A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Wright family ' are said to have possessed the hall ot 

 Cron ton for generations, until in 1821 they sold it 

 to Bartholomew Bretherton of Rainhill ;* Mr. Staple- 

 ton-Bretherton is the present proprietor. No manorial 

 rights exist in connexion with it. 8 



John Atherton was the principal contributor to the 

 land tax in 1785. 



At the school chapel of the Holy Family, mass is 

 said on Sundays and holidays by one of the priests of 

 the Rainhill mission. 4 



There is also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. 



CUERDLEY 



Kyueredeleye, 1275 ; Keuerdele, Kyuyrdele, 1292 ; 

 Kyrdeleye, 1295; Keuerdelegh, 1328 a frequent 

 spelling. 



This township has an area of 1,573^ acres. 5 A 

 considerable portion of it lying by the Mersey is 

 marshy. It is situated in extremely unpicturesque 

 flat country between the manufacturing towns of 

 Widnes and Warrington, and presents little of interest 

 so far as its natural features are concerned. 



The soil is a stiff clay, and the chief produce wheat 

 and oats, and many acres afford good pasturage. The 

 geological formation consists of the upper mottled 



sandstone of the bunter series of the new red sand- 

 stone or trias, which is covered by alluvium in 

 Cuerdley Marsh. The principal road is that from 

 Widnes to Penketh. The Cheshire Lines Committee's 

 Liverpool to Manchester railway crosses the northern 

 angle, where it is joined by a branch line from 

 Widnes. The St. Helens Canal passes through the 

 southern part of the township. 



Cromwell's Bank is the name given to an ancient 

 dyke in the marsh. In this marsh the Bold Dragon 

 is said to have been slain. 



Only the name seems to survive of Cuerdley Cross.' 

 Early in the twelfth century CUERD- 

 M4NOR LET formed part of the demesne of the 

 Widnes fee, and before 1117 right of com- 

 mon in the woods and pasture was granted by William 

 Fitz Nigel to the priory of Runcorn ; which right con- 

 tinued to be enjoyed by the canons of this house 

 after their removal to Norton. 7 By the marriage of 

 William's daughter Maud to Albert Grelley II, the 

 manor came into the possession of the barons of Man- 

 chester, 8 and is usually stated in the extents of the 

 barony of Manchester to be held of the honour of 

 Halton by the eighth part of a knight's fee." 



Early in the fifteenth century it seems to have 

 been granted to the Cistercian abbey of Jervaulx in 



394 



