Annals of Southport and District. a Chronological History of North Meols
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THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES -^T>/1^ /^C CC&t2-a-/iiry^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/annalsofsouthporOOblaniala : ANNALS SOUTHPORT AND DISTRICT. A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY NORTH MEOLS ALFRED THE GREAT TO EDWARD VII. E. BLAND. ^ontljporl J. J. Riley, Printer, "Guardian" Office. 1903. L°iO SpBi./ PREFACE " If any there be which are desirous to be strangers in theire owne soile and forrainers in theire owne citie—they may so continue and therein flatter themselves; for such I have not written these lines nor taken these paines," wrote Camden in the introduction to his Britannia. But I cannot think there are any in the beautiful town of Southport who " are desirous to be " strangers in theire owne soile." The " Annals of Southport were written with the conviction that few things so deeply and permanently influence the human head and heart as the historical associations of /lome. It was the fashion, with many persons, to sneer at the idea of North Meols having any history. I am of opinion that the following pages will show how mistaken those persons were. Hitherto no attempt has been made to publish the history of North Meols. Being out of the beaten track, none of the ancient writers went to the trouble of visiting tHis " bald "—the word Meols in the ancient Celtic means " bald "—place. Odd items in old documents show that the place was known before the Conquest, and probably other information will yet come to light. Before the manor was given to Roger de Poictou the tithes—or some of them—had been given to the monks of Lancaster. Some twenty years ago Mr. W. Norbury, in an article on the Peat Bogs of Lancashire, expressed an opinion that the district was inhabited long prior to the Celts coming here. He said, " Let anyone who is acquainted with the different localities, and who can remember fifty years back, recall ******the kind of people there were on Lindow Common, Sale Moor ^nd I think I might add Southport—whose donkey-drivers and sand-grounders are ji .-r^ -M <r> fli r*<~* V i. preface. from the end of a bog at Churchtown, and who were there before Southport was built—and I think he will arrive at the fact that these different peoples were until recently a distinct race from the people of the rest of the country ; that they were, in fact, of the old Euskarian race, driven to these bogs long ages before the Romans set foot in Britain, and who have con- tinued almost intact until recently." As will readily be understood, the facts recorded in the following pages have been found scattered about in documents of all kinds in this and the adjoining counties. The valuation of Mele in Domesday-book is above the average of the neighbouring places, and soon after the Conquest the Manor was given to Richard Fitz-Utred, probably a descendant of the original Saxon holder Utred, of King Edward's day. Previous to the Reformation, the history of the parish, as I have been able to record it, is only of a skeleton nature. Several passages, however, in these " Annals " tend to give the reader an impression that the Church living was a somewhat valuable one. Such men as Bishop Stanley were scarcely likely to take the incumbency unless the emoluments were of a respectable character. Until the i8th century, when Roger Hesketh married Miss Fleetwood, the Church living was in other hands than the Lordship of the Manor ; but there is, in the Palatine Court records, plenty of evidence that the parsons were the influential men of the parish. In 1464 we find the rector as a mortgagee of the estate, though he was but a minor ecclesiastic from Evesham Abbey. In 155 1, the last (probably) of the Roman Catholic rectors, one Lawrence Waterward, entered an action for trespass against the Lords of the Manor, and three years later the first Protestant rector also laid claim to certain rights against the patrons of the Church and the Lords of the Manor. In 1580, Campion the Jesuit visited the parish on his mission, — preface, v"- and twelve years later there was at Meols Hall " one Gabriell Shawe." There have been various rectors, who seem to have been noteworthy men, and, perhaps, one fact as noteworthy as many has been the longevity of some of them. As an instance, from 1748 to 1876, there were only three rectors of the parish. Without the kind assistance of many friends, it would have been impossible to produce this work. Its defects are all my own. Whatever merits it may have, I can only say that any other writer, with the same opportunities, might have produced it as well. I have not attempted a work of great literary ability—my one object has been to make known what I could of the past history of the neighbourhood in which I have lived nearly all my life, to collect the facts, put them in order, and leave the reader to form his own idea as to the merits or demerits of the book. The following items are strictly bare statements of facts, without any expression of my own opinions facts, with very few exceptions, taken from the dry records of the past—from the Palatine Court Records, Church and Cathedral books, &c. My thanks are due to so many persons, that it would be impossible for me to particularise them. I thank one and ail for their kind assistance. I have had every assistance possible from the various libraries and custodians of books and docu- ments necessary for my purpose. I must, however, pay a well- merited tribute to the late Mr. E. E. Holden, for his invaluable assistance in the initial stages of the work. His splendid education and his extensive local knowledge were entirely at my service ; his death was a sad blow to myself, along with many others. E. B. Southport, February, igoj. ANNALS SOUTHPORT& DISTRICT. J\ CDronolodical l>i$torp of nortb mcol$» ilirrca m ercat to eawara Vll. " He who loves not his Country loves nothing."— Byron. Prior to the time of the Norman Conquest the history of North Meols is almost a blank, so far as records go. That it was of as much importance as most places, circumstantial evidence proves. Martin Mere in bygone centuries was (superficially) the largest lake in England, and on its borders lived a numerous population. The lake is the scene of many legends, and gave the title of " du lac " to Sir Lancelot of the Round Table. It is said to have been the home of Merlin, and by the Romans the neighbourhood was called the " District of Linius " or the Lake. At the time of the Saxon Heptarchy this locality was included in the great kingdom of Strathclyde, and in the seventh century Annals of Southport, 867 to 1902. formed portion of the territory Teyrullung, which extended from the Dee bo the Derwent. This was the country of the old Sistuntii, and at the time of Domesday Book, had been attached to no county. " Inter-ripe-et-Mersham " (between Ribble and Mersey) it is described in that book. Who the original inhabitants were can only be conjectured, but every evidence tends to the Celtic race. All the most antient names are Celtic, though some writers would like to claim a Scandinavian origin for the first settlers. There are many proofs of human occupation of this bank of Martin Mere during the Roman period. Coins of the reigns of Trajan and Vespasian have been unearthed from the margin of the mere, where they have, probably, lain since the days of Agricola. King Arthur is said to have fought several of his battles near to the lake, on the banks of the Douglas. But it must be remembered that it is only in modern times that the name of Douglas has been attached to the last few miles of that stream. Until quite recently its name after its confluence with the Yarrow was the Astland. Properly speaking, according to old legends, a " Sandgrounder " must be bom on sand land " betwixt Alt and Astland." When Martin Mere was first drained, a number of " dug-out " canoes were found, one of them being iron-plated. Roby, in his " Traditions of Lancashire," makes Martin Mere the scene of several of his Legends. 867—The first mention of the name of the parish, so far discovered, is in connection with the itinerary of the bones of our Patron Saint. On the Danish invasion of 867, the monks of Lindisfame, in obedience to the directions of St. Cuthbert, on his deathbed two centuries earlier, took up the bones of the Saint and carried them away, in fear of the invaders desecrating the tomb. The record is, that for seven years the body of St. Cuthbert was carried from place to Annals of Southport, 867 to 1902. place in the six northern counties of England " even unto Galloway." They, however, never got away from England, this coast of which was then included in the Galloway pro- vince of Strathclyde. Prior Wessington, who translated the records of these wanderings of the Saint, gives a list of the resting places, and puts twelve of them in Lancashire. We find Meier sandwiched between Lytham and Halsall, and as wherever the body rested, a church was established, we have here, without a doubt, the origin of the Church of North Meols.