A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



There were thirty-eight hearths liable to the hearth 

 tax in 1 666 ; the largest dwelling was that of Dorothy 

 Lomax with five. 98 



By a re-arrangement of boundaries made in 1894, 

 Pilsworth has ceased to exist as a separate township, 

 being divided among Heywood, Bury, and Unsworth. 69 



In 1770 a festival called a 'guild' was held at 

 Pilsworth ; a procession and a musical performance 

 were the chief features of the programme. 100 



There does not appear ever to have 

 M4NOR been a manor of Pilsworth. 101 The chief 

 residences were those called Meadowcroft 

 Fold, 101 long the habitation of a Wolstenholme family, 

 and Lomax's, so-called from the family dwelling 

 there, 103 ancestors of the Grimshaw Lomaxes of Great 

 Harwood. There are but few references to it among 

 the ancient deeds available. 104 



The Commonwealth surveyors in 1650 recom- 

 mended that a church should be built at the End of 

 Streethough in Pilsworth, but nothing was done. 105 



HOPWOOD 



Hoppewode, 1292; Eppewode, Oppewode, 1302 ; 

 Hopwode, 1332. 



The township of Hopwood, about 2 miles square, 

 has an area of 2,126 acres. The surface is compara- 

 tively level ; the highest point, about 460 ft., is near 

 Siddal Moor, on the western border, from which the 

 ground falls away to the south. Near the eastern 

 border, a brook runs south to join the Irk at Middle- 

 ton, passing through a little wooded valley, in which 

 Hopwood Hall and its park are situated. Birch lies 



in the south-east corner. On the north the town of 

 Heywood has spread into Hopwood, a considerable 

 suburb having grown up. Gooden is situated here. 

 The population in 1901 was not given separately. 



The principal roads are those from Middleton and 

 from Rhodes through Birch to Heywood, meeting in 

 the suburb mentioned. The Middleton and Roch- 

 dale road passes near and along the eastern border, 

 and has a light railway. Close to it proceed the 

 canal from Manchester to Rochdale and the Lanca- 

 shire and Yorkshire Company's railway between the 

 same points. Both canal and railway have branches 

 to Heywood crossing the northern end of the town- 

 ship ; there is a station at Heywood. 



A stone axe-head was found here. 



The soil is sand, with subsoil of clay ; wheat, oats, 

 and potatoes are grown, and much land is in pasture. 

 There was formerly moss land. There are numerous 

 cotton-mills. A colliery was worked formerly. A 

 large railway-wagon works, an iron foundry, and a 

 brewery are carried on. 



There were seventy-three hearths liable to the tax in 

 1 666. The only large houses were those of the squire, 

 viz., the Hall, with fourteen hearths, and Stanicliffe, 

 with six. 1 



A local board was formed in 1863 ; 3 but part of 

 the township was included in Heywood four years 

 later.* The remainder was in 1894 divided between 

 Middleton and Rochdale, so that there is no longer a 

 township of Hopwood. 4 



As in the case of other hamlets in the 



M4NOR parish, HOPtfOOD was held of the lord 



of Middleton by a family adopting the local 



surname. Little is known of it, 4 though pedigrees 



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



99 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 31671. Uns- 

 worth has the greater part ; Broadfield has 

 been added to Heywood. 



100 E. Butterworth, Middleton, 52. 



101 It is usually named among the hamlets 

 or appurtenances of the manor of Middle- 

 ton in inquisitions and settlements of the 

 Assheton family ; e.g. Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 105. By 

 the partition of the Assheton estates it has 

 descended to the Earl of Wilton. The 

 land tax return of 1789 states that Lord 

 Grey de Wilton was the 'landlord of all 

 Pilsworth.' 



103 For some notice of the Meadowcroft 

 family see the account of Smethurst in 

 Birtle. 



108 One James Lomax, born about 1556 

 and educated at Cambridge, was reconciled 

 to the Roman Church and went over seas 

 to Douay. Returning as a missionary 

 priest in 1583 he was arrested on landing, 

 and died in prison a year later ; Gillow, 

 Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cat A. iv, 321. 



James Lomax in 1573 purchased land in 

 Middleton from Lawrence Bury, Agnes his 

 wife, Richard the son and heir, and Agnes 

 his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 35, 

 m. 115. A James Lomax of Pilsworth 

 died in 1623, leaving his son Richard as 

 -his heir ; but the lands named in the 

 inquisition were in Todmorden ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 

 441. Richard Lomax of Pilsworth (1759), 

 by his marriage with Rebecca, heiress of 

 John Heywood, acquired the Grimshaws* 

 estate of Clayton Hall in Whalley ; 

 Abram's Blackburn, 540. 



104 Robert de Hulton about 1260 gave 

 his land in Pilsworth to William de Rad- 



cliffe, son of Peter de Pilsworth, for a 

 yearly rent of two pairs of white gloves ; 

 and William granted the same to Ellis 

 Moscrop to hold by the same service, due 

 at St. Leonard's feast; Add. MS. 32106, 

 no. 1339, 1271. In the second deed 

 Pilsworth is called a vill, and its liberties, 

 easements, &c. are mentioned ; Dods MSS. 

 cxlii, fol. 74. 



Ellis Moscrop and Cecily his wife were, 

 in 1292, defendants in a Middleton case 

 respecting land, wood, and mill ; Assize R. 

 408, m. 21 d. 



105 Common-wealth Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 25. 



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



3 Land. Gam. 1 6 Oct. 1863. 

 8 30 & 31 Viet. cap. 64. 



4 Loc. Govt. Bd. Orders 31671, 31625, 

 32287. Stanicliffe, Hopwood Hall, and 

 Birch are now in Middleton ; Gooden and 

 Siddal in Heywood. 



5 The earliest known member of it is 

 William de Hopwood, who in 1277 

 attested a grant by Henry de Lacy, Earl 

 of Lincoln ; IVballey Coucher (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 595. He attested other local charters 

 of about the same time, e.g. Final Cone. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 218. 

 There was also a William son of William 

 de Hopwood (ibid, i, 171), who attested a 

 grant by Thomas de Hopwood in 1302 

 (Hopwood D.), and may be the William 

 de Hopwood, witness to a Byrom deed of 

 1305 ; Byron Chartul. no. 29/18. 



Thomas de Hopwood appears as witness 

 to charters and otherwise from about 1296 

 to 1330 ; e.g. Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 305 ; Mamecestre 

 (Chet. Soc.), ii, 279. In 1302 Thomas 

 son of William de Hopwood was defen- 



I 7 



dant in a Middleton suit; Assize R. 418, 

 m. 4. 



Adam the son and heir of Thomas de 

 Hopwood, by a charter of 1325, granted to 

 John son of Henry de Hulton, and Alice 

 his wife, a rent of 91. out of his manor of 

 Hopwood, and tenements in Thornton by 

 Chadderton, Clayden, and Manchester ; 

 John and Alice recovered the arrears in 

 1332 ; De Banco R. 290, m. 86. Adam 

 de Hopwood contributed to the subsidy in 

 1332, was a juror in 1341, and attested a 

 Byron deed in the following year ; Exch. 

 Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 36 ; Inq. Won. (Rec. Com.), 39 ; Byron 

 Chartul. no. 13/177. He seems also to 

 have been living in 1359 ; Mamecestre, iii, 

 454- 



Geoffrey son of Thomas de Hopwood 

 appears in 1347 and again in 1388 ; Hop- 

 wood D. Thomas seems to have granted 

 him certain lands in Middleton and 

 Gristlehurst ; but Geoffrey was outlawed 

 for felony in 1370 or earlier, and died 

 before 1397, when the executors of his 

 will were called to render account for the 

 lands forfeited ; L.T.R. Memo. R. 162, m. 

 14 d. Four years later another Geoffrey 

 de Hopwood claimed as heir, being son of 

 Thomas son of Adam son of Thomas the 

 grantor; ibid. R. 166, m. 118. A John 

 de Hopwood appears from 1374 to 1381 ; 

 De Banco R. 456, m. 10, &c. 



In 1433 an exchange was arranged 

 between Margaret widow of Thomas 

 Hopwood and John the son and heir of 

 Thomas, her dower in the demesnes of 

 Hopwood being replaced by other tene- 

 ments ; Booker, Prestivich Ch. 253. A 

 writ of Diem cl. extr. after the death of 

 Isabel, widow of John Hopwood, was 



