The parish of Walton on the Hill: Introduction, church and charities

WALTON ON THE HILL

This extensive parish, occupying the south-western corner of the hundred and county, has a total area of 29,615 acres, (fn. 1) and a population in 1901 which numbered 446,821 persons. (fn. 2) Anciently its area was much larger. Childwall must have been detached before the Norman Conquest, and Sefton before 1200; Liverpool continued to form part of it until 1699. On the other hand, at some time earlier than the Conquest it is probable that Kirkby and Simonswood had been drawn into it, just as in later times Croxteth Park has been erroneously included in and Altcar claimed for it.

Apart from the story of Liverpool, told subsequently, there is little to say of its general history. The castle of West Derby endured less than two centuries; the camp of Prince Rupert at Everton in 1644 connects the parish with the Civil Wars, the effect of which is chiefly illustrated by the confiscations of the parliamentary authorities during their years of power.

Jeremiah Horrocks, the astronomer, was perhaps the most distinguished man who has sprung from it, though many others have been connected with it by their labours.

Formerly it was mainly agricultural. The detached chapelry of Formby had a seaport and fisheries. Simonswood and Toxteth were royal parks. Everton was one of the first portions to be affected by the growing prosperity of Liverpool; its elevated situation offered desirable sites for the suburban residences of the merchants. Now a large part of the parish has become urban; but agriculture still claims the inland portion of West Derby, Fazakerley, Kirkby, and Simonswood; Formby has a growing urban population, but retains its agricultural character.

The following are the acreages at present occupied by arable land, permanent grass, and woods and plantations:—

For the county lay of 1624 the assessment, considered at that time a fair one, was that Walton should pay a twelfth of the sum levied upon the hundred. The townships were arranged so that each group paid one-third, as follows:—1. Walton-cumFazakerley, Kirkby, and Formby, each paying equally; 2. West Derby; 3. Liverpool, Kirkdale, Bootle and Linacre, and Everton, Liverpool paying two-thirds of the sum due from this group. (fn. 3) The more ancient fifteenth had by the seventeenth century become unfair; out of a total of £106 9s. 6d. due from the hundred Walton paid £1 15s. 6½d. Kirkby £1 16s. 4d., Formby £1 3s., Raven Meols 12s., West Derby £2 8s., Liverpool £2 11s. 1¼d., Kirkdale 17s., Bootle 16s. 8d., Everton 14s., a total of £12 13s. 7¾d. (fn. 4)

CHURCH (fn. 5)

The church of Our Lady is at the present day of greater historical than architectural interest. The site is ancient, and a church here is mentioned in Domesday, but its chief claim to distinction lies in the fact that it is the mother church of Liverpool, St. Nicholas's Church having been a chapel of Walton till 1699.

The later history of Walton church is as follows: The nave was rebuilt in 1743, the chancel in 1810, and the tower in 1828–31. In 1840 the north side of the nave was remodelled, and the chancel rebuilt for the second time in 1843. No part of the structure, therefore, has any pretensions to antiquity. In the chancel is a reading desk dated 1639, all other fittings being quite modern. Near the vestry door is an inscribed brass plate (fn. 6) recording the establishment (in 1601) of a charity by Thomas Berry. Ten verses, beginning with letters of his name (Thomas Beri), are followed by the couplet:—

Xij penie loaves to xii poore foulkes
Geve everie Sabothe day for aye.

The font is a relic of the ancient church, now restored to use after many years of desecration, having been turned out of the church in 1754, and used as a mounting stone by the door of a neighbouring inn. It has a circular bowl, on which are six arched panels containing figure sculpture, the intervening spaces having floral patterns. The figure-subjects are damaged and indistinct, but one shows the temptation of Adam and Eve—as on the font at Kirkby—and another has been interpreted as the Flight into Egypt. The bowl of the font only is ancient. (fn. 7)

The Registers begin in 1586. (fn. 8)

ADVOWSON

The church had in 1066 an endowment of one ploughland in Bootle; (fn. 9) probably it had a further endowment in Walton itself, where there is a considerable acreage of glebe. (fn. 10) Geoffrey the sheriff about 1093 granted the church of St. Mary at Walton to the monks of Shrewsbury, on the day of its dedication; (fn. 11) this was confirmed by Henry I some thirty years later. (fn. 12) The right remained with the monastery until 1470, being then purchased by Thomas Molyneux of Sefton, (fn. 13) and descended with this manor until 1747, when Sir William Heathcote purchased it. (fn. 14) It was again sold in 1810 to John Leigh, of Sandhills in Kirkdale, whose descendant, Mr. J. C. Gerard Leigh, a minor, is the patron. (fn. 15)

The vicarage was ordained in 1326, when Edward II confirmed the grant of the church to the abbey. (fn. 16) The rectory was not appropriated, and both rector and vicar continued to be appointed down to 1890, when the vicarage was suppressed, its revenues supplementing those of the newly founded bishopric of Liverpool. (fn. 17)

Count Roger of Poitou gave the demesne tithes of Walton to the abbey of St. Martin of Séez; (fn. 18) a composition was afterwards made between Stephen de Walton and the prior of Lancaster. (fn. 19) In 1291 the revenue of the church was estimated at £44. (fn. 20) Fifty years later the ninth of sheaves, wool, &c., was valued at 54 marks, being £8 less; but the borough of Liverpool was separately taxed. (fn. 21) In 1535 the gross income was estimated at £77 5s. 6d.; various payments, including a pension of 20s. to the abbot of Shrewsbury, reduced this to £69 16s. 10d.; the vicarage was valued at £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 22)

The Commonwealth surveyors of 1650 recommended the subdivision of the parish, leaving the townships of Walton, Bootle, and Kirkdale to the old church. There was a parsonage house worth £4 2s. 4d. a year; the tithes of the township they valued at £65 12s. 4d. The vicarage house, with its yard, orchard and garden, was worth 30s. (fn. 23)

Bishop Gastrell about 1720 found the rectory worth £400 a year, and the vicarage £100; Liverpool had then been cut off from the parish. (fn. 24) The gross value of the rectory is now stated as £1,400; (fn. 25) a large part of the glebe has been covered with dwelling houses.

The rectory was divided by an Act of Parliament passed in 1843. (fn. 26)

The following is a list of the rectors:—

The following have been vicars; they have always been presented by the rectors:

The list of clergy calls for little comment; some of the pre-Reformation clergy, like Ralph de Shrewsbury, were men of note; of the later Dr. Clare seems the most distinguished.

From the Clergy List of 1541 (fn. 93) it would appear that besides the pluralist rector, the vicar, and five chantry priests—one at Walton and four at Liverpool— there were four others attached to the parish, two being paid by the vicar, and probably serving Formby, Kirkby, and West Derby chapels, and two living de stipite. The visitation list of 1548 does not mention the rector, but records the vicar and eleven others, including the five cantarists and two of those in the 1541 list. In 1554 the rector was absent, three of the foregoing clergy were dead, one was absent, another denied he was curate, and the vicar and four others seem to have been in charge; three had been chantry priests at Walton and Liverpool, while the other had migrated from Huyton. In 1562 the rector appeared by proxy and the curate in person; another priest was absent, and the only other mentioned was the Formby chaplain. Thus it seems clear that the services at Kirkby and West Derby were only performed irregularly, as those at Liverpool would have to be kept up by the curate of the parish church. In the following year the rector was 'beyond the sea,' the vicar was ill, but the curates at Liverpool and Formby appeared. In 1565 again the rector did not appear, the Liverpool curate's name is crossed out, he having probably resigned, and the vicar seems to have been in sole charge of this vast parish, with its church and four chapels. (fn. 94) In 1590 the only 'preacher' in the parish was at Liverpool, the rector and vicar of Walton and minister at Kirkby not being such. (fn. 95) About 1610 the rector seems to have been non-resident, the vicar was 'no preacher' and the four chapels, including Liverpool, were 'supplied with reading ministers.' (fn. 96)

Under the Commonwealth an improvement was manifest, the chapels-of-ease being attended to, and the rector and vicar being 'godly, able ministers.' (fn. 97) The effect of the Restoration was to bring back the old order to some extent; the existing rector's presentation was judged invalid, and he was displaced in 1660; two years later the vicar was expelled for nonconformity, and Liverpool, which had been made a separate parish, was reunited with Walton until 1699. During the last century the parish has been divided into a large number of separate districts, each with its own church and clergy.

At Walton church there was only one regularly endowed chantry; it had been founded by Mr. John Molyneux, rector from 1471 to 1485, and part of the endowment was a charge of 13s. 4d. on the rectory; various lands brought in 40s. additional. (fn. 98)

Nothing further is known of the chapel of St. Paulinus mentioned in some thirteenth and fourteenth century deeds. (fn. 99)

A grammar school was founded in or before 1613.

CHARITIES

For the charities of the whole parish there is no report later than that of 1828; but official inquiries were made in 1901 and 1903 for those portions not included within the county boroughs of Liverpool and Bootle. (fn. 100) Walton township shared several charities with adjoining parts of the parish; (fn. 101) the principal is that of Thomas Fazakerley, who in 1696 gave several closes of land in West Derby for the benefit of the poor of Walton, Fazakerley, and West Derby. (fn. 102) There are a number of endowments for the poor of Formby, and some have been lost. (fn. 103) Kirkby has some special benefactions, (fn. 104) and shares with West Derby in the apprenticing funds of £167 a year arising from donations of Eleanor Gleast and Thomas Aspe. (fn. 105) West Derby itself has a few special endowments. (fn. 106) In connexion with the Old Toxteth chapel there was, in 1828, a sum of £2 a year available for the poor. (fn. 107)