WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



In 1662 Mrs. Joan Owen, mother of the heir, was 

 living in Bold Hall, which had twenty hearths ; Henry 

 Greene had Cranshaw and Holbrook.' 



Two ' Papists ' registered estates in Bold in 1 7 1 7 : 

 Nicholas Lurkey of Eccleston, shoemaker ; and Mary 

 widow of John Longworth.' 



GREAT SANKEY 



Sanki, 1202, 1212; Schonke, 1288; Sonky, 

 1242, and usually. 



Great Sankey is a flat country with open fields, 

 mostly under cultivation, where crops of potatoes and 

 wheat are raised on a loamy soil. Sankey Brook forms 

 the south-eastern boundary. On the north-east a brook 

 flowing into the Sankey divides it from Burtonwood, 

 and the Whittle Brook on the south serves for a 

 partition from Penketh. The area is 1,922 1 acres.' 

 The surface gradually rises from the low land by 

 Sankey Brook to the north-west. The upper mot- 

 tled sandstone of the bunter series of the new red 

 sandstone is in evidence throughout this township 

 and Penketh, except where obscured by alluvial 

 deposits in the immediate vicinity of the River 

 Mersey. The village is situated on the border of 

 Penketh. The population numbered 1,034 '^^ 

 1901. 



The principal road is that from Prescot to War- 

 rington, which is joined by others from Penketh and 

 from Burtonwood. The Cheshire Lines Committee's 

 railway crosses the centre of the township, having a 

 station (Sankey) at the village, opened in September, 

 1873. The London and North- Western line from 



PRESCOT 



Liverpool to Warrington crosses the southern corner, 

 and has a station (Sankey Bridges) opened about the 

 year 1852. 



The canal which winds along beside the Sankey 

 Brook has the credit of being the first work of the 

 kind in modern England, the Sankey Navigation 

 being formed in 1755.* The canal, which was 

 afterwards extended to Widnes, has been since 1864 

 under the control of the London and North-Western 

 Railway Company. 



The occupation of the inhabitants is still largely 

 agricultural. Wire mills and white-lead works have 

 been established on the Warrington side. 



The township is governed by a parish council ot 

 five members. 



The Warrington Corporation has a sanatorium, 

 built in 1903. 



This township, with Penketh as a 

 MJNOR hamlet, was included in the demesne of 

 the lords of Warrington. The manor of 

 GREJT SJNKET is mentioned in several Boteler 

 settlements and inquisitions,* and on the .sale of their 

 estates about 1585 became the property of the Bolds 

 of Bold.* Sir Thomas Bold in i6io granted it to 

 Thomas Tyldesley and Thomas Orme ; the latter 

 shortly afterwards resigned his interest, so that 

 Thomas Tyldesley was solely seised in 1 61 3.' Within 

 fifteen years it had passed to Sir Thomas Ireland of 

 Bewsey,* and has since descended, with other estates 

 of this family, to Atherton, Gwillym, and Powys, 

 Lord Lilford being the present lord of the manor.' 

 Manor courts were held yearly until 1888." 



A branch of the Rixton family settled here ; " and 



lordof Bold in the first half of the thirteenth 

 century, had land called Langley Holt ; he 

 seems to have married a daughter of Emma 

 Mainwaring ; and had sons Richard and 

 Roger, of whom the latter had a son Roger; 

 Dods. MSS. loc. cit. n. 7, 10, 163, 162. 



William lord of Bold, besides Robert 

 his heir, had a son Roger, who married 

 Ellen and had a son William ; ibid. n. 19, 

 164, 76, 23. This William, known as 

 * of the Hall,' being convicted of the kill- 

 ing of Thomas de Eccleston at Warring- 

 ton In 1323, was outlawed ; Coram Rege R. 

 254, m. 43 ; Inq. a.q.d. 18 Edw. U, «. 2. 



1 Tram. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xvi, 134. 

 Bold Hall was the largest house in the 

 whole parish. 



^ EngL Cath, Non-jurors^ 1 18, 123. 



^ 1,922, including 20 acres of inland 

 water ; also 2 acres of tidal water ; Cen- 

 sus Rep. of 1901. 



■• Act 28 Geo. II, cap. 8. 



*The original intention of the under- 

 takers was to deepen the Sankey Brook, 

 but instead of making this the channel 

 of communication, the navigation runs 

 entirely separate from it, except that it 

 crosses and mixes with that water in one 

 place about two miles from Sankey 

 Bridge. This navigation affords a medium 

 of transit for various descriptions of mer- 

 chandise and tillage, including slate, grain, 

 timber, stone, lime, and manure ; but 

 the principal article is coal, which is 

 carried in great abundance to Liverpool, 

 Warrington, Northwich, and other places, 

 from the mines in the parish of Prescot, 

 and particularly from those of St. Helens. 

 Vessels of 60 tons burthen can navigate 

 this water, with 1 6 ft. beam and a draught 

 of 5 ft. I in.' ; Baines, Lanes. Directory, 

 1825, ii, 468. 



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

 Ches.), ii, 40, 196. Some charters 



referring to this place are among the 

 Bold deeds at Warrington. By one (E. 5) 

 Gilbert son of Gilbert the Horse-keeper 

 {Equarin ?) released to his lord, Sir William 

 le Boteler, all his right in land near the 

 new mill of Sankey. This may, however, 

 refer to Little Sankey. By another, 

 Richard son of Adam Baselx quitclaimed 

 to Sir William all right in his messuage 

 and land between the lands of Simon 

 Dandy and Simon the Studherd ; E. 18. 

 Another, dated 1289, released to Sir 

 William the lands of Giliana, widow of 

 Nicholas de Erbond ; E. 10. In 131 3 

 William le Boteler granted to Thomas de 

 Barrow and Sillcia his wife lands, &c. in 

 Great Sankey for the term of their lives ; 



In 1292 Christiana widow of Gilbert 

 son of Walter claimed 6 acres in Sankey 

 from William le Boteler ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 1 7. William le Boteler In 1303 granted 

 to William son of Henry de Hodelsden 

 land in Great Sankey ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, 

 fol. 236^. Simon Tripe released to Sir 

 William his right in Solmehooks, with 

 the wood upon it ; ibid. 



William le Boteler, lord of Warrington, 

 about 1260 granted to Robert de Samles- 

 bury 8 acres in Westey Hales and Arpley, 

 with common of pasture in Great Sankey 

 and Penketh. The right descended to 

 Robert's son and heir Richard, otherwise 

 called Richard de Bruche, and to Richard's 

 son Henry de Bruche. The latter, in 

 1328, complained that the then lord, 

 William le Boteler, and others, including 

 the lords of Penketh, had disseised him of 

 part at least of his right in Great Sankey, 

 viz. common in 100 acres of moor and 

 pasture and 84 acres of wood. The de- 

 fendants urged that ' by the writ it is sup- 

 posed that the said common is one gross 

 by itself and not pertaining to any free 



409 



tenement,' whereas the original charter 

 concerned the common pertaining to the 

 8 acres granted 5 Assize R. 1400, m. 

 234^.; 427, m. I. 



In 1551 Thurstan Tyldesley acquired 

 lands here from Richard Bruche and 

 Anne his wife 5 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 14, m. 238. Thomas Bruche sold 

 land in 1563 to Sir Peter Legh ; ibid, 

 bdle. 25, m. 75. 



^ The grant of the manor to Coxe and 

 Wakefield may have been one of the 

 steps in the transfer ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 389. 



^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 254—6. The manor is stated to 

 have been held of the king by knight's 

 service. 



s Duchy of Lane, Inq. p.m. xxvi, n. 58. 

 The following rents and undertenants 

 are named therein : gj. 6d. from lands 

 called Candish ; 11s, lod. from land of 

 John Axon ; 5^1^. and a pound of pepper 

 from Peter Slynehead ; 3^. o^d. from 

 Thomas Ashton ; i6s. Sd, from Thomas 

 Rixton ; 6d. from Christopher Phipps ; 

 191^. from Margaret Ashton, widow ; i^d, 

 and a half a pound of pepper from Richard 

 Farrer ; 35. 6d, from John Hatton ; all 

 except Axon are said to have held by 

 knight's service. 



* See the account of Atherton ; also 

 Pal. of Lane. Doequet R. 469, m. 5, &e. 



10 Information of Mr. John B. Selby, 

 Leigh. 



^^ In 1346 Richard de Rixton gave to 

 Henry his son all his lands in Great 

 Sankey ; Kuerden fol. MS. 359, R. 424. 

 See the account of Ditton. 



At the same time, Beatrice de Moly- 

 neux, widow of Richard, began a series of 

 actions which lasted some years, against 

 Sir William le Boteler and Elizabeth his 

 wife, Robert de Wetshaw, Richard de 



52 



