SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



There are also Wesleyan churches at Bagslate and 

 Oheesden, and a Free Methodist one at the former 

 place. 



At Whitworth is the Roman Catholic church of 

 Our Immaculate Mother and St. Anselm, i869; 84 

 and at Norden are the church of St. Mary, 1904, 

 with a house of Redemptorist fathers, and a poor law 

 school for boys, conducted by the Brothers of Charity. 



BUTTERWORTH 



Butterworth, Buttersworth, 1278 ; Boterwrth, 

 1292. 



Cleg, 1284. 



Okeden, 1276; Akeden, 1292. 



This township, which contains the chapelry of 

 Milnrow, occupies the south-east part of the parish, 

 .and has an area of 7,765^ acres. The surface is com- 

 paratively level in the west and south, but on the 

 eastern border rises steeply, a height of nearly 

 1,500 feet being reached. The following are the 

 former hamlets or subdivisions : Butterworth Hall, 

 738^ acres; Belfield, 458; Clegg, 1,677; Low 

 House, 1,278; Wildhouse, 264; Haugh, 599; 

 Bleakedgate with Roughbank, 2,751. 



The township has long been divided into two sec- 

 dons, the Freehold side and the Lordship side. 1 

 These ' sides ' refer to the ancient terms of tenure, 

 some freehold, some of the lord of the manor by 

 various rents and services. The tenements of each 

 class are scattered all over the township, and the exist- 

 ing classification became fixed before 1 600, the various 

 holdings being judged to belong to freehold or lord- 

 ship side in accordance therewith, though all the 

 holdings have long ago been enfranchised. The 

 classification is still maintained by tradition, because 

 each ' side ' has been accustomed to have a constable 

 in the Rochdale manor court. 1 * 



The principal road is that going south-east and east 

 from Rochdale through Milnrow to Huddersfield. 

 From Milnrow a road goes north to join the Roch- 

 dale-Todmorden road. The Lancashire and York- 

 shire Company's railway from Rochdale to Todmorden 



passes through Belfield, and the canal between the 

 same places goes along by the line ; the same com- 

 pany's line from Rochdale to Oldham has stations at 

 Milnrow and New Hey. 



A ' disorderly custom ' called the Rushbearing used 

 to take place on the Saturday before St. James's 

 Day. 2 The rushcarts finally disappeared about ten 

 years ago, but the annual fair or holiday is still called 

 the Rushbearing, and is kept at various dates in the 

 autumn at Milnrow and other places in the Rochdale 

 district. 



Formerly Chapel Croft used to be mowed after the 

 other fields, the superstition being that if it were 

 mown without rain falling, none of the hay from the 

 meadows would be got in dry. 8 



Hollinworth Lake is a large artificial reservoir 

 formed to supply the Rochdale Canal ; it is a favourite 

 resort of pleasure parties. 



The soil is light gravel and clay, with subsoil of 

 rough gravel. The land is chiefly in pasture. 



A local board was constituted at Milnrow in 1870 ; 4 

 it became an urban district council in 1894, and the 

 district was formed into an independent township ; 

 there are three wards Belfield, Milnrow, and Haugh, 

 each with six members. 



Butterworth, or the part of it held by 

 M4NOR Hugh de Eland about 1 1 90, was given 

 by him to Gilbert de Notion, son and 

 heir of Gilbert de Notton, in marriage with his 

 daughter Margery ; 5 they had issue a son Roger, a 

 benefactor of Monk Bretton. Margery afterwards 

 married Sir Baldwin Tyas, or Teutonicus, by whom 

 she had a daughter Joan, married first to Sir Robert 

 de Hoyland of High Hoyland, in Yorkshire, and 

 afterwards to Sir John de Byron. 6 The estate of the 

 Elands and their heirs, the Saviles, with numerous 

 additions/ was known as the manor of BUTTER- 

 WORTH, and descended like Clayton in Droylsden 

 till the beginning of the 1 7th century, when the 

 whole was sold to a large number of purchasers, 

 mostly the occupying tenants. 8 Sir John Byron, who 

 died in 1489, was found to have held twelve mes- 

 suages, 200 acres of land, 10 acres of wood, &c., in 

 Butterworth, of Sir John Savile, by services un- 



84 Mass was said on Sundays for some 

 years before 1860, and a wooden chapel 

 was built in 1862; Kelly, Engl, Cath. 

 Missions, 432. 



1 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 141. 



la Information of Lt.-CoL H. Fishwick. 



3 Gastrell, op. cit. ii, 142. The ancient 

 custom was not originally 'disorderly.' 



8 Fishwick, Rochdale, 534. 



4 Land. Gaz. 4 Feb. 1870. The dis- 

 trict was extended in 1879 by 42 & 43 

 Viet. cap. 86. 



6 For the Eland-Tyas-Byron descent, see 

 Yorks.Arch.Journ. vii, 131, 132. 



6 A large number of Butterworth deeds 

 .are contained in the Byron Chartulary 

 (' Black Book of Clayton '). From these 

 it appears that Sir Baldwin gave to Robert 

 -de Hoyland, who had married Joan his 

 daughter, all his land in Butterworth, 

 Clegg, Gartside, Ogden, the two Hollin- 

 worths, &c., with the mill and demesne, 

 also the homages and services, except that 

 of John de Lacy; no. 71/152. There 

 .are some other grants by Sir Baldwin, e.g. 

 to Henry the Smith, 6 acres bounded 

 partly by the Beal and Ogden Brook ; ibid, 

 no. 29/73 5 anc * 2 acre of meadow in 

 the south side of Buckley Carr to Robert 



de Butterworth, at a rent of SJ. ; ibid, 

 no. 69/150. 



Robert de Hoyland granted to Thomas 

 son of Adam de Birghou an oxgang which 

 John de Haworth had held of Sir Baldwin 

 le Tyas and Margery his wife at a rent of 

 2s. ; ibid. no. 70/151. Joan de Hoyland in 

 her widowhood gave to William de Rush- 

 worth parcels called Moterode, Crooked- 

 rode, and Horsefalinge, at a rent of -$J. ; 

 ibid. no. 72/153. 



John de Byron and Joan his wife were 

 plaintiffs in 1278, claiming lands against 

 Philip, Abbot of Roche ; Assize R. 1238, 

 m. 51; R. 1259, m. 39. This was prob- 

 ably a dispute as to the boundary between 

 Butterworth and Saddleworth. 



Hugh de Eland in 1292 released to Sir 



John de Byron and Joan his wife and the 

 eirs of Sir John, all his right in lands &c., 

 in the vill of Butterworth, excepting the 

 lordship of the vill, 221. yearly rent, and the 

 homage and service of Richard son of 

 Gilbert de Butterworth for 2 oxgangs of 

 land ; Byron Chartul. no. 8/154. 



John de Eland (as son of Hugh son of 

 John son of Hugh) claimed the manor of 

 Butterworth in 1335 against Richard de 

 Byron ; De Banco R. 301, m. 152 d. 



213 



In 1321 Agnes, widow of John de By- 

 ron and then wife of John de Strickland, 

 clai med dower in a messuage, oxgang of land, 

 water-mill, &c.; De Banco R. 240, m. 192. 



A mill then existed on the Beal. Henry 

 son of Richard de Butterworth and Richard 

 his brother, released to Sir Baldwin le Tyas 

 all their right in the mill opposite the house 

 of Andrew Brun ; for which Sir Baldwin 

 gave them a hawk; Byron Chartul. no. 

 82/219. The same Henry afterwards 

 released to Joan de Hoyland and her 

 heirs all his right in the mill and pool ; 

 ibid. no. 83/220. 



The De Lacy Compofus of 1296 (Chet. 

 Soc. 6) shows that John de Byron had 

 formerly held lands rendering 421. 9^</., 

 and that he still held some directly of the 

 Earl of Lincoln by a rent of zs. In the In- 

 quest of 1311 (Chet. Soc. 20) the latter tene- 

 ment is described as 6 acres in Butterworth. 



7 The Byron Chartulary shows a number 

 of acquisitions from the smaller holders ; 

 some of them are recorded in these notes. 

 Butterworth was included in a Byron 

 settlement in 1432-41 ; Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Che:.), iii, 98, 104, 106. 



8 A number of the deeds will be found in 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), vi, fol. 1-93. 



