SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



Lever Hall was the seat of another family of the 

 local surname ; w one member of it was the founder 

 or refounder of Bolton Grammar School. 21 



DARCY LEVER OLD HALL stands 2 miles south- 

 east of Bolton on high ground sloping down to theBlack- 

 shaw Brook, which flows past the house on the south 

 side, not far from its junction with the River Tonge. 



The principal front of the house, which is of timber 

 and plaster on a red sandstone base, faces north, and 

 has three timber gables, and a wing projecting north- 

 wards 23 ft., with a former timber gable rebuilt in 

 brick. 



On a beam over the porch is inscribed R L E 1641 

 for Robert and Elizabeth Lever, and on the stone head 

 of the inner door the date is repeated. The plan 

 of the house seems to be a late development of the H- 

 plan, and may very well belong to this date. The 

 screen passage is still represented, but the hall has be- 

 come quite insignificant, and its porch, as at Kenyon 

 Peel, has been amalgamated with the west wing. The 

 principal room on the ground floor is the parlour, 

 entered through a lobby on the west of the screens. 



The building, which is in a rather dilapidated 

 condition, is now used as a farmhouse, and has been 

 very much altered and modernized inside, though the 

 exterior retains much of its original picturesqueness. 

 It is of two stories with attics in the gables, and the 

 roofs are covered with grey stone slates. The north 

 front has been little altered except by the addition of 

 lean-to buildings in the recessed portions, but the 

 gables have lost their bargeboards, the attic windows 

 are built up, and the timber-work generally is in a 

 more or less decayed state. 



The timber construction, which remains intact on 

 the north side, is continued round the east side, but 

 the south front has been entirely rebuilt in brick and 

 is without interest, the roof, which is hipped at the 

 east end, being in one unbroken length with over- 

 hanging eaves. The total length of the building is 

 about 78 ft., but at the west end a new brick built 

 house has been erected with which one of the lower 

 rooms of Darcy Lever Old Hall on the south side has 

 been incorporated, the two houses thus overlapping. 



The half-timber work of the north front is of 

 simple construction, the gables being filled in with 

 diagonal pieces, with a plaster cove running round at 

 the level of the wall plates. The timber work is quite 

 plain except in the middle gable, which has quatrefoil 



fillings and a cove at the level of the first floor. 

 Some of the windows retain their diamond quarries. 



The entrance is through an open porch under the 

 middle gable, opening into a through passage with a 

 doorway at the end on the south side. Both doors 

 are the original ones of oak, nail studded, and with 

 good iron hinges and fittings. To the right of the 

 passage is a lobby leading to the parlour, a large room 

 23 ft. long by 1 6 ft. wide, with an ingle-nook on its 

 east side 14 ft. 9 in. wide and 4 ft. 6 in. deep., and 

 to the left is a room at the back, now used as a 

 larder. A smaller room at the front is now only 

 reached from the east wing, the two lower rooms of 

 which are used as workshops or lumber rooms, with 

 separate outer doorways. 



The staircase is to the west of the porch, built 

 between walls and radiating from a central post. The 

 treads are of oak, but there is no ornamental detail. 

 There is an opening under the stairs giving direct 

 access to the kitchen from the open air, but this is a 

 later insertion. The interior, which shows the 

 timber construction throughout, has little archi- 

 tectural interest, there being no panelling, and all 

 the original furniture and fittings, with the exception 

 of a long 17th-century table in the parlour, have 

 disappeared. In one of the bedrooms is a good stone 

 fireplace, now whitewashed, with moulded jambs and 

 a shaped head, and the ceilings of the parlour and the 

 bedroom over are crossed by moulded beams. 



The north wing, the roof of which is a little lower 

 than that of the main building, consists of kitchen and 

 washhouse, and breaks up the elevation on the north 

 side in rather a pleasing fashion, apparently reducing 

 the length of the building by forming a kind of 

 courtyard. This wing appears to be of about the 

 same date as the rest of the house, though it has 

 been largely rebuilt in stone and brick. On a line 

 with its east face is a portion of the 17th-century 

 stone fence wall running northward with weathered 

 coping and remains of a ball ornament. 



HACKING, or Hacken, was another estate in the 

 township. It was held by the Byroms of Salford. 28 

 Under this family it was occupied on lease by 

 Richard Crompton and his descendants, who seem to 

 have acquired the freehold, 2 * 3 It descended to James 

 Crompton of Hacking, who died in 1727, and was 

 sold by his heirs in 1735 to the Peploes, and was 

 again sold at the beginning of last century by 



20 The descent of this family is un- 

 known. In 1 60 1 it was found that Law- 

 rence Fogg and Robert Lever had purchased 

 lands in Darcy Lever of Mr. Chisnall, for 

 which they were summoned to do their 

 suit and service at the next leet court at 

 Manchester ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 174. 



Robert Lever died in 1620, holding 

 among other properties a messuage and 

 lands in Little Lever alias Darcy Lever 

 of Edward Mosley as of his manor of 

 Manchester in socage by 18 d. rent. 

 James, his son and next heir, was over 

 fifty years of age ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 255-7. The 

 rent is the same as that formerly paid by 

 the Chisnalls. 



James Lever died 24 Mar. 1634-5, 

 holding messuages and lands in Darcy 

 Lever and Bolton ; the tenure is not 

 stated. Robert, his son and heir, was 

 twenty-six years of age ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. xxvii, no. 61. Robert Lever 

 was one of the ' esquires ' in the Bury Pres- 



byterian Classis at its formation in 1646. 

 By his first wife he had a daughter Jane, 

 who married John Andrews, the son of 

 Nicholas Andrews of Little Lever. The 

 Andrews family thus secured portions of 

 both Little Lever and Darcy Lever. 



21 Robert Lever, the founder, was a 

 younger son of the Robert who died in 

 1620. He had the manor of Rivington 

 from his father. 



22 Adam Byromof Salford died in 1559 

 holding eight messuages, a moiety of two 

 fulling-mills, &c., in Little Lever ; of the 

 executors of the will of Lord La Warre, 

 in socage, by a rent of i8</.; his grandson 

 Ralph, aged three years, was his heir ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 65. 



Ralph Byrom, son of the last-named 

 Ralph, died in 1599 without issue, his 

 brother Adam, fourteen years of age, 

 being his heir. He held twelve messu- 

 ages, half a water-mill and fulling-mill in 

 Little Lever or Darcy Lever of the lord 

 of Manchester ; ibid, xvii, no. 39. 



22a From a pleading of 1602 it appears 

 that Ralph Byrom, lord of Hacking, had 

 demised it to Richard Crompton, and then 

 to Richard's younger son James ; on 

 James's death his son Richard took pos- 

 session, but his right was denied by his 

 uncle John, elder brother of James, a 

 clothworker of London, on the ground 

 that by the custom of the manor the 

 eldest son had a preference ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Plead. Eliz. ccii, 17. 



Ellis Crompton, who died 23 May 

 1632, held messuages in Little Lever alias 

 Darcy Lever of Edward Mosley, as of his 

 manor of Manchester in socage by a rent 

 of 6d. ; also messuages, &c., in Bolton. 

 The heir was his grandson John Crompton, 

 son of John son of Ellis, then fifteen years 

 of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 

 no. 68, 69. 



In 1581 there was a fine respecting 

 messuages and lands in Darcy Lever and 

 Bolton, Lawrence Fogg and Thomas 

 Heyton being plaintiffs, and Ralph Byrom 



34 



