A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Crompton, 1 * 8 and Royton. 197 Chadderton had no 

 special fund. 



CROMPTON 



Cromton, 1278 ; Crompton, 1292.* 



The township of Crompton has an extreme length 

 of about 3 miles from east to west, with a breadth of 

 a mile and a half. The River Beal runs northward 

 through a central valley ; to the east the ground, 

 broken by one or two cloughs, rises continually till 

 1,300 ft. is attained on Crompton Moor on the border 

 of Yorkshire ; while on the west the highest points 

 near High Crompton and Whitfield, which are 

 separated by a valley, rise to 700 and 825 ft ; from 

 them the surface slopes away in all directions, but 

 most rapidly to the north. The Irk rises on the 

 boundary between Crompton and Royton. The 

 area is 2,864^ acres ;* the population in 1901 was 



Two roads from Oldham meet near the southern 

 boundary at Shaw Side and Cowlishaw, and go north 

 along the Beal Valley, passing through the small town 

 of Shaw and Woodend. From Shaw the road to 

 Rochdale goes west to High Crompton, thence de- 

 scending north-west by Burnedge to Rochdale ; to 

 the east a winding road goes through Clough into 

 Yorkshire. Crompton Fold lies above Woodend to 

 the east ; and Whitfield Hall above the same hamlet 

 to the north-west. The Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 Company's Oldham and Rochdale branch railway line 

 runs northward along the valley, crossing and re- 

 crossing the road, and has a station at Shaw, called 

 Shaw and Crompton. Electric tramways connect 

 the place with Oldham. To the south-east of Shaw 

 is Birshaw, anciently a separate manor. 



The soil is clay, with veins of sand ; the land is 

 mostly in pasture. There are numerous cotton mills, 

 and some collieries, 8 with quarries, and some minor 

 industries. 



A local board was formed in 1863,* and was in 

 1 894. replaced by an urban district council of twelve 

 members, chosen by four wards North, East, South 

 and West. The town hall, situated in Shaw High 

 Street, was built in 1894. There are public baths. 

 Gas and water are supplied to Shaw by the Corpora- 

 tion of Oldham. There is a cemetery between 

 Shaw and High Crompton, formed in 1891. 



Wakes at Shaw were held on the first Saturday 

 after Old Lammas Day. 



In 1666 no house had as many as six hearths liable 

 to the tax, the largest being James Buckley's, with five. 

 The total number of hearths was seventy-nine. 5 



Philip Gilbert Hamerton, painter, art critic, and 

 essayist, 6 was born at Shaw in 1834 ; he died at 

 Boulogne-sur-Seine in 1894. 



Like Oldham, from which probably it 

 MANORS was only gradually separated, CROMP- 

 TON formed part of the thegnage estate 

 of Kaskenmoor held of the king by Roger de Mont- 

 begon and William de Nevill in 1212, and under 

 them by a number of tenants. Gilbert de Notion, lord 

 of Barton, held 4 oxgangs of land of Roger and 4 of 

 William, the annual services being 3-f. and p. \d. re- 

 spectively ; while Henry de Scholefield held I ox- 

 gang by a rent of lad. 7 



No proper account can be given of the descent of 

 these manors or portions of manors. From the in- 

 quisitions of the 1 5th and 1 6th centuries it appears 

 that the Trafford family held WHITFIELD in Cromp- 

 ton of the king as Duke of Lancaster, as of his manor 

 of Salford, by fealty and the rent of 3/. 4</. 8 Whitfield 



196 James Wyld in 1672 left a rent- 

 charge of 5 on his house and land for 

 the poor of Crompton. In 1826 this was 

 distributed by the churchwarden and over- 

 seer in gifts of linen cloth. 



19 7 Royton in 1826 received 371. 3</. a 

 year from the rents of the Poor's field in 

 Oldham. It was distributed every two 

 years by the overseer ; linen cloth, blankets, 

 and flannel being given. 



1 On the place-names in Crompton see 

 Oldham Notes and Gleanings, i, 156. 



2 2,865, including 12 of inland water, 

 according to the census of 1901. 



8 In the Chetham rental of 1524 

 (Clowes D.) i6J. appears as paid by 

 Richard Wild ' for getting coals in Len- 

 nardine.' 



4 Land. Gax. 23 Oct. 1863. 



5 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9, Lanes. 



6 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



7 Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 63,64. It appears that Gilbert de 

 Notion's share descended to his son Roger, 

 and after the latter's death in 1241 to 

 Gilbert de Barton, son of William son of 

 the former Gilbert 5 ibid. 61. 



In 1246 Gilbert de Barton, Brun de 

 Crompton, and Jordan his brother, Simon 

 de Lee and Hugh his son, and Adam son 

 of Ellis complained that the Abbot of Roche 

 and others had disseised them of a certain 

 mine in Crompton. The jury found that 

 the defendants had dug in the mine and had 

 excluded the plaintiffs from their right to 

 enter it. It was probably a quarry on the 

 border of Yorkshire, to which county the 

 defendants belonged ; Assize R. 404, m. i. 



Gilbert de Barton probably sold the 



manor to Geoffrey de Chetham, which 

 would explain tke descent of one moiety 

 (Whitfield) in the Traffords of Stretford, 

 and of the other moiety in the Chadder- 

 tons. It is possible, however, that Whit- 

 field was a distinct grant to the Traffords, 

 made after 1212, and that the Chadderton 

 and Chetham moieties of High Crompton 

 and Beal Moor represent Gilbert de Net- 

 ton's estate. Geoffrey de Chadderton of 

 Chadderton in 1278 laid claim to a moiety 

 of the manor of Crompton, and had it 

 settled on him ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 154. This moiety 

 again was alienated, and the inheritance of 

 the Chaddertons of Lees and the Chethams 

 appears to represent it. 



At one time the Pilkingtons, also heirs 

 of Geoffrey de Chetham, had a share in 

 the manor called one-seventh in 1319 

 (Final Cone, ii, 35) and the grant of free 

 warren made to Roger de Pilkington in 

 1291, included his estate in Crompton ; 

 Chart. R. 19 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 41. The 

 later Pilkington inquisitions do not men- 

 tion Crompton ; the estate was, in part at 

 least, alienated to the Chaddertons. 



This descent is put forward only as a 

 conjecture. The rents subsequently paid 

 by the tenants of Crompton show an 

 increase on that paid by Gilbert de Notion, 

 unless Whitfield was an independent estate. 



The renls payable to the Crown in 

 1324 in righl of ihe Earl of Lancas- 

 ler were thus staled : Henry de Traf- 

 ford for 2 oxgangs in Whitfield, 3$. $.d. ; 

 John de Chetham, i oxgang in Cromplon, 

 3*. id. ; Roger de Chadderton, the moiety 

 of Beal Moor, 3*. id. ; William son of 



108 



Peter, a certain assarl in Crompton, zs. (?) ; 

 Adam de Tetlow, i oxgang in Birshaw, 

 lod. ; Duchy of Lane. Rentals and Surv. 

 379, m. 13. Aboul 1565 ihey were For 

 Whilfield farm, 3*. 4</. ; Low Crompton 

 farm, zs. id. ; Edmund Chadderton for 

 High Crompton, 3*. 4^. ; James Ashton 

 for Birshaw, \\d. ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 

 1868), i, 447. The renl of 31. payable 

 by Chetham of Nuthurst is omitled. 



8 From a suil in 1292 it appears that 

 Henry son of Henry de Trafford demised 

 to John de Halliwell a moiety of all his 

 tenements in Whitfield for sixteen years al 

 141. 6d. renl ; and ihe olher moiety to 

 Robert de Halliwell for ten years at the 

 same rent. Afterwards Henry granted the 

 whole to Richard his brother for life, which 

 led to the ejeclion of John and Robert. 

 It was ordered thai ihe granl lo Richard 

 should stand good, and lhal ihe plainliffs 

 should do feally to him ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 39, 93. 



In 1324 Henry de Trafford held 2 

 oxgangs in Whitfield by a service of 31. ^d. 

 for all ; see last nole. This slatement is 

 varied in 1346 by ihe subslitulion of 'four 

 plough-lands ' for ' Iwo oxgangs ' ; a 

 double renl was payable as relief; Add. 

 MS. 32103, fol. 146. 



Margery, ihe widow of Sir Ralph Rad- 

 cliffe, died in 1417 holding four plough- 

 lands in Whitfield as her dower, by assign- 

 ment of Henry son of Henry Trafford, 

 who held of ihe king as Duke of Lan- 

 casler in socage by a service of 31. $.d. ; 

 ihe clear value was zos. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Chet. Soc.), i, 127. 



In 1556-7 Sir Edmund Trafford granted 



