sentences:  It was surrounded by a 'moat' which was still very prominent on the Tithe map drawn-up in 1847, although three-sides were reported to have been filled-in by the turn of this century.Ownership of the manor remained in the Lathom family, often through the female line, until 1611 when it was sold to Thomas Sutton, a London gentleman and founder of Charterhouse School.Unfortunately Sutton died a few months later and it was his nephew who sold the estate to Sir Richard Molyneux, the Earl of Sefton three years later for £10,500.