SALFORD HUNDRED 



MIDDLETON 



A catastrophe known as Cowpe Flood occurred in 

 1838, due, it is said, to a 'cloudburst' on the hill 

 at the head of Cowpe Valley. 8 



The township has now ceased to exist, being part 

 of the borough of Rawtenstall, which was made a 

 civil parish in 1894.' 



There is practically nothing to record of this town- 

 ship. It may have become attached to the hundred 



of Blackburn through its proximity to the Forest of 

 Rossendale, in which it was long included. 10 



In connexion with the Established Church, 

 St. James's, Waterfoot, was opened by licence in 

 1863 and consecrated in 1865. 



A small building, said to have been a pre-Refor- 

 mation chapel, formerly stood at Rough Lee in 

 Lench. 11 



MIDDLETON 



MIDDLETON 



PILSWORTH 



HOPWOOD 



THORNHAM 



BIRTLE-WITH-BAMFORD 



ASHWORTH 



AINSWORTH 

 GREAT LEVER 



This parish, originally a single manor, comprises 

 1 2,1 o I acres, and in addition to the central portion 

 Middleton proper, with Pilsworth, Hopwood, and 

 Thornham has a number of outlying portions, some 

 distant several miles from the parish church. Great 

 Lever, one of these detached parts, though like the 

 others a ' hamlet ' of Middleton, appears to have had 

 an independent history, and was perhaps early added 

 to Middleton to compensate for the loss of RadclifFe. 

 The history of the parish is that of the lords of the 

 manor until recent times, when coal-mining and 

 manufactures have caused great changes. Formerly a 

 large part of the area was moorland, and considerable 

 portions are still used as pasture lands. 



The ' hamlets ' appear to have become ' townships' 

 in the i8th century. 1 



In 1624 the parish was assessed to the county lay 

 as a single township, paying 5 i6s. when Salford 

 Hundred contributed 100.* In consequence of 

 disputes, the proportions to be borne by the several 

 hamlets had been agreed upon in 1590.* To the 

 fifteenth Middleton contributed 2 out of 

 4.1 14;. \d. paid by the hundred. 4 



Several distinguished men have sprung from the 

 parish Cardinal Langley, William Holt the Jesuit, 

 Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin, Ralph Assheton 

 the Parliamentary leader in the county ; William 



Assheton and Charles Burton, 5 divines ; and Samuel 

 Bamford. Sir Ralph Assheton, who acquired the 

 manor with his wife, may also be mentioned, as 

 also his descendant, Sir Richard, who fought at 

 Flodden. In religious and political matters the 

 people seem to have gone with the times, embracing 

 Protestantism without reluctance and siding with the 

 Parliament in the Civil War, though the lord of Ash- 

 worth and one of his tenants suffered for taking the 

 other side. In more recent times the people became 

 strongly Radical, as in other places where there was a 

 large manufacturing population. Luddite riots 

 occurred in 1812. Middleton gives a name to one 

 of the parliamentary divisions of the county. 



The following is the apportionment of agricultural 

 land in the parish : Arable land, 1,394 acres ; per- 

 manent grass, 5,060 ; woods and plantations, 142. 

 The details are given thus : 



Middleton . 

 Middleton . . . 

 Middleton . . . 

 Birtle-with-Bamford 

 Ashworth 

 Great Lever. 

 Ainsworth , 



8 Newbigging, Forest of Rossendale, 317. 



9 Local Govt. Bd. Order 32291. 



10 The following are among the refer- 

 ences to the township in the inquests of 

 the Forest of Rossendale included in the 

 court rolls of the manor of Accrington, 

 preserved in the Public Record Office and 

 at Clitheroe Castle. 



John Nuttall of Newhall Hey in 1539 

 claimed 10*. damages against Nicholas 

 Ramsbottom for encroachment and wrong- 

 ful inclosure of a parcel of land at Newhall 

 Hey ; and the jury set out merestones 

 according to which the defendant was in 

 future to occupy. The parties made an 

 agreement jn the following year regarding 

 fences between Hall Carr and Newhall 

 Hey. 



The greave of Rossendale surrendered in 

 1539 a messuage and appurtenances in 

 Cowpe Close, given him by James Pecopp, 

 to the use of John and Peter Pecopp. 

 In 1564 Charles son of Richard Nuttall, 

 Richard son of Richard Rawstorne of 

 Lumb, John son of John Bridge, and 

 George Nuttall of Goliinrod, at the re- 



quest of Charles Nuttall of Aveley in 

 Essex, son and heir of Charles Nuttall, 

 late of Crow Lumb, deceased, surrendered 

 a messuage, &c., in Cowpe, rented at 

 zis. 3</., in the occupation of Robert 

 Nuttall and Ralph his son, to the use of 

 Christopher Nuttall of Newhall Hey and 

 other feoffees for the following purposes : 

 To the use of the above Robert Nuttall of 

 Cowpe for thirty-three years, paying 

 9*. id. to Elizabeth Rawstorne, and 

 after her death to Richard son of Giles 

 Nuttall and his heirs ; at the end of the 

 term a moiety or 'half dole' was to be 

 held for the above Ralph Nuttall and 

 the other moiety for Richard son of Giles, 

 but Ralph was to pay Richard ^21 in 

 three instalments in Edenfield Chapel. 

 The fine upon admittance was us. T,d. 

 the same as the rent. 



In 1532 the jury, in deciding on a com- 

 plaint as to the obstruction of a road 

 from the Lench to Deadwin Clough, 

 awarded the plaintiff a sufficient road from 

 ' Le Lenche Yait ' to his house, and also 

 ordered that a ' middyng sted ' upon the 



said king's highway should be removed. 

 John Nuttall in 1539 complained that 

 his brother Ralph had trespassed by 

 making a path on his land at the Lench 

 and Marled Earth, and defendant was 

 directed to use instead a road from the 

 Lench to the Carr meadow head. There 

 was another dispute between the brothers 

 in 1-541. A messuage in the Lench was 

 in 1545 surrendered to the use of Vane 

 or Evan son of John Schotield ; the fine, 

 211. 8i/., was the same as the rent of the 

 tenement, and this appears to have been 

 the rule. 



11 Newbigging, Rossendale, in. The 

 statement that 'a large stone pulpit was 

 demolished when the building was con- 

 verted to its present use ' two cottages 

 throws doubt upon the story. 



1 Bishop Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 99, has 

 ' hamlets ' in the text and ' towns ' in the 

 margin. 



2 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 22. 

 8 Hist. AfSS. Com. Rcf>. xiv, App. iv, 574. 

 4 Gregson, op. cit. 18. 



8 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



