Places: Huyton

Place Type

Parish

County

Lancashire

Deanery

Warrington

Causes

 

EDC 5/1/1 – Ellen Knottisford contra Ralph Bury
EDC 5/1566/11 – Edward Ogells [Ogle] contra Richard Carter

HUYTON

The area of the parish comprised the townships of Huyton, Roby and Tarbock, together with the chapelry of Knowsley. The extra-parochial area of Croxteth Park bordered Knowsley to the west. The parish of Huyton was situated in the south-west of the county of Lancashire but now forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside.

The church had been granted to Burscough Priory which continued as patron until it was dissolved in 1536, following which the rectory was retained by the Crown and leased by successive monarchs. Queen Mary granted a 21-year lease to Urian Brereton, following which Queen Elizabeth leased it to Lawrence Mynter in 1568. In 1602 it was sold and eventually bought by the Molyneux family who then sold off portions, including the advowson which passed to the earls of Derby. One of the main houses of the earls of Derby, Knowsley Hall, was situated in the parish.

Although parts of the church building, notably the chancel and the tower survive from the fourteenth century, by the middle of the sixteenth century the church was in such a poor state of repair that it was said that rain came in through the roof of the chancel which was about to fall in. The surviving roof is ‘probably’ sixteenth century (Historic England). Extensions and further improvements were carried out in the nineteenth century.

There was some coal mined in Tarbock but this was soon exhausted, although coal mining continued in Huyton until the twentieth century. There was also a slate quarry in the township of Huyton. Other industries such as pottery and iron works developed in the parish during the nineteenth century. The growth of the Liverpool conurbation from the nineteenth century has meant that much of the area is now residential.

Sources:

Frederic Crooks, ‘Huyton Churchwardens, 1783-1834’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol 90 (1891 and 1892), pp. 177-179. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-90-1938/

Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (Cambridge, 1975), p. 202

‘Hutton-Buscel – Huyton’, in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp594-598

‘Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Burscough’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 2, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1908), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol2/pp148-152

‘The parish of Huyton: Introduction, church and charities’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp151-157

Historic England:
Church of St Michael (1075535)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1075535  National Heritage List for England

The black and white image is reproduced from volume 90 of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire by kind permission of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

 

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