SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



named heads the pedigree recorded in 1567,'* at 

 which time the lord of the manor was another 

 Alexander Barlow, who was 

 conspicuous among the people 

 of the Manchester district by 

 his steady resistance to the 

 religious changes made by 

 Elizabeth. 16 For this cause he 

 was at last committed to pri- 

 son, and died in custody on 

 24 August 1584 leaving a son 

 and heir of the same name, 

 then twenty-six years of age. 17 

 The son, described in the 

 Douay Records as a ' constant 

 confessor of Christ,' 18 was 

 made a knight on the accession 

 of James I, 19 who at that time 

 showed his inclination towards religious toleration. 

 Sir Alexander died in 1620, holding the manor of 

 Barlow and various lands of Edward Mosley, and 

 other lands in Denton and Haughton ; his son and 

 heir Sir Alexander Barlow was over thirty years of 

 age.* Two other sons entered the Benedictine Order, 



BARLOW of Barlow. 

 Sable a double - headed 

 eagle displayed argent t 

 numbered or, standing on 

 the limb of a tree raguled 

 and trunked of the second. 



one of them being the Ven. Ambrose Barlow, who 

 for twenty years laboured as a missionary in South 

 Lancashire, and after being several times imprisoned, 

 was at last executed for his priesthood on 10 Septem- 

 ber 1 64 1 11 at Lancaster. His death was supposed 

 to have been due to instructions from the Parliament. 

 Of the second Sir Alexander but little is known." 

 He died in 1642 and was succeeded by his son 

 Alexander, 13 who in 1654 was followed by his brother 

 Thomas." A pedigree was recorded ten years later.* 5 

 Thomas died in 1684, his surviving son Anthony 

 being the heir.* 6 In 1717 Anthony Barlow, as a 

 * Papist,' registered his estate.* 7 His two elder sons, 

 Thomas and Anthony, were charged with treason in 

 connexion with the Jacobite rising of 1715,** but 

 appear to have escaped, as Thomas succeeded his father 

 in 1723. Quarrels between Thomas and his wife 

 ended in an attempt on her life, and he died a 

 prisoner in Lancaster in 1729, having fallen a victim 

 to gaol fever.* 9 His eldest son Thomas succeeded, and 

 soon after his death in 1773 so the estates were sold." 

 Barlow Hall has ever since been the property of the 

 Egertons of Tatton. It was for some years the resi- 

 dence of the late Sir William Cunliffe Brooks. 



Barlow made a feoffment of his manor 

 of Barlow, &c., in 1478 ; Harl. MS. 

 Zi 12, fol. I74d./2iod. 



William Barlow, a son of Nicholas, 

 claimed certain lands in Withington 

 against Alexander Barlow in 1479 * >a '- 

 of Lane. Plea R. 51, m. 3 d. 



16 Vint. (Chet. Soc.), 5. The descent 

 is thus given : Alexander -a. Roger -s. 

 Ellis -s. Alexander (living 1567) -s. 

 Alexander. 



Writs were issued in 1525 touching 

 Anne Barlow, widow, custodian of the 

 land and heir of Ellis Barlow, and Kathe- 

 rine who was the wife of Roger Barlow ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. Lent, 

 1 6 Hen. VIII. Two years later Edmund 

 Barlow of Hardy, and {Catherine Barlow, 

 widow, were executors of the will of 

 Roger son and heir of Alexander Barlow ; 

 ibid. Lent, 18 Hen. VIII ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 142, m. 4. 



A settlement of his estates was made 

 by Alexander Barlow in 1555 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 43. 



16 Gillow, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 

 130. It was to him that Lawrence Vaux, 

 warden of Manchester, entrusted some of 

 the college charters ; see Pal. Note Bk. iv, 

 211. He represented Wigan in Parlia- 

 ment from 1547 to 1557; Pink and 

 Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lanes. 218-20. 



*7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 7. 

 The manor of Barlow and lands in Bar- 

 low, Hardy, Chorlton, and Marshiche 

 were held of Nicholas Longford in socage 

 by a rent of 2o</. 



18 As quoted by Challoner. In his will 

 he described himself as ' a true and per- 

 fect recusant Catholic.' See also Manch. 

 Sessions (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 82. 



19 Metcalfe, Knights, 149. His son 

 Alexander was made a knight at the same 

 time. 



20 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), ii, 206. The estate comprised 

 the capital messuage called Barlow Hall, 

 a water-mill, and various messuages and 

 lands. The clear value of the whole was 

 declared to be 50. The rent of zod. 

 for Barlow was unchanged. 



An account of the life of this Sir Alex- 

 ander will be found in Pal. Note Bk. iv, 



212-14, where also his portrait is en- 

 graved, and in Gillow, op. cit. i, 132 ; 

 Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc.). His will is 

 printed in Booker's Didsbury, 264-7. He 

 was buried in Manchester Church by 

 torchlight. 



21 His baptismal name was Edward. 

 There are accounts of him in Challoner's 

 Missionary Priests, no. 161 ; Gillow, op. 

 cit. i, 134, and Trans. Hist. Soc. (new 

 ser.), xiii, 129 (with portrait). He was 

 educated at Douay, where he entered the 

 Benedictine Order in 1615, and was sent 

 on the English mission, where he made 

 himself beloved by ' his great zeal in the 

 conversion of souls and the exemplary 

 piety of his life and conversation.' It is 

 related, as illustrating the devotions of the 

 persecuted recusants, that on the eves of 

 chief festivals 'the Catholics resorted to 

 him from distant places and passed the 

 night after the manner of the primitive 

 Church, in watching, prayer, and spiritual 

 colloquies ; whilst for his part he was 

 employed almost all the night in hearing 

 confessions. On the next day he treated 

 them all to a dinner, where he and some 

 of the more honourable sort of his flock 

 served them that were poor and waited 

 upon them, and then dined off their 

 leavings. When he sent them home he 

 gave each a groat in alms 5 and when all 

 had dined he distributed what remained 

 to the poor of the parish.' His name 

 was among those allowed by Leo XIII in 

 1886 to proceed in the cause of beatifica- 

 tion. It has recently been suggested that 

 his is the mysterious skull preserved at 

 Wardley Hall in Worsley. His brother 

 William took the religious name of Rude- 

 sind, and became superior of St. Gregory's, 

 Douay. There are notices of both in 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



William Barlow, an Elizabethan divine 

 who became Bishop of Lincoln (1608-13), 

 is said to have been of Lancashire origin, 

 though probably a Londoner by birth ; 

 Baker, St. John's College, Camb. i, 256-7 ; 

 Booker, Didsbury, 254-64 ; Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. There are no Lancashire bequests 

 in his will. 



22 Booker, op. cit. 268-70 ; where his 

 will is printed. He seems to have sold or 

 mortgaged his estate to Edmund Prest- 



299 



wich in 1621 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 99, DO. 15. 



23 He was high sheriff in 1651, so that 

 he must have professed Protestantism ; 

 P.R.O. List, 73. The estates were un- 

 touched by the Parliamentarian seques- 

 trations of the time. 



24 Booker, op. cit. 281. A settlement 

 of the manor of Barlow was made bjr 

 Alexander and Thomas Barlow in 1654 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 156, m. 

 162. Thomas Barlow and his trustee* 

 made a further settlement in 1656 ; ibid, 

 bdle. 159, m. 89, and again in 1683 5 ibid, 

 bdle. 210, m. 62. 



25 Dugdale, Vint. (Chet. Soc.), 28. 



26 Booker, loc. cit. 



2 ? Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. 

 Nonjurors, 20, 153; the yearly value was 

 returned as 171 9*. for the Barlow 

 Estate, and 7 for one at Northenden. 

 Anthony's will is printed by Booker, op. 

 cit. 282-84. By it the manor of Barlow 

 was given to trustees for the benefit of his 

 sons. 



28 The charge is mentioned in their 

 father's will. 



29 Some depositions are printed by 

 Booker, op. cit. 285-8. A servant de- 

 posed that 'she understood that he, Mr. 

 Barlow, was much in debt, in so much 

 that he never or seldom appeared out of 

 doors but on Sundays, and there was but 

 poor housekeeping.' Particulars of the 

 sacred vestments, &c., at the hall are 

 given ; they were 'consecrated goods or 

 ornaments belonging to the Popish chapel 

 at Barlow . . . kept together in a great 

 trunk.' 



80 Indentures of 1760 by Thomas Bar- 

 low respecting the manor of Barlow were 

 enrolled in the Common Pleas ; Mich, i 

 Geo. Ill, R. 86, 88. Thomas Barlow's 

 will (printed by Booker, op. cit. 288-91), 

 devised Barlow Hall, &c., to trustees for 

 the discharge of his debts, the payment of 

 his wife's jointure, and various annuities, 

 with remainder to the sons of his brother 

 Humphrey, &c. 



81 The estate was offered for sale by 

 auction on 2 Aug. 1785 ; ibid. 291. A 

 private Act, a copy of which is in the 

 possession of W. Farrer, had been obtained 

 for vesting the estates in trustees. 



