SALFORD HUNDRED 



GREGGE. Or three 

 trefoils between two che- 

 verons table. 



in the I 7th century the estate passed by sale to the 

 Woods," and from them in 1646 to the Wrigleys. 43 

 Henry Wrigley served as high sheriff in 1651," and 

 in local matters was a zealous supporter of Robert 

 Constantine in the disputes 

 as to the church of Oldham. 45 

 By marriage Chamber Hall 

 passed to the Gregges of Ches- 

 ter, who in 1773 succeeded to 

 Hopwood, and took this sur- 

 name. 46 Edward Gregge Hop- 

 wood died in 1 798, and left 

 the Chamber Hall estate in 

 equal portions to his three 

 daughters. The eldest died 

 unmarried ; Elizabeth mar- 

 ried James Starkey of Hey- 

 wood ; and the other married 

 Maj. -General Peter Heron, Tory member for Newton 

 in Makerfield from 1806 to 1814; and the estate 

 was recently held by their heirs. 47 



Chamber Hall lies on the south side of Oldham at 

 the bottom of Chamber Lane, but on an eminence 

 formerly commanding a very extensive prospect of the 

 country to the south. 48 The building belongs to two 

 periods. The older part at the back was apparently 

 erected in 1640, along with the barn to the south, 

 and is a stone-built house of two stories and an attic 

 with mullioned windows and gables, and the roofs 

 covered with grey stone slates. Some of the windows 

 are built up and others modernized, but many of the 

 original 17th-century windows with the labels over 

 remain. The walling is of long thin coursed stones with 

 squared quoins, many of great length, at the angles. 



The front of the house was pulled down in 1752, 

 when the present block facing the street was erected. 



PRESTWICH WITH 

 OLDHAM 



It is of three stories, built in stone in the plain classic 

 style of the period, with central door and two square- 

 headed windows on each side of it. There are five 

 large windows on the first floor with small attic win- 

 dows over. The ground floor windows have archi- 

 traves and keystones, but the upper ones architraves 

 only, and the sashes retain their original wood bars. 

 The front is faced with large squared coursed stones, 

 with chamfered quoins at the angles, the chimneys are 

 of brick, a"nd the roof is covered with blue slates. On 

 the south-west of the house is a large stone barn, with 

 stone slated roof and wide end gables. The entrance 

 doorways in each side of the barn have also smaller 

 stone gables, that facing the house bearing the initials 

 G. w., i. w., and the date 1640 on a stone over a 

 blocked three-light mullioned window. The initials 

 are probably those of George Wood and his wife Jane 

 (Tetlow), the builders of the house. The barn is a 

 fine specimen of the stone-built barns of the I7th 

 century. At the other side of the house, to the 

 south-east, is a range of stone buildings, two stories 

 high, now a cottage and stable, with outside stone 

 steps at the north end. It has low mullioned windows 

 and a stone-slated roof, and over the stable door is 

 the date 1648 and the initials H. w., being those 

 of Henry Wrigley, who bought the hall from the 

 Woods in 1 646. He is said to have ' employed 

 numerous artisans in the trade of fustian weaving, and 

 converted part of the outbuildings of his hall into a 

 warehouse.' 49 The door with his initials may be an 

 insertion in one of the original outbuildings, but it is 

 more probable that he erected this range of buildings 

 himself for workshops. 



A portion of the Tetlow estate passed by marriage 

 to the Langleys of Agecroft, and long continued in 

 that family. 50 Another Tetlow family was settled at 



agreed that Robert his son and heir 

 apparent should confirm it on coming of 

 age; Shaw, Oldham, 40. In 1610, in 

 conjunction with Katherine his wife, he 

 made a settlement of his ' manors of Old- 

 ham and Werneth,' with thirty messuages, 

 mill, lands, &c. ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 78, no. 5. He died in 1611, and 

 his will and inventory are printed by Shaw, 

 op. cit. 51, 52; he mentions his wife 

 Katherine, son Robert, daughter Jane wife 

 of William Bradshaw, grandson Adam 

 Pilkington, and others, and desired to be 

 buried in the ' chapel church of Oldham.' 

 The only book was ' a great old Bible ' ; 

 the arms were a caliver, two great bills, 

 a yew bow and a quiver, and a broken 

 cross-bow ; ' a pair of playing tables ' was 

 valued at it. 



Robert Tetlow contributed to the sub- 

 sidy in 1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 157. Nine years later he paid 

 10 on refusing knighthood ; ibid. 216. 

 As a convicted recusant he paid double to 

 the subsidy of 1626-7 (Lay Subs. bdle. 

 131, no. 312), and in 1630 compounded 

 for his sequestered two-thirds by an annual 

 fine of 10. 



42 By indenture dated 14 September 

 1635 Robert Tetlow of the Chamber Hall 

 in or near Oldham, and William Horton 

 of Barkisland, Yorks., conveyed to George 

 Wood of Groby and John Wood 

 of London, for 2,120, the capital 

 messuage in Werneth, with lands, &c., 

 there and in Greenacres, the names and 

 rents of the occupiers being given ; 

 Raines D. (Chet. Lib.), bdle. 5, no. 77. 

 This was accompanied by a fine, Robert 



Tetlow and Mary his wife, William Horton 

 and Elizabeth his wife, being deforciants ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 128, no. 33. 



George Wood, who is said to have 

 married Jane the daughter and heir of 

 Robert Tetlow, contributed to the subsidy 

 of 1641 for his lands ; Shaw, op. cit. 87. 

 In the following year George and John 

 Wood gave a lease of the messuage, &c., 

 called Broad Heys in Oldham ; ibid. 93. 



48 Ibid. 102. 



44 P.R.O. Lilt, 73. 



45 See the correspondence in Manch. 

 Classit (Chet. Soc.), App. Henry Wrigley 

 died in London, and was buried there 26 

 July 1658 ; Shaw, op. cit. 152. 



Henry Wrigley the younger, son of 

 Henry Wrigley of the Chamber in Old- 

 ham, at Ashton under Lyne on 5 April 

 1654 married Susannah daughter of 

 Samuel Jenkinson of Woodhouses. A 

 son, Henry, was buried at Ashton 23 

 Mar. 1654-5. 



Benjamin Wrigley, the next owner of 

 Chamber, was summoned to attend the 

 Herald's Visitation in 1664, but no pedi- 

 gree is recorded ; Dugdale, Visit, (Chet. 

 Soc.), p. v. 



46 E. Butterworth, Oldham (ed. 1856), 

 from which this account of the descent is 

 mainly taken. By his will, 1671, Benja- 

 min Wrigley devised his property in Old- 

 ham, &c., to his eldest daughter Martha 

 and her issue ; and she married Joseph 

 Gregge. 



In 1681 Joseph Gregge and Martha 

 his wife made a settlement of the manors 

 of Werneth and Oldham ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 207, m. 84. In 1682 



97 



Joseph Gregge granted a lease of a mes- 

 suage at a rent of ios., a heriot at every 

 death, two fat hens at Christmas, a fat 

 capon at Easter, a day's harrowing with 

 two harrows, and three days' reaping as re- 

 quired ; Shaw, op. cit. 187. Joseph 

 Gregge died in 1705 ; ibid. 241. 



In a recovery of the manors of Werneth 

 and Oldham in 1712 the tenants were 

 Benjamin Gregge, Elizabeth his wife, 

 and Henry Ashton ; PaL of Lane. Plea 

 R. 496, m. 4. Benjamin Gregge was 

 high sheriff in 1722 ; P.R.O. List, 74. 



A settlement was made of the manors 

 of Werneth and Oldham in 1773 by Ed- 

 ward Gregge Hopwood and Judith his 

 wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 389, 

 m. 28. 



47 In 1856 these heirs were : Edmund 

 John Gregge Hopwood, Catherine Heron, 

 Mary Felicia Barry, (Rev.) George Heron, 

 Henry Heron, (Rev.) Frank George Hop- 

 wood, and Hervey Hopwood ; Butter- 

 worth, op. cit. 28. On the same page is 

 an account of the haunting of Chamber 

 Hall. 



In 1890 Chamber was stated to be the 

 property of the Gregge Hop woods ; see an 

 account of the place in Lanes, and Ches, 

 Antiq. Soc. viii, 150-4, where is printed 

 an ungallant couplet written on a window 

 pane of the hall. 



48 J. Butterworth, op. cit. 1826. 



49 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. viii. 



* In 1352 lands in Crompton, Oldham, 

 and Werneth were part of the Tetlow 

 estate settled upon Richard de Langley 

 and Joan his wife ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 132. Disputes had 



'3 



