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The District of Melling, Liverpool
in the County of
-- Lancashire --

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"MELLING, cum Cunscough, a chapelry, in the parish of Halsall, union of Ormskirk, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 8 miles (N. N. E.) from Liverpool, on the road to Ormskirk; containing 607 inhabitants. This place appears to have been part of the tract of land granted by Roger de Poictou to Vivian de Molines; for the son of the latter, Sir Adam de Molines, gave in free and pure alms to the church of St. Mary, of Cockersand, certain acres of land in Melling and Cunscough. A branch of the family of Molyneux was seated here about the 43rd of Edward III.; and Richard, Viscount Molyneux, died seized of the manor in the reign of Charles I. The family of Bootle were resident at Melling in Henry V.'s reign. The chapelry comprises 1957a. 1r. 3p. of land; the surface is elevated, and from the churchyard is a complete panoramic view, including Liverpool, and, in the distance, the Welsh mountains. The river Alt separates the township from Aintree; and both the Liverpool and Bolton, and Liverpool and Preston railways pass through. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £120, with a house, built in 1831; patron, the Rector of Halsall, whose tithes here have been commuted for £505, and who has a glebe of about a quarter of an acre. The church, St. Thomas's, was rebuilt on a new site in 1834, at a cost of £1200; it is in the early English style, and forms, from its elevated situation, a conspicuous object in the scenery. There are two ancient monuments to the Bootles, of Lathom, a monument to the Molyneuxs, of Mosborough, and one to Mr. Savage; these were removed from the old edifice, when taken down in 1834. A school has an endowment of £50 per annum from land; the school-house was rebuilt in 1844."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 283-287.

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