy. The estate has been sold to the Ditton 

 Land Company." The house is used by the Sisters 

 of Nazareth as a boys' home. 



BOLD 



the final e is want- 



Bolde, I 2 1 2 ; Boulde, 1332 

 ing in some cases as early as 1300. 



The area, which measures 4,483 acres," is divided 

 by a brook, now called Whittle Brook, but formerly 

 Holbrook, running across it from the north-west 

 boundary to Great Sankey. Cambal Wood lay in 

 the south-east corner ; on the south was Bold Heath, 

 with Crow Heath and Lunt Heath on the borders of 

 Cuerdley and Widnes. In the south-west corner was 

 Cranshaw Hall. 



The flat and open country is divided into arable 

 fields and pastures, interspersed with plantations, and 

 dotted with farms. The crops are chiefly corn, 

 potatoes, beans, and cabbages, which thrive in a clayey 

 soil. In the north there are collieries, and the country 

 is even less wooded than in the south. One patch ol 

 old mossland also exists in the farthest northern por- 

 tion of the township. Bold Old Hall and Barrow 

 Old Hall are two picturesque buildings, surrounded 

 each by a moat, situated respectively in the centre 

 and far south east of the township. In the geological 

 formation of the township the permian and bunter 

 series of the new red sandstone are represented ; the 

 red sandstone and red marl with limestone of the per- 

 mian at Travers farm and Bold moss in the extreme 

 north of the township, with a patch of the lower 

 mottled sandstone of the bunter series adjoining. In 

 the south-eastern portion of the township the upper 

 mottled sandstone is represented, and elsewhere the 

 pebble beds. 



The principal road is that from Prescot to War- 

 rington, going eastward through the southern half of 

 the township. It is crossed by the roads from 

 St. Helens to Widnes, from which there are branches 

 in the north to Burtonwood, and in the south to 

 Penketh. The London and North-Western Com- 

 pany's branch line from St. Helens to Widnes passes 

 through the township. 



In addition to the collieries there are works where 

 tools are made. 



The population was 950 in 1 90 1. 



There is a parish council. 



The legend of Bold and the Dragon seems to have 

 been based on an Ignorant interpretation of the place- 

 name." 



Richard Bancroft, bishop of London 1597 to 1604, 

 archbishop of Canterbury 1604 to 1 6 10, was born 

 here and baptized at Farnworth chapel." Robert 

 Barnes, of Bold, was bishop of Carlisle from 1570 to 

 1577, and of Durham from 1577 to 1588." 



Tibb's Cross and Bold Heath Cross were on the 

 Prescot and Warrington road ; the latter was taken 

 down about 1870, and the little green on which it 

 stood has been turned into a garden. Close to it was 

 the pinfold." 



South of the hall there was an extraordinary cluster 



his widow \ Norris D. (B.M.), n. 266. 

 They had issue Richard, who took posses- 

 sion after his mother's death, but died 

 without issue ; William, outlawed for the 

 murder of John le Norreys of West Derby 

 in 134.1, but afterwards pardoned and re- 

 stored ; Robert, killed at Tarbock in 1332 

 (Coram Rege R. 297, Rex. m. 264) ; Mar- 

 gery, Avina, and MargareL John son of 

 Robert le Norreys married Mabel, execu- 

 trix of the will of John de Hale, in or 

 before 1332; De Banc R. zgi, m. x. 

 William enfeoffed Thomas de Molyneux 

 of certain lands into which Richard de 

 Bold had entered as son and heir of the 

 daughter Margaret, who had married 

 William de Bold. These particulars are 

 from the record of the consequent law- 

 suit in Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. j. 

 For William's crime see Assize R. 430, 

 m. 12. 



Other families took surnames from 

 localities in Ditton or its neighbourhood, 

 as Marsh, Longton, Astbrook, Easthead, 

 and Slynehead. The descendants of Award 

 had the Halgh ; those of Dandi (or Randle) 

 continued for several generations, and by 



a Molyneux marriage acquired lands in 

 Litherland also. Robert de Vilers held 

 land in Easthead of Stephen son of Adam ; 

 Doda. MSS. Iviii, fol. 163*. John and 

 Roger de Vilers are also mentioned ; 

 Norris D. (B.M.), n. 248 ; Kuerden fol. 

 MS. p. 96, n. 587. 



In 161 1 Thomas Wycke had held lands 

 here of Roger Rigby ; Lana. Inq, f.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, iii. 



' For instance, Haliwell and its brook 

 in the north ; Black Moor and Sourfield 

 on the Tarbock side ; the Marsh in the 

 south ; the Halgh, Balshaw, Ditchfield, 

 and Cropped Wood probably in the centre, 

 and Brandearth and Whittle or Quethull 

 on the eastern side. 



» Norris D. (B.M.). 



° Lay Subs. 250-9. 



* Engl. Calb, Non-jurors, 122. 

 5 Land-tax return at Preston. 



* Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 

 I o 1. 



^ Quaker Char. Rep. (1905), p. 65. 

 ' Lond, Gaz. 19 Mar. 1875. 

 ® Nineteen names appear on the re- 

 cusant roll of 1628. 



402 



'" Father Wernz, now general of the 

 order, studied at Ditton about 1 880. 



^^ Liverpool Cath. Ann, 1901 ; and in- 

 formation of Mr. Stapleton-Bretherton. 



" The census of 1901 gives the area as 

 4,484 acres, of which 1 3 are inland water. 



" Pal. Note-hook, i, 68. 



" Pal. Note-book j tee Diet. Nat. Biog. ; 

 White, Elizabethan Bishops, 375. The 

 archbishop, a zealous upholder of Eliza- 

 beth's religious system, was an opponent 

 of the Puritans, and took a leading part 

 in the Hampton Court Conference. For 

 some unfavourable gossip, see Challoner, 

 Missionary Priests, n, 41, 



^' He was educated at Oxf. ; M.A. 

 1556; and became a zealous Protestant 

 on the accession of Elizabeth. He 

 ' alienated very large portions of the pos- 

 sessions of the see to Queen Elizabeth ' ; 

 ' his brother John was his chancellor, and 

 exercised his ofKce, without restraint from 

 the bishop, in a most tyrannical manner * ; 

 J. L. Low, Durham (Dioe. Hist.), 232 ; 

 see also White, op. cit. 181. 



" Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soe, lix, 

 210-11. 



