SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



Chethams of Nuthurst long held the Slack in Balder- 

 stone, 33 and as heirs of the Buckleys had a rent-charge 

 in Balderstone. 34 The moor of Buersill appears to 

 have been long in dispute "between the owners of 

 Balderstone and Butterworth. 35 LOWER PLACE 

 was in 1626 held by Robert Holt, in virtue of a gift 

 by his great-grandfather Thomas Holt. 36 



NEWBOLD anciently gave a surname to the 

 owners, 57 and in 1626 James Newbold held 74 acres 

 there by knight's service, and John Newbold held 

 10 acres. 38 The other tenants were Richard Scho- 

 field, who held 72 acres which had formerly belonged 

 to the Buckley family; 39 and Edward Butterworth, 

 who held 32 acres for which a rent of 6d. was due 

 to Richard Schofield. 



Newbold Hall is a small two-storied stone building 

 occupying three sides of a quadrangle. It stands on 

 high ground facing north-east, about a quarter of a 

 mile south-west of Belfield Hall, and separated from 

 it by the valley of the Stanney Brook. The situa- 

 tion must originally have been a fine one, but the 

 house now fronts on to a narrow street, and is in the 

 midst of mean surroundings. The building appears 

 to date from the i6th century, with later work in 

 parts, and the north wing, which was until recently 

 used as a public-house, has been almost entirely 

 modernized and rebuilt. The central and south 

 wings of the original building remain, but are in a 

 sadly dilapidated condition. The house has been 

 divided into tenements, but only two portions are at 

 present (1908) occupied, and the rest of the building 

 is rapidly going to decay. The walls are constructed 

 of rough stones in narrow courses, and the quoins, 

 which are of a hard gritstone, are of great size, some 

 being 4 ft. long. The roofs are covered with grey 



stone slates, and the windows have all been originally 

 long mullioned openings without transoms. Some 

 of the old windows remain, but others are built up 

 or modernized. The south wing of the house is 

 almost detached from the centre portion, and may 

 possibly have been added subsequently to the original 

 building. What is now the central wing has a pro- 

 jection at its south end, both back and front, of about 

 6 ft., forming on the front a kind of bay in the angle 

 of the courtyard ; but the plan of the original house 

 is not quite clear. The courtyard was about 40 ft. 

 across, but nearly one-half of it has been built upon 

 in recent times, and a modern cottage now occupies 

 its north side, abutting on to the north wing, and 

 effectually destroying the original appearance of the 

 house on this side. The wings project each about 

 30 ft., but the east gable of the south wing is some 

 distance in front of that of the north owing to the 

 broken line of the central portion of the house. The 

 east side of the courtyard to the street is inclosed by 

 a high stone wall with entrance gateway and well- 

 designed 17th-century gate piers, the caps of which 

 are placed diagonally and have ball finials. The gate- 

 way was formerly in the centre of the court, between 

 the two wings, but when the north end of the court- 

 yard was built upon was removed to its present posi- 

 tion in the centre of the east wall of the now reduced 

 quadrangle. The principal entrance to the house 

 was under a four-centred arched doorway in the north- 

 west corner of the courtyard, but this is now hidden 

 by the new building. The house is a good example 

 of the smaller stone-built halls of this part of the 

 county, which form a striking contrast to the preva- 

 lent wood and timber construction of the less hilly 

 districts. 



purchased others from William Charnley, 

 Thomas Lussell and Jane his wife ; ibid, 

 bdle. 28, m. 212, 242 ; see also Ducatus 

 Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 238, 317. 



Charles Holt died in 1628 holding the 

 capital messuage called Balderstone Hall, 

 with water-mill, messuages, and lands 

 in Balderstone below Castleton ; also 

 messuages, &c., in Walsden in Hunders- 

 field. The Balderstone estate was held of 

 Robert Holt of Stubley. His heir was 

 his grandson John, son of Samuel Holt, 

 aged nearly sixteen years ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, no. 1 1. 



John Holt's son Richard sold Balder- 

 stone Hall in 1713 to Timothy White- 

 head of Lidyate in Saddleworth, and it has 

 changed hands several times since then. 

 Herbert Radcliffe owned it at his death 

 in 1904. See Fishwick, Rochdale, 320. 



88 Thomas de Chetham, who died in 

 1383, held land called the Slack of the 

 heirs of Henry de Balderstone in 

 socage ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1463. 

 This appears to be the messuage and land 

 in Castleton recorded in later inquisitions, 

 the tenure being unknown ; e.g. Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 62. In 1521 

 Thomas Chetham of Nuthurst and John 

 Cudworth of Werneth became bound to 

 Alice Holt of Balderstone to abide an ar- 

 bitration as to the Slack ; Clowes D. 

 no. I. Alice, who was the widow of 

 Henry Holt, appears to have surrendered 

 the place, which in 1524 Thomas Chet- 

 ham granted to his brother Ellis for life 5 

 ibid. no. 6. From a rental of 1521 it 

 appears that Henry Holt had paid a rent 

 of 6s, %d. for the Slack ; ibid. 



84 The estate of James de Chetham and 



Eleanor de Buckley his wife hat been men- 

 tioned in a preceding note. In later dis- 

 putes it was agreed that the Chethams 

 should have a rent of 1 31. ^d. from Balder- 

 stone. By subdivision it was increased to 

 13*. 6d. t thus in 1677 From James 

 Worrall, Alexander Wolstenholme, James 

 Whitworth (two), each it. i\d. 41. 6d, ; 

 from Mrs. Holt of Balderstone, 41. 6d. ; 

 and from Mrs. Gaskell's, for that which 

 was John Worsley's, 41. 6d. ; Clowes D. 



85 William de Slack in 1342 granted his 

 lands in the moor to Sir Richard de Byron, 

 who, as stated above, had already pro- 

 cured a grant from Henry de Balderstone; 

 and in 1539 James Gartside granted Dyke- 

 gate, &c., to John Byron ; D. in the 

 Surv. of 1626 (Raines MSS. xxi, 28). 



For a settlement of boundaries in 1552 

 see Fishwick, op. cit. 72 (quoting Duchy 

 Rec. iv, C.I. 5 Edw. VI). For disputes 

 as to the rights of pasture on the moor be- 

 tween Sir John Byron on one side and 

 William Stafford and others on the other, 

 see Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 222, 250, 

 274 ; ii, 92. 



86 Surv. of 1626, p. 5 ; he held 23 3 acres. 

 He was the son of Adam Holt, who died 

 in 1621, holding lands in Castleton of 

 John Holt of Stubley in socage by a rent 

 of zd. f and other lands in Wardle (includ- 

 ing Crolesse Farm) of Sir John Byron by a 

 rent of 13^. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 226-8 ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, no. 53. The 

 estate descended in the family for about a 

 century ; see Fishwick, op. cit. 324-6, for 

 pedigree. 



In the same work (p. 327) will be found 

 the pedigree of Heape of Lower Place. 



205 



A rent of id. had formerly been paid to 

 Whalley Abbey by Richard Scholefield for 

 Malymehey ; Whalley CoucAer, iv, 1231. 



87 Several of the name occur in the 

 Whalley Coucher. Geoffrey son of Robert 

 de Newbold in the latter half of the 1 3th 

 century gave the monks of Stanlaw a 

 small piece of land for a tithe-barn site ; 

 it stood on the north side of the road to 

 Butterworth; ibid, i, 161. 



William son of Henry son of the Nun 

 of Newbold gave to his lord, Geoffrey de 

 Buckley, land in Newbold ; Add. MS. 

 32107, no. 426. 



Edward Newbold died in 1620 holding 

 lands in Castleton and Butterworth of Sir 

 John Byron the younger in socage by a 

 rent of 4</., also in Hundersfield of the 

 same by a rent of ^d. James Newbold, 

 his son and heir, was over forty years old; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 193. 



88 Surv. 1 6, 17 ; the total acreage of 

 the hamlet is given as 29$. 



For later particulars of the Newbold 

 family see Fishwick, op. cit. 314-16. 



89 Surv. iS. 



Henry Schofield of Humber had five 

 messuages and lands in Castleton and 

 Hundersfield in 1569, and settled them 

 on his son Edward in 1583 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 31, m. 13 ; 45, 

 m. 41. 



Richard Schofield of 1626 was a son 

 of Henry Schofield ; he held Newbold 

 Hall, but the estate was afterwards sold 

 several times. About a century ago it 

 was purchased by Joseph Newbold of 

 Rochdale, whose son Joseph owned it in 

 1889 ; Fishwick, op. cit. 316. 



