SALFORD HUNDRED 



DEANE 



and drawing-rooms), is also elaborately fitted up with 

 black oak but mostly of later date than that of the 

 dining-room, the detail being of very pronounced 

 renaissance type, and consisting of scriptural and other 

 subjects with quaint inscriptions. The wall between 

 the library and the ante-room contains an old fireplace 

 now built up and completely hidden, and north of 

 the library is a room lit from the ceiling, now called 

 the dome-room, which is in the site of a former open 

 area. It has a good carved oak I yth-century mantel 

 and door, 49 and contains a sideboard dated 1642. 



The rooms on the first floor have no points of 

 interest. 



Externally the north front of the house is almost 

 entirely modern, the only old portions being at the 

 east end, where some of the old stone windows and a 

 moulded string-course remain. The east elevation is 

 the least altered, showing as it does the old timber 

 and plaster bay and gable over in an almost unrestored 

 condition. 



The gardens lie on the south and east of the house, 

 a terrace wall extending along the whole length of 

 the south and east fronts, the coping of which is on a 

 level with the grass of the lawn so as to keep the view 

 over the park uninterrupted from the ground-floor 

 windows. The terrace staircase enhances the general 

 effect of the external elevation by increasing its height, 



and the long terrace walk, which is 1 5 ft. wide and 

 extends the full length of the south front, is below 

 the level of the lawn. At its west end is a raised 

 mound approached by three flights of steps. 



Egburden, later Egbert Dene, seems to have 

 included the whole north-western part of Halliwell, 

 known as Smithills Dene and Smithills Moor. 50 It 

 was part of the lands of the barons of Manchester, 51 

 and was held of them by the Bartons of Smithills. 52 



In addition to the Hospitallers the Canons of 

 Cockersand had land in alms in Halliwell. 53 



The local surname occurs. 54 Richard Lees was a 

 freeholder in i6oo. 55 Adam Mort of Astley M and 

 others are recorded to have held lands here in the 

 times of Charles I." 



William Swinburne, a Halliwell recusant, in 1653 

 petitioned to be allowed to contract for his sequestered 

 estate. 58 



The principal landowner in 1788 was Miss Byrom, 

 others being Roger Dewhurst, Aspinall, and 

 Escrick. 59 



The most notable man springing from the town- 

 ship is the George Marsh, already mentioned, who 

 was condemned and burnt to death at Chester on 

 24 April 1555 for teaching Protestant doctrines, and 

 refusing to compromise. 60 



In recent times several places of worship have been 



49 No doubt brought from the other side 

 of the house. 



50 In 1322 it seems to have been divided 

 into two portions ; one was called Hag- 

 head and joined with Horwich Lee ; and 

 the other was called Withinrod, a parcel 

 of moorland ; they were vaccaries. See 

 Mamtcestre, ii, 366, 367. 



61 Thomas La Warre, lord of Man- 

 chester, in 1404 made a feoffment of 

 1,000 acres of waste and pasture in the 

 town of Heaton called Egburden ; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no. 54. From 

 this and the preceding note it will be seen 

 that the district was in or bordering upon 

 Horwich and Heaton ; it also adjoined 

 Sharpies, as is seen from a charter by 

 Thurstan de Holland in 1429, quoted in 

 the account of that township. It is marked 

 in Halliwell, as Egbert Dene, in the 

 ordnance map of 1848. It may have 

 been attached to this township through 

 being owned by the Smithills family. 



61 It is named in the Barton inquisi- 

 tions, but the tenure is not stated ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 82 ; xiv, 24 ; xvii, 

 50. 



43 Eight charters are recorded in the 

 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 698- 

 702. Nesta de Westhoughton granted 

 land next to the assart of the Hospital- 

 lers, the hedge of Crosscliff's End being a 

 boundary; in 1268 Roger son of Robert 

 held this land at a rent of 6d., half a 

 mark being payable at death. The same 

 Nesta gave another part of her land, held 

 in 1268 by Roger son of William, at a 

 rent of %d. and half a mark at death. 

 Thomas the Clerk of Eccles, Margery de 

 Pendlebury, Ellis de Pendlebury, William 

 Moscrop, and Robert his son, and Robert 

 de Sharpies were also benefactors. Among 

 the field and boundary names there occur 

 Tahaureise, Swinbodeslache, Lanulache, 

 Brentspert, and Longlands End. 



In 1294 Joan daughter of Austin de 

 Crosscliff granted to Richard de Hulton all 

 the land in Halliwell she had held of the 

 Abbot of Cockersand ; Hulton Fed. 5. 



In 1461 a Cockersand rental shows 



that Richard Hal ton held the abbey lands 

 freely at a rent of zs. He would prob- 

 ably be of the Halliwell branch of the 

 family. 



54 In 1292 Richard de Houlton and 

 Hugh de Halliwell claimed a tenement 

 against Ellis de Heaton, but were non- 

 suited ; Assize R. 408, m. I4d. 



66 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 250. 



66 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 33 ; 

 the property was held of the king. 



6 ? John Harper, who died in 1628, 

 held three messuages and lands of the 

 king as the two-hundredth part of a 

 knight's fee ; his son John, a clerk, was 

 thirty-three years of age ; ibid, xxvii, 72. 



Richard Johnson, who died in 1629, 

 leaving as heir his ten-year-old grandson 

 John (son of John) ; also held land in 

 Halliwell of the king ; ibid, xxviii, 33, 

 77- 



Thomas Worthington, chapman, held 

 the Little House of the king ; Thomas 

 his son and heir was fifteen years of age ; 

 ibid, xxviii, 6. 



Robert Sharpies alits Ward similarly 

 held land of the king ; dying in 1623 he 

 left a son and heir Robert, aged thirty-one; 

 Towneley MS. C, 8, 13 (Chet Lib.), 

 1089. Martin Taylor, also a tenant, 

 had a son Robert, aged twenty-eight, 

 in 1636 ; ibid. 1178. 



58 Cal. of Com. for Compounding^ v, 



3178. 



59 Land tax returns at Preston. Roger 

 Dewhurst purchased an estate in Halli- 

 well in 1715, and died in 1728, aged 

 fifty-six. His son Roger was born at 

 Halliwell Hall in 1716, and died in 1806 ; 

 his diary (1784-6) has been printed ; 

 Bolton, 1 88 1. 



60 The only account is in Foxe's Act* 

 and Man. (ed. Cattley, vii, 39-68) ; see 

 also Ches. Sheaf (3rd Ser.), iii, 37, &c.; 

 iv, 89. It is derived mainly from his own 

 record of his earlier examinations ; the 

 source of the later portion of the story is 

 not given. The Marsh family continued 

 to reside at Halliwell ; one of them, as 



19 



shown above, acquired part of the manor ; 

 another, James Marsh, who died in 1637, 

 held lands there of the king by the thir- 

 tieth part of a knight's fee ; his son and 

 heir Thomas was twenty-three years of 

 age ; Towneley MS. C, 8, 13, p. 859. 



George Marsh was born about 1520, 

 and worked his farm till after the death 

 of his wife, about the beginning of 

 the reign of Edward VI. Embracing the 

 Reformed doctrines he went up to Cam- 

 bridge, and graduated in 1551 or 1552 

 from Christ's College. He became curate 

 to Lawrence Sanders, who had benefices 

 in London and Leicestershire, and was 

 ordained deacon in London in May 1552, 

 and priest later by the Bishop of Lincoln. 



On the accession of Mary, he returned 

 to Lancashire, and had thoughts of going 

 abroad; but in Jan. and Feb. 1553-4, 

 seeing the overthrow of the reforms, he 

 could not refrain from denouncing it, and 

 was reported to have spoken ' most hereti- 

 cally and blasphemously . . . against the 

 Pope's authority and Catholic church of 

 Rome, the blessed Mass, the sacrament of 

 the altar,' &c. 



This outburst being coincident with 

 Wyatt's rebellion, attracted the attention 

 of the court, and the Earl of Derby re- 

 solved to seize the preacher. Marsh, 

 however, was a brave and resolute man ; 

 and after a mental struggle on the moors, 

 he decided to surrender himself. He was 

 sent to Lathom and examined by the earl 

 and his council, while Dr. Brassey ana 

 others argued with him, endeavouring 

 to induce him to recant. This was in vain, 

 and he was in April sent to Lancastet 

 to await trial. At the sessions Marsh 

 was brought up, but no civil offence being 

 proved against him he was at last handed 

 over to the bishop, and about the end of 

 the year taken to Chester. It is signifi- 

 cant of his doctrine that ' children-con- 

 firming,' 'mass-hearing,' &c., were all 

 classed by him as ' blasphemous idolatry ' 

 and 'heathenish rites forbidden by God." 



After four months at Chester the bishop 

 (George Coates) finding his arguments and 



