MELLING, a chapelry in the parish of HALSALL,
hundred of WEST-DERBY, county palatine of LANCASTER,
6 miles (S.S.W.) from Ormskirk, containing 528
inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with
£400 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and
£ 1400 parliamentary grant. The Earl of Lonsdale was
patron in 1796. The chapel is dedicated to Holy Rood.
A school was founded by the lords of Melling, with a
residence for the master, about 1700, to which, in 1709,
Edward Smith bequeathed the residue of his personal
estate, and in 1712, John Tatlock gave £20; there are
about twenty-five free scholars, and the master's income
is £25 per annum.