A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



1851 G. R. Carr 



1857 Robert Macdonnell Evanson, M. A. (T.C.D.) 



1888 John Alexander Lauria, M.A. (Emmanuel 



Coll., Camb.) 

 1905 Alfred Wood 



There is a chapel of the Methodist New Con- 

 nexion, built in 1 847. 



The people of the district in the 1 7th century 

 appear to have been resolute Puritans. As stated 

 above the chapel at Cockey was retained by the Non- 

 conformists until the beginning of the following cen- 

 tury ; in 1715 they built a meeting house so near 

 the old chapel ' that the congregations might hear 

 one another sing psalms.' The doctrine for nearly a 

 century has been Unitarian. 31 



GREAT LEVER 



Leoure, 1278 ; Leuir, 1282 ; Leuere, 1292 ; 

 Leuer, 1301 ; Leyver, 1560. 



The isolated township of Great Lever, some 

 9 miles west of Middleton Church, measures over 

 2 miles from east to west, and has an area of 866^ acres. 

 It lies chiefly between two small brooks running 

 eastward to the Tonge, which forms the eastern 

 boundary. Lever proper lies in the south-eastern 

 portion, with Burhden to the north, and Priestcroft 

 to the south-west, Lever Edge stretching away to the 

 west. The surface is generally level, falling a little 

 from Lever Edge towards the north, east, and south. 

 The population in 1901, including that of Darcy 

 Lever, was 10,701. 



The principal road is that from Manchester to 

 Bolton, passing north-west through the eastern side 

 of the township. Another road goes west along the 

 Edge. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's 

 railway from Manchester to Bolton runs on the west 

 side of the former road. The London and North- 

 Western Company's Worsley and Bolton branch 

 crosses the centre of the township, going north ; and 

 the same company's Bolton and Kenyon Junction 

 line touches the north-western boundary. 



Besides collieries the industries include cotton mills 



and chemical and bleach works. There are many 

 good residences. 



The township was included in Bolton by the 

 Extension Act of 1898. 



The hearth tax of 1666 found fifty-eight hearths 

 liable, of which twenty-one were in the house of ' my 

 lord Bridgeman ' ; no other dwelling had as many 

 as six. 1 



Though technically a hamlet of Mid- 

 M4NORS dleton, and held of its lord, GREAT 

 LEVER had always a certain indepen- 

 dence, and is not usually recited among the hamlets 

 or appurtenances of Middleton as are the rest.* Its 

 early history is obscure ; for a time it was held in 

 moieties, and a portion was granted to the priory of 

 Birkenhead. The tenure also is not quite clear. In 

 an early deed, as will be seen, a moiety of Great 

 Lever is said to be held of the lord of Middleton by 

 the fortieth part of a knight's fee, so that the whole 

 would be the twentieth part ; with this agrees the 

 rent of \\d. payable in the i6th century to the lord 

 of Middleton, that sum being a twentieth part of the 

 23*. 4< due from Middleton to the duchy for sake 

 fee and castle ward. Yet at the same time, in the 

 1 6th century, the tenure is stated as the eightieth 

 part of a fee. In a petition of the time of Edward IV 

 Great Lever was said to be held of the lord of Mid- 

 dleton by knight's service, rendering io/. to a scutage 

 of 4O/. i.e. it was considered to be the fourth part 

 of a knight's fee. 



Not far from the year 1200 Leising de Lever, 

 apparently the lord of Little Lever, granted to Leising 

 de Farnworth a moiety of the vill of Great Lever, 

 with common of pasture in Little Lever ; the moiety 

 to be held of Roger de Middleton by the service of 

 the fortieth part of a knight's fee. 3 Descendants of 

 the grantor Henry, William, and Henry who ap- 

 pear to be described sometimes as * of Little Lever,' 

 but usually as ' of Great Lever,' continued to claim 

 the lordship during the I3th century, 4 after which no 

 more is heard of them in this connexion. Leising 

 de Farnworth probably adopted the local surname, 

 and seems to have been the father of Emma de Lever, 5 

 with whose son John the more detailed history of the 

 manor begins in the third quarter of the century. 6 



82 There is a full account of it in Night- 

 ingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iii, 115-27, with 

 notices of the ministers, and a view of 

 the building. A 'new built house on 

 Cockey Moor* was licensed in 1672 ; 

 ibid. 121. The chapel has endowments 

 of over 250 a year ; details are given in 

 the Endowed Charities Report for Middle- 

 ton, 1901, pp. 32-6. 



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



2 See examples in the notes to the ac- 

 count of Middleton ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 60-1. 



8 Lever Chartul. (Add. MS. 32103, a 

 Towneley MS.), no. 10. Leising de Farn- 

 worth occurs in 1 1 84 ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe 

 fcff. 



4 An early 13th-century deed mentions 

 Alward, brother of Henry, son of Leising 

 de Lever ; Lever Chartul. no. 207. 

 William son of Henry, lord of Lever, 

 occurs later ; ibid. no. n, 13. Henry son 

 of William, once called 'of Little Lever,' 

 occurs as lord of Lever from about 1276 

 to 1292 ; De Banco R. 13, m. n in 

 which plea ' Little Lever ' may be an error 

 of the clerk's 5 Lever Chartul. no. 6. In 

 1276 Henry son of William de Lever 



complained of the prostrating of a ditch in 

 Lever by William and Adam sons of John 

 de Lever; Assize R. 1238, m. 34 d. A 

 William de Lever took part in an inquisi- 

 tion in 1288 ;Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 268. 

 It is possible that Leising de Lever was lord 

 of the whole of Great Lever, and that 

 after granting half to Leising de Farn- 

 worth he retained the other half, which 

 descended to Henry, William, and Henry, 

 and then came to the hands of Robert de 

 Middleton. A William de Lever occurs 

 in the I4th century, but his parentage is 

 not known. 



6 That Emma de Lever was the daugh- 

 ter of the Farnworth and not the Lever 

 Leising seems probable from the fact that 

 her descendants had lands in that town- 

 ship, as may be seen in the account of it. 



6 William the Tailor and Eve his wife 

 complained in 1246 that John son of 

 Emma and Thomas the Miller had, by 

 erecting a mill in Lever, ousted them from 

 a portion of their land. The jury agreed 

 that a fourth part of the mill should be 

 destroyed, allowing William and Eve to 

 regain their right ; Assize R. 404, m. I. 

 The same plaintiffs also called upon John 



182 



son of Emma to warrant to them an ox- 

 gang and a half of land in Lever ; ibid. 

 m. 2. 



About the same time an agreement was 

 made between Adam son of Matthew de 

 (Little) Lever on one side and William 

 son of Henry de (Great) Lever, John son 

 of Emma of the same, and William the 

 Tailor on the other side, respecting the 

 mill of Great Lever with the fishery 

 there ; Lever Chartul. no. 13, 14. Later, 

 John de Lever granted to his son Adam 

 the Clerk all his land and right in Great 

 Lever, with wards, reliefs, and all appur- 

 tenances ; ibid. no. 17. 



In 1256 the sheriff was ordered to 

 make a perambulation between the land 

 of Adam de (Little) Lever in Little Lever 

 and that of William son of Henry, John 

 son of Emma, and William son of Thomas 

 in Great Lever ; Close, 40 Hen. Ill, 

 m. 12 d. 



In Oct. 1278 John de Lever appeared 

 to answer a claim to 41. rent ' in Middle- 

 ton ' made by Henry de Lever ; De Banco 

 R. 27, m. 36 d. He must have died 

 shortly afterwards, for a year later Alice 

 widow of John de Lever claimed dower 



