A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Within the last century a manufacturing town 

 has grown up at RAMSBOTTOM, 6 between the road 

 from Bury to Haslingden, there called Bolton Street, 

 and the River Irwell, with suburbs stretching south 

 to Hazelhurst and north to Stubbins. The principal 

 cross street is Bridge Street, leading from the bridge 

 across the Irwell past the railway station to Bolton 

 Street, and then to Carr and Tanners. The brothers 

 William and Daniel Grant, whose story is told by 

 Dr. Smiles in Self Help, were intimately associated 

 with the rise of the town. 9 They were the originals 

 of the Cheeryble Brothers. 93 There are here iron and 

 brass foundries, machine-making works, and great 

 cotton manufacturing and printing works. A local 

 board of twelve members was established in 1864 ; 10 

 the area was enlarged in 1883, and now includes 

 parts of Tottington Higher and Lower, Elton, 

 Shuttleworth, and Walmersley. 11 The old township 

 boundaries were finally obliterated in 1 894, when the 

 local board became an urban district council. The 

 area is divided into four wards Central, North, 

 East, and West each returning three members to 

 the council. Water is supplied from the Bury Water- 

 works, and gas by a company. The Aitken Cottage 

 Hospital, presented by Mrs. Aitken of Holcombe, 

 was opened in 1900. The cemetery at Hazelhurst 

 is under the management of a burial board. The 

 Ramsbottom Observer is published every Friday. The 

 population numbered 15,920 in 1901. 



Parts of Tottington Lower End having been taken 

 into Ramsbottom and Bury, the remainder has been 

 constituted a township or civil parish, called Totting- 

 ton simply." 



The fair at Tottington is held on the third Friday 

 in August ; those at Ramsbottom on 27 April and 

 the Monday after 27 August. The wakes at the 

 latter place begin on the second Saturday in August. 



TOTTINGTON HIGHER END 



The northern part of the old township stretches 

 along the border of the hundred for over 4 miles. It 

 is divided by the Irwell. On the west side of the 

 river the ground rises quickly to Bull Hill on the 

 west, 1,372 ft., from which fine views may be ob- 

 tained ; the valley on the northern slope of this hill 

 was called Alden. Alden Brook is the boundary of 

 the township and hundred. The hamlets of Stubbins 



and Lumb lie near the Irwell, with Red Lees and 

 Buckden to the west. On the east side the ground 

 also rises, though not so rapidly, the northern border 

 of the township and hundred being formed by the 

 crest of a hill, which on the boundary of Rochdale 

 attains a height of 1,550 ft., being there known as 

 Hailstorm Hill. The high lands are occupied by 

 Dearden and Tottington Moors. On the western 

 slope of this eminence is the village of Edenfield, with 

 Newhall to the east, Chatterton to the west, Hard- 

 sough and Crow Woods to the north-west, and 

 Balladen and HornclifFe to the north. The area of 

 this part of the township is 3,545 acres. 



The principal roads are those leading from Bury 

 to Haslingden, on the west of the Irwell, and to 

 Rawtenstall on the east side. The latter is joined at 

 Edenfield by roads from Ramsbottom and from Roch- 

 dale. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's 

 railway from Bury to Accrington runs north through 

 the township, and has a station at Stubbins ; here the 

 Bacup branch separates, and it has a station called 

 Ewood Bridge and Edenfield, at Ashen Bottom, on the 

 northern boundary. 



On Holcombe Moor, beside a footpath running 

 south along the hillside, stood the base of Whowell 

 Cross, or the Pilgrim's Cross, until 1901, when it was 

 wilfully destroyed. A memorial stone has been placed 

 on the spot. 1 * Robin Hood's Well ' is a mile to the 

 north. 1 On Bull Hill are remains of an early 

 neolithic floor.* 



The hearths liable to the tax in 1666 numbered 

 seventy-four ; the only large 

 house was Robert Holt's, New 

 Hall, with ten hearths. 4 



Tottington Higher End has 

 now ceased to exist as a town- 

 ship, having been divided be- 

 tween Ramsbottom, Rawten- 

 stall, and Haslingden. 6 



The manor or 



MANOR fee of TOT- 

 TINGTON was 

 held by the Montbegon and 

 Lacy families, and passed to 

 the Crown in the manner 

 described in the account of 

 the Clitheroe barony. 6 The 

 Duke of Buccleuch is the present lord of the manor. 

 The service due from the whole fee seems to have 



MONTAGU-DOUGLAS- 



SCOTT, Duke of Buc- 

 cleuch. Or on a bend 

 aaure a mullet of six 

 points bet-ween tviO cres- 

 cents of the field. 



8 Rommesbothum, 1292. The story of 

 the town is told in Barton, Bury, 208-21. 

 The writer states that the Radical and 

 Chartist movement took strong hold of 

 Ramsbottom. In 1826, a time of bad 

 trade, an attempt was made to destroy 

 the power looms at Chatterton ; and 

 ' plug drawing ' took place at a later 

 time. 



9 The Grants, father and mother, 

 with four sons and two daughters 

 William, John, Daniel, Charles, Eliza- 

 beth, and Isabella settled in Bury, where 

 they worked in the mills, travelled as 

 chapmen, opened a shop, &c. They pros- 

 pered, and according to the Dir. of 1825 

 William Grant & Brothers then had 

 factories at Nuttall and Ramsbottom, and 

 John Grant was living at Nuttall Hall. 

 William Grant, the chief partner, born in 

 1769, died at Springside, near Bury, in 

 1842. Daniel and John Grant died in 

 1855. William Grant, the last of the 



male line, nephew of the preceding 

 William, died 30 May 1873 at Grange. 

 The estates have come to Sir John 

 Grant Lawson, a grandson, by his mo- 

 ther Isabella, of John Grant of Nuttall ; 

 Burke, Landed Gentry, Lawson of Aid- 

 borough. 



93 See W. Hume Elliot, Country and 

 Church of the Cheeryble Brothers, and Story 

 of the Cheeryble Grants. 



10 Land. Gaz. 18 Mar. 1864. 



11 46 & 47 Viet. cap. 225. 



13 This change took place in 1 894, when 

 the township was also extended to include 

 a part of Elton ; Local Govt. Bd. Orders 

 31671 and 32291. 



1 For a full account, with illustration, 

 see Rev. H. Dowsett, Notes on Holcombe, 

 21-35,119-32, 139-42; and the same 

 writer's Holcombe Long Ago, 109, &c. See 

 ibid. 68, for an account of the pile of stones 

 known as ' Ellen Strange.' See also Lanes, 

 and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 151. 



144 



a Dowsett, op. cit. 75. 

 8 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iv, 304 ; 

 also Notes on Holcombe, 1 7. 



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



5 The final change took place in 1894 

 by Local Govt. Bd. Orders 31671 and 

 32291. 



6 V.CM. Lanes. \, 312, 319. Dower in 

 Tottington was claimed in 1233 by Olive, 

 widow of Roger de Montbegon ; Final 

 Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 145. 

 In 1235 the lordship was sold to John de 

 Lacy by Henry de Monewdon ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Great Coucher, i, 63. 



Tottington occurs in the extent of the 

 lands of John de Lacy in 12412 ; it was 

 worth 7 u. 5</. ; Inq. and Extents (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 157. The manor 

 had been granted to William de la Mare, 

 who in 1274 exchanged it with Henry de 

 Lacy for Longton in Leyland ; Final Cone. 

 i, 152. 



