A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



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upon the family manors, in accordance with the 

 settlement made by his uncle John, came into the 

 hands of Robert Radcliffe, Lord Fitz Walter, created 

 Viscount Fitz Walter in 1525 and Earl of Sussex in 

 1529." Radcliffe descended to his son Henry 43 and 

 grandson Thomas, second and third earls, but the last- 

 named, who died without surviving issue in 1583," 

 sold Radcliffe and the other Lancashire manors and 

 lands. Radcliffe was in 1561 purchased from him 

 by Richard Assheton, lord of the adjoining manor of 

 Middleton, 48 and descended with the latter until 

 1 765, when the Assheton estates were divided between 

 the two daughters of Sir Ralph Assheton. 46 One of 

 these, Eleanor, married Sir Thomas Egerton of 

 Heaton, afterwards Lord Grey de Wilton, and the 

 manor of Radcliffe appears to have been included 

 in her share. 47 It has since descended with the 

 Wilton estates, the present 

 lord being Sir Frederick John- 

 stone, by demise of the Earl 

 of Wilton. 48 A court-baron 

 used to be held on the first 

 Friday in April. 49 



The ruins of Radcliffe Tower 

 stand about 200 yds. south- 

 west of the church and in- 

 closed within a farmyard. The 

 house was of timber construc- 

 tion, and seems to have con- 

 sisted of a main block standing 

 east and west, with a west 

 wing, which may have been an 

 addition to the original build- 

 ing, and a stone tower at 

 the east. No authentic record of the plan of the 

 building, however, remains, the chief source of in- 

 formation concerning the structure being the descrip- 

 tion of it given by Whitaker in his History ofWkalley, 

 together with a view of the north or principal front 

 of the hall made in lySi. 50 This latter shows a 

 two-storied house of timber and plaster with gabled 

 roofs of the usual type. The stone-built wing, or 

 tower, then in a state of ruin, is the only part of the 

 building now remaining. The rest of the house was 



JOHNSTONE, Baronet. 

 Argent a saltire sable, 

 on a chief gules three 

 cushions or, in base a 

 man's heart ensigned "with 

 an imperial crown pro- 

 per. 



allowed to fall into decay, and was taken down in the 

 early part of the igth century. 



The position of Radcliffe Tower, like that of the 

 church, is one naturally of defence, being built in the 

 centre of a bend of the River Irwell. The ground 

 within the bend is flat and low-lying, but the river 

 itself, being on three sides of the house at a distance 

 of only about quarter of a mile, would afford sufficient 

 protection to account for the absence of a moat to the 

 house. The present stone-built tower probably be- 

 longs to 1403, being erected in accordance with the 

 licence recorded above, and had a contemporary 

 timber building adjoining it on the west side. It 

 is difficult to reconcile the provisions of the licence 

 of 1403 with the existing remains, as it seems clear 

 that there was no stone hall in connexion with this 

 tower. Of the second tower nothing can be said, and 

 if it was ever built, no trace or tradition of it remains. 



The great hall, which was doubtless the building 

 which left its roof-line on the ruined tower, occupied 

 the east part of the main block, and according to 

 Whitaker was 42 ft. 2 in. in length, and in one part 

 26ft. and in another 28 ft. in width. 51 It had an 

 open-timbered roof supported by two massive princi- 

 pals, which are described by Whitaker as the 'most 

 curious specimens of carved oak work I have ever 

 seen.' They appear to have been, however, of a not 

 unusual type. At the east end of the hall was a door, 

 which still remains, opening into the basement of the 

 tower, and higher up in the wall another door, also 

 still in existence, which led into the chamber above. 

 At the west end of the hall were the kitchen and 

 servants' apartments, and in Whitaker's time there 

 were still to be seen ' the remains of a doorway 

 opening into what was once a staircase, and leading 

 to a large chamber above the kitchen, the approach to 

 which beneath was by a door of massy oak pointed at 

 the top. The kitchen and apartment above stood at 

 right angles to the top of the hall, and are separated 

 from it by a wall of oak work. The chamber is 3 8 ft. 

 long by 1 8 ft. 5 in., and has two massy arches of oak 

 without mouldings, but an oaken cornice mould like 

 those in the hall, the floor of thick oaken planks.' 

 On the south side of the hall were the remains of a 



802. He held the manors, &c., as before ; 

 the heirs general were his four sisters 

 named above, and the heir male was 

 Robert Radcliffe, Lord Fitz Walter; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 8. 



Lord Fitz Walter on succeeding found 

 that many of the charters were in the 

 hands of Thurstan Tyldesley, as executor 

 of the John Radcliffe who died in 1513 ; 

 but Thurstan professed his willingness to 

 deliver them up, as soon as he was assured 

 as to the heir ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. 

 xiz, R. i. 



43 The descent has been given in a 

 preceding note. For this branch see 

 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iii, 371, 372 ; 

 vii, 334-6. There are accounts of John 

 Radcliffe, Lord Fitz Walter, and of the 

 Earls of Sussex in Diet. Nat. Biog. 

 Robert, Earl of Sussex, was Lord Lieu- 

 tenant of Lancashire in 1537 and high 

 steward of the Duchy in 1539 and 1540. 

 He died in 1542, holding the manors of 

 Radcliffe at Tower, Moston, and Crump- 

 sail, and leaving a son and heir Henry, 

 aged twenty-five and more ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 66 (38), E. file 643 (18). 

 , * He died 17 Feb. 1556-7 ; ibid. 



** Ibid. His second wife, Frances 



Sidney, survived him and bequeathed funds 

 for the foundation of Sidney-Sussex Col- 

 lege, Cambridge. 



48 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 33, 

 m. 3. The estate is described as the 

 manor of Radcliffe, otherwise 'Radcliffe 

 Tower,' with the appurtenances, and of 100 

 messuages, 100 cottages, 40 tofts, 4 water- 

 mills, a fulling-mill, four dovecotes, 200 

 gardens, 2,000 acres of land, 1,000 acres 

 of meadow, 2,000 acres of pasture, 100 

 acres of wood, 200 acres of marsh, 1,000 

 acres of furze and heath, and ^10 rent in 

 Radcliffe, Bolton, and Manchester, and 

 the advowson of the church of Radcliffe. 

 The sum named in the fine is 2,000 

 marks. 



In 1 5 64 Richard Assheton had to make 

 a further arrangement with Richard Blunt 

 and Margaret his wife regarding the manor 

 of Radcliffe, he paying them 1,000 ; 

 ibid. bdle. 26, m. 256. A deed between 

 Richard Blunt and Gilbert Gerard con- 

 cerning Radcliffe was enrolled in the 

 Common Pleas, Easter, 1564. 



The manor of Radcliffe or Radcliffe 

 Tower was in 1582 included in a settle- 

 ment of the Middleton estates made by 

 Richard Assheton and Mary his wife ; 



60 



Pal. of Lane. Feet of F., bdle. 44, m. 73. 

 Similar settlements were made later, down 

 to 1721; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 512, m. 3. 

 See also Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 105-7. 



46 See the account of Middleton. 



*7 In 1766 there was a settlement 

 of a moiety of the manors of Middleton 

 and Radcliffe upon Harbord Harbord 

 and Mary his wife; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 375, m. 153. This was fol- 

 lowed in 1771 by a similar settlement 

 of the other moiety upon Sir Thomas 

 Egerton and Mary his wife ; ibid, bdle, 

 385, m. 246. Shortly afterwards a 

 division was arranged, Lord Grey de 

 Wilton alone presenting to the rectory 

 in 1784. 



48 See the account of Heaton in Prest- 

 wich. 



49 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 7. 



60 Drawn by H. Wyatt, lithographed 

 by J. Ford, Manchester, 1823. 



81 His view of the interior, however 

 (1801), exaggerates the length, but this 

 defect of the drawing was afterwards 

 remedied, and a view ' with the erroneous 

 perspective corrected ' published in the 

 Gent. Mag. for July 1 840. 



