SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



once held a share of the inferior manor, and were the 

 principal resident family. A considerable part of the 

 land was held by the abbey of Whalley and other 

 ecclesiastical bodies. Thus numerous minor families 

 sprang up, generally ranking as yeomen, each hamlet 

 or farm almost affording a surname, 7 and the history 

 of the district during the mediaeval period was com- 

 paratively uneventful. 



The 1 6th century introduced a great change. 

 Rochdale was one of the towns in which the aulnager 

 was to have a resident deputy, according to the Act 

 of 1565. Camden in 1582 described it as * a market 

 town well frequented.' 7a Manufacturing and min- 

 ing industries became important ; 8 the confiscation 

 of the Whalley lands and the general suppression of 

 religious houses produced a new race of landlords, 

 whose number was increased by the sale of Byron 

 estates in the early part of the 1 7th century. 9 

 About that time also many wastes appear to have 

 been inclosed. For the old tax called the fifteenth, 

 the townships paid thus : Castleton, 15*. 8</. ; 

 Spotland, l IJs. ; Butterworth, i is. ; and Hun- 

 dersfield i \^s. \d. t or $ 6s. for the parish 

 when the hundred of Salford had to contribute 

 j4i 14*. 4^. in all. 10 The county lay, fixed in 

 1624, provided that Castleton should pay i ys., 

 Spotland and Butterworth each 2 i8/., and 

 Hundersfield 4. js. 11 izs. in all when the 

 hundred paid jioo. u 



The Protestation of 16412 was signed by nearly 

 2,100 inhabitants, ' none refusing.' lf 



In addition to those who recorded pedigrees in 

 16645 it appears that Joshua and Thomas Buckley 

 and Edward Leigh were summoned. 18 



During the Civil War the people of Rochdale were 

 generally on the side of the Parliament, 14 as might be 

 expected in a Puritan district. A number of the 

 gentry and others joined the king, but they seem to 

 have made peace with the Parliament early. 14 The 

 passage from Yorkshire was guarded, by the care of 

 Colonel Rosworm, by a small force which could call 

 upon a garrison at Rochdale ; 16 but there was no 

 fighting within the parish. Since that time its 

 history is a history of the growth of its trade ; 17 the in- 

 vasion of 1 745 did not touch it. A volunteer force was 

 raised in 1 794 on account of the war with France. 18 



Some notion of the importance of the parish may 

 be gleaned from the hearth-tax returns of 1666. In 

 Rochdale and Wardleworth there were 228 hearths 



liable ; the largest houses were those of James 

 Brearley (perhaps an inn), with ten hearths ; James 

 Scofield, nine ; Gabriel Gartside and Sarah Leach, 

 seven each ; Edward Lee, Robert Stringer, John 

 Hamer, Joshua Stansfeld, Judy Roades, Edmund 

 Holme, and Joseph Dearden, six each. In Spotland, 

 nearer side, were 156 hearths ; James Chadwick with 

 seven, Ellis Haslam and Thomas Baskerville with six 

 each, had the largest houses. In Spotland, further side, 

 were 150 hearths taxable, but no house had as many 

 as six. In Wuerdle, Wardle, and Blatchinworth were 

 1 99 hearths ; the largest houses being those of Robert 

 Holt, with eleven hearths ; Alexander Kershaw, Mary 

 Scholfield, and Samuel Hamer, eight each ; and 

 James Halliwell, six. In Todmorden and Walsden 

 were 94 hearths in houses with less than six hearths. 

 In Butterworth freehold side, 120 hearths were taxed ; 

 Alexander Butterworth's house had fourteen and 

 Samuel Newbold's nine, but no other had more than 

 five ; in the lordship side were 101 hearths, no house 

 having as many as six. In Castleton were 219 hearths ; 

 Robert Holt had fifteen, Henry Pigot (the vicar), and 

 Grace Harper seven each, and Matthew Hollas six. 19 

 The total for the parish was 1,267 hearths. 



Celia Fiennes, writing about 1 700, after describing 

 the crossing of Blackstone Edge, from which she sur- 

 veyed the country below, * as a fruitful valley, full of 

 enclosures and cut hedges and trees,' proceeds : ' From 

 the foot of this Blackstone I went to Rochdale, four 

 miles ; a pretty neat town, built all of stone. Here I 

 went to an acquaintance's house (Mr. Taylor) and 

 was civilly entertained. Here is a good large meeting- 

 place well filled ; these parts religion does better 

 flourish than in places where they have better advan- 

 tages.' * Defoe about 1724 described Rochdale as 'a 

 good market town, and of late much improved in the 

 woollen manufacture, as are also the villages in its 

 neighbourhood.' n 



The first stage coach to Manchester began to run 

 in 1790. The canal to Sowerby Bridge was opened 

 in 1788, and the continuation to Manchester in 

 1804." The Manchester and Leeds Railway was 

 opened in 1838. 



Rochdale led the way in co-operative trading, the 

 Equitable Pioneers' Society having been founded in 

 1844" 



The woollen trade has long been the staple in- 

 dustry ; coatings, baize, flannel, friezes, and carpets 

 being manufactured. Calicoes also are made, as well 



"i See for instance the names of donors 

 and witnesses in the numerous Rochdale 

 charters in the Whalley Coucher (Chet. 

 Soc.). The court rolls, which go back to 

 1 3 24,and the subsidy rolls also give evidence. 

 Two of the latter (1381 and 1523) are 

 printed in Fishwick, Rochdale, 34, 36. 



7 Brit. (ed. 1695), 745. Details of some 

 merchants' complaints of the time of Eliza- 

 beth are printed in Fishwick, op.cit. 40-4, 

 where it is shown that the hat trade was 

 probably established about that time. 



8 An iron mine in Whitworth was 

 worked as early as 1338 ; and coal 

 mines are rmntioned in 1576 and 1585 ; 

 Fishwick, Rochdale, 84, 43, 24. The sur- 

 vey of the manor made in 1610 says 

 that there was ne lead mine but one coal 

 mine; that of 1626 records two coal 

 mines in Butterworth, ' very beneficial to 

 the occupiers ' ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 i, 109 ; xxi, 58. 



' A long list of freeholders in 1600 is 

 printed in Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 246-51. About forty are in 

 Rochdale. 



10 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 1 8. 



11 Ibid. 22. At a somewhat later date 

 the divisions of Hundersfield were as 

 follows : (i) Wardleworth, (2) Middle 

 Hundersfield, (3) Walsden and Todmor- 

 den ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), i, 8. 



13 The lists are printed in full in Fish- 

 wick, Rochdale, 541-52. 



13 Dugdale, Vint. (Chet. Soc.), T. 



14 Thus Colonel Ralph Assheton of 

 Middleton had no difficulty in obtaining 

 supplies in 1643 from the Rochdale people ; 

 ' the country people furnished him with all 

 speed'; War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc.), 31. 



15 Richard Holt of Stubley and Castle- 

 ton, Alexander Butterworth of Belfield, and 

 Gabriel Gartside of Butterworth com- 

 pounded. 



ifio 



16 War in Lanes. 43 ; Civil War Tracts 

 (Chet. Soc.), 146. 



Col. Assheton wrote to Colonel Moore 

 on 1 8 March 1643-4 that 'about 5,000 

 Scots are come this night to Rochdale and 

 marching towards Sir William Brereton ' ; 

 Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. x, App. iv, 71. 



V A Rochdale man named Valentine 

 Holt is said to have joined the Young Pre- 

 tender at Manchester, and to have been 

 shot at Carlisle ; Fishwick, op, cit. 57. 



18 Ibid. 60. 



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



20 Through England on a Side-Saddle, 

 1 86, 187. 



21 Quoted in Fishwick, Rochdale, 57 ; 

 some later travellers' accounts are added. 

 See also Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. 

 ii, 17. 



22 Fishwick, op. cit. 59. 



28 See Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), [,498, 

 499- 



