expenses incurred "at opening the bells," on the 26th of December, 1815, amounted to £16 16s. 1od., and a Mr. Fisher received for "engraveinge" and examining the bells £5. William Parr, a builder, was paid at the same time," as by bill," £39 12s. Some re-arrangement of the position of the peal was evidently made when the two bells were added, and the existing beams, which are clumsily adapted to the old massive corbels, which project from the walls, were probably inserted at that period. The old Hall of Sephton once stood in a field to the south of the church, but after it had ceased to be the residence of the Molyneux family gradually fell into decay, and was dismantled early in the eighteenth century. The beams now in the tower are full of mortice and other holes, and have plainly been used elsewhere, possibly in the old hall. Each bell bears an inscription,' which severally run as follows:

I.

2.

GOD BLES THE FOUNDER HEAREOF 1601."

NOS SUMUS CONSTRUCTI AD LAWDUM DOMINI 1601." 3. "Hec Campana Beata Trinitate Sacra Fiat," and, on a small medallion, "Fere God Henri Oldfelde made thys Beyl."

4.

"Hec Campana Trinitate Sacra Fiat," and the same medallion and legend.

5. "Richard Rainshaw Rothwell Rector Thos Johnson Curate Peter Blackburn Christopher Richmond Churchwardens elect W. Eccleston and R. Rose Chwdns 1815 William Dobson Founder."

6. "Richard Rainshaw Rothwell Rector Thos Johnson Curate Peter Blackburn Christopher Richmond Churchwardens 1815 "Our voices shall with joyful sound

make Hills and vallies Eccho round."

The clock was procured in 1818, to replace an older one, and cost £167.

9 These were copied, on the 2nd of May, 1896, by Mr. W. E. Gregson and Mr. R. H. Kirk.-EDITOR.

The names of the earlier rectors in the foregoing list are, from the nature of things, in several instances, names only, and nothing more. The Christian name is followed in early documents by the designation "Parson of Sefton," and the same description is added even when the surname has been given. A period of fifty-seven years elapsed between the first Richard of 1224 and the second Richard of 1281. It may be that another rector,

of whom no trace has been found, intervened between them, but the supposition is not absolutely necessary. The earlier names occur in legal documents, in which their owners figure either as principals or witnesses.10

Some further brief information is appended in reference to some of the rectors.

(1) Richard, 1024, is mentioned in a deed of that date.

(2) Richard, 1281, is mentioned in a document of the tenth year of Edward I.

(3) William de Kirkdale, 1292, appears to have been rector, from his description as such in his will.

(4) Richard Molyneux, 1315, is mentioned in a document of the tenth year of Edward II.

(5) The name of John de Mascy, 1310, occurs at that date.

(6) Jordan de Holme, 1364, was previously Rector of Stockport, and became Rector of Sephton by exchange.

(7) John Molyneux, 1450, uncle of Margaret Bulckley, was also a Prebendary of Lichfield.

(8) James Molyneux, 1489, was inducted on the 22nd of March of that year. His name occurs in a deed relating to the Mascy family, 1501. He was also Archdeacon of Richmond, and resigned the rectory of Sephton. He was the brother of Margaret Bulckley, and died about 1516.

(9) Edward Molyneux, 1509, was also Prebendary of Farndon, Sarum. He founded the Molyneux Chantry, Sefton, 1535.

(10) Anthony Molyneux, 1535, was the builder of the "revestry," and possibly of a portion of

10 Many of the names have been supplied by Mrs. Arthur Tempest, Mr. T. N. Morton, Mr. W. Fergusson Irvine, and Mr. W. E. Gregson, from the Bishop's Registry, Chester, the archives of the Liverpool Corporation, and the muniment rooms at Croxteth, Crosby, Ince Blundell, and Broughton Hall in Craven.-EDITOR.

the church. He was also Rector of Walton, and apparently resigned in 1557, and died in 1558.

(11) John Finche, 1564, was a priest at Walton in 1554, and paid "first-fruits" at Sefton on the 23rd of November, 1564.

(12) John Nutter, 1568, was also Rector of Bebington and of Aughton, and also Dean of Chester in 1589. Queen Elizabeth, possibly, borrowed from Apuleius the title of "The Golden Ass," which she bestowed upon him as appropriate to his wealth. He died suddenly at Sephton.

(13) Records remain of two institutions of Rector Edward Morton, the one on the 21st of June, 1639, the other on the 3rd of April, 1640. Whether the earlier one was invalidated by any informality, which rendered the second necessary, is not stated. He was a Prebendary of Chester, and Rector of Tattenhall in 1637, and was ejected from Sephton in 1643, and re-instated in 1662. His son became Bishop of Kildare and Meath.

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(14) Joseph Tompson, 1643, said by the Parliamentary Commissioners to be "an able and godly minister, painfull in his cure," was inducted into the rectorship in place of "Doctor Moreton a Delinquent, late Rector." His ministrations do not appear to have been in request, as in the year 1648 he appends his name to a note-" None "married by the Minister of the Parish, but divers "were married out of the parish."

(15) John Bradford, 1675, exchanged from Sefton to Bexhill, 1678.

(16) Jonathan Brideoake, 1678, exchanged from Bexhill. He was also Rector of S. Wilfrid and S. Mary, Mobberley.

(17) Richard Richmond died at Walton, and was buried there on the 19th of September, 1721.

(18) Thomas Egerton, 1722. The following note, evidently shown, by comparison with entries

in the register, to be in the handwriting of Mr. Egerton, has been made on the inside of the cover at the end of an early register book, 1717-1780:-"Jus patronatus, held in this chancel upon Wednesday ye 17th day of March 1721 "betwixt Mr. Egerton of Warrington and Mr. Hartley of Irland for this xh and living, but Mr. "Egerton obtained it." The "jus patronatus was an ecclesiastical procedure, to which recourse was had when the right of patronage was disputed. If two different presentations were made on the occasion of one and the same vacancy, the church was said to be litigious, and the Bishop issued a commission, usually addressed to his Chancellor, by which a jury, consisting of an equal number of clergymen and laymen, was summoned to make inquiry and decide as to the right of patronage. Mr. Richard Hartley, in the year 1721, received a presentation to the rectory of Sephton, and the document is yet preserved in the diocesan registry at Chester, endorsed-" Hartley's Presentation to "the Church at Sefton, which had not effect." Mr. Thomas Egerton also received a presentation, from the Earl of Cardigan, and recourse was had in consequence to the process of "Jus patronatus. In the Diary of Nicholas Blundell, 1702-28, printed for private circulation, the following entry occurs :—

"1722. March 7. I was in Sefton Church where there should have been a trial between Parson Egerton and Parson Hartley, but Parson Hartley soon gave it up. Lawyer Blundell and Lawyer Starkey were there. There were nine clergymen and nine laymen on the jury. They gave the cause to Parson Egerton. So that he is now to be Rector of Sefton."

"Parson Egerton" evidently made a mistake as to the year in his entry at the end of the register book. The diary gives 1722, and the record at Chester of his institution places it on the 13th of April, 1722. The preceding rector did not die