A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



and ornamented with elegant houses on the border of 

 a canal.' ' It was then a fashionable residential dis- 

 trict for Manchester merchants. 



James Heywood Markland, an antiquary, was born 

 there in 1788 ; he died in 1828.* Another native 

 was Martha Darley Mutrie, a flower painter, born in 

 1824; she died in 1885.* Samuel Reynolds Hole, 

 Dean of Rochester 1887-1904 and famous as a rose- 

 grower, was born at Ardwick in 1820. 



In 1825 an Act was obtained for the better govern- 

 ment of the township.* On the incorporation of the 

 borough of Manchester in 1838, Ardwick was in- 

 cluded ; together with Beswick it formed a ward. It 

 was merged in the new township of South Manches- 

 ter in 1896. 



A mock corporation held its meetings from 1764 

 onwards, a mayor and other officers being elected. 



There was, properly speaking, no manor 

 M4NOR of ARDWICK, which was a hamlet in 

 the demesne of Manchester. In 1282 

 the farm of I o oxgangs and 9 acres of land in bond- 

 age amounted to 43-f., and there was a plat of land 

 there called Twantirford, rendering 6s. 8d. s The 

 tenants had turbary on I oo acres of moor in Open- 

 shaw, and were obliged to grind at the Irk Mills to 

 the sixteenth measure. 7 In 13202 Richard Akke, a 

 ' native,' held 2 messuages and 2 oxgangs of land in 

 villeinage at a rent of 8/., performing also certain ser- 

 vices; 8 the other land, 8f oxgangs, was valued at 

 451. 6</. 9 The hamlet was, with Bradford and other 

 lands, given by Roger La Warre in 1357 to Thomas 

 de Booth of Barton, 10 and descended in this family 

 till the partition at the end of the i6th century, 

 when, like Bradford, it became part of the share of 

 Dorothy, youngest daughter of John Booth. The 

 ' manors of Over and Lower Ardwick,' with messuages, 

 lands, and common rights, were in 1636 sold by 

 Thomas Charnock and others to Samuel Birch." 



BIRCH of Ardwick. 

 Assure three Jkurt-de-lis 

 argent, a canton or. 



A Birch pedigree was recorded in 1 664 " in which 

 it is stated that Samuel was the son of Ambrose Birch 

 of Openshaw. He was a friend of Henry New- 

 come's, 11 and, dying in 1668-9, ^ e ^ a ^ l an ds to his 

 son John, of Whitbourne in Herefordshire." John 

 Birch, born in 1616, was a 

 carrier and trader of Bristol ; 

 afterwards he entered the army, 

 and was a colonel in 1644, 

 when he was serving for the 

 Parliament against the king, 15 

 and greatly distinguished him- 

 self in the war. He was a 

 Member of Parliament, 16 show- 

 ing himself a moderate Presby- 

 terian, and being in December 

 1648 excluded by 'Pride's 

 Purge,' was for a time impri- 

 soned. He was thereafter one 



of Cromwell's opponents, and took part in the nego- 

 tiations for the restoration of Charles II. 17 He con- 

 tinued to represent Weobley till his death in 1691. 

 His association with Lancashire is slight ; but he 

 acquired Ordsall, which remained in his family for 

 some time. 18 



Ardwick appears to have been acquired by the 

 colonel's younger brother Samuel, who also took part 

 in the wars and was known as Major Birch. 19 He 

 died in 1693, leaving a son and heir John, who by 

 his will left a messuage and lands in Upper and Lower 

 Ardwick to his wife Elizabeth, with remainder to his 

 son Thomas ; a younger son, Samuel, also had lands 

 in Lower Ardwick.* Thomas Birch, on succeeding in 

 1728, rebuilt the manor-house, but died without issue 

 in 1753 ; by his will he divided his estates, Ardwick 

 lands going to his brother George, with remainders to 

 his nephews Samuel and George, sons of his brother 

 Samuel. He left money for a school at Ardwick. 11 



9 Clarke, Lanes. Gazetteer. 



8 Die t. Nat. Biog. The family occurs 

 in Pemberton and Foxholes near Rochdale. 



* Ibid. * 6 Geo. IV, cap. 5. 



6 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 245. The total 

 assessment was probably lof oxgangs. 



7 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 291, 371, 

 from the survey of 1320-22. 



8 Ibid, ii, 280 ; his services were the 

 same as those of Henry the Reeve of 

 Gorton, except that he had to carry mill- 

 stones, not to Gorton Mill, but to that at 

 Manchester, at a gross payment of \d. for 

 loading and 6s. %d. for carrying, which he 

 shared with others. 



* Ibid, ii, 364 ; each oxgang was valued 

 at 5*. dd., except one, worth only 4$. 

 From the total amount it appears that the 

 fraction also was valued at the lower rate. 

 There were eight messuages on the land ; 

 ibid, ii, 365. 



In 1357 Roger La Warre leased to 

 John son of Adam son of Richard 10 acres 

 in Ardwick which Thomas de Beswick 

 had held for fifteen years past, at a rent of 

 5*. $d. ; Manch. Corp. D. 



10 See the account of Bradford. From 

 an earlier charter it seems that ' the ham- 

 let of Ardwick ' had been leased to Thomas 

 de Booth and John his son in 1352 at a 

 rent of 57*. i id. ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 

 1 60 ; see also Close R. 42 Edw. Ill, m. 

 20 (19). Ardwick is regularly mentioned 

 in the Booth inquisitions, but is not called 

 a 'manor.' 



The distinction of Higher and Lower 

 Ardwick appears in 1576; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 8. 



11 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 129, 

 no. 1 2 . The vendors were Thomas Char- 

 nock, Bridget his wife (the daughter and 

 heir of Dorothy Booth by her first hus- 

 band John Molyneux), Robert Charnock 

 son and heir of Thomas, John Charnock, 

 Humphrey Chetham, Francis Mosley, and 

 Ralph Pycroft the last three probably as 

 mortgagees. 



13 Dugdale, Vhit. (Chet. Soc.), 34 ; 

 there is a more extended pedigree in 

 Misc. Gen. et Herald, i, 307. The account 

 in the text is mainly from Booker, Birch 

 Chap. (Chet. Soc.), 106-20. 



A Ralph Birch, perhaps predecessor of 

 Samuel, had disputes in 1600 and 1602 

 with Thomas Shelmerdine, the queen's 

 constable of Ardwick ; Hugh Beswick 

 was also concerned ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), iii, 495, 475, 454. 



18 Samuel Birch of Openshaw was ap- 

 proved as a ruling elder of Gorton in 

 1650; Mancb. Classis (Chet. Soc.), 138. 

 Henry Newcome preached his wife's fu- 

 neral sermon; Autobiog. (Chet. Soc.), i, 134; 

 the Diary, 174, speaks of 'old Captain 

 Birch.' 



14 The will is printed by Booker, op. 

 cit. 1 06, 107. A younger son, 'Thomas 

 Birch, clerk,' was father of the John 

 Birch who, by marriage with his cousin 

 Sarah, acquired Ordsall. 



Ji In 1645 he was in command of the 



280 



Kentish regiment at Plymouth ; later he 

 took part in the siege of Bristol and sur- 

 prised Hereford, of which city he was 

 appointed governor. Next year he de- 

 feated and captured Sir Jacob Astley, 

 received the surrender of Ludlow, and 

 captured Goodrich Castle. In the same 

 year he took the Covenant. See Booker, 

 op. cit. 108-10 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Mili- 

 tary Memoirs of Col. John Birch (Camd. 

 Soc.). He is mentioned in Henry New- 

 come's Diary (p. 203), and Autobiog. ii, 

 298, &c. 



16 He sat for Leominster in 1646, and 

 was returned also in 1654 and 1658 ; for 

 Penryn in 1661-78, and afterwards for 

 Weobley. 



^ Booker, op. cit. 111-13. 



18 See the account of Ordsall. He de- 

 scribed himself in 1683 as owning the 

 manors of Upper and Lower Ardwick ; 

 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 94. His lands 

 there appear to have descended to John 

 Peploe Birch, son of his niece Elizabeth 

 Peploe ; Land Tax Return of 1787. 



19 Booker, op. cit. 114; Manch. Classis, 

 3,1. 



30 Booker, op. cit. 115. Samuel Birch 

 was vouchee of the manors of Upper and 

 Lower Ardwick, &c., in a recovery in 

 1712 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 495, m. 5. 



31 His will of 1746, with codicils of 

 1748 and 1753, is printed by Booker, op. 

 cit. 115-20. Considerable changes were 

 made by the codicil, his nephew Thomas 

 Birch becoming the principal legatee. 



