Town’s royal connections and how Earl of Derby bought the manor
WHEN Elizabeth I died in 1603, under the terms of the amendments to her father’s will under the Succession Act, there was every chance that the next Queen of England would have been the eldest daughter of the late 5th Earl of Derby, Ferdinando Stanley, the great grandson of Mary Tudor, Queen of France who was the younger sister of Henry VII and his wife, Alice Spencer of Althorp.
The 5th earl had mysteriously died in 1594.
His medieval manor house at Lathom was a superior dwelling in the area and he was a very wealthy and influential figure and considered as “of an exalted genius as well as birth” by his contemporaries.
The 6th Earl of Derby was William Stanley, Ferdinando’s younger brother.
William’s mother, Lady Margaret Clifford, had herself at one time been heir to Elizabeth I.
When his mother died in 1596, his niece moved up the ranks.
When his cousin, James Charles Stuart, King James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, the pressure was somewhat lifted off the Derby line as the new King already had a male heir and a spare.
The Earl of Derby had inherited Lathom and Knowsley from his brother but he also inherited lands granted to Ferdinando by Queen Elizabeth, lands in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Wales and Cheshire.
He bought other lands from his nieces too, including the Isle of Mann.
King James showed favour to William the 6th Earl and soon after becoming King he sold the Manor of Ormskirk to the earl for £480 2s 3d in 1603.
That is only £58,000 when calculated in today’s money.
This manor alone with its annual rents gave the earl an annual income before deductions of £31 3s, that would be £4,178.75 in today’s money.
Below is the full grant, some of the names are familiar – although spelled slightly differently – and the mention of the windmills is very interesting:
The King to William Earl of Derby Date 21 July,1603 Grant in consideration of £480 2s 3d of the Manor of Ormskirk, alias Ormeschurche, with its rights, members and appurtenances, and the rents of free tenants amounting to £6 0s 9d.
A tenement in Ormskirk and a close of land in Burscough, let to William Gerrard at 11s per annum.
A tenement in Ormskirk, let to Henry Morecroft and Edward Morecroft at 7s per annum.
A windmill, called Gretby Mill, in Ormskirk, let to John Souch at 26s. 8d per annum.
Lands and tenements, let to Richard Ambrose and others, of the yearly value of £4 1s 8d.
The New Vicarage, lately let to Elizeus Ambrose, late Vicar there, of the value of 3s per annum.
A cottage and garden next Gretby Mill, lately encroached from the Lord’s waste, of the yearly value of 1s 8d.
A parcel of land in Churche Street, let to Sir James Stanley at a rent of 6d.
A rent of 3s lately found by the Bailiff there.
All those shops, stallages, Lez Boothes, and tolls of fairs and markets held in the feasts of Pentecost and St Bartholomew the Apostle, let to John Stanley, of the value of 43s 4d.
The closes of land, meadow and pasture, called Hasilhurst, lying in Dalton.
The closes called Buckshead and Williams Carre and part of the Priory called Quetton Field, with appurtenances in Dalton, lately let to William Ashehurst, of the yearly value of 25s.
And the Windmill in Ormskirk, lately erected by Thomas Souch upon Le Knoll, let to John Stanley, of the yearly value of 13s 4d.
Part “de le Helde” in Dalton, let to William Asshehurst, of the yearly value of 8s.
All the mine of stone called Sclattstones, in Dalton, lately in the tenure of John Holland and his fellows for one part, besides the three parts of the same belonging to the
Earl of Derby, of the yearly value of 12d.
A cottage in Preston in Amunderness, value 2s.
A cottage in Hoton, value 3s 4d.
A Horse Mill in Ormskirk, value 5s.
A cottage, orchard and garden in Ormskirk, late in the tenure of John Shelton, value 5s.
All our toll of grain in Ormskirk and our moss there, let to William Asshehurst, of the yearly value of 10s.
And all those licences to search for and dig coals and slate stones in all our lands in Dalton, now or late in the occupation of William Asshehurst, of the yearly value of 10s, and all reliefs of tenants and perquisites of Court of the said Manor (except all advowsons and presentations of churches, chapels, &c.)
To hold to William Earl of Derby and Elizabeth his wife and the heirs male of the body of the said earl in fee farm for ever in free socage at a rent of £22 17s 3d, to be paid to the Receiver of the Duchy of Lancaster.
21st July, James I, AD 1603