First found in Lancashire where they were seated from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. In 1882 Gisborne Molineux researched and published the Molineux origins in "Memoirs of the Molineux Family."

Molyneux (/ ˈmɒlɪnjuː /; Old French: De Molines or De Moulins) is a French surname. The surname has been linked primarily to a large French family that settled in Lancashire, England.

The baronetcy of Molyneux of Sefton was created in the Baronetage of England on 22 May 1611 for Richard Molyneux, Member of Parliament for Lancashire on three occasions 1584 to 1611. Successors were raised to the peerage as Viscount Molyneux and Earl of Sefton. [1]

The Castle Dillon estate was purchased in 1664 by Captain Samuel Molyneux. The park possesses all the requisites of sylvan beauty—wood, water, and variety of ground. The family estates at the death of Sir Capel Molyneux, seventh Baronet, extended over 16,560 acres, of the estimated annual value of £10,000.

The Molineux name refers the family’s original home in Normandy; Molineaux-Sur-Seine, near Rouen. The Lancashire family, who were lords of the manor of Sefton, became large land owners, and extremely wealthy. They built Croxteth Hall in 1575, which became their family residence.

The name however, is a reference to the family's place of residence prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, Moulineaux-Sur-Seine, near Rouen, in Normandy the site of Castle Molineux. You can review more on this name at http://www.houseofnames.com/molyneaux-family-crest and at http://www.molineux.com/ .

The loss of Liverpool Castle led to a protracted legal case over its ownership and ultimately its demolition. On 5 March 1704 the city's burgesses obtained a lease for the castle and its site from The Crown for fifty years. But William Molyneux, 4th Viscount Molyneux, disputed this as he still claimed to be the castle's hereditary constables.

In "Memoirs of the Molineux Family." Gisborne Molineux traces the evolution of the name, crests and significant ancestors from the Castle Molineux near Rouen, France through the growth of the Molineuxes in England's North and Midlands.

The surname Molineux was first found in Lancashire as "an ancient Norman family, who have been possessed of the manor of Sefton, in this county, from the period of the Conquest, or very soon afterwards: it was held as a knight's fee, as of the Castle of Lancaster."

The motto of the Castle Dillon family is “Stat fortuna domus vertute.” On a flat marble in the chancel of Sefton Church are inlaid the effigies in brass of Sir William Molyneux and his two wives, with their respective coats of arms over their heads; and underneath his own shield quartering eleven other coats, besides that of Molyneux, with ...