A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Middleton. 88 The new owner gave it with his daughter 

 and co-heir Catherine to Thomas Lister of Gisburn 

 Park, Yorkshire ; the Listers sold it for 25,500 to 

 Parker & Sidebottom of London, by whom it was 

 sold in 1795 to John Lees, cotton manufacturer, for 

 j^OjOOO. 39 It is now owned by Mrs. Charles Lees 

 of Werneth Park. 



Werneth Hall is said to have been originally a 

 timber and plaster building, but this was destroyed 

 by fire in I456, 40 and no trace of it now remains. 

 The present house, which is built of stone, stands on 

 sloping ground on the south-west side of the town 

 facing south at the corner of Werneth Hall Road and 

 Frederick Street, the original portions dating probably 

 from the beginning or middle of the I yth century. The 

 house, however, has been so much altered and rebuilt 

 both inside and out that its ancient appearance is 

 almost wholly lost, but it was probably a building 

 with a centre and end wings at the east and west. 

 A portion only of the line of the old frontage remains ; 

 the west gable is still intact, but the centre portion 

 has been replaced by a brick cottage, and the east 

 wing appears to have been extended, and mutilated at 

 the top, but whether it ever was a gabled building 

 like the west wing is uncertain. There is an original 

 entrance doorway in the east wing facing south, and 



the old five-light mullioned and transomed windows 

 with labels still remain in both wings, except that 

 the mullions in the lower windows have been cut 

 away. The old west wing runs through to the back 

 of the house, where there are two five-light mullioned 

 and transomed windows with label mouldings, but a 

 modern stone extension has been made to the house 

 at the west, which effectually hides the old work on 

 that side. The existing portion of the old hall is 

 now used as a nurses' home. 



CHAMBER HALL, to the south-east of Wer- 

 neth, was for some centuries 

 the residence of the Tetlows 

 of Werneth, said to be de- 

 scended from the Oldham fa- 

 mily. 41 Lawrence Tetlow died 

 26 December 1582 seised of 

 three messuages, &c., in Ash- 

 ton under Lyne, held of the 

 queen in socage by a rent of 



$d. ; and twelve messuages, 

 o r\\ JL LIJ r T> i i_ 



&c., in Oldham, held of Ralph 



Barton in socage, by a barbed 



arrow at Christmas, and a pair 



of gloves (or id.) at St. Oswald's. Richard, his son 



and heir, was about thirty-seven years old. 41a Early 



TETLOW. Ar 



w tngralled 

 tited gulet. 



nt a 



. 



on John Cudworth's monument (died 7 

 June 1652, aged sixty-eight) in Oldham 

 church, erected by his sons Richard and 

 Thomas, is printed in Butterworth's 

 Oldham (ed. 1817), 26. Thomas had 

 been ' vitae et necis civilis arbiter class! s, 

 non nimis felicis, quae petiit Jamaicam.' 



The will of Joshua, the father, made in 

 1 66 1 and proved in 1667, is printed in 

 Shaw, Oldbam, 167. 



88 It was the younger Joshua who in 

 1683 sold Werneth ; ibid. 191. A settle- 

 ment of the manors of Werneth and Old- 

 ham had been made in 1668 by Joshua 

 Cudworth and Anne Cudworth, widow ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 181, m. 146, 



John Smith, clerk, who died at Cam- 

 bridge 22 Aug. 1638, held a messuage, 

 Ac., in Oldham of John Cudworth ; 

 Thomas Smith, the brother and heir, was 

 sixty years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. xxx, no. 38. 



89 Butterworth, op. cit. 69 ; 'It is only 

 about 100 acres, but contains an invalu- 

 able quantity of coal, and much common 

 right.' 



In 1773 there was a recovery of the 

 manors of Oldham and Werneth, the 

 tenant being Thomas Lister ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 617, m. 9 d. He was father of 

 Thomas Lister, Lord Ribblesdale, who 

 sold Werneth in 1792. John Lees, son of 

 Daniel Lees of Barrowshaw, began busi- 

 ness about 1775 in Church Lane. He 

 aroused great indignation, as lord of the 

 reputed manor of Oldham, by claiming 

 tolls on the market stalls ; this claim he 

 withdrew. He died in 1823, was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Edward, who died in 

 1835, and was in turn succeeded by his 

 sons John Frederick Lees and George 

 Lees, the former of whom was member 

 for the borough (Conservative) from 1835 

 to 1837, and died in 1867 ; E. Butter- 

 worth, Oldham (ed. 1856), 24, 129, 159 ; 

 Pink and Beaven, Par/. Repre. of Lanes. 

 310. 



Lord Ribblesdale' s deeds contain a 

 number relating to Oldham from 1552 

 onwards 5 they concern the Cudworth and 

 Crompton families. 



40 Shaw, Oldbam) 13. For description 

 of remains in 1890, see Lanes, and Cbes. 

 Antiq. Sot. viii, 147. 



41 In 1292 Adam son of Adam de 

 Oldham bound himself to repay 4 marks 

 borrowed from Adam de Prestwich, or 

 instead grant him land called the North- 

 hey ; Agecroft D. 3. 



In 1332 Richard de Tetlow and others 

 did not prosecute their claim against 

 Richard de Byron respecting lands in Old- 

 ham and Chadderton ; Assize R. 1411, 

 m. 1 2 d. 



Thomas son of Adam de Prestwich in 

 1335 granted to Richard son of Adam de 

 Tetlow all his part of Adamhey in the 

 Northwood in Oldham perhaps the 

 Northhey of the above-cited bond j 

 Raines D. (Chet. Lib.), bdle. 3, no. 28. 



In 1337 the sheriff was ordered to 

 inquire whether Richard de Tetlow was 

 seised of 80 acres of land and 20 acres 

 of wood in Oldham and Crompton ; Alice 

 his widow claimed a third of it as dower 

 against Amabel widow of Adam de 

 Tetlow. She further claimed dower in 

 other lands in Oldham and Cheetham ; 

 De Banco R. 310, m. i6od. ; Cal. Close, 



*337-9> P- " 6 - 



Another Tetlow family is shown in 

 pleadings of 1480, in which the grant of 

 a messuage, &c., in Oldham by Eva 

 daughter of William de Oldham to 

 Richard son of Adam de Tetlow, with 

 remainder to Richard's brother Adam, 

 was claimed by the descendants of Adam's 

 three daughters George Chadderton, 

 Ralph Belfield, Bernard Butterworth, and 

 Elizabeth his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Writs 

 of Assize, 20 Edw. IV. 



Hugh son of Adam de Tetlow in 1340 

 gave lands in the Coppedhurst and Payre- 

 halghus to his mother, Anabil, for life, 

 with remainder to his brother Roger ; 

 Raines D. no. 29. 



Adam son of Richard de Tetlow in 

 1347 successfully claimed eight messuages, 

 &c., in Oldham, held by Adam son of 

 Adam de Tetlow ; Assize R. 1435, m. 39. 



In 1375 Roger son of Richard de 

 Langley gave to Richard son of Richard 



9 6 



de Tetlow all his lands in Manchester, 

 Crompton, and Oldham, with remainder* 

 to Richard bastard son of Adam de 

 Tetlow, and to John son of Richard de 

 Oldham ; Agecroft D. no. 48. In the fol- 

 lowing year Richard son of Richard de 

 Tetlow occurs as plaintiff; De Banco R. 

 462, m. 121 d. Richard de Tetlow in 

 1390 confirmed to Robert Walker, chap- 

 lain, a burgage and messuage in Oldham 

 and Manchester; Shaw, Oldham, n. 



Cases of cow-stealing and trespass in 

 1441 and 1443 bring in other members 

 of the family Robert and Alexander, 

 sons of Robert de Tetlow ; Robert son of 

 Richard de Tetlow and Isabel his wife ; 

 Robert Tetlow of Oldham and Richard 

 his son ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 3, m. 31; 

 5, m. 1 5 b. 



Richard Tetlow of Werneth granted to 

 John Langley 5 acres in Oldham in 1474; 

 the bounds mention Hunwalgate, Glod- 

 wick Brook, the Clough Bottom, the old 

 kiln, the lime-pits, Hollinwood, and 

 Northwood ; John Langley resigned his 

 claim to the Spurfield land ; Raines D. 

 bdle. 3, no. 43. 



Arthur Tetlow, of Chamber Hall, con- 

 tributed to the subsidy in 1523 ; Shaw, 

 Oldham, 1 5. John Tetlow contributed for 

 goods in 1541 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 145. Lawrence Tetlow in 

 1551 made a feoffment of messuages and 

 lands in Oldham and Ashton under Lyne ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 178. 

 He was among those summoned in 1574 

 to provide equipment for the muster ; 

 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 3 i. 



41a Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 56. 

 The inquisitions of the Bartons of Smithills 

 do not mention any lands in Oldham, but 

 the Butterworths of Butterworth also held 

 lands of them by ' an arrow with an iron 

 barb ' ; ibid, xiii, 2. 



Richard Tetlow, in return for the 

 surrender of a lease granted by his father 

 Lawrence, gave a new lease of a messuage 

 in Oldham in 1596 ; the rent was to be 

 821. a year, with four hens at Christmas, 

 two capons at Easter, and four days' shear- 

 ing (reaping) in harvest. Richard further 



