A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Daniel Leach died in 1638 holding a messuage and 

 lands in Birtle of Ralph Assheton of Middleton. 1 * 



SMETHURST gave a surname to its owners ; 13 

 they were succeeded by the Meadowcrofts, who con- 

 tinued to hold it throughout the i6th and ijih 

 centuries. 14 



At Castle Hill resided for some time a family named 

 Lomax. 15 



The greater part of BAMFORD lies within the 

 township of Heap in Bury, but part lies in the detached 

 eastern part of Birtle-with- Bamford. 16 * Nacfield ' in 

 Middleton, perhaps near Nat Bank (now Gnat Bank) 

 in Bamford, with the rent and service of the Earl of 

 Derby, was included in the share of Ralph Standish 

 on a division of the Chaderton estates in I534. 16a 

 Francis Chadwick died in 1622 holding a messuage and 

 land in Bamford of Richard Assheton of Middleton ; 

 Edmund his son and heir was about fifteen years of age. 17 

 Edmund and several other Chadwicks were living in 

 this part of Bamford in i65o. 18 Kenyon Fold com- 

 memorates a branch of the Kenyon family which had 

 an estate in Bamford and Crimbles. 19 



The land tax return of 1788 shows that the land 

 was much subdivided. The most important contri- 

 butor was William Bamford, who paid about a tenth 

 part. 20 



For the worship of the Established Church, St. John 

 the Baptist's, Birtle, was built in 1845, and consecrated 

 the following year ; the rector of Middleton has the 

 patronage. 81 



There are Wesleyan and United Free Methodist 

 chapels in Birtle, also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at 

 Kenyon Fold in Bamford, opened in 1836. 



ASHWORTH 



Assewrthe, 1236 ; Hesseworthe, c. 1260 ; Assche- 

 wrth, c. 1270. 



Ashworth is a narrow stretch of land lying between 

 Cheesden Brook on the south, Naden Brook on 

 the east, and its tributary, the Oldhouse Brook, 

 on the north. The area is i,ozij acres. The 

 surface is hilly, rising to 1,000 ft. at one point 



12 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 90, 

 His heirs were his daughters, Elizabeth, 

 wife of Peter Lomax, and Jane, wife of 

 James Carr. 



18 Henry son of Robert, son of Alice 

 de Smethurst, in 1357 and later made a 

 claim against Roger son of Roger de Pil- 

 kington concerning two messuages, 20 

 acres of land, &c., in Middleton and Bury; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 6, m. 3, I d. 

 The defence was that the tenement was 

 entirely in Bury, and that Alice had a son 

 Gilbert, elder brother of Robert, who had 

 granted to Henry de Bury, his lord, all his 

 right in Smethurst, * Falsedchirist," and 

 Coppedhurst. It was replied that Gilbert 

 had been imprisoned at Smethurst by 

 Henry de Bury, and had only made the 

 grant adduced under that duress ; further, 

 that the lands claimed by Henry were in 

 Middleton. Henry de Smethurst gained 

 his case ; Assize R. 438, m. 5. Arthur 

 Smethurst the elder made a settlement of 

 an estate in Middleton, Bury, and Man- 

 chester in 1568 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 30, m. 117. 



14 The Meadowcroft family early appear 

 in Middleton. Thomas de Meadowcroft 

 in 1347 complained that various persons 

 had been digging in his quarry at Middle- 

 ton and otherwise trespassing ; De Banco 

 R. 351, m. 27 ; 352, m. 368. Adam del 

 Meadowcroft was a defendant in 1351; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. v. Geof- 

 frey son of Nicholas de Meadowcroft was 

 charged with waste in Middleton in 1368 ; 

 De Banco R. 431, m. 168. Robert son 

 of Roger de Meadowcroft was in 1387 

 found to have enjoyed for a time the pro- 

 fits of lands belonging to John son of Roger 

 de Meadowcroft in Kearsley,jnd to John 

 son of John de Ainsworth in Middleton ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 27. Roger 

 de Meadowcroft of Middleton, gentleman, 

 was defendant in a plea of trespass by 

 Rose widow of Richard de Bamford in 

 1441 and 1442 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 

 3, m. 16 ; 4, m. 6b. Ralph Meadow- 

 croft in 1559 made a settlement of his 

 estate of five messuages, &c., in Bury and 

 Middleton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 21, m. 71. Richard Meadowcroft was 

 plaintiff in 1574 in a plea concerning 

 Birtle and other lands ; Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), iii, 23. 



Francis Meadowcroft of Smethurst was 



a freeholder in 1600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 247. In 1622 he 

 contributed in Bury to the subsidy for his 

 'goods,' while Richard Meadowcroft con- 

 tributed for ' lands ' in Middleton ; ibid. 

 161, 158. On a summons of the heralds 

 a pedigree was recorded in 1664, showing 

 three generations : Richard Meadowcroft 

 of Smethurst, d. 1 660 ; 8. Richard, 

 aged 62 ; s. Richard, aged 30 5 Dug- 

 dale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 196. 'Francis 

 Meadowcroft, gent., was living in the year 

 1 702, and having married Alice daughter 

 and co-heiress of James Lomax of Booth 

 Hall, gent., had issue Richard and James, 

 and two daughters. Pleadings in the 

 Rolls Court, 1 702 ' ; Raines in Notitia 

 Cestr. ii, too. It appears that in 1677 

 Francis Meadowcroft sold or mortgaged 

 to Adam Gaskell 'a demesne called 

 Smethurst, with all the housing and all 

 the conveniences belonging, and the three 

 tenements at Roughhill Street, which in 

 all contains about 55 acres more or less,' 

 situate in Middleton ; a place called Brats- 

 hey Hill, containing about 12 acres, also 

 in Middleton ; and a tenement called 

 Elbutt, under the Earl of Derby, contain- 

 ing about 60 acres ; Exch. of Pleas, 29 

 Chas. II, Mich. m. 5, v, m. 17. 



15 The will of Peter Lomax of Castle 

 Hill, proved in 1712, shows that he had a 

 daughter Jane, wife of Thomas Tipping. 



16 Henry de Bamford in 1292 claimed 

 land and wood and the eighth part of a 

 mill in Middleton against Ellis Moscrop 

 and Cecily his wife ; Assize R. 408, m. 

 21 d. Roger de Bamford in 1363 claimed 

 a messuage in Middleton against John 

 son of John de Ainsworth ; De Banco R. 

 413, m. 100. 



Thomas Langley of Agecroft, who died 

 in 1472, had rents of 6d. each from Roger 

 Bamford and Robert de Heywood for lands 

 in Middleton ; the latter had the Crim- 

 bles ; Agecroft D. 80- 1. 



A number of the deeds of this Bamford 

 family are given briefly among the Birch 

 charters in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 178^, &c.; 

 some will be found printed in full in Booker, 

 Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 115, &c. Among 

 these are : A release of actions from 

 Nicholas de Bamford to William de Birches 

 in 13823 ; power of attorney from John 

 Bamford to Richard son of Thomas Bam- 

 ford to receive lands in Middleton and 



176- 



Spotland in 1450-1 ; Bartin Bamford 

 in 1478 agreed that his son John should 

 marry Margery sister of Sir Richard 

 Longford (and for Bartin see also Mame- 

 cestre, iii, 482) ; George Bamford of Holt 

 (in Rusholme) agreed in 1518 that his 

 son John should marry Margaret daughter 

 of Richard Scholefield ; John son and heir 

 of George Bamford is named in 1532. 



John Bamford of Rusholme, grandson 

 of George, held in 1558 among other 

 properties a messuage, &c., in Middleton 

 called Bamford, of Richard Ashton in 

 socage ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 

 no. 6 1, 38. His infant daughter and heir, 

 Anne, married (i) George Birch of Birch 

 and (2) Francis Duckinfield of Stockport j 

 Earwaker, East Ches. ii, 19. 



There were claims to the estate made 

 in 1562 and 1565 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Soc.), ii, 207, 302. In 1580 Thomas 

 Bamford of Leicester claimed as the heir 

 male of Adam Bamford, seised in 1413. 

 The pedigree he adduced stated that Adam 

 had a son Thomas, and he a son John, 

 who was succeeded in turn by his sons 

 Bartholomew, Nicholas, and George ; the 

 last-named had a son John, whose son 

 John was the father of Anne, in posses- 

 sion ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Ixii, B 7. 



Settlements of the lands were made by 

 George Birch and Anne his wife in 1574 

 and 1575 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 36, m. 54 ; 37, m. 90. For disputes as 

 to the inheritance in Bamford, see Ducatus 

 Lane, iii, 3 ; and Lanes, and Ches. Rec. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 257. 



Anne Duckinfield died in 1619 holding 

 ' 20 acres of pasture in Middleton called 

 Bamfold ' ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 178. 



16a Raines D. (Chet. Lib.). In 1522 

 the collector for the Earl of Derby ac- 

 counted for 1 6*. 8</. rent from 'Nakfeld' 

 in the parish of Middleton, which had 

 been purchased from John Bamford ; Roll 

 in possession of the Earl of Lathom. 



V Towneley MS. C. 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 

 242. 



18 Commoniv. Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 43. 



19 An abstract of the title will be found 

 in Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxi, 49, &c. 



20 Returns at Preston. 



21 A district was assigned in 1848 ; 

 Land. Gay,. 28 April. 



