of Weroll beyng bund be obligacio1 the xxviij day of June in the iij yere of the Queenes Ma[jesty's] reyne [1561], we find that of "Wyllia[m] Balle of Yrby," while "Thomas Anion of Thurstynton " and " Robert Newbot of Gresbye" were hosts in the adjacent villages. An inn stood formerly on the west side of the entrance drive of Dawpool, a site now within the grounds; it is numbered 92 on the tithe map.

The eastern boundary of the parish of Thurstaston is for the most part extremely irregular. Thus while the inn is just within the parish of Woodchurch the hall and the two fields to the north and west of it are in the parish of Thurstaston, and "the manor house and demesne of Ireby" paid tythes to that rectory.3

Nearly opposite the inn is a brick barn, in the wall of which is a red sandstone plate with rosettes in the upper corners and bearing the initials and date

representing, no doubt, John Glegg of Irby and Backford, esquire, and Betty his wife, daughter of John Baskervyle, of Withington, esquire, who assumed the name of Glegg, by Mary his wife, daughter and finally heiress of Robert Glegg, of Gayton, esquire.

IRBY HALL.

Both Ormerod and Sulley describe Irby Hall as a timber and plaster building, and the latter, writing in 1889, states that it is "now rapidly falling into decay." Since then it has been restored. The front, facing east, certainly presents the familiar Cheshire "black and white," but the sides and back are of solid stone and the

1 The foundation of our present licensing system was laid by the Act of 1552 which empowered the justices to issue licences and take recognisances.

2 MS. 46 in the Mayer Free Library, Bebington.

3 Gastrell's Notitia.

chimneys are massive. It stands within a rectangular moated enclosure upon the site of the old manor house of the abbey of St. Werburgh. The enclosure is not exactly square as indicated by Ormerod; the north and south sides are about a hundred paces long, the east and west about eighty-five. The moat on the east side has practically disappeared; on the south, west and western portion of the north side it remains. On the north, broken at the east end, and on the west side, there is a high bank outside the moat, which in former days was doubtless continued along the other two; and one may conjecture that some sort of breastwork stood upon the top of the bank, from behind which archers and crossbowmen might shoot in defence of the hall against any bands of marauding Welshmen, while if hard pressed they could withdraw across the moat, by a temporary bridge, to the hall itself. On the left of the entrance is a dial post, but there is no sun-dial; there is no old oak or any carving within the hall. The illustration shows the hall as it was before restoration.

Retracing our steps towards the inn and passing through a wicket just before reaching it, we enter the field to the north and west of the hall already alluded to and are in a detached portion of the parish of Thurstaston. The field path leads across it to a little bog, gay, in their season, with king cups and other water-loving flowers, and the source of Greasby brook. On the further side of the bog, under a tree, there is a well; this, before water from Prenton was laid on some twenty-five years ago, was the source of supply for the people of the village, who stood upon a large stone beside it while drawing for their needs.1 Whether or not this is the ancient well" called Londymere," mentioned in the agreement between Thomas of Byrch-Hylles, abbot of St. Werburgh from 1291 to 1323,3

1 Information of Mr. R. Cross.

2 Chartulary of St. Werburgh's, Harl. MS. 1695, f. 25 (old 32). See page 12. 3 Record Soc. Lanc. & Ches. LXIV, 103.

and William son of Patrick de Hasilwalle as to the boundaries between their respective manors of Irreby and Thurstanston, is uncertain, but there does not appear to be any other well in the locality which would suit. Crossing the next field, which is in the parish of Woodchurch, we enter the main body of Thurstaston parish. Another field, passing a fir wood cut down in the Great War, brings us to Mr. Hughes' Hill Farm." Crossing the farmyard and leaving Mr. Langley's1 "Ivy Lodge" on the left, we reach the high road and the main entrance to the mansion called

DAWPOOL.2

Dawpool was built by the late Thomas Henry Ismay in 1884, from designs by Mr. Norman Shaw. It represents, perhaps more perfectly than any other of his works, the earlier manner of its designer, the manner that was inspired by Tudor examples, yet took on a character so rightly modern. Coleridge says in his Biographia Literaria that “to admire on principle is the only way to imitate without loss of originality." It is because Mr. Norman Shaw had absorbed so fully the principles rather than the accidents of the first age of English country-house building that the originality of the work stands so clearly confessed. The plan bears no sort of relation to that of any historical house; it is entirely modern; yet starting with this groundwork, the elements of chimney, gable, mullion and bay have been so skilfully arranged that no little of the romance of historical architecture has been created. In less able hands they would have degenerated into a welter of fussiness, but at Dawpool the note of coherent gravity remains. The problem was seen whole.

The house is approached on its north-east side by a winding drive that leads the visitor through a moorland space brilliant with furze, heather and bracken, and 1 Langley is an old name in the parish.

2 Doubtless so called from the hamlet on the shore.