SALFORD HUNDRED 



MAM CHESTER 



1880 to the late Robert Ward, whose widow is the 

 present owner and occupier. 



Hough Hall is a picturesque timber and plaster 

 house two stories high standing on the south side of 

 Moston Lane a little way back from the road, and amid 

 a wilderness of modern brick and mortar. The build- 

 ing has been much restored and the interior is wholly 

 modernized, but the outside retains a good deal of its 

 ancient appearance, though all the windows are new 

 and some of its original features have been lost. The 

 house appears to belong to the end of the i6th or 

 beginning of the ijih century, but in the absence 

 of any date or inscription on the building it 

 is impossible to determine the date of its erection. 

 The plan, as far as can be gathered, seems to follow 

 no recognized type, and if the house is now of its 

 original extent is probably of late date. It may, 

 however, be a fragment of a larger building. The 

 principal front faces south and consists of a block 

 about 48ft. long and 19 ft. deep running east and 

 west, with an eastern wing 

 1 8 ft. 6 in. wide projecting 

 8 ft. 6 in. and with a gable 

 north and south. With the 

 exception of the south part 

 of the east wing the building 

 is constructed entirely of tim- 

 ber on a stone base, but the 

 timbers are severely construc- 

 tional on the elevations and 

 any decorative fillings, if they 

 ever existed, have entirely dis- 

 appeared, the spaces having 

 been filled with brick and 

 cemented or plastered over. 

 The old north front had two 

 gables of unequal size side by 

 side at the east end, but a 

 third was added about 1885, 

 when a low lean-to build- 

 ing formerly in the north-west 

 of the house was raised and 

 a room built over it. These 



three plain gables without barge boards now form the 

 most picturesque feature of the house. On the east 

 side is a large stone and brick chimney originally ter- 

 minating in diagonally placed brick shafts, but these 

 have given place to a modern stack, and the lower part 

 has been entirely covered with rough-cast. The en- 

 trance is in the principal or south front and part of an 



original timber porch remains, but a modern front in 

 brick and plaster has been erected in front of it. The 

 south side of the east wing is faced in brick and has a 

 modern bay window on the ground floor. The stone 

 plinth, which on the north side is 3 ft. high, is here very 

 low, the timbers coming almost to the ground. The 

 roofs are covered with stone slates and the whole 

 appearance of the building, which has a garden on the 

 south side, is in somewhat strong contrast to its 

 surroundings. Internally the roof principals show in 

 the divisions between the bedrooms, the wall posts 

 being 1 7 ft. 9 in. apart, and the roof ceiled at half its 

 height. The entrance hall is centrally placed, and 

 has a flagged floor, but the staircase is entirely modern. 

 The outer door, however, is the ancient one of thick 

 oak, nail studded and with ornamental hinges and 

 ring handle. There is some oak panelling 3 ft. 3 in. high 

 in the dining-room, but otherwise the interior is with- 

 out interest. A second entrance has been made on 

 the east side, a lobby being taken out of one of the 



HOUGH HALL, MOSTON : BACK VIEW 



rooms, but this is no part of the original arrange- 

 ment. 47 



Thomas Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme died in 

 1576, holding messuages and lands in Moston and 

 ' Blakelowe ' of Lord La Warre in socage. 48 Among 

 the old families may be mentioned those of Street, 49 

 Rodley, 40 and Nugent. 61 



4 7 There is an illustration of Hough 

 Hall in Booker's Hisl. of Blackley Chapel 

 (1855), 187, showing the house as it was 

 before the alterations of twenty-five years 

 ago, with its two gables on the north, and 

 before the entrance was made on the east 

 ide. 



48 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 10. 



* 9 Booker, op. cit. 188. Richard Street 

 of Moston died in 1582, his next of kin 

 being William Street, then a minor ; Ct. 

 Lcet Rec. i, 232. His father was perhaps 

 the Richard Street whose heir was of age 

 in 1597 (ibid, ii, 120), for in 1600 William 

 Street was ordered to come in to do his 

 uit and service ; ibid, ii, 155, 162, 167. 

 In 1624 John Booth purchased a messuage 

 and lands in Moston from William and 

 John Street ; ibid, iii, 86. 



George Street of Moston died in 1588 

 holding a messuage and land, which he 



had in 1586 settled on himself and his 

 wife Isabel for life and then on Cecily 

 Ogden, a daughter of Richard Ogden of 

 Moston. His heir was his brother 

 Richard, forty years of age ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, 53 ; Mane A. Ct. 

 Leet Rec, ii, 32. Cecily Ogden married 

 Robert Kenyon ; ibid, ii, 132. 



10 The Radley or Rodley family has 

 been noticed in the account of Manches- 

 ter. Henry Radley in 1554 purchased a 

 messuage and land in Moston from George 

 Kenyon and Isabel his wife ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 129. 

 Richard Nugent in 1589 purchased a 

 messuage, &c., from Ralph Radley and 

 Anne his wife, and four years later made 

 a similar purchase from Henry Radley ; 

 ibid. bdle. 51, m. 137 ; 55, m. 24. 



61 The above-named Richard Nugent, 

 son of Edmund, was a mercer in Man- 



269 



Chester and served as constable and 

 borough-reeve. He died in 1609, and 

 left a son and heir Walter, of full age ; 

 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 241, and note. 

 His inventory shows that he had copies 

 of Foxe's Acts and Monuments, Calvin's 

 Institutes, &c. 



Walter Nugent in 1612 sold his Moston 

 lands to Ralph Kenyon and Robert 

 Wolfenden, the latter buying out his 

 partner in 1626 ; ibid, ii, 270 ; iii, 113. 

 Walter Nugent died in 1614, having be- 

 queathed most of his estate to his kinsman 

 William Wharmby ; ibid, ii, 290, and 

 note. 



On 28 Feb. 1625-6 Margaret Nugent 

 of Manchester,widow, Francis Hollinworth 

 of the same and Margaret his wife, 

 Nicholas Clayton of Failsworth, yeoman, 

 and Alice his wife assured to Edward 

 Tacey of Manchester, clerk, a messuage 



