SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



There are numerous coal mines ; also cotton mills 

 and bleach works, iron foundry, chemical works, and 

 paper mill. A pottery and a terra cotta factory are 

 worked and bricks are made. The soil is clay ; the 

 agricultural land is mostly in pasture. 



In 1 666 there were sixty hearths liable to the tax ; 

 the only large house was that of John Andrews, with 

 nine hearths. 1 



The township was governed by a local board from 

 1872 3 to 1894, when an urban district council was 

 formed ; there are twelve members elected by four 

 wards Church, Ladyshore, Slopes, and West. 



John Seddon, born at Lomax Fold in 1719, became 

 minister of Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, and died 

 there in 1769.* 



DARCY LEVER 



This township is bounded on the west, south, and 

 east by the Croal and its affluents. The general slope 

 of the surface is from north to south. The area is 

 499 acres. The population in 1901 was enumerated 

 with Great Lever. 



The road from Bolton to Little Lever and Radcliffe 

 passes east through the centre, the village of Darcy 

 Lever, practically a suburb of Bolton, lying along the 

 western end of it ; and there are other roads leading 

 north and south. The Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 Company's Bolton and Bury railway crosses the 

 Tonge by a long and lofty viaduct and then passes 

 east through the township ; and the Bolton and 

 Manchester Canal passes through it, near the Croal, 

 crossing the Tonge by an aqueduct. 



The township abounded with coal, but it has prac- 

 tically been worked out. Several mines were worked 

 till recently ; one is still in operation. There is 

 a cotton mill at the village. On the southern 



boundary, by the Croal, are sewage works of the 

 Bolton Corporation. 



Darcy Lever was incorporated with the borough 

 and township of Bolton by the Extension Act of 1 898. 



There were several large houses in the township in 

 1666 ; Robert Lever's had eight hearths liable to 

 the tax, James Bradshaw's and John Crompton's 

 seven each, and Lawrence Fogg's six. There were 

 only twelve hearths in the rest of the township. 5 



The manor of LITTLE LEVER formed 

 MANOR part of the barony of Manchester, and was 

 assessed as four oxgangs of land. From 

 an early time it was held in moieties. Albert Grelley 

 the younger in the time of Henry II gave one moiety 

 to Alexander son of Uvieth at a rent of mark and 

 a hawk or izd* The name of the tenant in 1212 is 

 not given ; but in 1227 Adam de Radcliffe was called 

 upon by Robert Grelley to perform suit at his court 

 of Manchester fortnightly instead of monthly. 7 A 

 little earlier Eugenia, widow of William de Radcliffe, 

 demanded against the same Adam her dower in four 

 oxgangs in Little Lever among other lands. 8 From 

 this it would appear that the Radcliffes had had a 

 grant of the whole of Little Lever, perhaps between 

 12 12 and 1 22 1. There are later tokens of their 

 connexion with it. 9 



The next lord of the whole or part of Lever is one 

 Leising de Lever, who had part at least of Great 

 Lever also. 10 Possibly descended from him was the 

 Adam de Lever, living in 1246," ancestor of the 

 family of Lever of Little Lever, 11 which apparently 

 held a share of the manor till the beginning of the 

 1 7th century. In the absence of satisfactory evidence 

 of the descent it can only be stated that in 1320 

 William de Radcliffe and William de Lever held 

 Little Lever by homage, service, and suit to the court 

 of Manchester, rendering yearly \d. sake fee, 6s. 8</. 

 rent, also I2< and providing puture for the serjeant 



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



8 Land. Gaz. 9 July i87Z. 



4 Diet, Nat. Biog. 



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



6 Land. Inq. and Extents (Rec . Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 57 ; it is stated that 

 'his heirs hold that land.' 



" Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 47, 48. 



8 Inq. and Extents, i, 129, 130, quoting 

 Curia Regis R. 78, m. 14 d. 



9 William son of Ellis de Lever and 

 Ellis son of Adam de Lever were in 1309 

 summoned to show by what services they 

 held their tenements in Little Lever of 

 Richard son of Robert de Radcliffe ; De 

 Banco R. 179, m. 206. See also the fol- 

 lowing notes. Nothing is said of it in 

 any of the RadclifFe inquisition*. 



10 See the account of Great Lever in 

 Middleton. 



11 There were cross-suits concerning 

 the wood and waste in 1246 between 

 Adam de Lever and Adam de Radcliffe ; 

 Assize R. 404, m. 5 d. 



In 1276 Henry son of William de 

 Lever (Parva) claimed the manor of 

 Little Lever against Adam of the same, 

 and messuages in Great Lever against 

 Ellis de Lever ; De Banco R. 13, m. n. 



19 In the Lever of Great Lever Chartu- 

 lary (Add. MS. 32103) are some charters 

 referring to the Little Lever family. 

 Adam de Lever and Ellis his son attested 

 a grant ; no. 45. Ellis son of Adam de 

 Lever granted to William his son and his 



heirs a portion of his land in Little Lever. 

 The bounds began at ' the Langcestre ' 

 (alias Hanycestre) where Denebrook fell 

 into the great water called Lever (alias 

 Letoce) ; ascended the brook to a ditch 

 dividing Little Lever and Breightmet as 

 far as the Menesshaw ; went down to the 

 Tonge water, and down this to the first 

 division. These boundaries are, roughly 

 speaking, those of the present township 

 of Darcy Lever. The grant included the 

 homage of Richard del Snape, who paid 

 \"$d. rent, and other services ; and the 

 land was to be held of the chief lords of 

 the fee by a rent of 41., paid at the four 

 terms, and by such other services as Ellis 

 had rendered for the whole manor of 

 Little Lever; ibid. m. 219. This grant 

 was confirmed by a fine in 1292, when the 

 estate is called a moiety of the manor of 

 Little Lever; Final Cone, i, 167. In 

 1310 a settlement of this moiety of the 

 manor was made by William de Lever 

 and Lettice his wife ; ibid, ii, 4. 



In the same year William de Lever 

 called upon Richard son of Robert de 

 Radcliffe to acquit him of the services de- 

 manded by Thomas Grelley. William 

 held the moiety of Little Lever by a 

 rent of 41., and Richard should perform 

 the suit at the court of Manchester ; De 

 Banco R. 183, m. 214. 



Ellis de Lever acted as a juror in 1282; 

 Inq, and Extents, i, 244, 250 ; and William 

 was acting in 1288 ; ibid. 268. In 1291 

 Richard de Radcliffe claimed a tenement 



263 



in Little Lever and Pilkington against 

 Ellis de Lever and Henry the reeve of 

 Gorton ; Assize R. 1294, m. 9. 



William de Lever was not the heir of 

 his father, but another son, Adam, men- 

 tioned in 1 297, when Ellis was still living; 

 Lever Chartul. no. 69. In 1309 it was 

 found that Ellis, son of Adam de Lever was 

 the heir and, being a minor, was in the 

 guardianship of Richard de Radcliffe. The 

 estate in Little Lever was described as 

 eight messuages, 60 acres of land, &c., 

 held of the said Richard by fealty and the 

 service of 8i. and not by knight's service. 

 The claim to wardship was therefore re- 

 jected by the jury. Adam de Lever's 

 widow appears to have been living, for 

 only five messuages, 40 acres of land, &c., 

 were restored to his heir ; Assize R. 423, 

 m. i d. 



In 1331 a settlement of this moiety 

 of the manor was made by Ellis de Lever 

 in favour of his son Adam and his issue 

 by Agnes his wife ; Final Cone, ii, 78. It 

 will be seen that the Radcliffes considered 

 this branch of the family responsible for 

 the whole rent of 8*. due from Little 

 Lever, though the Darcy Lever half had 

 been granted away. Adam son of Ellis 

 de Lever was witness to a Farnworth 

 charter in 1356; Lever Chartul. no. 97. 

 He occurs in a Pilkington plea in 1358 ; 

 Assize R. 438, m. 6 d. Some of the 

 family seem to have settled in the town- 

 ship named ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6, m. 

 27 ; R. 7, m. i, 56 ; R. 8, m. \zb. 





