A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



as silk plush and velvet. There are foundries and 

 machine works. This applies chiefly to the town of 

 Rochdale, and in a smaller degree to Littleborough 

 and Todmorden ; but cotton and woollen factories 

 are spread all over the parish, the numerous water- 

 courses having been utilized by manufacturers. Stone 

 is obtained at Blackstone Edge, and Spotland contains 

 extensive quarries of flags and freestone ; there are 

 collieries in Spotland, Butterworth, and near Little- 

 borough, and chemical works at Walsden. 



The following is the present apportionment of the 

 agricultural land : Arable land, 484 acres ; per- 

 manent grass, 14,896; woods and plantations, 135. 

 Details are as follows : 



Castleton 

 Milnrow 

 Littleborough 

 Wardle . . 

 Norden . 

 Whitworth . 

 Rochdale 



The Lower Coal Measures extend over the southern 

 and central portions of the parish, with some patches 

 of the Middle Coal Measures around the town of 

 Rochdale. In the eastern and western portions large 

 areas of the Millstone Grit Series protrude through the 

 Lower Coal Measures. 



Some of the Byrons, lords of the manor, attained 

 distinction, and among the later vicars there have 

 been noteworthy men, but the most conspicuous of 

 the natives of the parish is John Bright, the famous 

 Radical orator. He was born, in 1 8 1 1 , at Green- 

 bank near Rochdale, where his father had a mill ; 

 entered Parliament in 1843, was a leader of the Anti- 

 Corn Law League, became President of the Board of 

 Trade in 1868, and held other offices. He died at 

 his residence, One Ash, near Rochdale, on 27 March 

 iSSg. 24 His younger brother, Jacob Bright, also took 

 part in public affairs ; he died in 1899." 



Roger Brerely or Brierley, founder of the lyth- 

 century sect of Grindletonians, is believed to have 

 been a Rochdale man. He died at Burnley in I637. 26 

 The Lancashire poet, Edwin Waugh, who wrote poems 

 in the local dialect remarkable both for humour and 

 pathos, 1 8 1 7-90, is another celebrity. William Nuttall,. 

 d. 1840, wrote Rochdale, a Fragment? 1 



* Tim Bobbin ' lived at Milnrow, and the ' Whit- 

 worth doctors ' were famous a century ago. Canon 

 Raines of Milnrow was a distinguished antiquary. 



The date of the rush-bearing was the third Sunday 

 in August at Rochdale. 25 A custom of going to- 

 Knoll Hill or Blackstone Edge on the first Sunday in 

 May used to prevail. 29 



A club, supposed to have been Jacobite, met at 

 Rochdale from 1712 onwards, and called itself the 

 ' Honourable Corporation of Rochdale.' so 



Several tradesmen's tokens were issued at Rochdale 

 and Milnrow in the I7th century. 31 



The first printer known was Mark Nield, 1 796.** 

 The first theatre was a little earlier." 



Two newspapers are now printed at Rochdale : 

 Observer, 1856, and Times, appearing twice weekly. 3 * 

 A weekly paper, the News, is published at Little- 

 borough, and three appear at Todmorden Advertiser^ 

 News, and Herald. 



Knoll Hill, Brown Wardle, Blackstone Edge, and 

 other hill-tops formerly had beacons. 35 



The stocks at Rochdale used to be just outside the 

 churchyard ; on the post are cut the letters W. W. 

 and i666. 36 



In 1066 ROCHDALE was held by 

 MANOR Gamel, one of the twenty-one thegns of 

 Salford Hundred, who was free of all 

 customs except six ; his holding was assessed as z 

 hides or 1 2 plough-lands . s? A reduction was after- 

 wards made in this to 8 plough-lands. Before 1212 

 the whole manor had been given to the lord of 

 Clitheroe and was held by Roger de Lacy. 38 It de- 

 scended like Clitheroe, 39 and thus came to the Earls 

 and Dukes of Lancaster and finally to the Crown. 4 * 

 Charles I, in 1625, sold the manor to trustees for the 



24 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



25 Ibid. 



36 Fishwick, Rochdale, 535 ; Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. 



W Diet. Nat. Biog. 



28 A. Burton, Rushbearing, 71; Har- 

 land and Wilkinson, Legends and Traditions, 

 112-20 (where the date is given as 19 

 August). 



39 Fishwick, op. cit. 534. 



80 See J. P. Earwaker in Trans. Hist. 

 Soc. (new ser.), iv, 93-120 ; the record 

 roll is printed. 



81 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 90, 86. 



82 Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. i, 

 43, 50 ; ii, 85 ; Fishwick, op. cit. 530 ; 

 and in Pal. Note Bk. iv, 12. 



83 Fishwick, op. cit. 530. 



84 Earlier newspapers were the Recorder, 

 1827, and the Sentinel, 1853; they did 

 not continue very long ; Baines, Lanes. 



i> 503, 504- 



85 Fishwick, op. cit. 537. 



86 Ibid. For the crosses of Rochdale 

 tee Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 

 126-31. 



8 ' See V.C.H. Lanes, i, 287. The six ex- 

 cepted customs were theft, heinfare,forestel, 

 breach of the peace, not keeping the term 

 set by the reeve, and continuing a fight 

 after oath given ; the fine for such was 



40*. Gamel is supposed to be the same 

 man as the Gamel who in 1086 held 2 

 plough-lands in the hundred as one of the 

 knights of Roger of Poitou. 



88 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 38-40. Rochdale 

 does not seem to have been part of the 

 five knights' fees of Clitheroe, and no in- 

 dication is given as to the time or manner 

 of its acquisition by the Lacys. 



It may be noticed that in the early 

 1 3th century Rochdale is described as a 

 wapentake; Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc.), 

 iii, 684. See also Lanes, and Ches. Rec. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 12 ; ii, 

 240, 291. 



89 See the account of the honour of 

 Clitheroe. In 1241-2 the lands of John 

 de Lacy included Rochdale with the ap- 

 purtenances, held for 375. lod. ; Hugh de 

 Eland also paid ^8 ; Lanes. Inq. and Ex- 

 tents,!, 157. 



The accounts of the lands of Henry de 

 Lacy in 1296 and 1305 show that the 

 profits of the manor amounted to about 

 ,24 a year ; De Lacy Comfoti (Chet. Soc.), 

 7, 96, 1 01-2. Part was within the 

 forest; ibid. 16. In 1311 the receipts 

 from Castleton (Rochdale) were returned 

 as 9 51. 6d. ; De Lacy Inq. (Chet. Soc.), 

 20. 



IQO 



40 John, Duke of Lancaster, in 1383 

 leased to Robert de Needham his demesne 

 lands in Castleton and the mill there ;, 

 Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xiv, fol. io8<f. 



Henry de Lacy, in December 1281, 

 granted to Adam de Balshaw in fee the 

 serjeanty of his free court "of Rochdale in 

 exchange for land in Rossendale and 

 ' Holkenheved,' at a rent of 2 marks a 

 year ; Byron Chartul. (Towneley MS.), 

 1/248. In 1298, accordingly, the 'heir of 

 Adam de Balshaw' paid z6s. $d. for the 

 bedelry ; Comfotus, 7; and in 1311 the 

 holder was John de Balshaw ; De Lacy 

 Inq. 20. 



John de Balshaw, probably the same 

 man, in 1341 sold the bailiwick of the 

 serjeanty to John de Radcliffe ; Byron 

 Chartul. 9/249. It accordingly appears 

 in the Radcliffe of Ordsall inquisitions of 

 1380 and 1422, as held by knight's service 

 and a rent of 26.1. 8<f. ; at the latter date 

 it was stated that the outgoings exceeded 

 the profits ; Lanes, Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), 

 i, 9, 148. 



At Pentecost 1352 John de Radcliffe 

 the elder complained that the Abbot of 

 Whalley, one of his monks, and 'the 

 Parson's man ' had disseised him of the 

 putures pertaining to his bailiwick ; he 

 claimed suitable meat and drink at the 



