SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



RUSHOLME 



Russum, 1235 ; Russhum, 1420 ; Rysshulme, 1 5 5 1 ; 

 Risholme, 1568. 



This township has an area of 974 acres. It is 

 crossed by the Gore, or Rushbrook, the portion to 

 the north of which has now become urban in charac- 

 ter, being a residential suburb of Manchester ; part 

 of it, known as Victoria Park, was laid out by a com- 

 pany formed in 1837. On the brook, in the centre 

 of the township, is the district called Birch ; to the 

 west lies Platt, and to the east Slade. The Heald in 

 the north-west is part of a district of the name 

 stretching west into Moss Side. In 1901 the popu- 

 lation was counted with Ardwick. 



The principal road is that from Manchester through 

 Withington into Cheshire, on the western side of the 

 township. On the eastern border is the ancient road 

 from Manchester to Stockport. There are numerous 

 streets and cross-roads. The Great Central Com- 

 pany's railway crosses the southern end of the town- 

 ship. 



A hoard of Roman coins, A.D. 253-73, was found 

 at Birch. 1 



The Green was near the centre of the township, 

 touching Dickenson Road. 1 



A Local Board was formed for Rusholme in 1851;* 

 the boundaries were afterwards altered, 4 and the dis- 

 trict was taken into the city of Manchester in 1885. 

 The township ceased to have a separate existence in 

 i 896, becoming part of the new township of South 

 Manchester. 



A Public Hall and Library was built in 1860 ; 



after the transfer to Manchester Corporation it was 

 opened as a free library in 1892. There is a park at 

 Birch Fields, and another called Platt Fields. Whit- 

 worth Park, 5 in the north-west corner, lies partly in 

 Chorlton-upon-Medlock. 



While there was never any manor of, 

 MANOR RUSHOLME, which was only a district i 



in Withington, it gave a surname to a 

 local family, 6 and there were several estates within it ' 

 that demand notice Platt, Birch, Slade, and Holt. 

 Formerly the name of the township covered, at least 

 in popular language, a much wider area, extending 

 over the western portion of Gorton ; 7 while on the 

 other hand the custom of using the name Withing- 

 ton to include Rusholme and other districts makes 

 it difficult in many cases to be sure of the exact 

 locality of the lands in the charters and pleas 

 quoted. 



In the time of Henry II or Richard I Matthew 

 son of William granted to the Hospitallers the land 

 of PLATT, with its appurtenances in Withington, 

 in pure alms. 8 In 1 1 90 Gamier de Nablous, the 

 prior in England, granted this, together with other 

 lands of his order, to Richard de la More at a total 

 rent of 4*., payable at the Hospitallers' residence in 

 London. 9 William son of Richard de More gave 

 a moiety of Platt, in marriage with his daughter 

 Cecily, to Henry son of Gilbert at a rent of 6^. ie 

 The other moiety seems about 1260 to have reverted 

 to the Hospitallers, who granted it to Richard son of 

 Adam de Farnworth, at a rent of 4/. 11 While the 

 former moiety became divided among a number of 

 tenants, 1 * the latter remained undivided in the pos- 



1 Lanci . Archacol. Sur-v. 7. 



1 Manch. Guard. N. and Q. no. 763. 



Land. Gaz. 18 Feb. 1851. 



4 19 & 20 Viet. cap. 26 ; 45 & 46 

 Viet. cap. 72. The district was extended 

 to include the detached portion of Moss 

 Side on the north-east corner, and that 

 part of Withington known as Fallowfield. 



5 The land formerly belonged to the 

 Entwisles of Rusholme House, as their 

 residence was called. It had been pur- 

 chased from the Traffords and the Lloyds. 

 It was acquired in 1888 by the Whit- 

 worth legatees, afterwards added to the 

 Whitworth Institute, and in 1904 pre- 

 sented to the corporation of Manchester ; 

 H. T. Crofton, Old Moss Side, 7. 



6 Among the Birch charters are a num- 

 ber which show that one Henry de Rus- 

 holme, who lived in the time of Hen. Ill, 

 owned a large part of the later township. 

 Possibly he had no heirs, and so the lands 

 reverted to the lord of Withington. A 

 number of the charters referred to are 

 printed in full in Booker's Birch Chap. 

 (Chet. Soc.), 183, &c., and abstracts are 

 preserved in Harl. MS. 2112, fols. 178^, 

 &c. Henry de Rusholme granted to 

 Geoffrey son of Luke de Manchester 

 various parcels of land ' within the bounds 

 of Rusholme,' including a messuage by 

 the Out Lane, an acre touching the 

 Menegate, a half-acre touching Goose- 

 lache, a selion called the Quickhedge land 

 stretching from Gooselache to the Mene- 

 gate, 6 acres next Hugh de Haslum'sland 

 and stretching from Gooselache to the old 

 ditch, and other lands, the rent being a 

 pair of white gloves ; Booker, op. cit. 

 183. He further gave Geoffrey his right 

 in 20 acres held by Robert de Hulton ; 

 and released to his lord, Matthew de 

 Haversage, all his own claim to the hom- 



age and service of the said Geoffrey son of 

 Luke de Manchester ; ibid. 184. 



The Manchester family appear again in 

 grants to Jordan son of William de Fal- 

 lowfield ; ibid. 185, 1 86, 231. 



7 See the notices of the Swineshead 

 land and '40 acres' in Gorton. 



8 Booker, op. cit. 189 ; the Worsley 

 charters relating to Platt occupy 189-223. 

 The bounds of the grant were : From the 

 Great Ditch to the lower end of the Little 

 Ditch, up to the cross-marked tree, thence 

 to Gooselache, and so to the path ' Eite ' 

 (? Out Lane) between Platt and Rus- 

 holme, by this path to Gorebrook as far 

 as the mere (mara) of William de Hand- 

 forth, and so to the Great Ditch. The 

 land is named among the Hospitallers' 

 estates in 1292 ; Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. 

 Com.), 375. 



9 Booker, op. cit. 189 ; Richard de 

 More was probably identical with the 

 tenant of the Swineshead land in Gor- 

 ton, which descended to the Strangeways 

 family. This family appear in Rusholme 

 as attesting charters. 



10 Ibid. 190. 



u Ibid. 191 ; Adam the Clerk had for- 

 merly held it. In addition to the rent 

 of 41. there had to be paid at the death 

 of each holder an ' obit ' of the third part 

 of the goods and chattels of the deceased. 



12 A genealogical note dated 1418, on 

 the back of the third deed quoted (Booker, 

 op. cit. 191), was perhaps intended to 

 show the subdivisions. Roger del Platt, 

 son of Cecily, in 1289 granted to Ellen 

 daughter of Henry del Platt (perhaps a 

 half-sister) 2 acres stretching from 

 Thornyditch to Gooselache ; ibid. 192. 

 The Prior of the Hospitallers in 1332 

 made a claim for services against Robert 

 del Platt ; De Banco R. 292, m. 354d. 



303 



In 1352 Joan daughter of Robert del 

 Platt, William Forstes and Margery his 

 wife, Robert Tele and Agnes his wife, 

 William del Hull and Cecily his wife 

 (these in right of the wives) made a 

 claim for an acre in Withington against 

 Thomas de Sheldreslow and Robert son 

 of Henry de Trafford ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 2 (Pent.), m. 4 d. ; (July), m. 8. 



The Hospitallers' rental of about 1540 

 shows the following : Edward Shelmer- 

 dinc, a messuage in Rusholme, i\d. ; 

 Edmund Trafford, a messuage (probably 

 in the same place), \d. ; the feoffees of 

 the lands of Richard Radcliffe, by the 

 warden of the College of Manchester, 

 4</. ; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. 



The last rent is of interest, as it identi- 

 fies a fragment of the Hospitallers' land 

 in Platt with the obit land of the college 

 in Withington in 1 547 ; see Raines, 

 Chantries (Chet. Soc.), i, 23, where the 

 gift is stated to have been made by 

 Thomas Radcliffe of Osberton (or his 

 ancestors). The land was probably se- 

 cured by the college on its refounding 

 by Philip and Mary, for in 1645 the 

 warden and fellows leased to Ralph 

 Worsley of Platt their messuage, &c., 

 called the Yield House, now Heald 

 House, situate in Rusholme, except a 

 part called the Gorse [? Goose] Crofts, 

 which lease was renewed from time to 

 time ; Booker, Birch, 4, 5. It is stated 

 that ' Mr. Worsley's tenants for several 

 generations were a family named Travis.' 

 The tenant in 1547 was Thomas Travers. 



Thomas Shelmerdine of Rusholme 

 occurs in 1 6 1 9-20 ; Manch. Sess. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 98. One 

 of the name gave z to the endowment 

 of Birch Chapel in 1640 ; Booker, op 

 cit. 137. 



