The manor of Moreton is the property of Mr. Vyner, who obtained it under the same title as Bidston. There was formerly a chapel-of-ease, under the mother-church of Bidston, in this township, which, after remaining disused for a long time, was, according to Bishop Gastrells' Notitia, destroyed in 1690. It was most probably demolished at an earlier period, as it is not mentioned by Leland, Camden, or the more minute local itinerant, Webb, who visited Moreton in 1620. Randle Holme, in 1668, merely says it had a chapel. SAUGHALL MASSIE. Saughall Massie contains 860 acres, valued at £862, and in 1841 was inhabited by 152 persons. It is difficult to conceive what could have induced the old historian Webb to describe it as a "very gallant lordship." It is in every respect, if possible, worse than the adjacent township of Moreton, with which, from an early period, it has been united, and with which under the same conveyances, it became the property of Mr. Vyner, all the tenantry of both townships doing service at his manor-court, held at Bidston. CLAUGHTON-CUM-GRANGE. The township of Claughton-cum-Grange having been, by a recent Act of Parliament, incorporated with that of Birkenhead, will be hereafter noticed with that township. It may, however, be here observed, that since the dissolution Claughton has been held under a different title from the other parts of this parish. It was granted to Ralph Worsley of Worsley, together with the manor and township of Birkenhead, and having descended to Mr. Price, of Bryn-y-pys, both the manors, and a considerable portion of the estates have since been purchased by William Jackson, Esq., who is at present manorial lord of Claughton, as also of Birkenhead, Parish of Brombrorough. N this parish are only two townships, Brombrorough, or as it is more £2823, and in 1841 contained 547 inhabitants. The manor of Brombro' is undoubtedly of great antiquity. It is mentioned by very early writers, and there have not been wanting those who, from its ancient name, Brimsburgh, or Brumesburgh, have claimed for it the honour of being the field in which the Danes were so signally defeated by Athelstan. This is, however, mere conjecture. But it does appear that Elfleda, The Ladye of Mercia, founded some monastic house at this place, in or about the year 912, and that it had ceased to exist at the completion of the Doomsday Book. Although Brombro' is not named in that survey, it is comprehended under Eastham, the church and manor-house of which were situate in the present village of Brombro', and were held by the Earl Hugh. Randal de Gernons, about the year 1152, presented them to the abbot and convent of St. Werburgh, as a recompense for some injuries he had inflicted on the monks of that abbey, and in their possession they both remained until the dissolution. Brombro' was then granted to the dean and chapter of the newly formed diocese, and, with the greater part of these estates, it fell into the hands of Sir Richard Cotton. Subsequently it was purchased by Bishop Bridgeman, and after several alienations, the manor and court, with the ancient hall, became the property of James Mainwaring, Esq., of Chester. At the period when the acquisitions of the Cottons were portioned among the various fee-farmers, "Henry Hardware had the old manor-house called Brombro' Court, the demesne, the water mills, and a wood, called William Drife, valued at £9 per annum," all of which were, in 1770-1, purchased by the son of the above named James Mainwaring. The estates thus again united, have descended to the great-grandson of the purchaser of the Hardware property, the Rev. James Mainwaring, A.M., Oxon., in whom the rectory, with the hall, the manor court-house, and nearly the entire of the township is vested. The parish church of Brombro', lately demolished, was of great antiquity. When, at the separation of the manors of Eastham and Brombro', Earl Randal gave them, with their churches, to the abbey of Chester, that at Eastham had only been recently erected in that newly formed manor. The priority of Brombro' church was acknowledged in the papal charter of Honorius, confirming the grant of the Earl, in which the words Eccl. de Brombro' cum capella de Estham occur, and it is also stated in the ecclesiastic taxation of Pope Nicholas. The church is described by Mr. Ormerod, Lysons, and others, as exhibiting an elegant specimen of Saxon architecture, and one part evidently of so remote a period as to lead to the opinion that it was part of the remains of some monastic institution, perhaps that founded by Elfleda. It was, however, small, and in a wretched state of delapidation. The stone of which it was built had become so extremely friable that every endeavour to repair it was ineffectual, and in 1827-8 an entirely new edifice was erected on its site, by the Rev. Mr. Mainwaring, at his own expense. Of the charitable donations to this parish little can be said. The Parliamentary Commissioners, in 1837, only reported a rent charge of £4 10s. per annum. The living is described in the Clergy List as a perpetual curacy, of the annual value of only £51 per annum; but the rector, in his lay capacity, is proprietor of the great tithes, which in this parish have been commuted. BROMBROROUGH, OR BROMBRO'. The township contains 1525 acres of land, of the annual value of £2053. In 1801 it had 277 inhabitants, and 52 houses. The return of 1841 states the population to be 412, which is incorrect, as the number did not exceed 331. The township is intersected by an excellent road, which runs between Chester and Birkenhead, A winding branch of the Mersey is also navigable for nearly two miles, at the head of which piers have been built, for the accommodation of small vessels that trade on the Mersey with coals and other materials, and for those employed in connection with the Brombro' mills. Large quantities of stone are also shipped, to facilitate the loading of which powerful cranes have been erected on the water side, at the termination of the. railways which communicate with the quarries. Brombro' had formerly a chartered market, held on every Monday; but this has been long discontinued. Its profits were granted by Prince Edward, when Earl of Chester, to the monks of St. Werburgh, as possessors of the manor, and he also gave them the tolls and other profits of a fair annually held on the feast of St. Barnabas, to whom the church was dedicated. The village contains several good houses, and possesses an appearance of comfort and respectability beyond many in this part of the hundred. There are two wells that have been frequently noticed; one, the waters of which are frequently so warm as to have gained for it the appellation of the boiling well; and another, the waters of which possess an encrustating, or petrifying quality. Moss, leaves, and small twigs, after remaining in it for some time, become encrusted in a beautiful manner. The Court-house, the old seat of the Hardwares, is a stone building, with bay windows and indented and scollopped gables. The moated site of the Abbot's Court adjoins the Court-house, and the line of the fortifications is still visible. They occupied an extremely strong position at the end of a narrow peninsula, accessible only from the south. The court of the abbot was occasionally held at the manor-house, which was one of those directed by the charter of Earl Randal to be kept in a state of security and readiness for that purpose. The strength of the works here, as well as at Brimstage and their other manor-house at Irby, are sufficient proofs of the apprehensions entertained by the monks of the incursions of the Welsh. Brombro' Hall, the seat of the Mainwarings, is an elegant and handsome building, most delightfully situated on a gentle eminence which gradually slopes to the Mersey, affording a most varied prospect of that river and the surrounding shores of Lancashire and Cheshire. This was formerly the residence of Dr. Bridgeman, bishop of Chester, whose son, Sir Orlando, Chief Baron of the Exchequer after the restoration, sold the property to the Mainwarings. Material alterations were made in the edifice by the father of the present possessor, by whom they have been continued to such an extent that the house may be said to have been rebuilt. It adjoins the village, at a distance of four miles from Birkenhead and eleven from Chester. The extensive grounds are admirably laid out, and the gardens are celebrated for the choice specimens of fruits and flowers they furnish to the horticultural exhibitions of Liverpool and the neighbouring towns. The large woods that intervene between the village and Eastham Ferry have been the subject of various transfers and grants, and are alluded to in many ancient writings. The public are now, under certain restrictions, permitted to walk through them, and they afford a pleasing lounge. BRIMSTAGE. Brimstage, or as it is called in many ancient records, Brunstall, Brunstath, Brumstache, and Brumstagh, is situate about twelve miles from Chester. In 1801 it contained 127 inhabitants, occupying 25 houses, and the census of 1841 only exhibited a population of 135. It extends over 850 acres, valued in the county books at £770. Brimstage was the ancient settlement of the Domvilles, a house of high consideration among the gentry of Cheshire, most probably a junior branch of the Barons of Montalt, as the Domvilles not only held their lands under them, but bore their arms. The earliest mention of this family is an inquisition, held 6 Edward I., quoted in the Leycester MSS., from which it appears that Sir Richard Domville, Knight, then held this manor and that of Oxton, from Robert de Montalt, by military tenure. They continued in this family until the marriage of Margery, their heiress, with Sir Hugh Hulse, or Holes, who held the then important office of Sergeant of the Bridge Gate, at Chester, which will be more particularly referred to, under Raby, and was Deputy Justice under Mowbray, Earl Marshal, and Chief Justiciary of Chester. The only son by this marriage assumed the arms of Domville, and having only one daughter, Margaret, the vast estates of the Hulses, Rabys, Domvilles, and several other Cheshire families became vested in her. Upon her marriage, in 1440, to Sir John Troutbeck, Lord of Dunham-on-the-hill and Chamberlain of Chester, he became, in her right, Sergeant of the Bridge Gate of Chester, and Lord of Little Neston, Oxton, Raby, Barnston, and Brunstath. He was slain, with many other Cheshire gentry, at the fatal battle of Blore Heath, three years after the death of his wife. These manors, and the greater part of the other estates of the Domvilles and the Troutbecks, are now the property of the Earl of Shrewsbury, having been conveyed to his ancestor, Sir John Talbot, of Albrighton, in the county of Salop, upon his marriage with Margaret, great-granddaughter and sole heiress of this Sir John Troutbeck. A large portion of the township is situated in a plain, which by continued labour has been worked into a high state of cultivation. The long and very straggling village stands in a rather peculiar situation, the houses of which it is composed being nearly |