SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



Elizabeth the daughter and heir of Charles Carill- 

 Worsley, and assumed her surname." Platt Hall and 

 estate is now the property of the Manchester Cor- 

 poration. 



The Hall is a large plain brick house built about 

 the year 1764" by John Carill Worsley, in place 

 of the old timber and plaster building which stood 

 not very far away on a site comprised within the 

 area of the present garden. In an inventory of the 

 contents of the old house taken in 1 669, the follow- 

 ing rooms and places are mentioned : ' The hall, the 

 great parlor, the buttery, the milk-house, the woman's 

 parlor, the little parlor, the brewhouse, the kitchen 



with Bessy parlor, the drink-house, the cheese 

 chamber, the cake chamber, the board loft, the little 

 chamber, the general's chamber, the great chamber, 

 the middle chamber, the high chamber, the little 

 chamber and closet, the yarne chamber.' 



The BIRCH estate* 8 descended from about 1260 

 to 1743 in a family taking a surname from it. 

 Matthew son of Matthew de Haversage granted to 

 Matthew son of Matthew de Birches the whole land 

 of Hindley Birches, at a rent of 3/. ; the bounds 

 show that it lay between Gore Brook on the north 

 and the Great Ditch on the south.* 4 Several of the 

 family are said to have distinguished themselves in 



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PLATT HALL, RUSHOLMB 



the name of Carill Worsley. Deborah 

 had no children by him, and adopted her 

 husband's son by a previous marriage, 

 Thomas Carill Worsley. This Thomas 

 accordingly came into possession of Platt, 

 and on his death in 1808 was followed 

 by his eldest son Thomas, who died in 

 1848, and then by his second son Charles. 



al Burke, Landed Gentry. 



"John Carill Worsley rebuilt 'the 

 old mansion of the Worsleys with brick 

 and stone ornaments in a very handsome 

 style about thirty-five years ago, at the 

 expense, as was then said, of 10,000' ; 

 Gent. Mag. Ixix, 434, May 1799. 



88 Some of the Birch family deeds are 

 printed in Booker's Birch, 183, 187, 223 ; 

 others may be seen in Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 142^/1 786, &c. 



84 Booker, Birch, 223 ; the date is 

 about 1260. The next member of the 

 family who appears in the records is 

 Alexander de Birches, who with his wife 



Joan and daughters Joan, Ellen, and 

 Susan, was defendant to a claim for lands 

 in Withington made by Robert del Platt 

 in 1301 ; Assize R. 419, m. 13. In 

 1319 Robert son of Alexander de Birches, 

 who had married Alice daughter of Henry 

 de Whitfield, made a feoffment of his 

 lands, water-mill, &c., in the Birches in 

 Withington, with the reversion of that 

 part which Joan the widow of Alexander 

 held as dower ; the lands were regranted 

 to him, with remainder to his son Henry; 

 Booker, op. cit. 224-7. 1 1322 the 

 same Robert released to Robert son of 

 Henry de Traffbrd all his claim to the 

 water-mill ; ibid. 224. In the following 

 year Robert de Birches told two mes- 

 suages, 50 acres of land, &c., in Withing- 

 ton to Nicholas de Longford ; Final Cone. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 49. 



From 1337 onwards Henry son of 

 Robert de Birches is found pursuing a 

 claim to lands in Withington against 



305 



Nicholas de Longford, who alleged a grant 

 by the said Robert ; Assize R. 1424, 

 m. tod. ; 1425, m. 2 ; 1435, m. 330!. 

 Henry was living in 1349; Booker, op. 

 cit. 200. 



The cows of William son of Henry de 

 Birches of Withington were seized for a 

 felony in 1396 ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. 

 Misc. 1/8, m. 20 ; Booker, op. cit. 204. 



William de Birches in 1429 made a 

 settlement of his lands in Withington ; 

 after the death of William and his wife 

 Margaret they were to descend to his tons 

 Ralph, Robert, Edmund, and Thomas ; 

 ibid. 228. Twenty years later Ralph 

 Birches made a settlement of his lands ; 

 ibid. 229, 230. In 1485 William Birches 

 granted his son Robert 12 acres lying be- 

 tween Michewall Ditch on the south and 

 Winnerhey on the north ; ibid. 230. 



George the son and heir of William 

 Birch, in 1519, agreed to marry Marion 

 daughter of Thomas Beck of Manches- 



39 



