SALFORD HUNDRED 



MIDDLETON 



Thomas Ainsworth to Ralph Booth, 11 whose estate 

 descended to his nephew Geoffrey Lomax in 1622." 



Other resident families were named Aspinall, 13 

 Harper, 14 and Openshaw. 14 Robert Horrox of Ains- 

 worth having declined knighthood compounded in 

 1 63 1. 16 



About 1514 there was a dispute between the lords 

 of Middleton and Radcliffe as to the right of turbary 

 on Cockey Moor. 17 



The land tax returns show that Sir Thomas Eger- 

 ton owned most of the land in 1783. Mrs. Ann 

 Baron was the other owner. 18 



An inclosure award for Radcliffe and Ainsworth 

 was made in i8i2. 19 



A chapel existed at Cockey Moor in 

 CHURCH 1515,* and probably continued in use 

 after the Reformation. 81 In 1620 it had 

 a special curate or lecturer." Just before 1650 it was 

 endowed with a small piece of land improved from 

 the common, and had a regular minister, supported 



by the offerings of the people." Though the minister 

 is stated to have been 'turned out' in 1662," the 

 building appears to have remained in possession of 

 Nonconformists for nearly fifty years after this. 25 

 In 1718 Bishop Gastrell found that the rector of 

 Middleton preached there once a month ; other Sun- 

 days it was vacant.* 6 Some endowments were secured.* 7 

 The registers begin in 1727. The chapel, now 

 called Christ Church, was rebuilt in 1832, and had 

 a separate ecclesiastical parish assigned to it in 1867 ; 19 

 the rector of Middleton is patron. The following 

 have been curates and vicars : 



1725. James Wylde, B.A. (Magdalen Hall, 



Oxford) 



1759 ]ohn Barlow, B.A. 



1768 Robert Deane, B.A. 



1799 James Archer 30 



1828 John Haughton, B.A. 



1836 Richard Heslop 31 



11 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 50, 

 m. 29 ; the transaction included twenty- 

 seven messuages, a water-mill, 200 acres 

 of land, &c. Thomas Ainsworth died at 

 Ainsworth 26 May 1594, holding mes- 

 suages and land there of Richard Assheton 

 of Middleton in socage by a rent of \%d. 

 His heir was his nephew Robert son of 

 his brother Peter Ainsworth, aged twenty- 

 seven ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, 8. 

 The fine is recited in the inquisition. 



The purchaser or mortgagee was the 

 son of Ralph Booth, who died in 1567, 

 holding three messuages, &c., in Ains- 

 worth, partly of the queen by knight's 

 service, and partly of Richard Assheton by 

 a rent of 2s. yearly. Alice widow of 

 Ralph, father of Ralph Booth, died in 

 1580 ; while Anne widow of Ralph died 

 in 1574; Ralph, the son and heir, was 

 twenty-two years of age, probably in 

 1584, when the inquisition was taken; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 75. 



Thomas Ainsworth, vendor or mort- 

 gagor, died at Ainsworth on 26 May 1594, 

 holding seven messuages, &c., in Ains- 

 worth, anH fourteen messuages, water- 

 mill, &c., in Breightmet and Harwood ; 

 the former of Richard Assheton in socage, 

 by a rent of i8</. yearly, and the latter of 

 the queen. His heir was his nephew 

 Robert son of Peter Ainsworth ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, 8. See an 

 entry in Pat. 7 Jas. I, pt. 26, for lands in 

 Ainsworth, Breightmet, and Harwood. 



12 Roger Booth died at Ainsworth in 

 1622, holding three messuages, &c., of 

 Ralph Assheton of Middleton, by a rent of 

 zs. and a pair of gloves ; and 1 1 acres of 

 the king by the 3Ooth part of a knight's 

 fee. The heir was his nephew Geoffrey 

 Lomax, son and heir of Alice Holt, the 

 sister of Ralph, then aged thirty-six ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 306. 



18 John Aspinall of Ainsworth was a 

 freeholder in 1 600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 250. 



14 John Harper was a defendant in 

 1549 touching common of pasture on 

 Cockey Moor; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), 

 i, 232. A later John Harper died in 

 1638, holding a messuage, &c., in Ains- 

 worth of Ralph Assheton of Middleton in 

 socage ; John his son and heir was thirty 

 years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 xxx, 74. 



13 About 1480 Richard Openshaw, 'heir 



of the Shaw,' took an encroachment on 

 Cockey Moor, which twenty years later de- 

 scended to his son John. After John's death 

 his brother James occupied the same, for 

 John's son, another John, was ' out of the 

 country at the wars,' and did not for some 

 years appear to claim it ; Cockey Moor 

 Exam. 1 8. The house of John Open- 

 shaw in 1515 was beside the meeting of 

 the boundary of three parishes Middle- 

 ton, Bury, and Bolton ; ibid. 9. Lam- 

 well Openshaw of Ainsworth was a free- 

 holder in 1600 ; Miic. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 250. 

 18 Ibid, i, 215. 



17 The depositions are printed in full in 

 Raines' Examination! touching Cockey Moor 

 (Chet. Soc. Misc. ii). It was shown that 

 the people of Ainsworth were considered 

 to be parishioners of Middleton, and paid 

 tithes and other dues to it. John Has- 

 nall, seventy-five years of age, had often 

 been at ' the driving of the moor,' and the 

 Radcliffe men had never claimed any 

 right upon it. On the other hand it was 

 shown that there had been disputes in 

 former times between the lords of Radcliffe 

 and Middleton concerning the moor. 



18 Returns at Preston. 



19 In accordance with the Act 49 Geo. 

 Ill, cap. 8. 



20 Cockey Moor Exam. 1 2. The chapel 

 is mentioned in 1544; Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, 77, 82. 



91 It was but scantily furnished in 1552; 

 Ch. Gds. (Chet. Soc.), 12. In 1580 

 there was a dispute as to a water corn 

 mill, ' late of the chantry of Cockey chapel ' ; 

 Ducatus, iii, 63. Camden speaks of it as 

 ' a chapel built of timber, beset round 

 about with trees'; Britannia (ed. 1695), 

 745. It is named as 'a chapel of ease' 

 about 1610; Hist. MSS. Com, Rep. xiv, 

 App. iv, 12. 



22 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 54, 66 ; Mr. William Rathbone. He 

 was silenced by the Bishop of Chester for 

 nonconformity ; Oliver Heywood was one 

 of his pupils ; Heywood, Diaries, i, 29, 

 157. An earlier minister was a Mr. Hib- 

 bert ; ibid, i, 20. The chapel was ' vacated 

 by the ejection of an Episcopal clergyman 

 about the year 1640, on the ground of his 

 being "scandalous and ignorant," but really 

 on his refusal to take the Covenant ' ; 

 Raines in Gastrell's Notitia Cestr. (Chet. 

 Soc.), ii, 105. This seems to be an error 

 of Canon Raines. Richard Goodwin, 



181 



M.A., was minister, seemingly in succes- 

 sion to Rathbone, from 1641 to 1647 ; 

 Peter Bradshaw, ' an orthodox, able minis- 

 ter,' from 1647 to 1653 ; Nightingale, 

 Lanes. Nonconf. iii, 119; Commiv. Ch. Sur-v. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 27. 



28 Ibid. The commissioners recom- 

 mended that it should be made a parish 

 church ; but nothing seems to have been 

 done till 1659, when further inquiry was 

 recommended ; Plund. Mint. Acctt. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 305. The 

 ministers were Taylor, 1654-7 ; Peter 

 Bradshaw, 1657 to 1660; and John 

 Lever, 1660 (?) ; Nightingale, op. cit. 



24 See the extract from the Bishop of 

 Chester's Act book in Notitia Cestr. ii, 105. 



28 Various Nonconformist ministers 

 preached in it as opportunity offered e.g. 

 Oliver Heywood, Henry Newcome, and 

 others; O. Heywood, Diaries, ii, 51, 87, 

 103 ; H. Newcome, Autobiography (Chet. 

 Soc.), 160. The Prayer-book service was 

 ' occasionally performed on stated Sundays 

 in the afternoon, by the rector of Middle- 

 ton ' ; Notitia, ut sup. John Loxam was 

 the curate, 1677-86; Visit. Lists at 

 Chester. In 1683 Justice Greenhalgh 

 had 'grown unreasonable, fining people 

 for going to Cockey chapel, though bell 

 was rung, prayers read, &c. ' ; O. Hey- 

 wood, Diaries, ii, 223. John Compton 

 was the certified ' Presbyterian parson ' of 

 'Cockey chapel' in 1689 ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232. Warden Wroe 

 in 1706 reported to the bishop that 'the 

 chapel was in the hands of the Dissenters '; 

 Notitia, ut sup. There was, however, a 

 warden. 



26 Notitia, ut sup. 



2 7 Bishop Gastrell records 2 15*. aris- 

 ing from the 6 acres of inclosed land ; this 

 land was then and still is in possession of 

 the Nonconformists. Also the interest 

 of 20 for preaching two sermons ; in 

 1724 100 was given by the rector, and 

 100 by the Dean of St. Paul's ; Notitia. 



28 Land. Gaz. 21 May 1867. 



89 The Church P. at Ches. Dioc. Reg. 

 begin with this curate. 



80 Afterwards rector of Middleton. 



81 Perpetual curate of Slaley, Northum- 

 berland, 1831-48 ; of Otterford, Somer- 

 set, 1851-5 ; vicar of St. John's Park, 

 Sheffield, 1855 ; also simultaneous cura- 

 cies ; published sermons, &c. He was 

 suspended for drunkenness, &c., in 1842 ; 

 Church P. at Chester. 



