SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



Earl of Holderness, 41 who immediately afterwards sold 

 it to Sir Robert Heath, Attorney-General ; 41 and Sir 

 Robert first mortgaged and 

 then sold it to Sir John Byron 

 in 1638." In this family it 

 remained 44 until in 1823 Lord 

 Byron the poet sold it to James 

 Dearden, 44 whose grandson, 

 Mr. James Griffith-Dearden, 

 is the present lord of the ma- 

 nor. 46 Manor courts are still 

 held at Whitsuntide. 47 



There appears to have been 

 no manor-house in Rochdale, 

 the house so called, a red-brick 

 building of no architectural distinction, on the north 

 side of the river opposite the town hall, being rightly 

 styled the Orchard. 48 This house was described as a 

 new building in 1702, and was the residence of the 

 Deardens before they purchased the manor. 



Of more interest was the structure known as the 

 Great House, or Amen Corner, 49 a stone building 50 



BYRON. Argent three 

 bendlett enhanced gulet. 



which stood a little to the east of the Orchard, but was 

 pulled down in 1 9 1 o for street improvements. At the 

 time of its demolition it was probably the oldest house 

 in Rochdale, though in a very dilapidated state, and 

 quite surrounded by modern buildings. It was of two 

 stories and had a frontage facing west of about 45 ft., 

 with a large projecting central bay window going up 

 both stories with six mullioned and transomed lights 

 in front and two lights on the returns on each floor. 

 In the I yth century the Great House stood in a large 

 garden which sloped down to the river. An account 

 of the house is extant as it stood in 1692, at which 

 time it was already let in several portions, one con- 

 sisting of 'the porch, the body of the house, the 

 kitchen, the brewhouse, the buttery, the little parlour, 

 the great parlour, the staircase, the great chamber 

 over the house, and the chamber over the little 

 parlour,' together with 'a place to lay coals in ' and 

 * a garden of eight falls.' A second portion contained 

 ' three chambers in the Great House ' ; two other 

 chambers formed a third, and the rest of the rooms 

 a fourth. 51 It is clear, therefore, that the house was 



abbot's table every Friday at noon and at 

 supper and at breakfast the following 

 (Saturday) morning for two of his under- 

 bailifts, and other putures on two other 

 days in the year ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 2, m. 4. In 1360 an agreement was 

 made ; John de Radcliffe renounced his 

 right to puture in Castleton and Whit- 

 worth, the abbot in return paying izi. a 

 year ; Byron Chartul. 44/259. 



John son of Sir John de Radcliffe of 

 Ordsall in 1427 granted the bailiwick to 

 Sir John de Byron for life, and in 1430 

 sold it outright; Byron Chartul. 4/253, 

 16/251. The Byrons had long held 

 considerable lands in the manor, as will 

 be seen from the township accounts ; 

 and from this time till the beginning of 

 the i /th century were usually lessees of 

 the manor from the Crown ; the heredi- 

 tary bailiwick was perhaps surrendered for 

 the lease. See Fishwick, Rochdale, 21-6, 

 where details are given of various dis- 

 putes with the tenant. The last lease 

 expired in 1619; Raines MSS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), ii, 68. 



In 1481 the king ordered Sir John 

 Byron to allow Sir John Savile the younger 

 to occupy the manor of Rochdale, assigned 

 to him for ten years ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Misc. Bks. xix, fol. 90. In 1499 a lease 

 for forty years*was granted to Nicholas 

 Byron ; ibid, xxi, fol. 3/56 d. 



41 Pat. I Chas. I, pt. 3 ; the grant in- 

 cluded various mines and lands in Roch- 

 dale, Hundcrsfield, Spotland, Castleton, 

 and Todmorden. The whole was to be 

 held in socage of the manors of Greenwich 

 and Enfield. See Raines MSS. ii, 68. 



The sale was made originally by James I 

 in August 1624, as appears by a grant of 

 arrears of fines for copyhold lands made in 

 1626 to Anne daughter of Sir Thomas 

 Lyon ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxv, 

 fol. 86. 



43 Fishwick, op. cit. 26. An inquisi- 

 tion on behalf of the Crown was made in 

 1610; the record was presented by Cap- 

 tain Clowes to the Rochdale Free Library, 

 and a brief summary by CoL H. Fishwick 

 appears in the Rochdale Literary and Scien- 

 tific Society's Transactions, 1903. Castle- 

 hill was held of the king by Gabriel 

 Taylor at a rent of 6s. 8</. Details of 

 the Hospitallers' rents are given. There 

 is an account of the common lands, and 



of the approvements recently made. The 

 market was held ' usually every Monday '; 

 the fairs on 3 May, Whit Tuesday, and 

 28 October. There was no lead mine, 

 but coal mines existed on Featherteam 

 Common near Crook, at Trough in Spot- 

 land, Brown Wardle, Butterworth Com- 

 mon, and Micherden Clough in Walsden ; 

 and stone quarries in Brown Wardle, 

 Middle Hill, and Farrett Moss. The 

 court leet was held twice a year, and 

 another court was held several times in 

 the year, but there was no manor-house ; 

 and the king had no mill. The account 

 of the copyhold lands is added. , 



A detailed survey of the manor was in 

 1626 made for Sir Robert Heath, a copy 

 of which may be seen in Raines MSS. xxi. 

 For a recovery of the manor in 1636 see 

 Com. Pleas Recov. R. East. 12 Chas. I, 

 m. 15. 



43 Fishwick, op. cit. 27. Inquiries as to 

 the boundaries made from 1637 to 1639 

 may be seen in Raines MSS. i, 145 ; 

 ii, 74; Duchy of Lane. Spec. Com. no. 1178. 



The earlier history of the Byron family 

 will be found in the account of Clayton in 

 Droylsden. After the sale of Clayton 

 they retained Royton for a time, but this 

 was sold about 1622 and afterwards the 

 family had no residence in Lancashire. 



Sir John Byron, the purchaser of Roch- 

 dale, was an active partisan of the king 

 in the Civil War, and in 1643 was created 

 Baron Byron of Rochdale. An account 

 of him will be found in Collins, Peerage 

 (ed. 1779), vii, 129-36. He died in 

 1652 in France, and was succeeded by his 

 brother Richard, in virtue of the limita- 

 tions in the patent. See also Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. 



The manor of Rochdale shared in the 

 sequestration of the Byron lands by the 

 Commonwealth authorities; Fishwick, op. 

 cit. 27. 



44 For the descent see Collins, loc. cit. ; 

 and G.E.C. Complete Peerage, ii, 98-100. 



The following fines and recoveries of 

 the manor may be given for reference : 

 In 1703 William (4th Lord Byron) Baron 

 of Rochdale, and Elizabeth dowager 

 baroness, were deforciants in a fine re- 

 specting the manor of Rochdale, with its 

 courts leet, courts baron, &c. ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 250, m. 120. In 

 1744, in a recovery of the manor, Wil- 



191 



liam (5th) Lord Byron was vouchee ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 561, m. 3. In a re- 

 covery in 1773 William Byron, esq., was 

 tenant; ibid. 6 1 8, m. 8 ; Com. Pleas, 

 Recov. R. Trin. 13 Geo. Ill, m. 136. 



45 The particulars are given in Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 29, 30. The sale was 

 hastened by a long suit between the Byrons 

 and Deardens as to the right of getting 

 coal. 



46 For pedigree see Raines MSS. iii, 

 17, 1 8 ; James Dearden, who died in 

 1791, was father of James the purchaser 

 of the manor ; the latter, by his will of 

 1828, left the manor to his son James, 

 and died in the same year. The son, a 

 barrister, died in 1862, leaving by his 

 wife Jane Griffith a son and heir James, 

 who in 1865 assumed the name of Griffith 

 before Dearden. 



The more extended pedigree recorded 

 at the College of Arms is printed in Fish- 

 wick, Rochdale, 450. 



4 7 The rolls from 1323-5 are printed 

 in Lanes. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 16-23, 141-50. Those for 1335 

 and 1336 are printed by Col. Fishwick, 

 op. cit. 286-92 ; and in the same work 

 will be found copious abstracts of the later 

 rolls, 1566-7, and 1586-1624. Canon 

 Raines also made very full notes of the 

 rolls from 1591 to 1826 ; Raines MSS. 

 vii; ii, 31-7; xiv, 293-332. See also 

 Duchy of Lane. Ct. R. bdle. 78, no. 1006; 

 bdle. 78, no. 1025-7. 



48 The street now of that name is so 

 called from the house. 



49 The name of Amen Corner is said to 

 have arisen from the fact that in 1745 

 part of the building was occupied by the 

 parish clerk, but another explanation is 

 that the name arose from the proximity 

 of a Presbyterian meeting-house. Prob- 

 ably the title Amen Corner was first 

 bestowed on the immediate vicinity and 

 then transferred to the house itself. 



50 In a deed of 1565 there is mention 

 of a house in this position ' where Robert 

 Garside dwelleth,' which seems to have 

 been the Great House (see Fishwick, 

 Rochdale, 523-4). The portion which was 

 standing till 1910, however, was of 

 17th-century date, and may have been a 

 rebuilding by Adam Gartside about 1692. 



51 Fishwick, op. cit. 523, where the title 

 deeds are quoted. 



