A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Farnworth, 53 who, in conjunction with his mother, 

 sold it to Dame Joan Stanley, the heiress of Worsley, 54 

 and it has since remained part of the Worsley estate, 

 now owned by the Earl of Ellesmere. 



Some of the Lever estate in Farnworth was granted 

 to the Byroms on the marriage of John Byrom with 

 Margaret daughter of William Lever in 1437." Part 

 was sold to Adam Crompton in 15 84." 



The Hospitallers had lands in Farnworth before 

 1292." It was held under them by the Worsleys of 

 Booths, 58 who, however, did not long retain it. After 

 the suppression of the order their Farnworth estate 

 became the property of the Earls of Derby, under 

 whom the Rishton family held it, having, it is said, 

 purchased from the Worsleys in I573- 59 The 

 mansion-house, known as Birch House, has passed 

 through many hands. In the latter half of the 

 1 8th century it was the property and residence of 



Doming Rasbotham, a man of literary tastes, who- 

 made collections for the history of Lancashire ; he 

 died in 1791, and there is a mural tablet to com- 

 memarate him in Deane Church. 60 



George Hulton and Henry Schoolcroft were free- 

 holders in 1 6oo. 61 Among earlier landowners appear 

 the names of Lynalx 62 and Dutton. 63 



The land-tax returns of 1789 show that the town- 

 ship was divided among a great number of proprietors. 

 Of these the Duke of Bridgewater contributed the 

 largest individual share of the tax about a twelfth. 64 



The commons were inclosed in I798. 65 



There are four churches in the township in con- 

 nexion with the Established religion ; of these All 

 Saints', Moses Gate, opened in 1881, is a chapel 

 of ease to St. John's, Halshaw Moor. 66 St. James's,. 

 New Bury, was built in 1862-5 5 the patronage is 

 vested in trustees. 67 St. Peter's, consecrated in 1886,. 



Alice daughter of Geoffrey Farnworth 

 and wife of Nicholas Ashton, resulted in 

 the latter's favour ; it appeared that Geof- 

 frey's lands had been tailed to the heirs 

 general ; Ellesmere D. no. 101. In 1485 

 Thomas Ashton, son and heir of Sir John 

 Ashton, as his father's executor, granted a 

 discharge of all claims on the Farnworth 

 estate, having received 20 from Alice, 

 widow of Robert Brown, Margery, widow 

 of Robert Mitchell, Peter Bradshaw, and 

 Ralph Brown ; no. 103. 



Alice Ashton cannot long have survived, 

 for in 1478 another arbitration was ar- 

 ranged in order to determine the heirship 

 of the lands of Richard Farnworth, father 

 of Geoffrey, lying in Deane parish ; his 

 issue had all died out, and therefore his 

 heirs were his sisters, then still living 

 Alice Farnworth and Margery Mitchell, 

 wife of Robert Mitchell, sometime of 

 Nantwich ; they were the lawful daughters 

 of Dicon de Farnworth by Janet daughter 

 of Dicon del Ford of Swinley in Wigan ; 

 ibid. no. 28. 



58 Nicholas Mitchell was the son of 

 Margery above mentioned ; he seems to 

 have adopted his mother's maiden name on 

 succeeding to the Farnworth inheritance. 



M There are a large number of deeds 

 among the Ellesmere collection relating 

 to the transfer of the Farnworth lands in 

 Farnworth and Hulton. In 1480 Robert 

 Mitchell and Margery his wife and Robert 

 Browne and Alice his wife released to 

 Nicholas the son and heir of Margery 

 the inheritance of the said Margery and 

 Alice ; Nicholas had married Margery 

 daughter of James Hulme of Blackrod ; 

 no. 1 02. In 1498 Margery Mitchell alias 

 Farnworth and her son Nicholas granted 

 to feoffees all their lands in Hulton, 

 Kearsley, Farnworth, and Barton, and the 

 feoffees transferred to Richard Baron of 

 Wigan, with remainder to his brother 

 Ralph ; ibid. no. 105, 1 06. In the fol- 

 lowing year Margery, widow of Robert 

 Mitchell, and daughter and heir of Richard 

 Farnworth, released to Joan Stanley, 

 widow, daughter and heir of Sir Geoffrey 

 Massey, the inheritance which had been 

 sold to her by Margery's son Nicholas in 

 1490 ; Nicholas Mitchell confirmed the 

 same; no. 111-13. Dame Joan after- 

 wards (1504), as widow of Sir Edward 

 Pickering, granted a lease of land in Over 

 Hulton to Margery and Nicholas ; no. 114. 

 x ** Lever Chartul. no. 124, 126-8, 

 13.1-3. The lands, to which an addition 

 was fnade in 1561, were in the possession 

 of HetfT on and heir apparent of John 



\ 



Byrom at the beginning of 1582 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 23, m. 18 ; 46, 

 m. 1 60. 



56 Ibid. bdle. 46, m. 46 ; Henry Byrom 

 was the vendor. There is no mention of 

 lands in Farnworth in his Inq. p.m. of 

 1614. The Milnehouses or Milneheys 

 was part of the Byrom property ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 227, m. 3. 



Adam Crompton at his death in 1590 

 held a messuage, &c. in Farnworth and 

 Middleton of John Lacy, lord of Man- 

 chester, in socage, by a rent of 4^. ; James, 

 his son and heir, was twenty years of age 

 in 1594 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, 

 1 8. James Crompton died 30 Aug. 

 1631 holding a messuage and land in 

 Farnworth of the lord of Manchester ; 

 John, his son and heir, was thirty years of 

 age ; Towneley MS. C. 8, 1 3 (Chet. Lib.), 

 244. 



*7 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 375. 



58 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 5, of 

 Robert Worsley, 1533 ; a rent of izd. 

 was paid. See also Kuerden, v, fol. 84. 

 In 1787 a rent of is. a year was still 

 paid to Bamber Gascoyne, lord of the 

 manor of Much Woolton, as successor in 

 title to the Hospitallers ; Barton, Farn- 

 zvortb, 12. 



59 John Rishton, who died 22 Dec. 1633, 

 held a messuage, garden, two orchards, 10 

 acres of land, &c. in Farnworth, of the 

 Earl of Derby, as of the suppressed Hos- 

 pital of St. John of Jerusalem in England. 

 William Rishton, his son and heir, was 

 thirty-five years of age ; Towneley MS. 

 C. 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 997. 



60 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 44 ; his 

 collections were used by Baines. A por- 

 trait of Doming Rasbotham is given. 

 His father, Peter, married Hannah, one 

 of the daughters and co-heirs of John 

 Doming of Birch House, by whom he ac- 

 quired the estate. Doming was born in 

 1730 ; in 1754 he married Sarah daugh- 

 ter of James Bayley of Manchester, and 

 had five children Anne, Dorothy, Peter, 

 Doming, and Frances. He wrote a tragedy 

 called CoJrus and various essays, and was 

 also an artist. He was high sheriff in 

 1769. He died 7 Nov. 1791. 



After his death Birch House was sold 

 to John Bentley, whose son again sold it ; 

 James Carlton and William Barton Whit- 

 tarn (who died in 1888) were successively 

 owners; Bolton Journ. Aug. 1885. 



61 Misc. {Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 246,251. 



Henry Schoolcroft of Farnworth died 

 in 1614 holding of the lord of Manches- 



38 



ter a messuage and lands in Farnworth, 

 Kearsley, and Worsley by 6d. rent ; these 

 he devised to Anne his wife on condition 

 that she maintained Henry Towneley and 

 Ellen his wife and their issue in food and 

 clothing. Ellen was the daughter and 

 heir, and of full age ; Land. Inj. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 283. 



Henry Tong of Farnworth died about 

 the same time seised of messuages and 

 lands held of the lord of Manchester j 

 John, his brother and heir, was twenty- 

 six years of age ; ibid. 



Evan Grundy died 15 Mar. 1630-1,. 

 holding a messuage and lands in Farn- 

 worth of the lord of Manchester ; Robert, 

 his son and heir, was fifteen years of age - T 

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

 463. Robert Grundy died two years later, 

 leaving a brother John, aged thirteen, as 

 heir ; ibid. 461. 



62 In 1342 William de Lynalx received 

 lands in Farnworth and Barton from 

 Robert, son and heir of Robert de Walk- 

 den ; Ellesmere D. no. 81. These he re- 

 leased to John Maunton, chaplain (proba- 

 bly as trustee), in 1380 ; Manch. Corp. D. 



68 Richard Dutton in 1569 sold lands in 

 Farnworth and Worsley to Christopher 

 Anderton ; five years later he sold others to 

 Alan Hulton ; the former parcel appears 

 to have been sold in 1592 to George Hul- 

 ton, who thus acquired the Dutton lands ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 31, m. 136 j 

 36, m. 197 ; 54, m. 3 ; see also Ducatut 

 Lane, iii, 449, 490. 



64 Land tax returns at Preston. Among- 

 the other contributors were : Edward 

 Whitehead, Leighs, Richard Entwisle, 

 John Green, Doming Rasbotham, Richard 

 Entwisle, jun., Abraham Lowton, and John 

 Barnes. i 



65 Barton, Farn-wortb, 383. In the Act 

 William Hulton of the Park was de- 

 scribed as lord of the manor, and the 

 principal landowners were the Duke of 

 Bridgewater, the Earl of Derby, Lord 

 Bradford, Sir John Parker Mosley, Le 

 Gendre Pierce Starkie, Rev. Walter Bagot, 

 Peter Rasbotham, &c. 



There is a copy of the award, with a 

 plan, at the County Council offices, 

 Preston. 



66 Barton, Farnivortb, 244. 



'" For the repair fund see End. Char. 

 Rep. (Deane), 1903, p. 25 ; for district 

 assigned, Land. Gats. II May 1866. The 

 schools were built in 1839, the colliers 

 of the neighbourhood making the start, and 

 services were held there until the church 

 was built ; Barton, op. cit. 221-7. 



