SALFORD HUNDRED 



FLIXTON 



CROFT, regarded as a manor, held at one time 

 by the Traffords, 50 then by the Warburtons, 51 and in 

 the 1 6th and iyth centuries by the Radcliffes of 

 Ordsall. 52 Sir Alexander Radcliffe of Ordsall, who 

 died in 1 549, held three-fourths of the manor of 

 Newcroft and 100 acres of land, &c., there of the 

 king (as duke) in socage by a rent of gd. for all 

 services. 52 * By the end of the i8th century it had 

 come into the possession of William Allen, then lord 

 of the manor of Urmston, 53 and on his bankruptcy in 

 1788 was purchased by the Taylors of Hulme in 

 Reddish, and remained in their possession nearly a 

 century, being sold in 1888 by the trustee of Samuel 



Taylor to Herbert Bannister. The estate was then 

 supposed to be subject to some charitable rent-charges 

 and also to a duchy rent of gd., but it was stated that 

 none of them had been demanded or paid for many 

 years. 54 Newcroft is a plain brick building once sur- 

 rounded by a moat, of no architectural beauty what- 

 ever. 55 Roger Rogers of Newcroft was summoned by 

 the heralds to attend the visitation of 1664 ; no 

 pedigree appears. 553 



Hillam, 56 the Lodge, 57 and Brook House M represent 

 old estates. A ghost story was told of Gamershaw, a 

 house at the east side of the township. 49 The Newton, 60 

 Gregory, 61 and Hey 6S families were freeholders. 



seems to have been fatal ; Assize R. 43 5, 

 m. 1 7. In another case, in which Robert 

 claimed 10 acres of land and pasture for six 

 cows, they tried a technical objection, but 

 did not succeed ; ibid. m. 31 d. 



In a document of about the same time 

 John de Trafford of Urmston is said to 

 hold two and a half oxgangs lately belong- 

 ing to Geoffrey de Urmston, and five and 

 a half oxgangs, by the eighth part of a 

 knight's fee ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 

 no. 130, fol. i6d. With this may be 

 compared the statement of the Traffords' 

 holding quoted in an earlier note. 



60 The Traffords of Newcroft have been 

 frequently mentioned in the preceding 

 notes. There seem to have been three 

 generations John, Henry, and Amice ; 

 but John and Thomas de Trafford are also 

 mentioned. The Hydes were in 1354 

 and later involved in disputes with Cecily 

 widow of John de Trafford of Newcroft 

 regarding lands of which Roger son of 

 Roger de Barlow was tenant. Cecily called 

 Amice daughter of Henry de Trafford to 

 warrant her ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 

 3, m. 3 (July), ^ (East.) ; 4, m. 29 ; 5, 

 m. 1 8 d. 20 d. &c. 



41 William de Warburton in 1357 was 

 the husband of Amice the above-named 

 daughter of Henry de Trafford, and they 

 were called to warrant Cecily the widow 

 of John in the suit with Ralph de Hyde 

 and his wife ; ibid. R. 6, m. 4 d. Later, 

 at Michaelmas 1359, William and Amice 

 claimed a messuage and lands against 

 Richard de Hill, chaplain ; ibid. R. 7, m. i. 



Disputes were still going on in 1370 ; 

 De Banco R. 440, m. 244 ; 446, m. 200 d. 



Geoffrey de Warburton of Newcroft in 

 1389-90 acknowledged a debt of 20 due 

 to Adam de Lever ; PaL of Lane. Chan. 

 Misc. 1/3. He and Katharine his wife, 

 widow of Thomas de Knoll, sent up a 

 petition concerning lands in Chipping in 

 1425 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 



73 i " 9- 



William de Warburton of Newcroft in 

 1429-30 made a grant of land in Urms- 

 ton to Richard his son on the occasion 

 of his marriage with Marion daughter of 

 Maud Ashton ; Newcroft and Foxdenton 

 D. (Chet. Lib.). 



Thomas Warburton in 1531 disputed 

 the title to Newcroft against Sir Alexander 

 Radcliffe and others ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), i, 149. 



In 1566 Peter Warburton, who had 

 married Katherine daughter and heir of 

 John Cowper, and claimed under a grant 

 from William Hyde, proceeded against 

 the last-named and others for divers tres- 

 passes ; ibid, ii, 334. 



53 Richard Smith and Randle Ryder of 

 Flixton in 1532 sold to Sir Alexander 

 Radcliffe of Ordsall their moiety of New- 

 croft, late the inheritance of Richard 

 Warburton, and later in the same year 



Thomas Warburton of Tabley Hill, 

 Cheshire, sold his moiety to the same ; 

 Newcroft D. (Chet. Lib.). 



52d Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, 26. 

 Similar statements are made in the in- 

 quisitions after the death of Sir William 

 Radcliffe (i 568), Sir John Radcliffe (i 590), 

 and Sir Alexander Radcliffe (1599) ; ibid. 

 x'i' 33 5 *v, 45 ; xvii, 35. 



Richard Radcliffe, youngest son of Sir 

 William, lived at Newcroft, holding it on 

 lease from his brother Sir John Radcliffe 

 (Newcroft D.), and was buried at Flixton. 

 His memorial brass states that he was 

 ' captain over 200 foot at the siege of 

 Leith and at the rebellion in the north.' 

 By his second wife he acquired the estate 

 of Foxdenton in Chadderton. He had also 

 an estate in Altcar. 



In 1605 Sir John Radcliffe of Ordsall 

 made a settlement (or a sale) of the manor 

 of Newcroft, with messuages, gardens, lands, 

 and common of pasture ; PaL of Lane. 

 Feet, of F. bdle. 68, no. 16. 



About 1632 there was a dispute as to 

 Newcroft between Greenhalgh and Rad- 

 cliffe ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 246. 



48 From references already given it 

 would appear that Newcroft had been pur- 

 chased by the Hulmes, and from their 

 heirs by William Allen. 



64 End. Char. Rep. for Flixton (1900), 

 pp. 3, 6. The price paid in 1888 was 

 4,000 ; Lawson, Flixton, 105. 



4i D. H. Langton, Hist, of Flixton, 30. 



*5a Dugdale, Visit, v. Roger Rogers, 

 gent., in Nov. 1690 became steward of 

 the Urmston halmote, and appears among 

 the free tenants at the same court. He 

 ceased to hold the office between 27 Aug. 

 and 26 Sept. 1695, when William Rogers 

 succeeded him. In 1699 Peter Egerton 

 of Shaw Hall granted Shaw Manor House 

 to Richard Tonge and William Rogers of 

 Stretford ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), 

 iii, 307. In 1701 William Rogers became 

 steward of Stretford Court Baron. 



46 The title to Hylland was in 1548 

 disputed by Giles and William Parting- 

 ton ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 88 ; 

 see also i, 228, ii, 94, for other references 

 to the family ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 34. In 1559 John 

 Partington of Manchester, mercer, sold 

 all his lands in Urmston to Edmund 

 Trafford ; he inherited from his uncle 

 James Partington, and another uncle, 

 Ralph, is named. The tenants were John 

 Gregory, Thomas Gregory, George Gre- 

 gory, William Holland, and Thomas 

 Gregory of Hillam ; De Trafford D. no. 

 115, 1 1 6. In 1546 William Partington 

 had purchased from John Gregory and 

 John his son six messuages, &c., in Urms- 

 ton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 12, 

 m. 256. 



*7 Lawson, op. cit. 108 ; known as 



55 



' Pine apple hall ' from a carving over the 

 door. 



48 Ibid. ; now known as the ' Grange." 



49 Ibid. 109 ; the house called the 

 ' Anchorage ' stands on the site. Gamer- 

 shaw is a corruption of Grimelshagh ; sec 

 D. of 1554 in Crofton, Stretford, ii, 42. 



60 John Newton, who died in 1597, 

 held a messuage in Urmston of the queen; 

 John his son and heir was about sixteen ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, no. 82. 

 Newton of Urmston occurs in the list of 

 freeholders in 1 600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 249. Robert New- 

 ton of Urmston had land in Barton on 

 lease in 1676-7 ; De Trafford D. no. 112. 



Mr. Crofton adds the following further 

 information: In 1673 John Newton 

 paid hearth tax in Stretford for one hearth; 

 Stretford, iii, 212. On 21 Nov. 1684 

 ' John son of Mr. John Newton of Stret- 

 ford ' married Sarah daughter of Mr. 

 Francis Brown of Manchester ; Stretford 

 Reg. John Newton was steward of Stret- 

 ford Court Baron. He was also a high- 

 way overseer for Stretford in 1691, and 

 chapelwarden in 1700. He was buried 

 at Bowdon 3 June 1701, and the entry in 

 the Stretford registers calls him 'gentle- 

 man.' The will of 'John Newton of 

 Stretford, yeoman,' was proved at Chester 

 the same year. On 27 Sept. 1690 letters 

 of administration had been granted to 

 John Newton of Stretford, yeoman, as 

 kinsman of Winifred wife of Thomas 

 Barlow of Barlow, who was daughter of 

 Anthony Meinell of N. Kilvington, 

 co. York. She had been wife of Kil- 

 lingbeck of Ellerton Grange, co. York, 

 and was buried at Manchester Collegiate 

 Church in 1690. Thomas Newton was 

 John Newton's executor. In Oct. 1620 

 the Urmston Halmote Recs. mention 

 Thomas Newton senr. and junr., John 

 Newton, gent., free tenant, and William 

 Newton, inhabitant. 



61 Robert de Moston of Chester and 

 Cecily his wife in 1402 gave to William 

 son of Robert Gregory all their lands 

 in Urmston ; De Trafford D. no. 296. 

 Thomas de Hyde in 1418-19 contracted 

 to marry his daughter Maud to William 

 Gregory the younger of Leigh ; Harl. 

 MS. 2 1 12, fol. 1 60. John Gregory of 

 Newcroft was by Richard Radcliffe in 1593 

 called upon to pay a debt due to Sir 

 Edmund Trafford for fine and gressum ; 

 Ducatus Lane, iii, 289. Henry Gregory 

 contributed to the subsidy in 1622 for 

 lands ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 1 54. A pedigree recorded in 1 567 shows 

 that the Gregorys claimed by descent from 

 Adam Urmston of Urmston ; Visit. (Chet. 

 Soc.), 7. 



62 Hugh Scott of Wigan and Alice his 

 wife had lands in Urmston in 1576; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 38, m. 119. Edmund 

 Hey in 1590 purchased a messuage, &c., 



