SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



regarded all their lands in Rochdale as forming one 

 manor ; but afterwards each of the purchasers appears 

 to have regarded his share as a separate ' manor.' At 

 the confiscation James Gartside was the monks' bailiff, 

 and it was recorded that once a year a court had been 

 kept at ' Overland,' all their tenants attending. 10 



The Castleton estate was in 1542 sold by Henry 

 VIII to Robert Holt of Stubley, 11 and the family 

 afterwards made Castleton their chief residence. 113 

 Like Stubley it descended to the Chethams and Win- 

 stanleys. 12 The hall was by Clement Winstanley in 

 1772 sold or mortgaged to persons 13 who eleven years 

 later sold it to James Walmsley of Goose Lane ; and 

 he sold it to Thomas Smith of Sparth. Ellen, one 

 of his daughters and co-heirs, carried it in marriage 

 to the Entwisles of Foxholes. 



CASTLETON HALL is an irregularly-shaped two- 

 storied stone-built house, its principal front facing east 1Sa 

 towards the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which 

 passes close by it. The building is said to have been 

 built in the reign of Elizabeth, and is 

 described in 1626 as 'a fair mansion 

 house, being built with freestone,' to 

 which were attached ' stables, oxhouse, 

 and dovehouse, also gardens, orchards, 

 and courts.' " Part of this late 1 6th or 

 early 17th-century house yet stands, 

 retaining most of its ancient features, 

 including the hall with its bay window 

 and kitchen wing at the north end, and 

 the mullioned windows and stone gables. 

 The south wing seems to have been 

 pulled down in 1719, when the rect- 

 angular pile of building, which now 

 forms the larger part of the house, was 

 built by Samuel Chetham. It is in a 

 simple classic style with high sash win- 

 dows, overhanging cornice, and hipped 

 roof, has a frontage of 62 ft. 9 in., and 

 stands 26 ft. in front of the older por- 

 tion of the house at its south end. At 

 this point is a good lead rain-water head 

 dated 1719. The back of the build- 

 ing has an irregular outline made up by 

 additions and rebuildings of later dates, of no parti- 

 cular interest. 



The great hall now forms the principal entrance to 

 the house, the door being at its north-east corner. It 

 is 30 ft. in length and 21 ft. in width, with a paved 

 stone floor, and has a bay window I oft. wide and 

 5 ft. 6 in. deep at the south-east. In addition to the 

 bay window it is lit on the east side by a seven-light 



mullioned and transomed window. The walls are 

 panelled in oak to the height of the top of the door- 

 ways, leaving a plain plaster frieze above, and the 

 ceiling is of plaster, probably of the i8th century, 

 with moulded ribs. In the upper lights of one of 

 the windows is a series of shields representing the 

 arms of the Holts and their alliancess : 1S Radcliffe of 

 Todmorden, Radcliffe of Ordsall, Talbot of Salesbury, 

 Stanley, Towneley of Towneley, Legh of Adlington, 

 and Byron of Clayton. 



In the lower part of the window are the arms of 

 Hopwood of Hopwood and of Chetham. 



In the upper part of another window are the arms 

 of Seyvell of Tankersley, 16 Holt of Gristlehurst, 

 Atherton of Atherton, Robert Holt of Castleton, 

 Assheton of Middlcton, and Trafford of Trafford. 

 In the lower lights are Entwisle of Foxholes, and 

 Smith of Castleton. 



There are also fragments of heraldic and German 

 glass inserted, dated 1616 and 1630, but they have 



CASTLETON HALL : THE MAIN STAIRCASE 



no connexion with the house. The kitchen is on 

 the north side of the hall, and is 26 ft. long and 

 1 7 ft. 3 in. in width, with a fireplace opening 1 2 ft. 

 wide and 3 ft. 6 in. deep on its north side, now filled 

 with a modern range. It is lit by a six-light mul- 

 lioned and transomed window at the east end, and 

 the ceiling is crossed by three beams. 



A small oak staircase with twisted balusters gives 



against the abbot ; the third of a rent of 

 7*. \d. was included ; De Banco R. 160, 

 m. 113 d. ; 161, m. 343. This would 

 be the chief rent of the 5 oxgangs last 

 acquired. In 1353 the Abbot of Whalley 

 successfully resisted a claim for a rent of 

 6*. as due from his manor of Marland to 

 the Duke of Lancaster; Assize R. 435, 

 m. n d. In the time of Richard II and 

 Henry IV the abbot had to make good 

 his title to a number of parcels alleged to 

 have been alienated without the royal 

 licence; Q.R. Memo. R. 159; L.T.R. 

 Memo. R. 163, m. xiii ; 166, m. 113. 



Licences of alienation to Whalley Abbey 

 may be seen in Cal. Pat. 1330-4, p. 384 ; 

 1340-3, p. 23; 1343-5. P- Si- 



Castleton Moor was recovered from the 

 abbot ; Lanes, Inq.f.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 89. 



10 W 'bailey Coucber, iv, 1 224-32. Over- 

 land is perhaps an error of transcription 

 for Merland. 



11 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. 14; 

 there were included various messuages and 

 lands, a mill, and a fulling-mill ; also a 

 close called Lycott in Hundersfield. 'A 

 close called Lyrol ' had been occupied by 

 Richard Schofield, at a rent of 6s. S</.; 

 Wballey Coucber, iv, 1231. 



lla The Holts had land in Castleton long 

 before they acquired the lordship ; Final 

 Cone, iii, 31 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), 

 ii, 17. Robert Holt, who died in 1554, 

 was found to have held the manor of 

 Castleton in chief, by the tenth part of a 

 knight's fee, and a rent of 221. 4</.; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 7. 



12 See the account of Stubley. Ac- 



203 



cording to the Survey of 1626 Robert 

 Holt held Castleton House, Gorehill, and 

 Deeplish, with 464 acres of land, and 

 nearly 400 acres in Castleton Moor ; 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxi, 4, 9. 

 The manors of Castleton, Naden, and 

 Marland were held by James Holt and 

 Dorothy his wife in 1704 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 269, m. 12. 



M Com. Pleas Recov. R. Trin. 13 

 Geo. Ill, m. 124. 



isa More correctly south-east. 



14 Fish wick, Rochdale in the beginning 

 of the \jth Century (Hist. Soc. of Lanes, 

 and Ches. xxxviii 1886). 



15 Fishwick, Hist, of the Parish of Roch- 

 dale, 310-11. 



"Ibid. 311. 



