tinued to Prenton Hall and thence to Woodchurch. Although much modernised of late years, some remains of the stone rib for pack-horses are still visible. A few years ago all the cottages of the village were either of stone or timber framing, and thatched; they have lately been mostly rebuilt, and slated or tiled. A little south of the Hall, on the same side, there existed in one cottage a large and very well-built stone oven. To the interior of the house the face of the oven had a well-made semi-circular arch of two orders, and a stone shelf below it, supported by ogee-shaped stone corbels. The work was very picturesque, and the house, though otherwise small, must have been in the seventeenth century an important bakery. In restoring this house, the shelf and corbels were hewn off, and the arch blocked up to make a level wall, and plastered over; though by so doing a convenient adjunct to the house was destroyed. Fortunately, I made a drawing of this oven the day before it was destroyed. On the opposite side of the road is the house with a capacious cellar under the garden. This house also has been restored, but retains two ancient moulded stone mantel-pieces. Still further south, at the junction of the Brimstage path and Bebington road, stood a very ancient timber cottage, built with massive oak roof timbers and thatched. Adjoining this is a large seventeenthcentury barn of stone, showing excellent examples of the survival of the ancient methods of stone work. The cottage has been replaced with a red brick shop, which, with the barn, are now covered with brilliant red tiles, that show on the hill-top on a sunny day like a bonfire. In Little Storeton still remain two thatched cottages, built in the ancient manner on timber crooks, and a third has lately fallen into ruins. Close to the eastern edge of the township, in the adjacent one of Higher Bebington, are five cottages of the ancient type, built on the arched timbers called crooks. One of these, adjoining Mill Lane, is probably as early in date as the fifteenth century, and still shows its speere by the side of the great open hearth, with an elliptic opening whence to inspect those who entered, also with the original stone seats by the chimney corner, the secret room above the chimney breast, and the ancient hanging pegs of cows' horns and deers' antlers fixed in the wall. Much as Storeton has changed of late, it still retains some of its rural quiet, and the memorials of the first seat in Cheshire of the house of Stanley, and the simpler life of the past, are still apparent in its ancient Hall, its farms and primitive cottages, with their well-kept orchards and gardens. Long may it remain, unspoiled by the ruthless improving hands of modern Local Boards, and the meanness and squalor of urban luxury, upon its hill overlooking the wide scenes of ancient and half-forgotten conflicts, where now reigns the world-wide influence of England's peace. A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE CHAR TERS, MUNIMENTS, AND OTHER RECORDS OF THE CORPORATION By T. N. Morton (Record Clerk). Read 2nd December, 1897. THE HE Records of the Corporations of Liverpool are very voluminous, quaintly curious, and comparatively little known, but are most important to the future historian, and to every one who cares for the history of this ancient commercial city. OFFICERS IN THE YEAR 1551. Mayor. Bailiff-Mayor's. Sergeant of the Keys [now Town Clerk]. Keeper of the Town Warehouse and Cellar. Supervisor of Mosses. Mise Layers and Appraisers. Seneschal of Court of the Guild [now Court of Passage]. Collectors of Road Money. Water Bailiffs. Hayward. Setters of Flesh Boards [Butchers' Stalls]. The RECORDS and MUNIMENTS of this City of Liverpool are principally as follows: 1. Royal Charters, from King John to Victoria. 2. Minutes of proceedings, 1550-1833. 3. Private Charters, about 30 small [Grant of Arms, 1797]. 4. Freemen or Burgesses, Lists of. 5. Old Leases, about 5,000, with plans. 7. Norris Papers and Letters, 2 large folio vols. 9. Holt and Gregson's Collection [in Free 10. Court of Passage : Recorded Judgments. RECORDS. 1. ROYAL CHARTERS :- Originals of all except one, but of this there is a copy; see vol. xxxvi. of the Historic Society's Transactions, and the printed Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry (Messrs. Wilkinson & Hogg), 1833. These two publications contain the whole of the Royal Charters, which are eighteen in number. LIST OF THE ROYAL CHARTERS OF LIVERPOOL. 1. Aug. 26, 1207... King John. 2. Mar. 24, 1229...King Henry III. 3. Feb. 5, 1265...Robt. de Ferrers [Confirming Nos. 1 and 2]. 4. Jan. 22, 1333... King Edward III [Confirmation]. 5. June 11, 1382... King Richard II [Restrictive Clause excepted]. 6. May 29, 1415...King Henry V [Confirmation]. 7. Jan. 8. July 4, 1556...King Philip and Queen Mary [Restrictive Clause excepted]. 4, 1626...King Charles I [Incorporation]. 9. July 18, 1677... King Charles II [52 Councillors]. 10. April 4, 1685... King James II [61 Councillors]. 11. Mar. 9, 1690-1.King William and Queen Mary [Exemplification of Charles II's Charter]. 12. Sept. 23, 1695...King William III [Governing Charter; 41 Councillors]. 13. June 10, 1698...King William III [the Mayor to be Justice of Peace for the County]. 14. June 2, 1709...Queen Anne [Wednesday Market]. 15. Mar. 26, 1752... King George II [Mayor and four Aldermen to be Justices]. 16. Jan. 19, 1808... King George III [Coroners]. 17. April 28, 1828... King George IV [Coroners] 18. May 11, 1880...Queen Victoria [Bishopric]. KING JOHN'S CHARTER, A.D. 1207. Liverpool, like some other seaports, is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, probably because no special revenue was then derived from the place, it being part of Walton. The foundation of Birkenhead Priory on the opposite side of the River Mersey, about the year 1150, probably brought an increase of trade and prosperity. When the records of the priory are unearthed, probably we shall learn much more of this city of Liverpool, but at present we first find the name "Liverpool" about 1170. A few years after, King John, by exchange, acquired Liverpool in order to make it a borough, which was done at Winchester on the 28th of August, in the ninth year of his reign. And so Liverpool, which before the charter was merely an outlying part of a large country parish with a pool, was now made a borough town and port, with privileges like other ports and a considerable amount of self-government. Its new privileges were not specifically mentioned in John's charter, but were the same as other sea |