SALFORD HUNDRED 



MIDDLETON 



His descendants, however, made little use of it, 21 and 

 about 1760 a large part of the hall was demolished 

 to save the expense of repairs. 22 Sir Henry Bridge- 

 man in 1793 obtained an Act of Parliament to enable 

 him to let lands in Great Lever and elsewhere in 

 Lancashire on building leases for 999 years. 23 



Great Lever Hall stands in a high situation on the 

 north side of the road from Bolton to Manchester, 

 close to the former town. The River Croal flows 

 on its north side along the bottom of the brow on 

 which the house stands, and the site is naturally a de- 

 fensive one, being directly accessible only from the 

 west. 



Of the first house of the Levers and Asshetons prob- 

 ably little or nothing remains, the oldest part of the 

 present building being the work of Bishop Bridgeman, 

 who rebuilt the house about 1630. The building 

 has suffered very much from neglect and alterations. 

 The plan is now one of great irregularity, and the 

 greater part of the building is of modern construction, 

 with elevations of brick or stucco. The house is 

 divided into three portions, the oldest of which is 

 used as the rectory for the parish of Great Lever. 

 The eastern wing is entirely modernized and used 

 as a Conservative Club, while a north-west wing, at 

 right angles to the older part of the house, has been 

 converted into cottages. There is nothing of interest 

 in the east and north-west wings, but the centre 

 (south-west) portion of the house, or rectory, retains 

 a portion of the 17th-century timber front as built by 

 Bishop Bridgeman, bearing his initials I.B with the 

 date 1631 in two ornamental panels. The rest of 

 the rectory portion of the house has been a good deal 

 altered, and is faced with brick or stucco. Opposite 

 the principal front across the courtyard is a detached 

 building containing the domestic chapel built by 

 Bishop Bridgeman in 1634 and consecrated two years 

 later with a house attached. The position of the 

 chapel would almost suggest its having been originally 

 situated at the east end of a former south wing of a 

 house built on three sides of a courtyard, but there 

 seems to be no record of the original hall having been 

 thus planned. The chapel is now entirely detached 

 and the court open at both ends. There has been 

 so much destruction and rebuilding, however, that it 



is difficult to say what the plan of the house was in 

 Bishop Bridgeman's day. The timber front of the 

 rectory facing the court is about 28 ft. wide and stands 

 on a stone base 4 ft. high. The wall is coved at the 

 first floor, and there is also a cove under the gable. 

 There are no barge-boards to the gable, and the black 

 and white filling is only paint on plaster. All the 

 timber below, however, is genuine, including the tie- 

 beams of the gable. The composition escapes the 

 uniformity and monotony of a good deal of half- 

 timber work by the use of straight uprights on the 

 ground floor and reversed curved braces above, but 

 more especially by the treatment of the long windows 

 of thirteen lights, the sills of the three outside lights 

 at each end of which are higher than the rest. The 

 lead of the diamond quarries is very broad and painted 

 white, with a white fillet painted on the glass on each 

 side. The roofs of the old portion of the house, as well 

 as of the chapel, are of grey stone slates, and the chim- 

 neys are of red brick, one of them, the principal stack 

 on the south front, being of some architectural merit. ' 

 The timber construction of the rectory house also 

 shows on the north side. Most of the windows have 

 been renewed and have moulded wood mullions, but 

 some, with plain chamfers, are old. The interior 

 arrangements are so much altered that the original 

 plan of the house has been quite lost. There are no 

 very remarkable features on the ground floor. The 

 rooms are low, with old oak beams running across the 

 ceilings, those in the kitchen being very massive and 

 of great length ; one of them is supported by a modern 

 post, presumably replacing an ancient one. The 

 floors both upstairs and down are very uneven owing 

 to sinkings occasioned by mining operations. The 

 dining-room has some oak panelling under the window, 

 and high up on the wall over the fireplace are two 

 small shields, one on each side, with the arms of 

 Bridgeman. The staircase is cramped, and is obviously 

 not the original one. Over the dining-room is the 

 library, a handsome room running across the house at 

 this point, and lit by a long window at each end. 

 This room, which is under the timber gable facing 

 the courtyard, is richly wainscoted on the west side 

 and at the two ends, the detail consisting of pilasters 

 and square and oblong panels, the latter along the 



the king respecting the administration ot 

 church affairs, the bishop resided partly at 

 Chester and partly at Lever ; Wigan Ch. 

 i, 33 2 334. 335- At p. 397isgiventhe 

 contract by which certain Wigan colliers 

 agreed to work the pits in the bishop's 

 estate at Farnworth ; he was to pay them 

 8</. for each quarter of coal or cannel 

 raised. 



During the Civil War the bishop suf- 

 fered much for his loyal adherence to the 

 king. He retired to Morton Hall, near 

 Oswestry, and died there in 1652 ; ibid. 

 439-40. 



21 Of Sir Orlando Bridgeman there is 

 an account in Wigan Ch. iii, 455-50 ; 

 also in Diet. Nat. Biog. He was born at 

 Exeter in 1608, educated at Cambridge, 

 called to the Bar in 1632, represented 

 Wigan in Parliament 1640, and adhered 

 firmly to the king's side in the Civil War ; 

 at the Restoration was created a baronet 

 and made Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 

 presided at the trial of the regicides, made 

 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and 

 became in 1667 Lord Chancellor. He 

 seems to have resided very little at Lever, 



his legal work requiring him to live in 

 London or near it. He resigned the Great 

 Seal in 1672, and died at Teddington in 

 1674. See also Pink and Beaven, Part. 

 Repre. of Lanet. 22$ ; and G.E.C. Complete 

 Baronetage, iii, 26. A settlement of the 

 manors of Great Lever, Farnworth, and 

 fourth part of Bolton was made in 1658 

 by Orlando Bridgeman and John his son 

 and heir apparent ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 163, m. 124. Sir Orlando was 

 summoned by the heralds in 1664, but no 

 pedigree is recorded in Lancashire ; Dug- 

 dale, Vitit. (Chet. Soc.), v. His son Or- 

 lando, the eldest by his second marriage, 

 was also created a baronet in 1673. 



The eldest son by the first marriage, 

 Sir John Bridgeman, was born at Great 

 Lever in 1631 ; Wigan Ch. iii, 337. He 

 and his descendants appear to have made 

 Castle Bromwich,or Weston-under-Lizard, 

 their chief residence ; he died in 1710. 

 The manor of Lever has descended as fol- 

 lows : s. Sir John Bridgeman, d. 1747 ; 

 s. Sir Orlando, d. 1764 ; s. Sir Henry, 

 created Baron Bradford of Bradford in 

 Shropshire in 1794, d. 1800; s. Sir 



I8 5 



Orlando, represented Wigan as a Tory 

 from 1780 to 1800, created Viscount 

 Newport and Earl of Bradford in 1815, 

 d. 1 844 ; s. Sir George Augustus Frede- 

 rick Henry, 2nd earl, d. 1865 ; s. Sir 

 Orlando George Charles, 3rd earl, d. 1898; 

 s. Sir George Cecil Orlando, b. 1845, 

 the present Earl of Bradford and lord of 

 Great Lever. This account is from G.E.C. 

 Complete Baronetage, iii, 26-8 ; and his 

 Complete Peerage, ii, 4-5. Orlando Bridge- 

 man, youngest son of Sir John Bridgeman, 

 represented Wigan as a Tory from 1698 

 to 1705 ; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 231, 

 232 ; see p. 237 ; also Kenyon MSS. in 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 425, 

 429, 442,453,455. 



There was a recovery of the manors of 

 Great Lever and Farnworth, &c., in 1755, 

 Sir Orlando Bridgeman and Henry Bridge- 

 man being vouchees ; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 583, m. 4. There was another re- 

 covery in 1780, Henry Simpson Bridge- 

 man being tenant ; ibid. R. 632, m. 7 d. 



22 Notitia Ces'r. ii, 99, quoting Doming? 

 Raebotham (1788). 



38 Ibid, note by Canon Raines. 



24 



