A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



and St. Stephen and All Martyrs', at Lever Bridge in 

 Haulgh, was built in 1844. This church has an 

 open-work spire. 31 



The Wesleyan Methodists have churches at Tonge 

 Moor and Tonge Fold, and another in Haulgh. The 

 Primitive Methodists have one at Castle Hill, in the 

 north end of Tonge. 



The Congregationalists have a church at Tonge 

 Moor. 33 The Strict Baptists have one at Haulgh. 



There is a Spiritual Hall in Haulgh for the 

 Spiritualists. 



SHARPLES 



Charples, 1212 ; Sharpies and Scharples, 1292. 



This large township, stretching from Bolton in a 

 north-west direction for over 6 miles, has an area of 

 3,999^ acres, and is divided into an upper and 

 lower portion. The former occupies the eastern 

 slope of the range of hills, including Winter Hill and 

 Whimberry Hill, which goes west and north through 

 Smithills, Rivington, and Anglezarke ; it contains the 

 district called Hordern, the village of Belmont, and 

 the hamlet of Bromiley, to the east being a large 

 reservoir, part of the Bolton Waterworks, on the 

 boundary between Sharpies and Longworth. The 

 lower division is cut in two by a detached portion of 

 Little Bolton ; its northern part is called the Folds, 

 and its southern part contains a portion of the town 

 of Bolton, called Astley Bridge. 1 The population of 

 the Belmont portion was 837 in 1901, and that of 

 the southern portion, together with parts of Little 

 Bolton, was 7,674.* 



The principal road is that from Bolton to Preston, 

 which passes through the whole length of the 

 township, from Astley Bridge to the boundary of 

 Withnell. 



'Sharpies in Harwood' contained forty-three hearths 

 liable to the tax in 1666 ; no house had as many 

 as six hearths. 5 



The township contains some cotton-mills, the large 

 dye works and print works at Belmont, and a paper 



works at Spring Side in Folds. The Eden Orphanage 

 is situated at Astley Bridge. 



The southern half was formerly joined with the 

 detached parts of Little Bolton to form the Astley 

 Bridge Local Board district, 4 and has now been in- 

 cluded in the borough and township of Bolton. 5 

 The northern part was in 1894 constituted a civil 

 parish with the name of Belmont, 6 and was in 1898 

 included in Turton Urban District. 7 



The manor of SHARPLES was a mem- 

 M4NOR ber of Manchester fee. It appears to have 

 been assessed as four oxgangs of land, 8 but 

 one oxgang was in 1212 held of Robert Grelley by 

 Roger de Samlesbury and Alexander de Harwood 

 by a rent of 3/. This may have been an additional 

 oxgang. 9 Whether it was so or not it appears to have 

 been the most important part of the district, and its 

 lords being also lords of Harwood and Bradshaw the 

 three were held together, 10 and as late as the 1 7th 

 century the ' hamlet of Sharpies ' is described as lying 

 'in the town of Harwood.' 11 Another part of 

 Sharpies was within the Marsey fee ; what were 

 known as the detached portions of Little Bolton were 

 probably its constituents." 



The upper and larger part of the township was re- 

 tained by the lords of Manchester in their own 

 hands, but the Folds, described as 4,000 acres, had 

 in 1427 been occupied by Richard son of Thurstan 

 de Holland, and in 1473 was held by the heir of 

 Henry de Radcliffe. Hordern Solyns, 1,000 acres, 

 was in Thomas La Warre's possession in 1427." 



Sharpies proper, the one oxgang, appears to have 

 been divided among several immediate holders ; the 

 rent also seems to have been increased to 3^. zd. Thus 

 in 1320 Henry de Trafford paid yearly 3/. 2</. for 

 Sharpies, and gave puture of the serjeant and for- 

 esters, 14 while Adam de Sharpies for the twenty-fourth 

 part of a fee in the same rendered castle ward and 

 puture. 15 



The local families adopted the surname of Sharpies, 

 and continued to reside for some centuries ; 16 one of 



82 A district was assigned to it in 1844 ; 

 Land. Gaz. 3 June ; for endowments, ibid. 

 I Jan. 1867 and 10 June 1881. The 

 church is noteworthy as the first built of 

 terra cotta ; this came from neighbouring 

 works ; N.and Q. (ist Ser.), iii, 27. 



83 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iii, 39. 



1 An Astley family had lands in Sharpies 

 in 1577 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 



Si- 



2 Census Returns. 



8 Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9. 



* Land. Gas. 26 Jan. 1864. The dis- 

 trict was made a civil parish or township 

 in 1894. 



6 By the Bolton, Turton, &c., Extension 

 Act, 1898. 



6 Local Govt. Bd. Order 31690. 



7 By the Act of 1898. 



8 Harland, Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 

 377 ; there is, however, a various reading 

 Holnton. The four oxgangs contributed 

 zs. each to the maintenance of the forest- 

 ers of Horwich. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 58. 



10 The descent of the lordship of this 

 part of Sharpies probably went with Har- 

 wood, but cannot be traced clearly. The 

 Earl of Derby, however, appears as a 

 mesne tenant in 1575. 



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

 and Ches.), i, 112. 



18 Ormerod, Cbes. (ed. Helsby), i, 37. 

 It will be seen in subsequent notes that 

 Sharpies was sometimes said to be in 

 Bolton. 



18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no. 54. 

 The Folds, ' waste and pasture,' held by 

 Thomas La Warre of the king as of the 

 duchy, was in 1404 granted by him to 

 his feoffees at a rent of 4 6s. 8d. ; the 

 Hordern Solyns, also waste and pasture, 

 was granted to the same feoffees at a rent 

 of 1 31. 4</. The rents represented the 

 annual value. 



For the tenant in 1473 8ee Mamecestrt) 

 iii, 481 ; Folds is called a 'manor,' and 

 the rent of id. was due from it to the 

 lord of Manchester. 



In 1409 the Folds and Hordern Solins 

 in ' Harwood * were held by James de 

 Radcliffe of Radcliffe for life, with re- 

 mainder to Henry de Radcliffe and his 

 heirs ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 

 95. They descended to Thomas Rad- 

 cliffe, who died childless in 1527, he being 

 son of Thomas son of Geoffrey son of 

 Henry younger son of the above James 

 de Radcliffe; ibid, ii, 151; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 45. Afterwards 

 they seem to have been acquired by the 

 Bartons of Smithills. 



14 Mamecestre, ii, 290. Henry de 

 Trafford seems to have acquired the right 

 of Roger de Samlesbury and his partner 



260 



in 1 21 2. The Trafford family are not 

 named later as lords of Sharpies. 



16 Ibid, ii, 289. Knight's service is 

 not again named in connexion with 

 Sharpies ; and Adam de Sharpies was 

 probably a sub-tenant of Henry de Traf- 

 ford. 



16 In 1246 Randle de Sharpies acknow- 

 ledged that he had granted 'Folescalis' in 

 Sharpies to his brother Henry ; Assize R. 

 404, m. 8 d. Randle de Sharpies attested a 

 Great Lever charter ; he is called dominus ; 

 Lever Chartul. (Add. MS. 32103), no. 3. 



Robert de Sharpies, Roger his son, 

 Adam son of Richard de Sharpies, Wil- 

 liam de Coulsaye, and Mabel his wife in 

 1282 made an agreement with Richard 

 son of Gervase regarding lands in Sharpies; 

 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 158^/194*. 



Roger de Sharpies son of Adam son of 

 Quenilda de Sharpies claimed a messuage 

 and lands in 1292 against Adam de Pil- 

 kington ; Assize R. 408, m. 64. The 

 defendant said that he held by the law of 

 England, having married Maud daughter 

 of Amabel, to whom the tenement was 

 given in free marriage ; Thomas son of 

 Roger demised the same to Roger de Pil- 

 kington, to whom the reversion belonged, 

 It may be added that the charter of Thomas 

 son of Roger de Manchester and nephew 

 of Geoffrey de Manchester, chaplain, the 

 original donor to Amabel, granting the 



