A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



COLDHURST," which was formerly an estate of the 

 Hospitallers." 



LEES HALL was long the residence of the Chad- 

 derton family of Oldham and Crompton. 53 George 

 Chadderton, living in 15 15, held Rowdefields, Magot 

 Fields, and Lees in Oldham of John Cudworth by 

 knight's service and a rent of 4^. His widow 

 {Catherine died 10 April 1543, and their grandson 



Thomas (son of Thomas son of George) was the 

 heir, and twenty-two years of age. 53a In the latter 

 part of the iyth century it was acquired by the 

 Lyon family, 54 and passed through various hands. 

 Lawrence Chadderton, a famous Puritan divine, first 

 master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, is said to 

 have been born here." The site is now occupied 

 by saw-mills. Bent Hall, in the same neighbour- 



occurred already with other lords of Old- 

 ham, for in 1351 Adam de Chadderton and 

 Alice his wife claimed a messuage and 

 land against Richard de Langley and Joan 

 his wife, William son of Robert de Rad- 

 cliffe, Anabil de Tetlow, and Thomas de 

 Parr, and though the first writ was dis- 

 missed for the error of questus est instead 

 of questi tunt the suit continued ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Assize R. i (July), m. 4 d.; (Lent), 

 m. 2, 2 d. One Hugh de Tetlow had 

 been seised of the disputed tenement, 

 which on his death descended to Joan 

 de Langley as daughter of Jordan, elder 

 brother of Hugh ; but while Joan was a 

 minor in the duke's wardship, and living 

 at Pontefract, Adam de Tetlow, a younger 

 brother, took possession, and granted to 

 Adam and Alice, the plaintiffs. On the 

 other hand it was said that Adam de 

 Tetlow had been in seisin during Hugh's 

 lifetime, and had granted it to one Robert 

 de Oldham for life, and after his death to 

 the plaintiffs. 



At Easter 1354. the Langleys claimed 

 common of pasture in 8 acres of moor and 

 pasture, as pertaining to Joan's inheritance 

 (a messuage and 20 acres) in Oldham, 

 against Richard son of Richard de Tet- 

 low, Adam son of Alice de Pussh", and 

 Richard de Oldham, lord of the town, who 

 had made an approvement of the waste. 

 Sufficient pasture had been left, but the 

 Langleys had previously had greater free- 

 dom of entry by a certain lane, in which 

 Richard de Oldham had made a lydiate 

 {lideata} and a ditch to shut out the beasts 

 coming there. Though the lydiate could 

 ibe opened at will a certam amount of 

 injury had been caused, and the defendants 

 made fines of mark, mark, and 10*. 

 respectively. One security for Richard de 

 Tetlow was Richard de Cudworth ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. 6 d. A decree 

 respecting common of pasture in favour 

 of Robert Langley was made in 1440 

 .against Robert Tetlow ; Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxiii, App. 39. 



This tenement continued to descend 

 -with Agecroft until 1561, when, on Sir 

 "Robert Langley's death, it became part of 

 vthe portion of his daughter Dorothy, who 

 married James Ashton of Chadderton ; the 

 deed of settlement speaks of 'manors, 

 messuages, lands, &c., in Oldham and 

 Crompton ' ; Raines D. (Chet. Lib.), bdle. 

 4, no. 63 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 24, m. 3 ; 47, m. 93. 



The Ashton family held already a con- 

 siderable estate in Oldham, and in 1612 

 James Ashton died seised of ten 

 messuages, 100 acres of land, fee,, in Old- 

 ham and Glodwick, by inheritance from 

 his father Edmund, and of twenty-four 

 messuages, &c, of his wife's inheritance ; 

 the former were held partly of John 

 Cudworth by knight's service and a rent 

 of 5</., and partly of the king (for the 

 Knights Hospitallers) in socage by a rent 

 of (>\d. ; the latter were held together 

 with lands, &c., in Alkrington, Tonge, 

 and Crompton, by the twentieth part of a 

 knight's fee and yd. rent ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 225, 230. 



Richard Ashton purchased a messuage, 

 &c., in 1596 from George Towers, 

 William and John Aspinall ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle 59, m. 237. This land 

 was that called Hardshaw, as may be seen 

 by comparing its rent of zid. with that 

 in the Inq. p.m. of Richard Ashton; (Rec. 

 Soc.), i, 145. 



51 Edmund Tetlow of Coldhurst con- 

 tributed to the subsidy of 1523 ; Shaw, 

 Oldham, 15. The will of John Tetlow 

 of Coldhurst, 1598-9, mentions Ellen his 

 wife, Edmund, George, John, and Anne 

 Tetlow his children, Abraham Taylor and 

 Ambrose Jackson his sons-in-law ; ibid. 

 41. Edmund Tetlow of Coldhurst was a 

 freeholder in 1600, and contributed to the 

 subsidy in 1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 248, 157. In 1639, on a 

 complaint being made of the destruction 

 of the timber, &c., on the moors of Old- 

 ham and Crompton, he stated that he and 

 his ancestors were seised of a capital 

 messuage called Coldhurst and about 60 

 acres of land ; also of two messuages in 

 Crompton and 40 acres, with rights of 

 common on Crompton Moor, Greenacres 

 Moor, Edge Moor, North Moor, and 

 Hollinwood, but not on Sholver Moor. 

 He was not aware that the king was the 

 owner of the soil or had ever granted 

 leases of the commons ; Shaw, 77-81. In 

 the following year Edmund Tetlow the 

 elder and Edmund Tetlow the younger 

 sold the Great Meadow near Fogg 

 Lane for a poor's field ; Char. Com. Rep. 

 (1826), xvi, 227. 



Anne, the eldest of three daughters and 

 co-heirs of Edmund Tetlow, in 1709 

 married Edmund Radcliffe, and though 

 she died without issue her inheritance 

 appears to have descended to the Rad- 

 cliffe's heirs ; E. Butterworth, Oldham (ed. 

 1 8 5 6), 45 . Coldhurst itself, however, was 

 sold to Sir Ralph Assheton, and descended 

 like Werneth until 1804, when Lord 

 Ribblesdale sold it to Abraham Crompton 

 of High Crompton ; ibid. 34. 



M Lanes, and Ches.Antiq. Soc.viii, 149- 

 50. A rent of $\d. was payable, which 

 ceased to be demanded about eighty years 

 ago. 



53 Of the earlier generations of this 

 family some account will be found under 

 Crompton. 



Robert son of Adam de Impetres, by 

 Margaret daughter of Richard del Lees, 

 claimed a messuage and lands in Oldham 

 in 1351 and 1352; and as Adam de 

 Chadderton warranted, and Thomas son 

 of Thomas de Chadderton was summoned, 

 it is probable the land was in or near 

 Lees Hall ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, 

 m. 5 d.; 2, m. 8. 



68a Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 31. 

 In 1537 Thomas the heir had married 

 Joan daughter of John Tetlow (who 

 survived him), and lands, &c., in Lees 

 and Crompton were then settled upon 

 him by his grandparents. He died 16 

 Aug. 1572 holding Lees of Ralph Cud- 

 worth by the sixtieth part of a knight's 

 fee and a rent of $d. a year ; George his 

 son and heir was twenty-four years of 



age. The estate had been increased by 

 messuages in Manchester ; ibid, xiii, 7. 

 His will is printed in Piccope's Wills 

 (Chet. Soc.), ii, 130 ; to his son Lawrence 

 he left 40*. a year from his inheritance at 

 Foulfyn in Staffordshire till the son should 

 have an income of 100 marks a year 

 from benefices. The Manchester burgages 

 seem to have been acquired in 1561 ; 

 Mancb. Ct. Lett Rec. i, 63, 149. 



George Chadderton died in 1606 hold- 

 ing lands in Staffordshire as well as in 

 Crompton, Oldham, and Manchester. He 

 had in 1576 espoused Mary daughter of 

 John Kuerden, who survived him ; they 

 had several children, the heir being the 

 son Thomas, fourteen years of age on 25 

 Sept. 1606 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 62-4. 



Thomas Chadderton contributed to the 

 subsidy in 1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 157. Two of his leases, 

 dated 1621 and 1662, are given in Shaw, 

 Oldham, 75, 76 ; a day's 'shearing' was 

 required of the tenants. 



A pedigree of three generations 

 Thomas, George, Thomas was recorded 

 in 1613 ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 5. Alice, 

 co-heiress of George Chadderton, married 

 John Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme, but 

 died without issue. 



54 The northerly portion of the estate 

 passed to the family of Lingard ; a large 

 part of it is said to have been sold to the 

 ancestors of the Cleggs of Bent. In 1 747 

 a third of the estate was held by Thomas 

 Percival of Royton. The hall and land 

 around it became vested in the family of 

 Lyon, of whom were Henry Lyon (living 

 1681), John Lyon (1702), and Nicholas 

 John Lyon (1747). Thehall was in 1752 

 owned by James Bowden ; in 1765 by 

 John Winterbottom, who died in 1794 ; it 

 was then sold to John Lees of Werneth, 

 and in 1856 was held by the executors of 

 James Whitehead ; from E. Butterworth's 

 OIdAam(ed. 1856), 30. Canon Raines in 

 Notitia Cestr. ii, 116, gives a somewhat 

 different account of the descent. It appears, 

 however, that Thomas Chadderton sold 

 Lees Hall and his whole estate to John 

 Plumpton of Warrington. In 1681 there 

 was a suit respecting it, under the pur- 

 chaser's will, between Henry Lyon and 

 Sarah his wife (widow of John Plumpton), 

 William Denton and Mary his wife, and 

 William King v. John Davy, clerk, and 

 Susan his wife ; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 59. 



William Denton resided at Lees Hall 

 in 1684; Shaw, op. cit. 193. In 1696 

 Henry Lyon of Lees Hall was an overseer, 

 and in that year ' old Mrs. Lyon of Lees ' 

 was buried ; ibid. 217,218. 



55 Lawrence Chadderton was the 

 younger son of Thomas Chadderton, who 

 died in 1572, and is mentioned in his 

 father's will, as already stated. He is 

 usually said to have been born in 1536, 

 but did not enter Christ's College, Cam- 

 bridge, until 1562. He would probably 

 be about fourteen at that time. He em- 

 braced Protestantism, to the great scandal 

 of his father, who is said to have sent 



