Townships: Lathom

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1907.

This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.

Citation:

'Townships: Lathom', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp247-258 [accessed 25 November 2024].

'Townships: Lathom', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp247-258.

"Townships: Lathom". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1907), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp247-258.

In this section

LATHOM

Latune, Dom. Bk.; Lathum, 1200, and generally to xv. cent.; Lathom, 1223, became the usual spelling, sometimes as Lathome, about the end of xv. cent.

This township has an area of 8,694½ (fn. 1) acres, with an extreme length of nearly six miles. Two brooks, the Tawd and Eller, flow northward through it to join the Douglas, which forms part of the boundary. The portion between the brooks contains Lathom House, with its large park, situated about the centre of the township; in the extreme north is Hoscar Moss, below the 25 ft. level; in the west are Blythe Hall, and to the south of it, New Park, on the edge of which it is believed was anciently the lord's abode, known as Alton or Olton. To the west of Eller Brook is Wirples Moss, adjoining Hoscar; while in the south is the hamlet of Westhead, near which is Cross Hall.

The larger portion of this township consists of a plateau sloping gradually on its southern side, and rather more abruptly to its north-eastern boundary. The country is divided into arable and pasture fields, with small hamlets and farms scattered at intervals. To the west it is flat and uninteresting, but to the east it is undulating, rising to 215 ft. above sea-level, and pleasantly varied with plantations and farms. Newburgh is an old and picturesque village on the east, near the River Douglas, and contains a village green with a restored cross. To the south the country becomes singularly unpicturesque, with flat, bare fields and stunted hedges, with collieries and their usually unattractive surroundings.

The geological formation of the western part of the township consists of the upper mottled sandstone beds of the bunter series of the new red sandstone, with overlying beds of lower keuper sandstone, extending for a mile and a half north and south, and half a mile east and west of Cross Hall, and again around New Park. The eastern portion of the township lies wholly upon the middle coal measures and upon the gannister beds of the lower coal measures.

The principal roads are those crossing the township from west to east, in the northern part from Burscough to Newburgh, and in the south from Ormskirk to Dalton. There are cross roads leading north from Bickerstaffe and Skelmersdale. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses from Burscough Bridge to Newburgh, and a branch goes north to join the Douglas. The Southport and Wigan line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway runs to the north of the canal, and has a station about the centre called Hoscar. The same company's Liverpool and Preston line is near the western boundary, with a station at Burscough Bridge. The Ormskirk and St. Helens Railway of the London and North-Western Company passes through the southern part of the township.

The soil is loam, the subsoil being sand and clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats, and potatoes. The collieries are at Blague Gate.

Lathom adopted the Local Government Act in 1872, (fn. 2) the local board of eight members becoming an urban district council of fifteen members in 1894. The population in 1901 was 4,361.

In Lathom the pedestal of Hob Cross remains, north of the park. The pedestal of the Newburgh cross also remains, at the upper end of the green. (fn. 3)

In the seventeenth century there was a Spa at Lathom. The site is marked by Spa Farm, near the boundary of the township. The sinking of coal shafts in the neighbourhood caused its disappearance. It is mentioned as late as 1807. (fn. 4)

MANORS

At the death of Edward the Confessor LATHOM with a berewick was held by Uctred, the assessment area being half a hide and the value 10s. 8d. beyond the usual rent. It was within the privileged 3 hides. The woodland approximated to 720 customary acres. The berewick may have been the half of Martin which had been incorporated with Lathom, or else Ormskirk; the wood was probably Burscough. (fn. 5)

The next lord of Lathom whose name is on record was Siward son of Dunning, who held it in thegnage about the time of Henry II. Siward made a grant of one plough-land here to Gospatrick, probably the lord of Hindley. (fn. 6) Siward's son Henry received from Albert Grelley the elder a plough-land in Flixton, with the church of the manor, to hold as a member of the barony of Manchester. (fn. 7) Henry was succeeded by his son Robert, who at Michaelmas, 1169, rendered account of 10 marks due by him to the aid to marry the king's daughter. (fn. 8) His most notable act was the foundation of the priory of Burscough in or before 1189. (fn. 9) He took part in the rebellion of his chief, John, count of Mortain, in 1194, and later in the year paid an instalment of the fine of 20 marks incurred therefor. (fn. 10) He seems to have been married twice; his widow was Amabel daughter of Simon, who was suing her stepson for dower in 1199. Knowsley and Anglezark were subsequently assigned to her. (fn. 11)

Richard son of Robert succeeded. Early in 1201 he had livery of his father's lands, paying for relief of Lathom five marks and a palfrey at Pentecost and the same at Michaelmas. (fn. 12) The survey of 1212 shows that of the three plough-lands which he held de antiquitate in thegnage by a service of 20s., one ploughland, granted to Gospatrick as stated, was then held by Roger son of Gospatrick, his undertenants being Richard and John (1 oxgang for 12d.) and William de Stainford (3 oxgangs for 3s.); one plough-land had been given to Burscough, and half a plough-land was held by Richard de Elsintree for 4s. It would thus appear that only half a plough-land was left in Richard's own hands; probably the demesne of Lathom. (fn. 13)

Richard de Lathom confirmed his father's gifts to the canons of Burscough. (fn. 14) His wife's name was Alice; she survived him, and seems to have married Simon de Grubehead, who received Childwall, Roby, and Anglezark as her dower. (fn. 15) Richard died about 1220 and was succeeded by his eldest son Richard, who had livery of his lands by writ dated 27 January, 1221; he paid 100s. for his relief. (fn. 16) In 1229 a composition was made between him and Benedict, prior of Burscough, as to the corn mills of Lathom and Knowsley, which he held from the canons by a rent of 2s. and also as to Cross Hall. (fn. 17) He was a benefactor of Cockersand Abbey. (fn. 18) He died in the summer of 1232, having no issue by his wife Roesia, whose dower was claimed in the following autumn. (fn. 19)

He was succeeded by his brother Robert, a man of note in the affairs of the county. He confirmed the charter of Burscough and added the land of Adam de Birkes, which his brother Richard had bequeathed with his body, as well as two other plats. (fn. 20) By his marriage with Joan, (fn. 21) sister and coheir of Thomas son of Robert de Alfreton, he became possessed of a moiety of her father's estates in Alfreton, Norton, and Marnham, held of the honour of Tickhill. (fn. 22) She probably died without issue, as these manors did not remain with the Lathom family. Robert was made a knight in 1243 in consequence of the king's writ to enforce knighthood on all who had an estate of fifteen librates of land. (fn. 23) In 1249 the county and castle of Lancaster were committed to Sir Robert, during the king's pleasure. (fn. 24) By this appointment he held the office of sheriff from Easter, 1249, to Michaelmas, 1254; he held it again from Easter, 1264, to Michaelmas, 1265. (fn. 25) His second wife was Joan, daughter of Adam de Millom, (fn. 26) by whom he had several children. From 1277 until his death about 1290, he was engaged in the wars. (fn. 27)

He was succeeded by his son Nicholas, who was quickly followed by his brother Robert. (fn. 28) In 1298 Robert de Lathom held the manor by a service of 20s. and doing suit to the county and wapentake. (fn. 29) In 1304 he obtained a royal charter for markets and fairs on his manors of Lathom and Roby; also of free warren. At the former place there was to be a market every Tuesday, and fair on the eve, feast, and morrow of St. Barnabas. (fn. 30)

He served in the wars and in public offices. (fn. 31) In 1324 he was among those returned by the sheriff as holding land of the value of £15 yearly. (fn. 32) His wife's name was Katherine. (fn. 33) Sir Robert died at the beginning of 1325, (fn. 34) and at the subsequent inquisition (fn. 35) it was found that he had held the manor of Lathom as of the honour of West Derby by the service of 20s. and doing suit to the county every six weeks, and to the wapentake every three weeks. His heir was his son, Thomas de Lathom, then aged twenty-four years or more.

Thomas at once entered into public life and the fulfilment of the duties imposed upon him by his position in the county. (fn. 36) He had already (1322) been appointed a commissioner of array for Lancashire and in 1324 was one of the knights of the shire attending Parliament; in the following year he was appointed a conservator of the peace, and shortly afterwards again nominated a commissioner of array. (fn. 37) In 1339 he obtained a charter of free warren in his demesne lands of Lathom and elsewhere. (fn. 38) In 1340 he was a commissioner for the taxation of the ninth of sheaves, &c. (fn. 39) and was frequently engaged in levying forces in the county to repulse the inroads of the Scots in the reign of Edward III. (fn. 40) He was one of the knight bannerets with the king in the French expedition of 1344 to 1347, his retinue being a knight, eight esquires, and twenty-three archers. (fn. 41) The extent of the county made in 1346 records that he held the manor of Lathom, (fn. 42) and in the inquest taken after the death of Henry, duke of Lancaster (1361), it was found that he held of him a knight's fee in Knowsley, Tarbock, and Huyton. (fn. 43) There are but scanty records of his management of his estates. (fn. 44) He married Eleanor, daughter of Sir John de Ferrars, knight, by whom he had two sons. By his will (1369) he desired to be buried in the priory church of Burscough. (fn. 45)

Sir Thomas de Lathom, the younger, succeeded his father in 1370. He was the Sir Oskell of the Lathom legend. (fn. 46) He made an enfeoffment of his estates in 1376. (fn. 47) He paid his quota of the aid to make the duke of Lancaster's son a knight in 1378. (fn. 48) Two years later he was pardoned certain offences committed within the forest of West Derby, Joan his wife and Edward their son being included in the grant. (fn. 49) His wife Joan was daughter of Hugh Venables of Kinderton; (fn. 50) his children were Thomas, Edward, Isabel, Margaret, and Katherine. (fn. 51) He died at the beginning of 1382, having been lord of Lathom for twelve years. (fn. 52)

His son and heir Thomas had a shorter tenure, dying about eighteen months afterwards; his heiress was a daughter Ellen, born two months after his death. (fn. 53) The widow afterwards married Sir John de Dalton. (fn. 54) The heiress became a ward to the duke of Lancaster; she was still living in 1387, but died before the end of 1390, when the duke ordered John de Audlem and Richard de Longbarrow to continue in possession until further orders. (fn. 55)

After her death the Lathom manors reverted to the younger children of Sir Thomas, and Edward having died, Sir John Stanley received them in right of his wife Isabel. (fn. 56)

The manor continued to descend in the Stanley family (fn. 57) until the sale about 1717. Lathom was their principal residence until its destruction in the Civil Wars, after which Knowsley took its place, though William, the ninth earl of Derby, had some intention of rebuilding it. (fn. 58)

A very complete survey of the manor is contained in the compotus rolls of 13–14 Henry VIII, when the family estates were in the king's hands through the minority of Edward, the third earl of Derby. (fn. 59)

The most famous event connected with Lathom is the siege of 1644. In the previous year, Lord Derby being occupied in the Isle of Man, the countess was summoned by the Parliamentary governor of Manchester to subscribe to the propositions of Parliament, or yield possession of Lathom. She refused, but offered to dismiss all her armed servants except such as were needful for the protection of the household in the disturbed state of the county. This was allowed, but her people were constantly harried; and in the following February it was determined to demand the surrender of the house. The countess had timely notice and made preparations for a siege.

On Tuesday, 27 February, 1643–4, the Parliamentary forces took up positions around the house, at the distance of a mile or more; their leaders were Colonel Ralph Assheton of Middleton and Colonel John Moore of Bank Hall, Liverpool, to whom Colonel Rigby afterwards joined himself, and Ormskirk was chosen as head quarters. Next morning a formal demand was made for its surrender. A week was spent in fruitless negotiations, and the countess having peremptorily rejected the demand for surrender, the besiegers began to raise earthworks. They tried a little further parleying, but this time the countess responded with a sally of a hundred of her men (12 March), who, headed by Captain Farmer, a Scotchman, drove the enemy from their nearer trenches and secured a few prisoners; a similar sally was made on the succeeding Sunday. On Tuesday (19 March) the besiegers brought their first gun into position and next morning opened fire. By the following week several more cannon were available, and on 2 April a mortar was brought into use. No perceptible progress being made, the besiegers devoted themselves to prayer for several days, but on Wednesday 10 April the garrison made another sally, drove the besiegers from their works and spiked many of their guns.

This damage being repaired the attack became more serious, the guns being used more frequently and sometimes even during the night; the mortar in particular caused great annoyance. Easter Tuesday (23 April) was marked by specially vigorous firing, and such damage was done to the Eagle Tower, in the centre of the building, that the countess had to seek another lodging. On the Thursday, Colonel Rigby, now chief commander, sent a new summons to surrender, but the answer was a fierce refusal, the countess declaring that she would set fire to the place and perish therein, rather than surrender to Rigby. At four o'clock next morning (26 April) a determined sally was made in order to capture the mortar, and to the joy of the garrison this terrifying weapon was within a short time brought within the defences. The countess ordered a public thanksgiving. A prisoner captured at the same time revealed the plans of the enemy for stopping the supply of water.

For the next month the besiegers did little, hoping to starve the garrison into surrender; their troops, however, began to grow mutinous. On 23 May Colonel Rigby made another demand for surrender, which was refused as firmly as before; and at night there was news that Prince Rupert was in Cheshire on his way to relieve the place. This was too much for the besiegers, and on the following Monday (27 May) Colonel Rigby withdrew the last of his troops; marching off in the direction of Bolton he encountered the Prince and the earl of Derby, and was routed with considerable slaughter (28 May). Next day the earl presented to his countess 'twentytwo of those colours which three days before were proudly flourished before her house.' (fn. 60)

After this the earl and countess of Derby went to the Isle of Man, and Lathom House was delivered to Prince Rupert to fortify and defend. He placed Captain Rawsthorn in command, with a due store of provisions and ammunition. The second siege was not seriously undertaken until the early summer of 1645. The defeat of the king's forces at Rowton, near Chester (24 September), prevented him from doing anything to relieve the place; but the garrison held out until the beginning of December, when they surrendered on conditions. (fn. 61)

The house was then given up to plunder, and subsequently almost destroyed, two or three little timber buildings being alone left to mark the site of the palatial mansion. (fn. 62)

The earl's estates were sequestrated and afterwards confiscated by the Parliament. Lathom was found to be one of the manors charged with an annuity of £600 to the countess of Lincoln and her children by her first husband, Sir Robert Stanley. (fn. 63) In 1653 Henry Neville and Anthony Samwell contracted to purchase Lathom, Childwall, and some other manors, and others bought various lands in Lathom. (fn. 64) Soon afterwards, however, these manors were again in the possession of the earl. (fn. 65)

Lathom was sold in or about 1717 by Henrietta Maria, then countess of Ashburnham, daughter and heir of William, ninth earl of Derby, the transaction being completed in 1722. The purchaser was Henry Furnesse, described as 'of the parish of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London'; (fn. 66) and two years afterwards he sold it to Thomas Bootle of Melling in Halsall, and of the Inner Temple. (fn. 67)

Thomas Bootle held various public offices, being a baron of the Exchequer of Chester (fn. 68) and Chancellor to Frederick, Prince of Wales. He represented Liverpool as a Tory in Parliament in 1724 and 1727. (fn. 69) He was knighted in 1746. (fn. 70) Dying unmarried in 1753 he was buried at Melling. (fn. 71) Lathom and other estates passed to his brother Robert, a director of the East India Company, born at Maghull in 1693; who dying in 1758 (fn. 72) was succeeded by his only daughter Mary. She married in May, 1755, (fn. 73) Richard Wilbraham, of Rode Hall in Cheshire, descended of an ancient house, who on his succession assumed the surname of Bootle pursuant to the will of Sir Thomas Bootle. (fn. 74) They had a numerous family, of whom Edward Wilbraham, born in 1771, was the eldest surviving son. He obtained the royal licence in 1814 to take the additional surname of Wilbraham, thus becoming Edward Wilbraham Bootle Wilbraham. (fn. 75) He was member of Parliament for various constituencies from 1795 to 1828, and in the latter year was created Baron Skelmersdale of Skelmersdale. He died in 1853, his eldest son Richard having predeceased him in 1844, and was succeeded by Edward Bootle Wilbraham, Richard's only son, born in 1837. He had several official appointments, was a prominent freemason, and held an honourable position of respect and influence in the county. In 1880 he was created earl of Lathom; dying in 1898 he was succeeded by his son, Edward George, born 26 October, 1864, the present earl of Lathom and lord of the manor. The house is a fine building in the Renaissance style with a large park five miles round; it commands a beautiful view.

Bootle of Melling. Gules, on a chevron engrailed between three comb; argent as many crosses patée fitchée of the field.

Wilbraham of Rode Hall. Argent, three bendlets wavy azure.

Wolmoor (fn. 76) was a small estate or manor in Lathom which early in the thirteenth century gave a surname to its owners. These granted part of it to Burscough. (fn. 77) Another small estate called Taldeford, later Tawdbridge, gave its name to the owners. (fn. 78)

BLYTHE

BLYTHE was held in 1189 by Geoffrey Travers, (fn. 79) whose son Henry, called 'de Blythe,' by his charter released to Prior Benedict of Burscough all his claim to mastfall in Tarlscough, Greetby, and Burscough; (fn. 80) Henry also gave to the priory a watercourse running through his Holme to the priory mill of the Bayes. (fn. 81) John and Robert de Blythe occur among the names of subscribers to the stipend of a chaplain at Ormskirk in 1366, (fn. 82) and the latter also in the Poll Tax Roll of 1381. (fn. 83) John de Blythe attested Scarisbrick charters in 1399 and 1401, and was the father of Roger, who in 1397 was charged with breaking into the parsonage house at Crossens. (fn. 84) From him descended Roger Blythe, whose daughter and heir Margaret by her marriage with John Blakelache (or Blackledge) conveyed the estate to this family. (fn. 85)

Evan Blackledge (fn. 86) by his will, made in July, 1565, desired to be buried in Ormskirk church 'on the north side of an overlay or stone under which Bishop Blackledge was buried.' (fn. 87) His brother John succeeded him, and in 1576 made an exchange of lands with Ralph Langley. (fn. 88) He was followed by Evan Blackledge, apparently his son, who in 1593 made a settlement upon the marriage of his son John with Margaret, daughter of Henry Walton of Little Hoole. (fn. 89) Evan died at Lathom on 31 January, 1612–13, seised of Blythe Hall and other lands, John, his son and heir, being then aged forty-two years and more. (fn. 90) John Blackledge contributed to the subsidy of 1628. (fn. 91) He was succeeded by another Evan, probably his son, who died in or before 1658, leaving three sons— John, James, and Thomas. The first of these married in 1658 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Jodrell of Leek, (fn. 92) but died without issue before 1683, and was succeeded by his brother James, a pewterer of London. The latter's son Evan, described as 'of the parish of St. John, Wapping, gentleman, and of Blythe Hall,' sold the Lathom estate to William Hill of Burscough in 1698. William Hill, junior, in 1761 conveyed the estate to William Shaw and John Sephton, probably as trustees. (fn. 93) About 1800 it was purchased by Thomas Langton, who in 1826 sold it to Edward Bootle Wilbraham, from whom it has descended to the present earl of Lathom. (fn. 94)

A family bearing the local name of Ellerbeck once resided in Lathom; one of them became prior of Burscough. (fn. 95)

Alton or Olton, later New Park, is mentioned in 1189 in the charter of Burscough Priory. The name suggests an early place of settlement in the township. In 1198 it appears to have been a hamlet. (fn. 96) There was a small ford over Edgeacre (Eller) Brook, lying to the south of Blythe, which is more than once described as the ford which leads from Alton to Harleton. (fn. 97) In course of time, perhaps in the fifteenth century, it had ceased to be a hamlet, and the lords of Lathom turned it into a park, called Lady Park, or New Park. (fn. 98) The earls of Derby occasionally kept house here. (fn. 99) It now forms part of the Cross Hall property.

CROSS HALL

CROSS HALL may have taken its name from a cross erected here by the Burscough canons. The boundaries are detailed in the early charter of Burscough Priory. (fn. 100) A later deed, dated 1229 and entitled 'charter of the rent of Cross Hall,' grants an annual rent of 2s. from this land, payable by Roger and Reginald of the Cross and their successors on behalf of Richard de Lathom. (fn. 101) The tenants seem to have been Welshmen; they are called le Waleys, and were perhaps kinsmen of the Aughton family. Richard le Waleys was said by the prior of Burscough to have erected a horse mill within the latter's 'Land of the Cross; 'but the parties came to an arrangement by which Richard acknowledged the prior's title and received the mill as tenant at a rent of 12d. (fn. 102) Another agreement, made about 1280, allowed the prior certain rights of way over Richard le Waleys' land. (fn. 103)

In 1309 Richard le Waleys of the Cross, the younger, complained that William de Codesbecke, Robert of the Cross the elder, and Adam his brother, had disseised him of his free tenement in Lathom; the estate had been mortgaged to Eustace de Codesbecke, (fn. 104) deceased, whose debt had not been paid. (fn. 105) The Cross family retained an interest in the place to the end of the fourteenth century, the lords of Lathom being superior to them as tenants of the prior of Burscough. (fn. 106)

Afterwards it appears to have reverted to the Stanleys as successors to the Lathoms, and in the accounts already quoted may be noticed the rent of 3s. paid to the prior of Burscough. It came into the ownership of the earls of Derby together with other lands of the priory. (fn. 107) A junior branch of this family had Cross Hall on lease from the earl, (fn. 108) and Sir Thomas Stanley of Bickerstaffe was still holding it in 1653. (fn. 109)

Sir Thomas Stanley's eldest son was ancestor of the earls of Derby. His second son, Peter, (fn. 110) was father of Thomas Stanley of Cross Hall, high sheriff in 1718, (fn. 111) who died in 1733, (fn. 112) and to whose son Charles the tenth earl of Derby bequeathed Cross Hall. (fn. 113) His male issue failing it devolved, in virtue of the terms of the bequest, on the issue of Dr. Thomas Stanley, rector of Winwick, the present owner being Mr. Edward James Stanley.

Apparently adjoining the estate of Cross Hall was a messuage called Cross Place, in Westhead. This was held until the end of the fourteenth century by the Cross family, and in the succeeding century passed to the Woodwards of Shevington. It is now the property of the trustees of the late Charles Scarisbrick. (fn. 114)

Westhead was apparently occupied by small freeholders from early times. (fn. 115) A grant made by Robert de Lathom in 1292–3 to Robert, his tailor, probably refers to land here. (fn. 116)

The lands of several persons in Lathom were confiscated and sold by the Parliament in 1652: John Wainwright, John Gregson, Richard Moss (a skinner), George Rigmaiden, and William Speakman. (fn. 117) John Speakman of Scarisbrick, as a 'Papist,' registered an estate here and at Ormskirk in 1717; and John Stock one here and at Newburgh. (fn. 118)

In 1792 the principal contributor to the land tax was R. Wilbraham Bootle; the others included T. Stanley of Cross Hall, W. Hill of Blythe Hall, Mr. Ashton's heirs and W. Johnson's heirs.

An Enclosure Act for Lathom and Skelmersdale was passed in 1778. (fn. 119)

NEW BURGH

NEW BURGH village is on elevated ground, sloping to north and east down to the Douglas; on the south the ground rises gently. The annual cattle fair, held on 20 June and made free in 1853, has lost much of its old prestige, but it is still celebrated with a great ingathering of the country-side for the amusements provided. The stalls and booths are erected on the village green, on a little knoll where are some remains of the ancient cross. 'Fairing cakes,' like Eccles cakes, are made and sent to friends. The weekly market has been discontinued. The old schoolhouse, built in 1714, stands at the west end of the village. (fn. 120) A court-leet is still held. (fn. 121)

A mock corporation—probably a relic of the ancient borough—once held its meetings here. The custom was for the villagers to assemble annually round the village cross and elect a new mayor. The last minute book, 1827–32, is extant.

A century ago the best cheese in the country was made here and at Leigh. There seems also to have been a small pottery. (fn. 122)

The name indicates that a borough had been formed. In 1385, Isabel, widow of Thomas de Lathom, had a rent of 8 marks of the freeholders of Newburgh as part of her dower right. (fn. 123) The accounts of the Derby estates during the minority of Edward, third earl of Derby, show that the ancient burgage rent was 1s. (fn. 124)

The manor became distinct from Lathom and has remained with the earls of Derby to the present time.

The school at Newburgh was founded in 1714 by the Rev. Thomas Crane.

LATHOM CHAPEL

LATHOM CHAPEL is a picturesque little building of c. 1500, in plan a plain rectangle 20 ft. wide internally by 61 ft. long. The east gable and five-light window remain unaltered, but the north and south walls are hidden by a coating of modern cement, and the windows are all modernized, with wooden mullions and plain four-centred heads. The west wall is partly hidden by the almshouse buildings, and is surmounted by an octagonal bell-turret with embattled cornice and short octagonal spirelet, capped by a stone ball in place of its original finial. The internal fittings of the church are modern, of the style of the early Gothic revival, with pulpit, reading-desk, and lectern to the west of a chancel screen with two rows of plain stalls, and at the west end an organ gallery carried by iron columns, with a plain octagonal font beneath it.

The chapel forms the north-east angle of a group of buildings, a row of almshouses adjoining it on the west, and a vestry and school building on the southeast. It is to be noted that the centre of the east window is 9 in. to the south of the centre line of the chapel, the error being probably one of setting-out only, but there may have been some reason for it, such as to provide extra space for the niche holding the statue of the patron saint, which would be set up on the north side of the window.

A chantry was founded in the new chapel at Lathom, to which a hospital was attached, by Thomas second earl of Derby in 1500. (fn. 125) In 1509 it was formally sanctioned by the bishop of Lichfield, the chapel to be consecrated by Huan, bishop of Sodor. (fn. 126) In 1548 the priest, John Moody, was fulfilling his duties according to the founder's wishes, and as the chapel was three miles from the parish church of Ormskirk he had licence to minister sacraments and sacramentals there for the benefit of the neighbourhood. (fn. 127)

The foundation, so far as concerned the almshouse, either escaped destruction in 1547–8 or was soon refounded. In 1614 it was described as a 'small chapel to Ormskirk,' served by 'a curate with a small pension.' (fn. 128) The minister has usually been styled the Almoner. In 1650 the almsmen sent to the Parliamentary Commissioners a protest against the confiscation of their endowment, although it was derived from lands of the earl of Derby. (fn. 129)

In October, 1686, an inquiry was held at Wigan as to the earl of Derby's right to dismiss the master or almoner; William Norris, clerk, who had been frequently absent from duty and otherwise neglectful, claiming a freehold. The earl's right appears to have been upheld. (fn. 130)

In 1827 the Charity Commissioners found that thirteen poor persons by ancient custom received £3 6s. yearly apiece; six of these pensioners lived in the almonry. The chapel attached was a domestic chapel, but was attended by residents in the neighbourhood who had permission to do so. The minister was nominated by the owner of Lathom House; the bishop of the diocese had no jurisdiction. (fn. 131)

A settlement of the endowment was made in 1845, when a rent-charge of £145, issuing from a messuage called Pennington in Upholland, was granted. There are thirteen pensioners, each receiving £3 6s. a year; the chapel clerk has £3, and the chaplain or almoner the rest. The chapel is used for ordinary services as well as a domestic chapel. (fn. 132)

The church of St. John the Baptist stands at Burscough Bridge, but is situated on the Lathom side of the township boundary. It was begun in 1827 and opened in 1832, the cost being defrayed partly by a parliamentary grant. (fn. 133) The district chapelry was constituted in 1847. (fn. 134) St. James's, Lathom, was built in 1850 by the earl of Derby; a district chapelry was assigned to it ten years later. (fn. 135) Christ Church, Newburgh, was built in 1857, and a new parish was formed in 1871. (fn. 136)

There are Wesleyan chapels at Hoscar Moss and Moss Lane, but the Independent chapel formerly at Ashbrow, Newburgh, has disappeared.

Burscough Hall, now belonging to St. John's Roman Catholic church, is said to have taken its name from the Burscough family. (fn. 137) The house, in the seventeenth century the property of the Longs, (fn. 138) recusants, was in 1667 granted to Peter Lathom of Bispham, founder of the now very important Lathom charity, who early in 1700 leased it for 999 years at a rent of £10 to John Heyes. (fn. 139) This was in trust for the mission. About this time Thomas Gorsuch, eldest son of James Gorsuch, of Scarisbrick, was tenant. It has been used continually for religious purposes since that time. (fn. 140) The first priest known to have resided here with any regularity was James Gorsuch. (fn. 141) In 1759 the chapel in the house was improved at a cost of £80. The present chapel and presbytery, near the old hall, were built about 1819 by William Coghlan, son of the publisher, he himself giving about a third of the total cost, £1,520. The church has since been altered and improved. (fn. 142) There is a cemetery attached, consecrated in 1890.

Footnotes

  • 1. 8,695, including 60 of inland water; census of 1901.
  • 2. Lond. Gaz. 24 Sept. 1872.
  • 3. H. Taylor, in Trans. Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 153–7.
  • 4. Lancs. and Ches. Hist. and Gen. Notes, ii, 7, 9, 115. It is described as 'a chalybeate water or spa, called Maudlins Well, which has wrought many remarkable cures.' From the name here given it appears to have been a holy well, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, to whom, as will have been noticed, one of the chantries in Ormskirk church was dedicated. See also H. Taylor, loc. cit.
  • 5. V.C.H. Lancs. i, 284b.
  • 6. Lancs. Inquests and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 16.
  • 7. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 57. See the account of Flixton. His descendants held Childwall, &c. of the same barony.
  • 8. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 12, 15.
  • 9. Ibid. 349. Robert gave a ridding to the nunnery at Chester. In 1534–5 the nuns had a rent of 4s. from Lathom.
  • 10. Ibid. 77, 89. He received a grant of Anglezark from Albert Grelley the younger; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, 58.
  • 11. See the account of Knowsley.
  • 12. Rot. de Oblatis (Rec. Com.), 116. Richard's name appears earlier, together with his father's, as a witness to the foundation charter of Lytham Priory, between 1189 and 1194. He was one of the knights who made the survey of 1212.
  • 13. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, 16. Nothing further is known of the undertenants, but it is probable that their holdings are represented by the free rents mentioned below.
  • 14. Burscough Reg. fol. 1b.
  • 15. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 131; 'Alice, who was the wife of Richard son of Robert, was of the king's donation; she has been married. Her land is worth 20s.' Also Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 44, 76. For Simon de Grubehead see the account of Scarisbrick.
  • 16. Fine R. Excerpts (Rec. Com.), i, 60.
  • 17. The 2s. from the mills was thenceforward to be paid by Lathom Mill, Simon the miller and his successors being chargeable with it; and 'when the said Richard shall have gone the way of all flesh, the mills shall return to the prior and canons freely and wholly, without gainsay by anyone, and the 2s. paid for the mills shall cease'; Burscough Reg, fol. 6.
  • 18. He granted land in the Wythares in Lathom, between the land of Swain on the north unto the Mosilache, following this lache to Alton gate, thence to the nearest ditch on the west, and so back to Swain's land; the brethren's crosses indicate the boundary; Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 595.
  • 19. Cur. Reg. R. 111, m. 16.
  • 20. Burscough Reg. fol. 3, 3b. One of these had been held by Stephen son of Richard de Alton; the bounds began at the ford of Hurleton, ascending the watercourse to Pilatecroft, around this to the watercourse, following this to the church road from Alton; by this road to Blacklache, by this to Fulshaw, and following Fulshaw to Hurleton Ford; saving the exit of Richard de Riding from the great lache by Pilatecroft unto the little lache which extends to the ford of Richard. The second grant was of all the land of Richard de Riding, for the fabric (operi) of the priory church. He also gave half a plough-land in Childwall to the monks of Stanlaw; Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc.), ii, 551.
  • 21. Otherwise Amicia; Mon. Angl. vi, 8.
  • 22. By writ of 11 Feb. 1242, he had seisin of these estates, having done homage and given security for the payment of his relief—£7 10s., the usual render for a knight's fee and a half. Later (27 May) he proffered £100 and 15 marks (in lieu of three palfreys) for wardship of the other moiety, belonging to Thomas de Chaworth, son of his wife's sister Alice, and it was granted to him; Fine R. 26 Hen. III, pt. i, m. 9; and pt. ii, m. 6. In the Chart. R. of 36 Hen. III is the grant of a market at Alfreton to Robert de Lathom and Thomas de Chaworth; Robert afterwards released to Thomas all his right in the lordship. By the inquest taken about Christmas, 1242, to inquire as to the knights' fees which should contribute to the scutage of Gascony, it was found that in Notts. Robert de Lathom held two-thirds of a knight's fee in Alfreton and Norton of Alice, countess of Eu, and half a knight's fee of the earl of Leicester in Edwalton of ancient feoffment; while in Lancs. he held one fee in Knowsley, Huyton, and Roby of the earl of Lincoln, and other fees in Childwall, Parbold, and Wrightington, of the baron of Manchester; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 148, 154.
  • 23. Close R. 56, m. 4 d.
  • 24. Fine R. 33 Hen. III, pt. i, m. 7. The grant was repeated in 1254; Originalia R. 1, p. 13.
  • 25. P.R.O. List of Sheriffs, 72. It is possible that he was sheriff continuously from 1249 to 1255, those whose names appear in the list of sheriffs being his deputies. In Sept. 1266, the king excused his coming to give account at the Exchequer for the period during which he had been sheriff, on the ground that he was then, by the king's order, staying in Lancs. with horses and arms to keep watch over the king's peace there; Close R. 87, m. 1.
  • 26. Chartul. of Beauchief Abbey. In 1260 Robert de Lathom and Joan his wife had a dispute with the abbot of Furness concerning the advowson of Millom; Cur. Reg. R. 166, m. 21 d. and 169, m. 22. Connected with this marriage is the subject of the two coats borne by Robert de Lathom. In a roll of arms (Harl. MS. 6589) of this period he is said to have borne 'gules, fretty vair'; but about 1250 he sealed a charter of manumission of Roger son of Gunhilda, and this seal bears the coat subsequently used by the family—'or, on a chief indented azure, three plates.' The former coat may have been that of his second wife's family. The grant just mentioned included also a grant of land in Lathom, the boundaries beginning at Gerald's Well; William, prior of Burscough, was a witness. Another charter of about the same date gave to Robert son of Ughtred de Lathom land on the western side of Scakersdale, the bounds beginning at Bradeyate Ford, touching the road from Lathom to Ormskirk as far as Brechehale Syke, crossing to Deepdale and going down to Marcheal Ford; there were reservations as to the use of this ford, as also of mastfall in his park and in Burscough. The charters are from Towneley MSS. GG. 1278, RR 1060; RR. 891 and GG. 1334. For a manumission by fine in 1246 see Final Conc. (Rec. Soc.), i, 88.
  • 27. Palgrave, Parl. Writs, i, 698. In 1277 he was summoned to serve against Llewelyn prince of Wales, and again in 1282; five years later he had to appear with horse and arms at a military council at Gloucester before Edmund earl of Cornwall, and in 1291 he or his son Robert was called to serve against the Scots. One of his latest acts at Lathom was an agreement in 1287 with the canons of Burscough, relating to certain lands there and the mill, and other points in dispute. The prior and canons surrendered their mills to him, with the right to construct others also, provided that any new one should not be set up on Scakerdale Brook nor on the Burscough side of Alton, and that they might have the right to construct mills within their own lands; in return he gave them 40 acres of land by the king's highway from Burscough to Wirplesmoss. Burscough Reg. fol. 16b.
  • 28. Nothing seems to be known about Nicholas de Lathom, but the fact of his succession is certain from a pleading by his brother and heir Robert in 1302; De Banc. R. 144, m. 184d.
  • 29. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 287.
  • 30. Chart. R. 97 (32 Edw. I), m. 1, n. 12. The market and fair for Lathom were held at Newburgh, as appears by the extracts from the accounts of 1522–3 given below.
  • 31. He was one of those charged in 1307 with the equipment of a thousand footmen for service in Scotland, where the king's 'enemy and rebel, Robert de Brus, was lurking amid the moors and mosses'; Cal. Pat. R. 1301–7, p. 509. In 1309 he was again summoned to serve against the Scots. He was also a conservator of the peace for the county and a collector of several subsidies; Palgrave, Parl. Writs, ii (iii), 1078.
  • 32. Ibid.
  • 33. She survived him and married, secondly, Sir John de Denum, who, however, did not live long. Katherine, as widow of Sir Robert de Lathom, continued to hold a share of his estates for many years; see e.g. the account of Huyton and Final Conc. ii, 138.
  • 34. The writ Diem clausit extremum was issued on 7 Mar. 1324–5; Fine R. 124, m. 1. He made an agreement in 1322 as to boundaries with the prior of Burscough, by which it would appear that the present southern boundaries of Ormskirk were secured; 'the highest point of a place called Scarth' stood on the line. Burscough Reg. fol. 11. Two of his charters have been preserved by Towneley. One is a grant of land in Lathom to John son of Hanne and Alice his wife; and the other, of land in Lathom 'lying towards Wolmoor,' to Adam son of Richard son of Osbert; Towneley MSS. GG. nn. 2245, 1342. Kuerden mentions a grant to Robert the Tailor; iii, W. 30. See also Final Conci, 189–91; ii, 31, 47, 59; Assize R. 420, m. 1; R. 423, m. 2d.
  • 35. Chanc. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. II, n. 79; printed in Whalley Coucher, ii, 552. The account of Lathom states that the messuage was worth yearly, as in the fruits of the garden, 6s. 8d. There were 200 acres of arable land, worth £5; 40 acres of ridded land (terra frissa), worth 13s. 4d.; 40 acres of meadow, worth 60s.; plots of several pasture, worth yearly in summer 55s.; the park, as for grazing in the summer, was worth 26s. 8d. There was a water-mill rented at £4; also a windmill, ruinous and decayed, worth 6s. 8d. The rent of the free tenants amounted to £26 13s. 4d.; the profits of the hallmotes, held twice a year, averaged about 10s. An enfeoffment of part of his estates had been made to him and his wife jointly; this included a messuage and plough-land and wood of 3 acres in Lathom, held of the prior of Burscough by the service or 3s. yearly.
  • 36. The inquest of 1324–7 states that he held the manors of Lathom and Scarisbrick and the advowsons of the priory of Burscough and the church of Ormskirk; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, 33b. This inquest, made in 1323, was imperfectly corrected to bring it up to date; thus after stating that 'Thomas de Lathom tenet,' &c., it proceeds in the next paragraph, 'Idem Robertus tenet,' &c.
  • 37. Palgrave, Parl. Writs, ii, 1078, where many details of these and the like appointments will be found. Also Cal. Pat. R.; Pink and Beavan's Lancs. Parl. Representation, 20.
  • 38. Cal. Pat. R. 1338–40, 396.
  • 39. Ibid. 1340–3, p. 27.
  • 40. R. Scot. i, 282, &c.
  • 41. Staff. Hist. Coll. xviii, pt. 2, passim. He was in the third division, the king's, at Cressy (p. 35).
  • 42. Ancient MS. copy in possession of W. Farrer, fol. 17. The entry reads: 'Thomas de Lathom, knight, holds the manor of Lathom, which is 3 plough-lands, with the patronage of the priory of Burscough and of the Church of Ormskirk, in thegnage, rendering yearly at the four terms 20s., with relief, suit to county and wapentake, and puture; whereof the prior of Burscough holds the moiety of the aforesaid land.' In the aid granted to the king in the same year he was returned as holding those fees which Robert de Lathom formerly held. In 1361 also, Sir Thomas had licence for his oratories within the diocese of Lichfield; Lich. Epis. Reg. v, fol. 7.
  • 43. Inq. p.m. 35 Edw. III, pt. i, n. 122.
  • 44. In 1357 he acquired from William de Clives of Aughton and Ellen his wife two messuages and 20 acres of land and acres of moor in Lathom; Final Conc. ii, 155. The plot of pasture called Horscar, with the issues (le pele) of the Thorny thwait and Malkins Yard and from there to the bounds of Rufford, was in 1364 let to farm to Gilbert son of Richard de Ince of Aughton, 160 marks being paid down and a rose to be the annual rent. The ground included meadows between the Douglas and town fields; a right of way for carrying turf was reserved. Duchy of Lanc. Anct. D. L1211.
  • 45. Scarisbrick D. (in Trans. Hist. Soc. New Ser. xiii), n. 102. He bequeathed to the prior and canons 100s. to pray for him, and other sums to the friars of Warrington, Preston, and Chester; also £20 for a chaplain to celebrate divine offices for him for five years. To the bridge of Douglas and Calder he gave two marks. After legacies to his [younger] son Edward, servants, and others, he desired that the residue of his goods should be spent in alms for the souls of himself and Eleanor his wife.
  • 46. Bishop Stanley's poem in Halliwell's Palatine Anthology, 217; Seacome's History of the Stanley Family, 46; Harland and Wilkinson, Legends and Traditions, 19.
  • 47. Final Conc. ii, 190. There is said to have been a supplementary fine, to which Sir Thomas and his wife Joan were parties, providing that, failing the issue of his son Thomas, their daughter Isabel and her heirs male were next in succession; Lancs. Inq. (Chet. Soc.), ii, p. iv. Some such entail was the basis of the claim by Sir John Stanley in 1385; see below.
  • 48. Harl. MS. 2085, fol. 421.
  • 49. Dep. Keeper's Rep. xliii, App. 1, n. 3.
  • 50. Dods. MSS. lxxxvii, 10, 11.
  • 51. Edward was probably still living in 1383, when his uncle Edward is called 'senior.'
  • 52. The writ of Diem clausit extr. was issued 21 Mar. 1381–2; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.) i, 18–20; here is described his melancholy end (see the account of Knowsley). In 1391 there was an inquiry as to the legitimacy of the marriage of Sir Thomas and Joan; but the bishop of Lichfield decided in its favour; Pal. of Lanc. Misc. bdle. 1, n. 53, 54; Lich. Epis. Reg. vi, fol. 79b.
  • 53. He died 3 Nov. 1383, and the writ of Diem clausit extr. was issued 1 Feb. 1383–4; Lancs. Inq. (Chet. Soc.), i, 10, 11, 17, 20. There is certainly a mistake in the date of the first cited inquest; as it stands this inquiry, alleged to be taken on 3 July, 1383, is immediately followed by another into the lands of John Kekewich, who died six months later. The first date should be 3 July, 1384, and the inquest certainly relates to the younger Thomas. This clears away the alleged double Lathom-Pilkington marriage. As the regnal year for Richard II began on 22 June the error of carrying the seventh year a week or so later is easily explained.
  • 54. On 1 Feb. 1384–5 a writ of de dote assignanda was issued to the escheator to give Isabel, the widow of Thomas de Lathom, her reasonable dower of the manor of Lathom, except in a parcel which she claimed to have held jointly with her husband. She was to take oath not to marry without the duke's consent, but nevertheless did so marry; Pal. of Lanc. Chan. R. 3, 191; Lancs. Inq. (Chet. Soc.), i, 20. The excepted tenements, which she afterwards obtained, were Horscar, Deep meadow by Rufford, Robinfield in Horscar, Calverhey, and Walton Riding, and a yearly rent of 8 marks of the freeholders of Newburgh; Journ. Arch. Assoc. vi, 416. Sir John de Dalton and Isabel, having knowingly contracted matrimony within the fourth degree, incurred excommunication, and after separation and licence to re-marry they were dispensed by Boniface IX in 1391, their issue to be legitimate; Cal. Papal Letters, iv, 412.
  • 55. Lancs. Inq. (Chet. Soc.), i, 20, 21.
  • 56. He had put in a claim in 1385, probably on his marriage with her; ibid. 21. She had previously been the wife of Sir Geoffrey de Worsley, but the union was declared unlawful; see the account of Worsley.
  • 57. See the account of Knowsley.
  • 58. Seacome, House of Stanley, 405 (ed. 1793). Leland, who visited the place about 1540, writes thus: 'Lathom, most part of stone. The chiefest house of the earl of Derby. Two miles from Ormskirk'; Itin. vii, 47. Several events in the history of Lathom, such as the visit of Henry VII, are noticed in the account of Knowsley.
  • 59. In Lathom proper the assized rents of the free tenants, according to a rental made in 1464, amounted to £6 18s. 8½d.; increments of rents, due partly to natural increase of value and partly to the improvements of the wastes, and the erection of cottages, amounted to 21s. 1d.; and rents of tenants at will to £56 18s. 7d., with an increment (from 10 acres in Greetby) of 4s. 8d. Demesne lands outside the park yielded 175s. 8d.; the herbage of Horscar meadow, £15 18s.; the dovecote, which formerly brought in 13s. 4d., had fallen to the ground many years before, and its stones had been used to build the external walls of the manor house; from turbary on Horscar moor, Scarth moor, and Lathom moss, 24s. 6d. was received. More interesting are the values of the 'averages' or works of the tenants, which had long since been commuted for money payments. Sixpence each was paid for the works of 69 ploughs ploughing for one day on the lord's land; and 2d. was the price of each workman and his food for the 70 days' work to be done—one man giving one day. The money value was 46s. 2d. in all. No courts had been held during the year for Lathom or Newburgh, so that no profits had to be accounted for. There were no swarms of bees, and no 'casuals' for gressums, wardships, marriages, or reliefs. The fair at Newburgh at the feast of St. Barnabas showed a profit to the lord of 3s. 2d., but the expenses of the bailiff and two underbailiffs, collecting tolls and keeping order, amounted to 3s. 3d.; there was thus a net loss of 1d. The various ancient rents paid are also of interest. To the king, for the lordship of Lathom, 20s. was duly paid; also 8s. for Scarisbrook and Hurleton; to the abbot of Cockersand for Birkinshaw Place 12d.; to the prior of Burscough for Edgeacre 3s., for Cross Hall 3s., and for Walmer's lands in Lathom 6d. The rents which showed a decrease were next considered. The fulling mill, formerly yielding 26s. 8d., had been in ruins for many years past; and the fishery in the Douglas, which should have brought in 12d., showed no result for default of conduit. The new almshouses had taken 3½ acres, from which, of course, no rent was now derived. A newly-erected hospitium, with its land, and Wolton shaw (most of which had been included in the New Park) had also to be allowed for; as also the fees of the accountant and the moss-looker. Various expenses were incurred, as for mowing and carting hay to the deer-houses, for repairing the rails of the park, and mending the head of the new dam within the Great Park. Another account was rendered by Sir William Stanley and Andrew Barton concerning the demesne lands within the park, they being farmers of the agistment of the Great Park, the New (or Lady's) Park, the Horscar, &c. The terms of the lease forbade any hunting or waste of the lord's deer or wild beasts, or any cutting down of timber or underwood. The fields occupied with the lord's deer and cattle were called Overton, Bromefield, the Launde, Tillington, Taldford field, &c.; a close in the Old Park was known as Laithwaite Place. These particulars have been taken from a roll in the possession of the earl of Lathom; other rolls are among the records of the Court of Augmentation.
  • 60. Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 159–86; from Harl. MS. 2074. The notes show the principal differences between this narrative and that of Seacome in his House of Stanley. Another account is in the Lancs. War (Chet. Soc.), 46–9.
  • 61. Civil War Tracts, 209–13; principally from Seacome, House of Stanley (ed. 1793), 253–78. See also Lancs. War (Chet. Soc.), 60–63; here it is stated that Colonel Egerton of Shaw was the commander of the besieging force. Some letters relating to the second siege are printed in Local Gleanings Lancs. and Ches. i, 1, 4, 7, 11.
  • 62. Even the Parliamentarians could not refrain from expressing regret at this destruction: 'It was the glory of the county. The earls, lords thereof, were esteemed by most about them with little less respect than kings;' Lancs. War (Chet. Soc.), 63. Some documents relating to its destruction will be found in Seacome (ed. 1793), 394–402. A record of various discoveries on the site made between 1857 and 1884 may be seen in W. Lea's Ormskirk Handbook, 95–7. Among other things in restoring the saloon or drawing-room it was found '(1) that the north wall of the room . . . . . is extremely old and built of rubble stone; and (2) that the whole of the south front of the present house is built up to and abuts upon this ancient wall.'
  • 63. Royalist Comp. P. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 147, &c. This charge was allowed.
  • 64. Ibid. 238, 239, 236. Lands there were assigned to the earl a little later; ibid. 232.
  • 65. Possibly the sale was not completed. Letters by the earl of Derby dated from Lathom are printed in Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 167 (1683) and 269 (1692). Lathom and other manors were included in a settlement of the estate of Henrietta Maria, wife of the earl of Anglesey, made in 1708; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 260, m. 53.
  • 66. Henry Furnesse was purchaser of the manor of Lathom, the demesne and park, under a decree of the Court of Chancery made 4 July, 1719, in a cause depending between the Hon. Henrietta Bridget Ashburnham, only daughter and heir of Henrietta Maria, Lady Ashburnham, deceased, an infant and others, v. John Lord Ashburnham. Then, on 15 March, 1721–2, Lord Ashburnham and others sold to Henry Furnesse. From Deeds at Lathom House. A private Act was passed in 1720 for confirming the manor of Lathom, &c., to Richard Waring and others, subject to the trusts to which the same were liable and discharged of a clause in the letters patent of Charles I for reconveying the reversion in fee to the crown; 7 Geo. I, c. 29.
  • 67. Deed at Lathom House, dated 13 July, 1725; it recites an agreement of 16 Sept. 1724 between the parties for the sale of Lathom Hall and 'the nomination or presentation to the almshouse chapel in the said manor, and also the nomination of poor persons to the almshouse.' The price was £21,075. No detailed account can be given of the Bootle family. They probably took their surname from the township adjoining Liverpool. Henry de Bootle had lands in Melling as early as 1317; Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 85–293; he was defendant in a case brought against him at Lancaster assizes 1324–5 by Nicholas de Bootle touching lands there; Assize R. 426, m. 37. Henry de Bootle (1327) had sons, Thomas, John, and Henry, to whom their father gave lands in Melling, which he had himself received from his father; Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 85–293. Possibly the father was also named Henry, for Nicholas de Bootle was son of a Henry de Bootle; this Nicholas had grants from Robert de Byron early in the fourteenth century; Croxteth D. U. bdle. ii, n. 1, 4. He paid 2s. in Melling to the subsidy of 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 24. An Adam de Bootle paid 18d. at the same time and place; ibid. Robert de Bootle, son of Nicholas, in 1364 gave land to Richard de Rainford, and the reversion of the third part held by Cecily, the grantor's mother; Croxteth D., U. bdle. ii, n. 5. Possibly he was the Robert de Bootle who paid 4s. to the subsidy of 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. loc. cit. A Hugh Bootle of Liverpool occurs in the next century; he had a son and heir Thomas (who predeceased him) and a grandson Hugh; Crosse D. (Trans. Hist. Soc. New Ser. v-ix), n. 139. Hugh, senior, had also brothers Henry and John, and other children, Henry and Alice; Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 47. He died in 1438 or 1439; ibid. and Crosse D, n. 139. He and his son Thomas are mentioned in 1432–3; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 230, n. 23. More secure ground is reached in 1548. In this year Robert Bootle of Melling held lands in Thornton by Sefton in right of his wife Elizabeth; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 142. He paid 8s. to the subsidy in 1558–9; Lay Subs. Lancs. bdle. 131, n. 272. His son, according to the Visit. of 1664–5 (Chet. Soc. 45), was Thomas Bootle of Melling, described as 'gentleman' in the inquisition taken after his death, by which he was found to have held lands in Melling, Maghull, Kirkby, and Aughton; also in Haskayne and Downholland. He died at Melling 10 Oct. 1597, and was succeeded by his son Robert, then aged thirty and more; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. (42 Eliz.), xvii, n. 57. This inquisition recites a settlement of lands upon Robert Bootle and his sons Ferdinand and Edmund. These are not mentioned in the visitation cited above, which makes Robert's son and heir to be Thomas, born about 1602, and still living in 1664, when he recorded this pedigree. Robert Bootle was one of the freeholders living in the hundred in 1600; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 240. He was buried in Melling 18 Feb. 1632. Ch. Reg. The son Thomas, just mentioned, had in 1651 a lease from Richard, Lord Molyneux, of Simonswood House and lands; deed at Lathom. His dwelling at Melling had five hearths in 1666. Hearth Tax, bdle. 250, n. 9. He died in 1681, and was buried at Melling. Ch. Reg. Thomas Bootle had several children; the eldest son was Thomas, aged thirty in 1664; the others were Edward, afterwards described as 'of Manchester' (deed at Lathom), Matthew, and Robert; Visit. loc. cit. Matthew Bootle mentions a brother Abraham living at Warrington; Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 141, 143, 181; the same volume has other notices of the family. To Robert his father in 1669 assigned the demesne lands of Simonswood; deed at Lathom. To the eldest son, Thomas, Chas. II granted the bailiwick of West Derby wapentake for life. He survived his father some twelve years, being buried at Melling 18 Dec. 1693; Ch. Reg. There is an extraordinary allusion to him in a letter by the vicar of Walton (28 Dec. 1693): 'Mr. Bootle has gone into the other world and was, some time before he fell sick, stripped of all relation to Mr. Molyneux's concerns. He was not, indeed, a good man, but had been good to the interest of Croxteth, without reaping any advantage from its service; but so the devil uses to reward his drudge'; Kenyon MSS. 279. His son Caryll— named after Caryll, Lord Molyneux—was then an infant, whose mother Jane, in 1699, had a lease of various houses and land in Melling and Kirkby for his benefit; deed at Lathom. On 10 Aug. 1708, as Caryll Bootle of Liverpool, he sold to John Plumbe the bailiwick of the wapentake, and on 18 March, 1712, William Clayton and John Earle of Liverpool transferred Caryll Bootle's lands in Melling to Thomas Bootle of the Inner Temple; deed at Lathom. Caryll seems to have died unmarried. He was buried at Melling in 1710; Ch. Reg. The Thomas Bootle who had Caryll's lands was the son of the above-mentioned Robert, and therefore a first cousin of Caryll.
  • 68. Lancs. and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 68.
  • 69. Pink and Beavan, Lancs. Parl. Represent. 197–8.
  • 70. See a letter of his and further references in Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MS. Com.), 473, 475, 490–1.
  • 71. For the order of the funeral on 26 Jan. 1754, see Pal. Note Book, iii, 30.
  • 72. There are monuments to Sir Thomas and Robert Bootle in Melling Church.
  • 73. Married at St. Andrew's, Holborn, 31 May, 1755. This and the particulars in the text are derived from the pedigrees at the College of Arms.
  • 74. He represented Chester in several Parliaments; Parl. Return, ii, 162, &c. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
  • 75. Cockayne, Complete Peerage; also Pedigrees in Baines' Lancs. (ed. Croston), v, 262, and Ormerod's Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii, 55.
  • 76. Wolvemor, 1202; Wllemor, c. 1210; Wlmore, c. 1270.
  • 77. Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 4, p. 197. There were both Great and Little Wolmoor, which lay to the west of Leikeththeit or Leikestheith (Laithwaite). See also Final Conc. i, 16.
  • 78. In the thirteenth century Augustine de Taldeford gave land to Burscough Priory; Burscough Reg. n. xiv. At Lancaster Assizes in 1246 Siegrith recovered seisin of 7 acres of land against Augustine de Taldeford, of which her brother Robert, son of Otho, died seised; Assize R. 404. Hugh of the Fratey, great-grandson of Augustine, afterwards held this land of the priory at a rent of 12d. yearly; Burscough Reg. fol. 22. Robert de Lathom granted to Richard, son of Richard de Taldeford, certain land by the river; Towneley's MS. OO. n. 1276; the boundary began at the Tawd on the south, followed the hedge to the king's highway, and so to Tawd again on the east, thence ascending the stream to the starting point. In 1323 Emma, wife of Robert de Taldeford, made a claim for lands occupied by Sir Robert de Dalton and Mary his wife, and Robert de Bispham; Assize R. 425, m. 4. Robert de Taldeford in 1332 contributed 2s. 5d. to the subsidy; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 25. In 1367 Hugh, son of Robert de Taldeford, claimed certain land in Lathom from John de Bispham and Cecily his wife; De Banc. R. 429, m. 226b.
  • 79. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 350. The land was bounded on the west by the land of Stephen the Bald in Burscough.
  • 80. Burscough Reg. fol. 7b.
  • 81. Ibid. fol. 8b.
  • 82. Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.), 109, 116.
  • 83. Lay Subs. Lancs. bdle. 130, n. 24.
  • 84. Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 1, n. 18.
  • 85. Lathom House D. box 2, bdle. 9 b. The deed (dated 1488) recites that Margaret, daughter of Roger Blythe, sister and heir of John Blythe, and wife of John Blakelache of Lathom, had, in conjunction with her husband, leased to Thomas, illegitimate son of John Blythe, all her inheritance in Lathom, Burscough, Aughton, and Uplitherland. One of the witnesses was Huan Blakelache, bishop of Sodor and Man (1487 to 1510), who is buried in Ormskirk church.
  • 86. Probably the Evan Blackledge who succeeded his father Henry in 1538; Duchy Lanc. Ct. R. 79, n. 1061.
  • 87. Lathom House D. box 2, bdle. 9b. From its date the introduction is of interest: 'I bequeath my soul to Almighty God, His blessed mother Saint Mary, and to all the holy company of heaven.' To John Blackledge, his brother and heir, he bequeathed his lands in Lathom, Aughton, &c., and various furniture to remain in Blackledge Hall in Lathom as heirlooms for ever. Others mentioned are Alice his wife, Richard his brother, and Evan his son; John son of Henry, another brother; Alice his sister (wife of Thomas Ayscough), and William her son; also Ralph Langley, husband of another sister, and Evan their son. The vicar of Ormskirk was one of the witnesses, and the will was proved at Warrington on 17 April, 1567.
  • 88. Lathom House D. The lands, lying in Aughton, were called Blythe Meadow, &c. showing that they had descended with the Blythe estate.
  • 89. Duchy of Lanc. Plea. Eliz. cxcvi, B. 2.
  • 90. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 237. Blythe Hall was held of the earl of Derby in socage by fealty and 10s. 6d. rent; his lands in Burscough were held of the lately dissolved priory of Burscough by fealty and 21d. rent; and a messuage and lands in Aughton of Gabriel Hesketh by fealty and 2s. 1½d. rent; the clear annual value is given as 56s. 8d.
  • 91. Norris D. (B.M.).
  • 92. D. of Settlement (1655) at Lathom House.
  • 93. Deed at Lathom House. William Hill in 1792 contributed to the land tax for Blythe Hall.
  • 94. Britten, Beauties of England (Lancs.), 223.
  • 95. William de Shornington (? Shervington) and Alice his wife claimed her dower in a messuage and plough-land, &c. in Lathom from John de Ellerbeck in 1319; De Banc. R. 229, m. 213 and 242d.
  • 96. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 353.
  • 97. Ibid. A charter of Sir Robert de Lathom, made about 1250 to 1260, refers to the northern boundary of Alton. It is a grant to Burscough Priory of land formerly held by Stephen son of Richard de Alton, within bounds beginning at the ford of Harleton, ascending the watercourse to Pilotcroft, round the croft to the watercourse, and by this as far as the church road coming from Alton, &c.; Burscough Reg. fol. 3. One of the subscribers to the stipend of a priest at Ormskirk in 1366 was Alice de Olton; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.), 109.
  • 98. See the extracts from the accounts of 1523 given above.
  • 99. Derby Household Books (Chet. Soc.), 19. Before the first siege of Lathom the countess of Derby was invited to meet the Parliamentary leaders at 'New Park, a house of her lord's, a quarter of a mile from Lathom;' Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 164. The editor of the Household Books states that it was pulled down in the eighteenth century.
  • 100. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 349. 'The land which lies in the head of Burscough, along the boundary of Stephen the Bald as far as Edgeacres, between the highway of Wirples Moss and the brook of Edgeacres (Eller Brook), as far as the boundary between Ormskirk and Brackenthwaite, and so to Scarth; from Scarth to Westhead, and thence by Scakersdalehead Brook to the ford going from Alton to Harleton; thence across to the division between the lands of Geoffrey Travers and Stephen the Bald,' i.e. the division between Blythe (in Lathom) and Burscough.
  • 101. Burscough Reg. fol. 6. It would appear from this that Richard de Lathom held the land of the prior of Burscough, and received from it 2s. from the undertenants; the latter were now to pay the rent to the prior instead of to him. By another charter Richard son of Robert gave to Richard son of Richard de Lathom his 'Land of the Cross' by the boundary of Matthew son of Baldwin to the way from Lathom to Ormskirk, thence to Scathkeresdale, to Westfield, and to the brook of Scathkeresdale; by this brook to Fulshaw, and so over to Chow, lying between the lands of Richard and Matthew; Towneley's MS. OO, n. 1274.
  • 102. Burscough Reg. fol. 6b.
  • 103. Ibid. fol. 5b. There is mention of the ford in the clough between Richard's field and the field of Robert son of Walter de Greetby. Richard of the Cross in 1278 successfully defended himself from a charge that he had dispossessed Richard de Bickerstath of common of pasture in Lathom; Assize R. 1238, m. 34d. In 1291 Robert son of Richard le Waleys, and his brothers Henry and Adam, complained that Richard le Waleys and others had disseised them of a messuage and land in Lathom, and the jurors endorsed their claim; Assize R. 406. In 1292 Robert son of Richard 'le Jeuene' of the Cross claimed certain land (30 acres) in Lathom from Jordan de Kenyon; Assize R. 408, m. 99.
  • 104. See the account of Prescot church.
  • 105. Assize R. 423, m. 2. The estate is described as a messuage, 2 plough-lands of land, 6 acres of meadow, and 6 acres of wood. The word 'plough-lands' here is obviously not used in the sense of a measure of assessment. Robert of the Cross, junior, in 1321 claimed from Robert de Lathom and Katherine his wife a messuage, a mill, one plough-land, &c., of which his great-grandfather was seised in the time of Henry III. The pedigree is thus given: Robert le Waleys—s. and h. Richard—s. and h. Richard—s. and h. Robert, the plaintiff. The jury sustained the claim and assessed the damages at £20; De Banc. R. 237, m. 143 d.
  • 106. Cross Hall in Lathom was among the lands of Sir Thomas de Lathom in 1375; deed enrolled on Duchy of Lanc. Chan. R. 3, § 3 'in tergo.' Robert son of Robert of the Cross of Lathom occurs in 1322; Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc.), iv, 1137. Robert and John of the Cross contributed 4s. 8d. and 10d. respectively to the subsidy of 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.), 25; Robert of the Cross of Lathom and Isolda his wife were in 1334 defendants in a Wigan suit; De Banc. R. 300, m. 2d.; and in 1366 William, Alice, and Isolda of the Cross contributed to the chaplain of Ormskirk's salary; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.), 118. The two last-named occur also in the Poll Tax Roll of 1381; Lay Subs. Lancs. bdle. 130, n. 24. The Crosses of Wigan and Liverpool may be descended from this family; see Crosse D. Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), v-ix, n. 20, 14, 13, 23 E. William del Crosse of Lathom had a house and land there in 1386; Duchy of Lanc. Cal. of Chan. R. n. 3, § 111. See also Exch. Misc. vol. 90, 233 (23 Edw. III).
  • 107. Though not expressly named it appears to have been included in the grant of the site and lands of the priory; see the account of Burscough.
  • 108. See the account of Bickerstaffe. A complaint by Jane Stanley, widow of Henry Stanley, of Cross Hall, gives some account of the tenure. The earl of Derby in March, 1562, leased the Cross Hall and the windmill there, also the Edgeacres, Greetby Wood, &c. to Sir George Stanley, from whom it came to his son, the complainant's husband. The latter enjoyed possession for some fourteen years, until his death, intestate, in September, 1591. He had made mortgages of part to Henry Stanley of Bickerstaffe, his uncle, who had now taken out letters of administration of the estate of Edward Stanley, her husband's elder brother, and threatened her interest. The grant of the manor of Burscough was also involved. The reply of the uncle was that he was next of kin; and that, as Henry Stanley, junior, had not taken out letters of administration to the estate of his elder brother Edward, who also died intestate, it was his duty to do so; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. Eliz. clv. S. 1, S. 1b.; clix. S. 17; ccxiii. S. 20.
  • 109. Royalist Comp. Papers, ii, 232.
  • 110. Buried at Ormskirk, 27 Jan. 1686–7; 'of Bickerstaffe.'
  • 111. P.R.O. List; described as 'of Clitheroe.'
  • 112. Buried at Ormskirk, 18 Apr. 1733, as 'of Cross Hall.'
  • 113. The tenure had hitherto been leasehold under the earls of Derby; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 276, m. 75. There are a lease and release of Cross Hall in the Knowsley Deeds, bdle. 24, n. 13, 14. The terms of the will are: 'To Charles Stanley, eldest son of Thomas Stanley, late of Cross Hall, deceased . . . . the whole messuage of Cross Hall and all and every messuage thereunto belonging . . . . and from and after the decease of the said Charles to the first and every other son of the said Charles and heirs male in tailmale. . . .' In default of issue, to Thomas and to James, the younger sons of Thomas Stanley (described as Sir Thomas); and then to Sir Edward Stanley of Preston. To the last-named were bequeathed all honours, castles, manors, lands, tenements, &c., except Cross Hall, and the next presentation to Winwick. Dr. Thomas Stanley was father of another Thomas, who was knight of the shire (Whig) from 1780 to 1812; Pink and Beavan, op. cit. 87. A younger son, James, was grandfather of the present owner, who for many years represented the Bridgwater division of Somerset.
  • 114. In 1278 Robert de Lathom, knt., released John of the Cross and his heirs from the obligatory office of receiver, reeve, and warrener at his manor of Lathom, according to the custom of the manor theretofore used; and about the same time granted to him land in Lathom which Simon of the Cross had formerly held, being half the land within bounds beginning on the eastern side of the well by the moss, following the brook to 'le Clowe,' which was the boundary against the land of Robert le Waleys, thence by 'le Clogh' to 'le Hacchys,' and by the same to the ditches and to Depedale, following Depedale along the moss to the firstnamed boundary, for 6d. yearly rent, with common rights, and mastfall for his swine except in Burscough Park. In 1367 William of the Cross of Lathom settled his estates in Lathom upon himself for life, with remainder to his son Thomas and his issue by his wife Agnes, daughter of Alan de Fourokeshagh. Agnes was living a widow in 1410, when Peter Collay, in right of his wife Margery, was entitled to the estates. In 1440 Ellen relict of Richard Wodward of Shevington released in her son Alexander Wodward the messuage called Cross Place in Westhead, Margery relict of Peter Collay joining in the release. In 1468 the feoffees of John Wodward delivered the estate to Ralph Wodward for life, with remainder to his heirs. To this deed Oskell Lathom, chaplain, and Thomas Lathom his brother are witnesses; D. in poss. of Scarisbrick Trs. Ralph Woodward, gent. held this estate at his death in 1623 of William earl of Derby, in socage for 6d. yearly; Inq. p. m. (Rec. Soc.), iii, 347. Ralph Woodward, grandson of the above, entered his pedigree in the Visit. of 1664–5; Chet. Soc. lxxxviii, 336
  • 115. The roll of contributors to the stipend of a chaplain at Ormskirk in 1366 contains nearly a hundred names of those living in 'Westhead and Lathom'; among them being Hubert, Robert, and John del Westhead; Exch. Lay Subs. 118.
  • 116. The boundaries began at the Castlegate siche on the west, then by the field of Ameria del Marhalge to Stephen Longwood's land, and by other fields and ditches to the Kirkgate, by which the starting point was reached. This Robert may be the Robert del Westhead who in 1313 made a settlement upon his daughter Cecily, wife of Richard son of John Wilkemogh of Skelmersdale; Final Conc. ii, 15.
  • 117. Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 41–4.
  • 118. Eng. Cath. Non-jurors, 148, 108.
  • 119. The award, made in 1781, is preserved at Preston.
  • 120. Inside the building is a brass plate with inscription commemorating the founder.
  • 121. Twelve members are elected every seven years, including an ale-taster and window-looker. Court Rolls are preserved at Knowsley.
  • 122. The above account is taken from W. F. Price, 'Notes on the Places, &c. of the Douglas Valley,' in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xv, 193–8.
  • 123. Duchy of Lanc. Cal. of Chan. R. n. 3 § 103. As this rent included the issues of numerous small holdings in addition to the burgages it is not possible to determine the number of the latter.
  • 124. Duchy Compotus R. of 13–14 Hen. VIII. The rent of burgages in Newburgh, payable at St. Barnabas', amounted to £6 0s. 2d. It has been stated above that Lathom fair was held at Newburgh on St. Barnabas's day.
  • 125. Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 106; the priest was to celebrate there for the souls of the earl and his ancestors, and eight old men were to be bedemen to pray for the same; he was to pay each of the bedemen 1d. a day for sustenance, and have the balance of the revenues. The foundation is mentioned in the accounts of 1523–4 above quoted.
  • 126. Ibid. (quoting Lich. Epis. Reg. xiiixiv, 95). The prior of Burscough had signified his assent.
  • 127. Ibid. 107–9. The rental, derived from various scattered holdings in Coppull, Heath Charnock, Culcheth, Melling, &c., amounted to £16 19s. 7d. The furniture of the chapel is described. The valuation of 1534 was only £4 6s. 8d.; Ralph Webster was then chantry priest; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 223.
  • 128. Kenyon MSS. 13. Thomas Wilson, afterwards (1698) bishop of Man, was at one time in charge.
  • 129. The rents at that time amounted to about £25 a year, and there were six or seven acres of land belonging to the almshouse. The tradition was that the original foundation had been at Upholland, and was due to the Lovels; and that after the Lovel manors were granted to the earls of Derby the almshouse was removed to Lathom. No evidence of this was produced, but it was proved that for at least thirty years the bailiff of Holland had paid £25 a year to the almshouse, in which there were ten almsmen governed by a minister called the Master, and having a woman servant to wait on them. The alms appear to have been the Holland dole formerly distributed at Upholland Priory previous to the dissolution of the religious houses. See V.C.H. Lancs. ii, 'Religious Houses'; Duchy of Lanc. Rentals, bdle. 5, n. 12. Some small addition had been made to the endowment. See Royalist Comp. P. ii, 143–7. In 1646 an order had been made for £50 a year to be paid to the minister at Lathom out of Lord Derby's sequestrated tithes; Plund. Mins. Accts. i, 30. See also Commonwealth Church Survey (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 91. Mr. Henry Hill, 'an orthodox and godly painful minister,' was in charge.
  • 130. There were then ten almsmen in charge of a master or governor; the lands consisted of two and a half acres adjacent to the almshouse and six acres in Horscar Meadow and Lathom; the £25 was still paid from Upholland, and certain lands at Christleton and Littleton, near Chester, also belonged to the place, the total income being £46 9s. 4d. The earls of Derby had at their own pleasure appointed or removed the almsmen and also the master; End. Char. Rep. 1899 (Ormskirk), 63; Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 201.
  • 131. End. Char. Rep. 1899 (Ormskirk), 17 (from the report of 1828). Full details are given.
  • 132. Ibid. p. 64.
  • 133. Baines' Lancs. (1st ed.) iv, 258.
  • 134. Lond. Gaz. 3 Aug. 1847. The vicar of Ormskirk is patron.
  • 135. Lond. Gaz. 10 Mar. 1860. The vicar of Ormskirk is patron.
  • 136. Lond. Gaz. 16 May, 1871. The earl of Derby is patron.
  • 137. In Towneley MS. OO are some deeds relating to the Burscoughs, who had lands in Westhead and elsewhere in Lathom. Richard de Burscough and Katherine his wife in 1371 were refeoffed by their trustees, and in 1393 Richard, son of Richard de Burscough, and Ellen his wife, daughter of Roger de Bispham, were similarly endowed, nn. 1262, 1255. The next deeds relate to settlements made by Thomas de Burscough in 1458 and later, from which it appears that his wife was named Alice, and his children were Gilbert, Margaret, Maud, Joan, and Katherine; n. 1249, &c. In Feb. 1461–2, Gilbert son of Thomas Burscough received from his feoffees his lands in Lathom and Burscough; ibid. n. 1806. Gilbert Burscough and Eleanor his wife had lands in Lathom in 1540; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 25. For Gilbert's will see Wills (Chet. Soc. New Ser.), i, 203.
  • 138. Henry Long, son of Elizeus Long and Alice Ashton, entered the English College at Rome in 1659; in reply to the usual inquiries he stated that 'his parents were of the middle class, had been always Catholic, and had suffered much for their religion. He had two brothers and one sister; he was never a heretic, and made his humanity studies in England'; Foley, Rec. S.J. vi, 399.
  • 139. Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of Eng. Catholics, iv, 324; Char. Rep. of 1828, xv, 129 (Croston parish).
  • 140. Eng. Cath. Non-jurors, 108.
  • 141. Several times mentioned in N. Blundell's Diary, from 1712 to 1726.
  • 142. The above particulars are from the Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1892, where the succession of the priests in charge is given; it was made a rectory in 1856.