A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



moiety of the manor has descended to the present 

 Earl of Derby." 



The building known as the Old Manor House 

 stands at the junction of Meadow Lane with Breight- 

 met Fold Lane, a short distance north of the main 

 road from Bolton to Bury, with its principal front 

 facing south. The building is now divided into 

 several tenements, and has been rebuilt at the east 

 end in brick ; but the older part, now in a rather 

 dilapidated condition, is of stone, with long, low 

 mullioned windows and stone-slated roofs. Part of 

 the building is of three stories, with an abutting 

 lower wing on the west side having a gabled bay- 

 window in the principal front. At the back some 

 original timber-framing remains, but the building has 

 suffered so much from decay and has been so much 

 patched with brickwork that it has lost most of its 

 interest. The interior is said to have retained a 

 shield with the date 1516 and some initials until 

 1908, but this has disappeared." 3 The building, 

 however, has the appearance of belonging to the I yth 

 century, though the earlier date may be that of a 

 timber house to which a stone front was afterwards 

 added. Some rebuilding was done in the i8th cen- 

 tury, a stone on the north side high up in the wall 

 bearing the inscription, ' James Crompton, Ann 

 Crompton, the gth of May, 1713.' Below is a door 

 with a good wooden semi-domed hood. 



Few other families appear in the records as holding 

 lands in the township," but the Hultons of Farn- 

 worth 23 are named. 



The Manchester chantries had lands in Breight- 

 met.* 4 



In connexion with the Church of England, St. 

 James's was built in 1855 ; the patronage is exercised 

 alternately by the Crown and the Bishop of Man- 

 chester. 15 



The other places of worship are a Wesleyan chapel, 

 built in 1848, and a Free Church. Oliver Heywood 



preached in Breightmet in 1666, and later at the 

 house of his relatives, the Cromptons, but no perma- 

 nent congregation seems to have resulted. 86 



Harewode, 1212, 1302. 



The surface in this township has a general slope to 

 the south-west, from over 800 ft. at the north-east 

 corner to less than 300 ft. at the border of Breight- 

 met and Tonge. Bowstone Hill, 825 ft., is at the 

 junction of this township and Bradshaw in Bolton 

 parish, and Elton and Tottington in Bury. The 

 area is 1,239^ acres. The township as such ceased 

 to exist in 1898, being incorporated with Turton, 1 

 and thus the population was in 1901 numbered with 

 that of Turton. 



The principal road is that south-east through the 

 centre from Bradshaw to Ainsworth, passing through 

 Harwood Lee ; another road goes north-east to 

 Tottington ; the village or hamlet of Harwood lies 

 on the southern boundary. 



The land is chiefly in pasture. There are stone 

 quarries and bleach works. 



A library, reading-room, &c., were erected in 1872 

 from a gift by David Walsh, a miller of Harwood. 



There were forty-two hearths liable to the tax in 

 1666, but only one house had as many as three 

 hearths. 13 



The manor of HARWOOD, originally 

 MANORS including Bradshaw also, was a member 

 of the fee of Manchester, held as one 

 plough-land by knight's service. In 1212 it had 

 become divided, being held of Robert Grelley by 

 Roger de Samlesbury and Alexander de Harwood.* 

 The Samlesbury portion seems to have descended in 

 the same way as the neighbouring manor of Breight- 

 met, 3 and the Harwood moiety to the Traffords of 



21 Lands in Breightmet were held by 

 Thomas, Earl of Derby, at his death in 

 1521, but no particular record of them 

 is given in the inquisition ; Duchy of 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. v, no. 68. The account 

 of Alexander Lever, the bailiff for Breight- 

 met, Harwood, and Darwen in 1523-4, 

 shows that John Hulton of Farnworth, a 

 free tenant, paid is. rent for his holding 

 in Breightmet ; the tenants at will paid 

 ,4 i os. t^d. in all. No courts were held 

 in the year ; roll in possession of Lord 

 Lathom. 



The manor is mentioned again in 

 1597 as in the possession of the Earl of 

 Derby ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 58, m. 291. For a subsequent dispute 

 on the matter see Duchy of Lane. Plead. 

 Eliz. ccii, D. 10. 



It formed part of the dower of Char- 

 lotte, Countess of Derby, for which she 

 compounded with the Parliamentary Com- 

 missioners in 1653 ; the 'old rents' were 

 j6 75. Bd.; Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 185. 



2ia Bolton Journ. and Guard. Oct. 2, 

 1908. The house is said to have been 

 raided ' during the last few months,' when 

 apparently the dated panel was destroyed 

 .or stolen. 



22 Roger son of Adam de Sharpies in 

 1292 claimed a messuage and lands in 

 Breightmet against Adam de Pilkington, 

 but the jury decided that the tenements 

 vrere in Bolton ; Assize R. 408, m. i. 



This was probably merely a technical 

 defence. 



28 John Hulton in 1487 held a mes- 

 suage, 60 acres of land, 4 acres of meadow, 

 20 acres of wood, and I oo acres of pasture 

 and turbary in Breightmet of Thomas 

 Stanley and John Southworth, by the 

 yearly rent of 2*.; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. iii, no. 26. In 1557 it was stated 

 that William Hulton had held of Sir 

 Edmund Traffbrd and Giles Ainsworth ; 

 ibid, x, no. 32. Two fines are on record 

 in 1574 and 1591 ; from the latter it 

 seems' that the Hultons' estate was then 

 sold to Katharine and Jane Ainsworth ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 1 15; 

 53, m. 217. 



24 There was in 1549 a dispute con- 

 cerning them between Alice Roscoe and 

 Ralph Roscoe and his wife Ellen ; Ducatut 

 Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 244. They arc not 

 mentioned in Raines, Lanes. Chant. 



25 The district is officially known as 

 Tonge-cum-Breightmet. 



26 O. Heywood, Diaries, i, 224, 241, 

 &c. There are many references to people 

 of the township in these diaries. 



1 By the Bolton, Turton, &c. Extension 

 Act, 1898. 



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



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 54. It was part of a 

 composite fee which Richard de Lathom 

 held 5^ plough-lands in Childwall, &c., 

 Harwood being the other plough-land. 



268 



Hence each of the parceners should have 

 been liable for the thirteenth part of a 

 knight's fee, but in 1302 Harwood was 

 held as the eighth part of a fee. 



8 That is, it became divided ; one half 

 descended through D'Ewias to Southworth 

 and was sold in the i6th century, after- 

 wards passing through several families ; 

 the other half descended to the Hollands, 

 and was forfeited in 1461, afterwards being 

 granted to the Stanleys apparently. These 

 portions of Harwood seem to have been 

 considered by their possessors as merely 

 appendages to Breightmet, though the 

 tenure was quite distinct ; thus the South- 

 worths certainly held part of Harwood, 

 but it is not separately named in the inqui- 

 sitions ; part of Breightmet also was 

 granted to Lord Stanley in 1484, without 

 distinct mention of Harwood, though this 

 must have been included. 



As to the Southworths' portion, it will 

 be seen in the account of Breightmet that 

 their successors, the Ainsworths and others, 

 spoke of their manors of Breightmet 

 and Harwood. In 1655 Alexander Bagu- 

 ley and Katherine his wife sold the manor 

 of Harwood to William Hulme, founder 

 of the Hulme charities ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 157, m. 50. 



As to the other portion, it is on record 

 that Robert de Holland and Elizabeth his 

 wife in 1292 secured the third part of a 

 moiety of the manor of Harwood from 

 William son of Turcok de Blackrod, and 



