SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



staircases in the north-west and south-west interior 

 angles of the building. The kitchen and offices are 

 in the north, and the chief living rooms in the west 

 and south. The internal corridor arrangement is pre- 

 served on three sides of the first floor. 



By a fire which took place at Barlow Hall in 

 March 1879 t ^ le west w i n g was a l most entirely 

 destroyed, and all traces of the original great hall lost. 

 Much damage was also done to other parts of the 

 building. The older part of the house had, however, 

 been greatly modernized before this, and its exterior 

 now presents the appearance of a quite ordinary brick- 

 built house of the middle of the i gth century relieved* 

 from absolute dulness by a covering of ivy on its 

 principal elevation. The roofs are of flat pitch and 

 covered with blue slates, but some later additions on 

 the south-east of the building have higher pitched 

 roofs with gables and are less plain in detail. On the 

 south of the house at the bottom of the terrace is a 

 pond extending the full length of the building, probably 

 a portion of an ancient moat. The fire of 1879 re- 

 vealed a good deal of the ancient construction. In 

 places where the stucco and lath and plaster had 

 been destroyed the ancient timber framing was 

 exposed, with fillings of ' wattle and daub ' and of 

 brick. Much of this work, including the roof of 

 the west wing, which is said to have been built on 

 crucks, probably belonged to the original 1 6th-century 

 house, but since the rebuilding it is no longer to be 

 seen." 



Barlow Hall was in 1784 the birthplace of Thomas 

 Walker, author of ' The Original,' and is now the 

 head quarters of the Chorlton - cum - Hardy Golf 

 Club. 



In 1787 the principal landowners in the township 

 were the assigns of Thomas Barlow and William 



Egerton, each contributing about a third of the land 

 tax ; George Lloyd paid nearly a fifth. 88 There 

 were twenty-three owners in 1845, the chief being 

 Wilbraham Egerton, owning nearly three-quarters of 

 the land, and George Lloyd owning nearly a fifth. 84 



The old chapel of Chorlton is believed 

 CHURCH to have been built about the beginning 

 of the reign of Henry VIII ;** it was 

 taken down in 1779 and another erected, called 

 St. Clement's. 86 A second church of St. Clement 

 was consecrated in 1896, technically as a chapel 

 of ease to the old one, which is still used. A 

 fund of 69 belonged in 1650 to the chapel and 

 school ; 3l but part was lost, and in 1 704 the income 

 from endowments was only i i^s. 38 This has been 

 largely increased since that time. 39 The dean and 

 canons of Manchester present to the rectory. A 

 separate chapelry was assigned to it in 1839.* After 

 the religious changes made by Elizabeth this chapel, 

 if served at all, was left to a lay ' reader,' 41 with 

 occasional visits from one of the fellows of the 

 collegiate church. Ordained curates are named in 

 1619 and later, 4 * but the lack of maintenance appears 

 to have prevented any settled ministry until about 

 1750, from which date the following have offici- 

 ated : 44 



oc. 1754 Robert Oldfield, M.A. 4 * 



1766 Richard Assheton, M.A. 46 (Brasenose 



Coll. Oxf.) 

 1771 John Salter 

 1789 Joshua Brookes, M.A. 47 (Brasenose Coll. 



Oxf.) 



1791 Nicholas Mosley Cheek 

 1805 George Hutchinson, M.A. 

 1 8 1 6 Richard Hutchins Whitelock, M.A. 48 



M For the three ghosts of Barlow Hall, 

 see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vii, 305. 

 88 Land tax returns at Preston. 



84 Booker, op. cit. 296. 



85 Ibid. 298 ; a view is given. There 

 was a sundial over the south door on the 

 wall. On the confiscation by Edward VI 

 the 'ornaments' were sold for zs. 8</. ; 

 Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), 277. 



86 Booker, loc. cit. A brief for a 

 collection in aid was issued in 1774. In 

 the Mancb. Dioc. Cal. the date of consecra- 

 tion is given as 1782. It was enlarged in 



1837. 



8 7 Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 13. Sir Nicholas 

 Mosley in 1612 directed that 5 a year 

 for twenty years should be given to a 

 schoolmaster to teach school at Chorlton 

 Chapel, the Mosleys to nominate and dis- 

 charge the master, who was not to charge 

 any scholar more than 6d. a quarter ; he 

 desired further that the master should 

 read service three times a week in the 

 chapel ; Booker, op. cit. 132. 



An addition of ,4.0, afterwards reduced 

 to 35 i CM., was made by the Common- 

 wealth authorities from sequestrations and 

 from the Manchester tithes, but this 

 allowance of course ceased at the Restora- 

 tion ; Plund. Mini. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 264 ; ii, 77. 



88 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 83 ; 

 * 80 was lost by a tradesman in Man- 

 chester.' Two wardens were chosen 

 from Chorlton and from Hardy. 



89 Some details arc given by Booker, 

 op. cit. 301. 



40 Land. Gax. 29 Mar. 1839 ; 1 6 June 

 1854. 



41 One Thomas Harnes was curate of 

 Chorlton in 1563 ; Visitation List at 

 Chester. In 1575 Robert Chorlton, 

 ' literate,' was licensed as reader to 

 Chorlton Chapel ; Pennant's Acct. Bk. 

 Chester. In 1592 the chapel yard was 

 ill kept, and the reader, Roger Worthing- 

 ton, was unlicensed ; he was ordered to 

 obtain a licence, and 'to procure com- 

 munions to be ministered four times 

 annually according to the queen's injunc- 

 tions, orderly and well ' ; Lanes, and Ches. 

 Antiq. Soc. xiii, 59. In 1598 the 'reader' 

 kept a school, and six years later, Ralph 

 Worthington, still the reader, was pre- 

 sented for lending money on usury ; 

 Booker, op. cit. 302. In a list drawn up 

 about 1610 Chorlton is entered as one of 

 the chapels 'the curates and preachers 

 whereof are only maintained by the 

 several inhabitants ' ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. riv, App. iv, n. From the extract 

 from Sir N. Mosley's will already given 

 it appears that there was in 1612 no 

 curate, but only a reader-schoolmaster. 



43 John Dickinson was curate in 1619, 

 but was 'no preacher' ; Visit. P. at 

 Chester. John Bradshaw was curate in 

 1634-6; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 95. He was in 1639 followed 

 by a John Pollett, who, refusing to re- 

 nounce episcopacy and the Prayer Book, was 

 ejected about 1645 ; Booker, op. cit. 302. 

 He was followed by Richard Benson,i 647; 

 John Odcroft (unordained), 1651 ; and 

 James Jackson, 1654 ; for these see ibid. 



301 



203, 204 ; Manch. Clatsit (Chet. Soc.), 

 26, 164, 215, &c. ; Plund. Mint. Accts, i, 

 264 ; ii, 77, 289 ( John J.). Jackson 

 appears to have retained the curacy after 

 the Restoration, but it is not certain that 

 he conformed ; his supposed successor, 

 one Richardson, was not a conformist ; 

 Booker, op. cit. 304-6. James Lees was 

 there in 1671 ; Visit. Lists. Joshua 

 Hyde was curate in 1689 and 'conform- 

 able ' to the government ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com .Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229. 



48 In 1 706 there was ' no settled 

 curate'; Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 83. John 

 Thomas, B.A., of Brasenose Coll. Oxf. 

 appears in 1716, and Joseph Dale in the 

 following year ; Booker, op. cit. 306. 

 The latter was also curate of Birch, and 

 stated that the people of Chorlton contri- 

 buted only jio a year to his maintenance ; 

 Raines in Notitia, ii, 83. The name of 

 Thomas Beely occurs. The extant regis- 

 ters begin in 1737. The gravestone in- 

 scriptions are in the Owens MSS. 



44 The list is taken chiefly from 

 Booker's work, 307-10. 



45 Afterwards of Salford. 



46 Raines, Fellows of Mancb. (Chet. 

 Soc.), 274-6. 



4 7 He was afterwards chaplain of Man- 

 chester Collegiate Church, 1790-1821, 

 and was noted for his eccentricities, of 

 which many stories were told ; see 

 Booker, op. cit. 3079. 



48 Also vicar of Skillington, Lines., 

 curate of St. Mark's, Cheetham, and post- 

 master of Manchester ; ibid. 310. 



