SALFORD HUNDRED 



PRESTWICH WITH 

 OLDHAM 



under Nevill. The combined services due from 

 them amounted exactly to the service required by 

 the king. 



There does not seem to have been any manor of 

 QLDHAM but in later times it was usually supposed 

 to be attached to WERNETH, the holder of this por- 

 tion bearing the local name ; thus in 1222-6 Alward 

 de Oldham held 2 oxgangs in Werneth by a rent of 

 ig^d. 33 Though a number of Oldhams appear in 

 pleadings, &C., 34 nothing is known of the descent of 

 Werneth until the latter part of the I4th century, 

 Margery daughter of Richard de Oldham and 

 wife of John de Cudworth dying in October 



1383 holding the manor of 

 Oldham of the Duke of Lan- 

 caster by knight's service and 

 by the rent of 6s. 6d. K Her 

 son and heir, John de Cud- 

 worth, was born early in 

 1379, and proved his age in 

 1 40 1. 36 The descent of the 

 manor in the Cudworth fa- 

 mily is fairly clear from this 

 time 37 until 1683, when it 

 was sold by Joshua Cudworth 

 to Sir Ralph Assheton of 



CUDWORTJI. Azure a 

 fesse erminoit between 

 three demi-lions rampant 



88 Nothing further is known of Reyner 

 de Wombwell, who held 6 oxgangs of land 

 under Montbegon and 2 oxgangs under 

 Nevill ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 63, 64. 

 The latter part, as appears by the next note, 

 was Werneth. His name occurs as witness 

 to deeds in the Pontefract Chartulary 

 above referred to. 



83 Ibid. 133. The rent for 2 oxgangs 

 agrees more nearly with 25 than 26 for 

 the whole of Kaskenmoor. The other 6 

 oxgangs of Reyner may have been held by 

 Alward, but not of the king. 



84 In the 1324 Feodary (Dods. MSS. 

 cxxxi, fol. 3 8 A) the Oldham family's hold- 

 ing is stated to have been formerly that 

 of Adam de Eccles. Among the Hop- 

 wood charters is a deed by Adam de 

 Eccles, granting land in Oldham to Henry 

 de 'Oldulm,' and another making a grant 

 to Jordan de Crompton. 



In 1275 Adam de Oldham and Geoffrey 

 de Chadderton jointly took action against 

 John de Byron respecting tenements in 

 Oldham and Chadderton ; Assize R. 405, 

 m. 3<7. Probably the boundaries of Royton 

 were in dispute. 



Adam de Oldham, William de Oldham, 

 and Adam son of Adam de Oldham ap- 

 pear in 1292 in suits about tenements in 

 Oldham of which no particulars are given; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 18, 58; Cal. Close, 

 1288-96, p. 40. At the same time 

 Christiana daughter of Peter de Oldham 

 claimed a messuage and land against 

 Robert son of Warine de Marcheden ; the 

 latter had received them from Christiana's 

 next of kin Cecily daughter of William 

 son of Peter, whose mental soundness was 

 the point in dispute. Finally Robert gave 

 a mark for licence to agree, and received 

 a quitclaim ; Assize R. 408, m. 15 ; see 

 also De Banco R. 108, m. 12; no, m. 

 7. Isabel daughter of Adam de Oldham 

 claimed 20 acres and half an oxgang of 

 land against her father in 1297; De 

 Banco R. 1 1 8, m. 1 24. 



Among the Hopwood charters are 

 grants from Adam son of Adam de Old- 

 ham to William his brother ; one is dated 

 1300. 



Adam de Oldham occurs again in 1302; 

 Assize R. 418, m. 1 1. In 1310 he granted 

 to Sir John de Byron of Clayton part of 

 his waste in Oldham and Werneth ; Shaw, 

 Oldham, 7. Adam and his son Richard 

 in 1319 granted Sir Richard de Byron 

 land and wood in Menewood ; and next 

 year Richard son of Adam de Oldham 

 released to Sir Richard son of Sir John de 

 Byron all claim in the portion of waste 

 granted by the charter of 1310 ; ibid. 8 ; 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxv, 36. 



From a suit of 1315 it appears that the 

 Earl of Lancaster had granted the manor 

 to Sir Robert de Holland, for Geoffrey de 

 Chadderton then appeared against Adam 

 de Oldham on the plea that Adam as 



mesne tenant should acquit him of the 

 service demanded by Sir Robert ; De 

 Banco R. 212, m. 51 d. No more is 

 known of the Holland lordship. 



Richard son of Richard de Oldham in 

 1324 paid 61. 6d. for an oxgang (no doubt 

 for Werneth) ; Duchy of Lane. Rentals 

 and Surv. 379, m. 13. A William de 

 Oldham contributed to the subsidy in 

 1332 ; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and dies.), 31. 



Richard de Oldham was lord of the 

 town in 1354; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 3, m. 6 d. The heirs of Richard de 

 Oldham in 1378 held part of Oldham by a 

 rent of 6s. 6d. ; Harl. MS. 2085, fol. 422. 



A later Richard de Oldham is named in 

 1427 in two of the Raines deeds (Chet. 

 Lib.), bdle. 3, no. 36, 37 ; his daughters 

 Ellen and Margery quitclaimed the lands 

 called * Hasellenshagh,' which had be- 

 longed to their father, to William son of 

 Richard de Aspenhalgh ( Aspinall), who had 

 married Alice, another daughter. William 

 de Aspenhalgh and John his son were in 

 1438 bound in 251. to John de Colyn ; 

 ibid. no. 39. 



85 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1455 ; the 

 clear value was 3 131. 6d. The date of 

 the inquisition is 1401, when John de 

 Cudworth had come of age. 



86 Ibid. no. 1500. Richard de Tetlow 

 gave evidence that John the heir was born 

 March 1378-9, and baptized in Oldham 

 by John de Blackburne, chaplain, the god- 

 parents being John del Forth and Margery 

 del Helde. 



The inquisition taken after the death 

 of his father in October 1384 is printed 

 in Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 13. It 

 differs in some details from the above. 

 The tenure is more fully stated by 

 knight's service and by a rent of 6s. 8J. ; 

 and by doing suit to the county from six 

 weeks to six weeks, and to the wapentake 

 from three weeks to three weeks ; also by 

 finding a bailiff for the duke in the wapen- 

 take of Salford. The custody of the heir 

 was given to Richard de Tetlow. 



See also Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 2. 



8 7 Pedigrees were recorded in 1567 

 (Visit. Chet. Soc. 15), 1613 (ibid. 80), 

 and 1664 (ibid. 90). There is another 

 in Butterworth, Oldham (ed. 1817), 69. 



John Cudworth made a feoffment of 

 his lands in Oldham in 1405 ; Dods. MSS. 

 cxvii, fol. 165. 



In 1445-6 John Cudworth held the 

 twentieth part of a knight's fee in Old- 

 ham, but did not pay 51. for relief, as 

 being in ward ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' 

 Fees, 2/20. 



John Cudworth of Werneth contributed 

 to the subsidies of 1523 and 1541 ; Shaw, 

 Oldham, 15, 18. 



John Cudworth, who according to the 

 pedigrees was great-grandson of the John 

 of 1401, died 22 June 1555, holding a 



95 



mansion-house called Werneth, eight mes- 

 suages, &c., in Oldham, 41. jd. free rent, 

 viz. zo^</. from lands late of John Hop- 

 wood in Nether Horsedge, 2i/. from land 

 called Hazelshaw belonging to John 

 Aspenhalgh, and zd. from Robert Butter- 

 worth's land next Cowhill (Coohill) ; all 

 held of the Duchy of Lancaster by knight's 

 service and a rent of 6s. 8</. He had 

 granted certain lands to Agnes daughter 

 of Alexander Lees (who married his son 

 Ralph), and the rest of his estate as ' the 

 manor of Werneth,' &c. to his son and 

 heir Ralph, who at the taking of the 

 inquest in 1556 was fifty years of age; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 36. 



Ralph Cudworth died 28 Nov. 1558, 

 holding much the same estate. The de- 

 tails of the 41. jd. rents are more fully 

 given : zi^J. from Edmund Ashton for 

 land in Greenacres ; yd. from John Taylor 

 in Over Horsedge and Redlees, ij</. from 

 John Hopwood in Nether Horsedge, 2 id. 

 from Haslinshaw, and id. from the land 

 next Cowhill. Ralph, the son and heir, 

 was twenty-six years of age ; ibid, xi, 62. 



The descent of Redlees is given by 

 Edwin Butterworth ; it was owned in 

 1856 by John Bradshaw Greaves ; Oldham, 



43- 



Ralph Cudworth made a settlement of 



the manor of Werneth, ten messuages, 

 &c., in Oldham in 1561 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 23, m. 117. He died 

 22 Aug. 1572 holding the manor or 

 capital messuage of Werneth, &c., as 

 before, and six burgages, &c., at Wake- 

 field. By his will he set apart a third of 

 the profits of his lands for thirteen years 

 for the education and marriage of his 

 daughters Alice, Margery, and Anne. 

 The heir was his son John, then eight 

 years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 xii, no. i. By his will he desired to be 

 buried in the chapel on the north side of 

 the parish church. His wife Jane, his 

 son and daughters, and William Ashton 

 his brother-in-law are mentioned. He 

 set apart 30 a year for life for his bastard 

 son Ralph, and gave 401. to this Ralph's 

 son Ralph ; Shaw, Oldham, 26. He also 

 made provision for a posthumous son of 

 his own, who was baptized as Ralph at 

 Oldham, 2 Sept. 1572. He was the Dr. 

 Ralph Cudworth, fellow of Emmanuel 

 College, Cambridge, who was father of the 

 celebrated author of the True Intellectual 

 System of the Universe ; note by Mr. J. C. 

 Whitebrook. See Diet. Nat. Biog. 



John Cudworth occurs in various ways 

 in the early part of the I7th century. He 

 was one of the first governors of Oldham 

 Grammar School in 1606. His eldest son 

 John was twenty-eight years of age in 

 1613, and died in 1652, leaving as heir 

 his son Joshua, who in 1 664 was fifty-one, 

 and had a son, also Joshua, aged eighteen; 

 see Visitations. The curious inscription 



