History of corn milling .. - Centrostudirpinia.it

SOME FEUDAL MILLS. 145
Molyneux, when, as lessee of the royal soke, then king's^mills
chiefly centred at Eastham, he was compelled in Liverpool.'
1587 to bring the extensive action shortly to be 6. Middle Mill,
recounted, against a compact combination of bur- '557-
gesses for absenting themselves from the royal mills.
It was admitted on this occasion by the recalcitrant
defendants that " they have had their corn ground
at the winde milne of one John Crosse, esquier," who
was evidently, therefore, to be reckoned among the
antagonists of Molyneux. However, Middle Mill
kept its district soke intact for some time. Here it
was that, apparently about 1635, originated in Liverpool
the custom of carrying wheat and flour to and
from the mill by the miller ; the novelty evoking the Text, post,
displeasure of Moore, of Townsend Mill. In 16^1^' ^ ^'
another John Crosse was found by inquisition to
have been possessed (as of a mesne manor) of lands,
messuages, a dove-cot, and a mill '' held of the king
as of his Duchy of Lancaster in free burgage by
23s. lod. yearly rent, and worth by the feodary's
certificate 80s." In 1672 the tenant of Middle Mill
was one of several local millers fined for grinding on Text, post,
Sunday. Little
^"
record remains of the later history of
^
the mill, which lasted till the days of soke were over,
and is marked in Enfield and Perry's map of Liverpool
for the year 1768.
7. The year 1557 was a period of conflict between
Molyneux, the royal lessee, and his tenants, the cor-
7. Eastham
poration
A^R^al
and burgesses. A dispute which arose as to Command,
the right of collecting market and other toll spread
^557-
to the soke of the mills, and Molyneux appealed to
Queen Mary. On June 4th, 1557, the following order
to enforce the soke was directed to the sheriff:—
A Commandement that the tenants of and within the maner and missions and
towne of Liverpole shall grynde there corne and grayne at the Kinge Orders,Edw.VI.
and Queenes Mills ther and not ells where.
— Elizabeth 199.
VOL. IV. K