A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The abbey of Cockersand held land in Failsworth 

 by grant of the Byrons. 11 



The land tax return of 1787 shows that Mordecai 

 Greene was then the principal owner, paying nearly 

 a fourth of the tax. George Smith, John Birch, 

 Edward Greaves, and Sir Watts Horton together paid 

 about the same amount. 14 



Accounts of many of the old dwellings, as well as 

 of the families, may be seen in Mr. H. T. Crofton's 

 Newton Chapelry. 1 * A complete valuation of the town- 

 ship, made in 1794, is printed in the same work. 16 



In connexion with the Established Church St. John's 

 was built in 1846 ; the rector is presented by the 

 Crown and the Bishop of Manchester alternately. 17 

 A new district, Holy Trinity, has recently been 

 formed ; the patronage is the same, but no church has 

 yet been built. 



The old school, built in 1785 by subscription, is 

 now a Free-thought Institute. 18 



The Wesleyans had a chapel at Wrigley Head, built 

 in 1787 ; it is now a workshop. 19 The Methodist 

 New Connexion, which appeared in 1797, has a 

 chapel called Bethel, built in 1 8 1 1 .* The Sweden- 

 borgians opened a cottage for services in 1841 ; the 

 present church, the fifth used, was built in I889- 21 



In 1662 John Walker was ejected from the chapel 

 of Newton, and he and his successors ministered to 

 the Nonconformists in the neighbourhood. Newton 

 chapel itself seems to have been the usual meeting 

 place, but about 1698 Dob Lane Chapel, on the 

 Failsworth side of the boundary, was erected. It 

 was sacked in 1715 by the * Church and King ' 

 rioters. The present chapel was built in 18789 on 



the site of the old one. The congregation has been 

 Unitarian for more than a century. 11 



The Roman Catholic church of the Immaculate 

 Conception was opened in i865. 23 



BRADFORD 



Bradeford, 1332. 



This township, 1 which has an area of 288 acres, 

 lies between the Medlock on the north and Ashton 

 Old Road on the south, and is crossed about the 

 centre by Ashton New Road. It is now almost 

 covered with streets of dwelling-houses. The Man- 

 chester and Stockport Canal crosses the northern end. 

 To the north of the canal lies Philips Park, opened 

 in 1 846, in which are open-air baths ; a recreation 

 ground has been formed near the border of Ardwick. 

 There is a small library, opened in 1887. The popu- 

 lation in 1901 was reckoned with that of Newton. 



The hearth tax return of 1666 gives a total of 

 twenty-seven hearths ; the largest house was that of 

 Edward Charnock with five hearths.* 



The industries include large ironworks, a mill, and 

 chemical works ; the coal-pits have long been worked. 3 

 There was a water-mill in the I4th and 1 5th centuries.* 



Though Bradford was included in the Parliamentary 

 borough of Manchester in 1832 it was left outside 

 the municipal borough in 1838. A local board was 

 formed in 1857,* enduring till the township was 

 included in Manchester in 1885. Its existence as a 

 separate township ceased in 1896, when it became 

 part of the new township of North Manchester. 



A schoolboard was formed in 1876.' 



sold to John Hardman of Heywood. 

 John Shacklock of Moston in 1632 sold 

 land to John Hardman ; Henry Hard- 

 man, who had sons, John and William, 

 sold to Sandford in 1665, and Samuel 

 Sandford soon afterwards sold to Edward 

 Chetham. The Jenkinsons of Nuthurst 

 had land in Failsworth. Some of these 

 families are noticed in the account of 

 Moston. 



The Byrons in 1615 sold land to John 

 Dunkerley of Failsworth, including closes 

 called Oldham Field, Brown Knoll, Yarn- 

 croft, Little Pingot, &c., with freedom of 

 turbary in a moss room or moss dale on 

 Droylsden Moor. These lands seem to 

 have been acquired by Nathan and Samuel 

 Jenkinson not long afterwards. See 

 Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 59, 64-9. 



William Clough died in 1639, holding 

 a messuage, &c., in Fails-worth of Edward 

 Mosley as of his manor of Manchester ; 

 John, his son and heir, was thirty years 

 of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 27. 



The following are from the inquisitions 

 in Towneley'sMS. C 8. 13 (Chet. Lib.): 



Charles Beswick died in 1631, holding 

 a messuage and land of the lord of Man- 

 chester ; John his son and heir was thirty 

 years of age in 1638 ; p. 78. 



Hugh Clayton, who died in 1635, had 

 a similar tenement : Richard his son and 

 heir was fifty-two or more ; p. 260. 



Adam Holland of Newton (d. 1624) 

 had lands in Failsworth also ; p. 502. 



Nicholas Kempe, who died in 1621, 

 held a messuage and lands of the lord of 

 Manchester ; Henry, his son and heir, was 

 fifty-one years of age in 1638 ; p. 723. 



John Thorpe, who died in 1633, held 

 a similar tenement ; Ralph, his son and 

 heir, was forty-three years old in 1638; 

 p. 1190. 



Thomas Turner held similarly ; he 

 died in 1635, leaving as heir his brother 

 John, who was thirty years old in 1638 ; 

 p. 1191. 



18 Robert de Byron granted the abbot 

 and canons the place of his ' herdwick ' 

 upon Mossbrook, lying between two 

 cloughs going down to the said brook, for 

 the souls of himself and his wife ; 

 Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 708. 

 Cecily, the wife of Robert, added all the 

 land of the clough coming from Mossden 

 between the aforesaid land and Ralph's 

 assart, as far as another clough on the 

 eastern side, up to the oxgangs of the 

 vill (i.e. the town fields) 5 ibid. Robert 

 the son of Robert and Cecily confirmed 

 the grants ; ibid. 709. The date of the 

 charters is about i 200. 



Roger, Abbot of Cockersand, gave this 

 land to John son of Robert de Byron, at 

 a rent of I2d. ; Byron Chartul. no. i. 

 Nicholas Byron held it by the same rent 

 in 1461 ; Cockersand Chartul. iv, 1238. 



14 Returns at Preston. 



18 The second part of vol. ii deals with 

 Failsworth ; Chet. Soc. (new ser.), liv, 

 213-95. The houses are arranged in 

 alphabetical order ; among the chief are : 

 Booth Fold (p. 21 5), Fletcher Fold (p. 233), 

 Hardman Fold (p. 234), Lime Yate 

 (p. 241), Lord Lane (p. 244), The Pole 

 (p. 250), Wrigley Head (pp. 261, 263, 

 381), which is named in the Manchester 

 boundaries in 1320 ; Mamecestre, ii, 277. 



16 Newton Cbapelry ii, 367-78 ; the 

 names of owners, tenants, and fields are 

 given. 



17 For district and endowment see 

 Land. Gam. 22 Oct. 1844, 21 Aug. 1874, 

 3 Aug. 1877. Also Crofton, op. cit. 

 204-8. 



18 Ibid. 212, 213. 



2 74 



19 Ibid. 210. A new chapel was built 

 in Oldham Road in 1867 in place of it; 

 ibid. 353. 



80 Ibid. 210, 352. 



21 Ibid. 210-12, 361. 



22 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 3850; 

 a view of the old building is given. It is 

 stated that ' long before the highway from 

 Manchester to Oldham was made, Dob- 

 lane was only reached by a bridle path 

 through the fields, the chapel itself lying 

 secluded among the trees, and the lane, a 

 very narrow one between hedges, con- 

 tinued up to Watchcote, Failsworth ' 

 (p. 46). Depositions respecting the 1715 

 riots are printed ibid. 43. The Rev. 

 Lewis Loyd, afterwards a banker, father 

 of Lord Overstone, at one time was 

 minister. There is a History of Dob Lane 

 Chapel by the Rev. Alex. Gordon. See 

 also Crofton, op. cit. 185-204. 



28 The mission was begun in 1846 by 

 Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The 

 community appears to have dissolved, 

 but one priest remained as a secular. 

 Building began in 1855, and the church 

 (not completed) was opened in 1865 ; it 

 has since been finished ; Crofton, op. cit. 

 208-10. 



1 For a descriptive account see Crofton, 

 Newton Chap. (Chet. Soc.), iii, 283, &c. 



2 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9. 



8 See the account of the manor and 

 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 394. Otes Board- 

 man of Bradford and James Barker of the 

 same, colliers, occur in 1630 ; Salford 

 Port Mote Rec. i, 231. 



4 Crofton, op. cit. 398. Disputes as to 

 the Bradford Mill occurred in 1561 and 

 1 60 1 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 



247 > >, 436. 



5 Load. Gaz. 2 Jan. 1857. 

 Ibid. 27 Oct. 1876. 



