SALFORD HUNDRED 



By the inquest of 1 2 1 2 it was found that Matthew 

 and Roger, sons of William, held of Robert Grelley 

 the fee of one knight ' of ancient time,' and were 

 bound to ' find a judge for the king.' 5 The tenure 

 thus went back to the early years of the 1 2th century, 

 probably before the creation of the barony of Man- 

 chester, when Withington would be held of the king's 

 manor of Salford by the service of finding a judge, 

 which service was still required after the mesne lord- 

 ship of Manchester had been created. 6 



The lords had the surname of Haversage, from one 

 of their manors fe in Derbyshire. Little is known of 

 them, 7 but Matthew de Haversage in 1 248-9 procured 

 a charter of free warren for his manors, including 

 Withington and Didsbury. 8 Withington descended 



MANCHESTER 



to the Longfords of Longford in Derbyshire, who held 

 it until the end of the i6th century, 9 when Nicholas 



HAVERSAGE. Paly oj 

 tix argent and gules 

 on a chief azure a bar 

 dancetty or. 



LONGFORD. Paly of 

 tix or and gules a bend 

 argent. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 53. Matthew son 

 of William also held four oxgangs in 

 Chorlton ; ibid. 69. 



In 1282 the fee of Withington owed to 

 the lord of Manchester the ploughing of 

 1 5 acres of land, a service valued at js. 6d. ; 

 it also owed a service of reaping as due 

 from 30 oxgangs of land, worth zs. 6d. 

 The clear value of the vill of Withington 

 was 3 1 a year ; ibid. 246, 250. From 

 this it appears that Withington was as- 

 sessed at 30 oxgangs in all. 



In the later survey of 13202 it was 

 recorded that the lord of Withington was 

 one of the judges of the court of Man- 

 chester ; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 286. 

 Under the title De consuetudinibus arandi it 

 was noted that each oxgang of arable land 

 of ancient (not new) assart alike of Ni- 

 cholas de Longford as of his tenants in 

 Withington, Didsbury, Barlow, Chorlton, 

 Denton, and Haughton, was liable for the 

 ploughing of half an acre in Manchester, 

 wherever assigned, id. being paid. There 

 were about 25 oxgangs in all, including 

 one held by Sir Henry de Traffbrd, called 

 the Constable's oxgang, which was exempt. 

 From the same tenants was due the ser- 

 vice of thirty-six reapers for one whole 

 day, the lord providing a meal ; while the 

 exempt oxgang was liable for an overseer 

 to see that the services were duly rendered ; 

 ibid, ii, 377-8. 



6 A similar tenure was that of Pilking- 

 ton ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 55. 

 Judges were also to be provided by the 

 lords of Kaskenmoor (Oldham) and Stret- 

 ford, held directly of Salford. 



fa Now called Hathersage. 



7 William, the father of Matthew and 

 Roger, was probably the William son of 

 Wulfric de Withington whose claim to 

 part of Chorlton was decided by wager of 

 battle ; see the account of Chorlton upon 

 Medlock. Matthew son of William occurs 

 in the Pipe Rolls from 1177 5 Farrer, 

 Lanes. Pipe R. 38, 115, &c. 



Matthew de Haversage, in the time of 

 King John no doubt the son of the 

 Matthew of 1212 was according to one 

 story left a minor and in the king's ward- 

 ship 5 but according to another was seized 

 by Philip Mark, keeper of Nottingham 

 Castle, and married to his daughter ; 

 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 260. Matthew 

 son of Matthew de Haversage was a bene- 

 factor of Lenton ; Dugdale, Man. Angl. 

 v, 112. In 1242 Matthew de Haversage 

 held a knight's fee in Withington of the 

 fee of Thomas Grelley ; ibid. 1 54. The 

 accounts of the succession are not in 

 agreement. From the inquisition already 

 cited (op. cit. i, 260) it would seem that 

 Matthew died without issue, the heir 



being his sister Cecily who married a 

 Longford and was grandmother of Oliver 

 de Longford. On the other hand in 

 1292 (see below) Oliver's son John was 

 called great-grandson of the Matthew of 

 1248. 



Two of Matthew's charters are noted 

 by Booker, Didsbury Cbapelry (Chet. Soc.), 

 319. One of them was to Richard son 

 of H. de Handforth ; and in 1361 John 

 son of John de Handforth failed to prose- 

 cute a claim against Sir Nicholas de Long- 

 ford ; Assize R. 441, m. 5. These and 

 other Handforth deeds are among the 

 Birch charters in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 

 178^, &c. In 1 572 Robert Chetham pur- 

 chased from Hugh Handforth and Anne 

 his wife a messuage and lands in ' Chour- 

 ton' (probably Chorlton with Hardy) ; 

 PaL of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 34, m. 128. 

 This may be the land granted to Richard 

 de Handforth, but Hugh's name does not 

 appear in the Honford pedigree in Ear- 

 waker's East Ches. i, 250. 



8 Charter R. 44 (33 Hen. Ill) ; Cal. 

 Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 345- 



9 John de Byron held Withington for 

 life in 1282; Lanes. Inq. ana" Extents, i, 248. 

 The heir was a minor, being John son of 

 Oliver, grandson of Cecily, the sister of 

 Matthew de Haversage ; the Bishop of 

 Chester had the right to his wardship : 

 ibid. 260. Noel (Nigel) de Longford 

 made a grant of land in Didsbury about 

 1260; Booker, Birch (Chet. Soc.), 231. 

 For his ancestry see the account of Goos- 

 nargh. The Matthew de Haversage who 

 obtained the charter of free warren was 

 called the proavus of John de Longford, 

 who produced it in 1292 ; at this time 

 also it was stated that Oliver de Longford, 

 father of John, had died seised ; Plac. de 

 Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 377. John de 

 Longford held the knight's fee in With- 

 ington in 1302 ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 

 i, 313. Sir John de Longford and Dame 

 Joan, probably his widow, had inclosed 

 part of Burnage before 1320 ; Mamecestre, 

 ii, 283-4. 



Another of Matthew de Haversage's 

 sisters married a Gousill ; Thoroton, 

 Notts, iii, 147. In 1260 there was a par- 

 tition of estates between Sir Nigel de 

 Longford and Dame Maud de Gousill ; 

 Hibbert-Ware, Manch. Foundations, iii, 

 125. 



Sir Nicholas, the son of John, was in 

 possession by 1317, as appears by a Traf- 

 ford deed. He was living in 1 347 

 (Assize R. 143 5, m. 3 3 d) and was knighted 

 at the siege of Calais in that year ; 

 Shaw, Knights, i, 6. He was probably 

 the Nicholas de Longford returned in 

 1346-55 as holding the fee in With- 

 ington which Matthew de Haversage had 



289 



formerly held ; Feud. Aids, iii, 89. In 

 1345 he obtained a licence to impark at 

 Withington (Cal. Pat. 1343-5, p. 534), 

 and in 1352 he charged Sir John Daniel 

 and another with breaking into his park 

 at Withington and carrying off the deer ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m. 4, 6. 



The same or a second Sir Nicholas re- 

 ceived a licence for his oratory in 1360 ; 

 Lich. Epis. Reg. Stretton, v, fol. 5. He 

 in 1362 made a feoffment of his manor of 

 Withington, and died in 1373, leaving a 

 son and heir Nicholas, twenty-two years 

 of age. The manor was held of the lord 

 of Manchester by homage and fealty, and 

 a rent of 19;., suit at the court of Man- 

 chester being performed from three weeks 

 to three weeks, and at the court of Lan- 

 caster from six weeks to six weeks. The 

 yearly value was 20 marks ; Inq. p.m. 47 

 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 22. In 1376 

 Nicholas de Longford was plaintiff and 

 Oliver de Barton and Alice his wife de- 

 forciants in a fine respecting the manor of 

 Withington ; the right of Nicholas was 

 acknowledged ; Feet of F. Divers Coun- 

 ties, Mich. 50 Edw. Ill, no. 136. 



Another Sir Nicholas de Longford, son 

 of Sir Nicholas, died in Sept. 1415, leav- 

 ing a son Ralph, fifteen years of age, and 

 a widow Alice, who married William 

 Chanterell. Withington was stated to be 

 held of the lord of Manchester by the 

 service of one knight's fee ; it was worth 

 40 clear ; Lanes. Inq . p.m. (Chet. Soc.), 

 i, 114, 119 5 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, 

 App. 12, 13 ; Booker, Didsbury, in, note. 

 Thomas la Warre, as rector of Manches- 

 ter, had in 1411 complained that Sir 

 Nicholas de Longford and other evildoers 

 had violently carried off his corn in With- 

 ington ; Towneley MS. CC, no. 450, 

 451. 



Sir Ralph de Longford (Feud. Aids, iii, 

 96) died in 143 1, having made a settle- 

 ment of his manor of Withington and 

 other lands in Lancashire in 1429 ; he 

 left a son and heir Nicholas, aged thirteen; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 29. 

 Ralph seems to have been made a knight 

 in 1426 for his conduct at the battle of 

 Verneuil; Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, i. This 

 Sir Nicholas, the heir, is named as lord of 

 Withington in 1449, and again (probably) 

 in 1473, when 91. was due from him to 

 the lord of Manchester (sake-fee) and IQJ. 

 for castle ward ; Lanes. Rec. Inq. p.m. 

 no. 36, 37<i , Mamecestre, iii, 48 1. He was 

 knighted afterTewkesburyj Sha.vr,Knights, 

 ii, 15. 



Sir Ralph Longford, knighted in 1487 

 after Stoke (Metcalfe, op. cit. 17), died in 

 1513, holding the manors of Hough, 

 Withington, and Didsbury, with 100 mes- 

 suages, land, meadow, pasture, wood, 



37 



