Marple Hall. 39 



family, an exceedingly ancient one, dating from the 

 time of the Saxons, and of Saxon origin. An old pedi- 

 gree, still preserved at Marple, shows that, at the time 

 of the Norman conquest, John Bradshaw, then the head 

 of the family, showed such courage arid independence, 

 that the Conqueror repossessed him of his patrimony 

 Bradshaw Hall, near Bolton. The latter went in unin- 

 terrupted male succession for twenty-five generations, or 

 till 1 690, when it became the property of the Bradshaws 

 of Marple. In 1602 was born here the celebrated John 

 Bradshaw, sergeant-at-law, and President of the Court of 

 Commission that sat in Westminster Hall, A.D. 1649, to 

 try Charles I. He was the youngest son of Henry 

 Bradshaw, Esq., by Catherine, daughter of Ralph Win- 

 nington, Esq., of Offerton Hall, his mother dying at his 

 birth. In the Stockport register he is stated to have 

 been baptized Dec. 10, 1602, and opposite the entry has 

 been written the word " Traitor." He died, without 

 issue, 1659, and in his will, also preserved at the Hall, 

 bequeaths, among other legacies, one of ;io to his 

 " kinsman, John Milton," the author of Paradise Lost. 

 His elder brother served as colonel under Cromwell, 

 and was wounded at the battle of Worcester; while 

 the name of Henry Bradshaw, the father, stands first in 

 the famous Cheshire petition presented to Parliament, 

 May 6, 1646, praying for the establishment of Presby- 

 terianism, and which bore no less than 12,578 signatures. 

 The Hall contains numerous apartments, but none of 



