SALFORD HUNDRED 



BURY 



ship of Heap devoted to the Established religion. 

 The Bishop of Manchester is the patron. 78 It had a 

 mission church, St. George's, at Heap Bridge, which 

 in 1907 had a separate parish assigned to it ; the 

 rector of Bury is patron. St. Anne's mission church 

 was built in 1908. St. Michael's, Bamford, was 

 built in 1885 ; the Bishop of Manchester is the patron. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a church in Market 

 Street, built in 1805 and enlarged in 1828, and a 

 mission-room. The United Methodist Church have 

 two chapels, one of them built in 1836, and the 

 Primitive Methodists one, opened in 1835. T ne 

 New Connexion also had one in 1844. 



The Baptists have a chapel in Rochdale Road, 

 dating from 1831. 



The Congregationalists began to hold services in 

 Hey wood as early as 1821, but a chapel was not built 

 until 1836. The cause prospered, and the present 

 church was erected in i868-9. 79 The church at 

 Bamford originated earlier ; preaching began in 1800, 

 and a small chapel was opened in the following year. 80 



The Swedenborgians had established themselves 

 here early in the I9th century ; New Jerusalem, in 

 Church Street, was built in 1828, and enlarged ten 

 years later. 



The Unitarians have a chapel, built in 1860, and 

 there is a Spiritualists' temple. 



The Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph was 

 opened in 1856." 



A school at Heywood existed in 1696.** 



WALMERSLEY-WITH-SHUTTLE- 

 WORTH 



Walmersleye, 1289. The name was frequently 

 corrupted : Womersley and Wamessley (xvi cent.) ; 

 Walmsley (xix cent.). 



Suttelesworth, 1227 ; Shyotlesworth, 1241 ; Shy- 

 tlesworth, Shitleswurth, 1246 ; Schutelesworth, 1292. 



Of the component parts of this township Wal- 

 mersley lies to the south of Harden Brook, and 

 Shuttleworth to the north of it. Out of a total of 

 5,064^ acres, 1 the former has an area of 2,949^ 

 acres, the latter of 2,1 15. The surface is hilly, spurs 

 shooting out from the eastern side towards the valley 

 of the Irwell, which bounds the township, and is fed 

 by tributary streams running down the valleys between 

 the spurs. Deeply Vale is on the eastern border. 



The north-eastern part of Shuttleworth is occupied 

 by Scout Moor, which at one point rises to 1,5 34 ft. 

 The brook forming the northern boundary is called 

 Scout Moor Brook and Dearden Brook. The popu- 

 lation in 1901 was 711. 



The principal road is that running north from 

 Bury to Haslingden, about half a mile to the east of 

 the Irwell, crossing Pigslee Brook, the boundary, and 

 passing through Walmersley village, Bassfield, Gollin- 

 rod, Park, Shipperbottom, Bank Lane, and Shuttle- 

 worth. Roads branch off to the west to Summerseat 

 and Ramsbottom. Shuttleworth is also crossed by 

 the main road from Rochdale to Haslingden, which 

 passes the hamlet called Turn and joins the former road 

 at Eden field. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's 

 line from Bury to Accrington passes in part through 

 this township, and has a station called Summerseat. 



Shuttleworth was in 1829 described as 'a small 

 village on the border of the dreary waste called 

 Rooley Moor.' * 



The Grant Tower in Walmersley was built by that 

 family in 1829, and stands on the hill over against 

 Nuttall and Park. 



On Whittle Pike in Shuttleworth were formerly 

 the remains of a beacon. 3 



A pot containing Roman coins of the 3rd century 

 was discovered at Throstlehill, Walmersley, in 1864.* 

 ' Castlesteads ' is supposed to have been an entrench- 

 ment ; it is on a bluff overlooking the Irwell. 4 



The hearth-tax return of 1666 shows twenty 

 hearths liable in Shuttleworth, and sixty-seven in 

 Walmersley ; no house had more than four hearths. 6 



John Kay, the inventor of the fly-shuttle, was born 

 at Park in Walmersley 16 July 1704, and died in 

 France, as is supposed, after i j6o.** 



The cotton manufacture, with its mills and bleach 

 and dye works, is the chief industry along the Irwell ; 

 inland the chief product is grass ; the soil is heavy, 

 with subsoil of rock. 



The present township of Walmersley-with-Shuttle- 

 worth is much smaller than the former hamlet or 

 township, portions having been taken into Rams- 

 bottom and Bury, and some minor alterations effected. 7 

 It has a parish council. 



Under the lords of Bury WALMERS- 



MANQR LET seems for some time to have been 



held by a family assuming the local 



surname. 8 In later times, however, a number of 



78 For endowments see Land, Gate. 

 8 Aug. 1865, and 10 Sept. 1844. 



79 Full details, with names of the minis- 

 ters, are given in Nightingale, Lanes. Non- 

 conformity, iii, 263-8. Mrs. Fenton of 

 Bamford Hall guaranteed the expense of a 

 preaching-room in i8zi. 



80 Ibid, iii, 255-62 ; the Fentons of 

 Bamford Hall, whose mills at Hooley 

 Bridge brought a great increase of popula- 

 tion, were members of the congregation 

 and liberal benefactors. Sir James Kay- 

 Shuttleworth, bart., a native of Bamford, 

 was also connected with it. 



81 The mission was begun in 1854 ; 

 Kelly, Engl. Cat A. Missions, 213. 



82 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 35. 



1 The present township has only 3,139 

 acres, including 41 of inland water ; 

 Census Rep. 1901. 



2 J. Butterworth, Bury (ed. 1902), 22. 

 8 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), ii, 677. 



4 Barton, Bury, 46-8. 



5 Watkins, Rom. Lanes. 243 ; Taylor, 

 Lanes. Crosses, 467. 



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



63 He had much opposition, and was so 

 embarrassed by the lawsuits he had to 

 engage in against those who infringed his 

 patents, that at last he took refuge in 

 France. It is related that on one occa- 

 sion, when his house was gutted by the 

 mob, he escaped by being carried out of 

 Bury in a wool sheet. His son Robert 

 invented the drop-box in 1759. See a 

 statement of the case by Thomas Sutcliffe, 

 a descendant of John Kay, in his Expo- 

 sition of Facts, 1843, and Crusoniana , also 

 Diet. Nat. Blog. A monument to John 

 Kay was erected in Bury in 1908. 



7 Under the Divided Parishes Act, 

 1882, the detached part called Cobhouse 

 Farm was transferred from Walmersley to 

 Birtle, within which it lay. In 1894 the 

 township was extended to include part of 

 Birtle-with-Bamford, by Local Govt. Bd. 

 Order 31671. 



8 In 1289 Matthew de Walmersley 

 claimed against Roger son of Robert de 



141 



Walmersley the moiety of an oxgang in 

 Walmersley in Bury ; De Banco R. 80, 

 m. 201. 



Robert de Walmersley was a juror in 

 1300 ; Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 305. Roger de Walmersley 

 contributed to the subsidy of 1332, as an 

 inhabitant of Bury ; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 33. In 1365 

 there was a dispute as to the guardianship 

 of the heir of Henry de Walmersley be- 

 tween Sir Roger de Pilkington and John 

 de RadclifFe, lord and rector respectively 

 of Bury ; De Banco R. 419, m. 33 d. 



In 1587 Roger Walmersley unsuccess- 

 fully claimed four messuages, a fulling- 

 mill, 60 acres of land, &c., in Bury, as 

 descendant of Roger son of Roger de 

 Walmersley, who was seised, as he alleged, 

 in the time of Richard II. He proffered 

 the following pedigree : Roger s. Simon 

 s.p. bro. Henry s. Roger s. Roger s. 

 John s. Roger . Roger, the plaintiff; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 260, m. 6. 



