A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Christ Church was erected in 1840 and the 

 patronage is vested in three trustees. 17 It contains old 

 carved oak fittings which have been brought from 

 various places. 



There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist 

 chapels. 



BRADSHAW 



Bradeshagh, 1312, and generally ; Bradshaw, 1580. 



This township occupies the western slope of a hill 

 which rises from below 400 ft. at Bradshaw Brook on 

 the west to 888 ft. on the eastern boundary, not 

 much more than a mile away. Bradshaw village 

 occupies the southern corner ; Horrobin mills, Birches, 1 

 and Turton Bottoms, are in the north. The area is 

 1,156 acres. The population was in 1901 enume- 

 rated with that of Turton, in which township Brad- 

 shaw was included by the Bolton Extension Act of 

 1898. 



Watling Street, an old Roman road, runs along the 

 north-east boundary. It is joined by the road from 

 Bolton, which passes through the village and then 

 north and north-east through the township. 



John Bradshaw's house, the Hall, had thirteen 

 hearths liable to the tax in 1666 ; the other houses 

 were all small, the whole township containing only 

 thirty-eight hearths. 2 



The land is chiefly in pasture. There are large 

 bleaching, dyeing, and calico-printing works. 



There is a cross on Watling Street, 3 and the pedestal 

 of another near the western border. 



Originally BR ADSHAW was included 

 MANOR in Harwood, of which it formed the 

 northern moiety ; * but a local family 

 established itself there, and in time the manor was con- 

 sidered to be held directly of the lords of Manchester 

 by the fourth part of a knight's fee, and payments of 

 f)J. each for sake fee and castle ward. 5 



No proper account of the family can be given, 

 though it retained its estate from the middle of the 

 1 3th century to the end of the I7th. 6 William and 

 Roger de Bradshaw occur in Turton pleas in I 246.' In 

 1253 Roger de Brockholes came to an agreement with 

 Ughtred de Bradshaw concerning 4 acres in Bradshaw 

 which Roger had received in free marriage with 

 Mabel the sister of Ughtred, together with right of 

 pasture in Bradeheme. 8 At a later date William son 

 of Roger de Brockholes released to Robert son of 

 Henry son of Ughtred de Bradshaw all his claim to 

 the said lands. 9 In 1324 Robertson of Henry de 

 Bradshaw made a settlement of the manor of Brad- 

 shaw. 10 There are only fragmentary notices of the 

 family during the two centuries following this. 11 

 An Alexander Bradshaw was head of the family in 

 1514, when he was succeeded by his son John, 1 * and 



*" For endowments see Land. Gaz. 

 9 July 1867; 16 Nov. 1877; 29 July 

 1 88 1. It was constituted an independent 

 parish church in 1857. Its erection was 

 due chiefly to the efforts of Robert Lomax, 

 of Lomax Fold, the representative of a 

 family long resident in the township. 

 Joshua Lomax of St. Albans, by his will 

 of 1685, charged his messuage, mill, and 

 lands in iarwood with certain charitable 

 payments. 



1 The Birches was the subject of a suit 

 in 1535 between Alexander Bradshaw and 

 Edmund Bradshaw, and others ; Ducatus 

 Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 149. 



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



8 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 148, 

 149. 



4 See the account of Harwood. 



s Harland, Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), iii, 

 480. In the 1 6th century the tenure was 

 socage. 



6 This family, in spite of its obscurity, 

 is supposed to have been the parent stock 

 of the more famous ones of Bradshagh of 

 Haigh near Wigan and Bradshagh of 

 Westleigh, as well as of others. 



7 Assize R. 404, m. 2. 



8 Kuerden, fol. vol. ; Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 107. Ughtred is here spelt Huard. 

 Ughtred de Bradshaw had a grant of com- 

 mon of pasture in Harwood from Alex- 

 ander de Cuerdale ; ibid. fol. 149^. 

 Brockholes was a part of the composite 

 fee in which was Bradshaw. 



9 Kuerden fol. MS. It appears from this 

 that Mabel was the daughter of Henry, 

 who must therefore have been the father 

 of Ughtred (Huthred). 



Henry de Bradshaw had a charter from 

 Henry Maudgeston [Monewdon], lord of 

 Tottington till 1 23 5,allowing him common 

 of pasture for all cattle fed in Bradshaw ; 

 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 149^. This prob- 

 ably relates to the acre in Affetside, which 

 long descended with Bradshaw. 



Several other members of the Bradshaw 

 family occur in deeds, &c., of the latter 

 part of the I3th century. In 1285 Beat- 



rice widow of Ughtred de Bradshaw in a 

 claim for dower appeared against Henry 

 son of Robert de Bradshaw respecting a 

 messuage and lands in Bradshaw by Bury; 

 against Alan son of William de Bradshaw 

 respecting a messuage and 2 oxgangs of 

 land there ; against Mary widow of Wil- 

 liam de Bradshaw respecting a messuage 

 and i oxgang of land ; against Henry son 

 of Matthew de Conway respecting a mes- 

 suage and land ; against William son of 

 Henry del Thorne respecting two mes- 

 suages, 6 oxgangs of land, &c. ; and 

 against Mary de Bradshaw respecting a 

 messuage, oxgang, &c. ; De Banco R. 58, 

 m. 7 d. The 10 oxgangs here in evidence 

 cannot be oxgangs of assessment, as the 

 whole of Harwood contained only i 

 plough-land. 



Alan de Bradshaw is named again ; De 

 Banco R. 345, m. 64 d. ; he was pro- 

 bably the Alan de Harwood mentioned in 

 the account of that township. Amery 

 widow of Alan de Bradshaw in 1296 

 claimed dower in Harwood against Roger 

 de Radcliffe ; ibid. 113, m. 120. Simon 

 de Bradshaw was a plaintiff in 1292 ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 5. In the same year a 

 Richard de Bradshaw is mentioned ; Plac. 

 de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 229, 230, 605. 

 In 1 274 the sheriff was ordered to arrest 

 certain persons on a charge of complicity 

 in the death of John de Bradshaw ; Coram 

 Rege R. 12, m. 69. John son of Simon 

 de Bradshaw was witness to a charter in 

 1335 ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 145/181. 



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

 Ches.), ii, 59 ; it is not clear who the 

 Henry de Bradshaw was by whose agency 

 the settlement was made. 



Robert de Bradshaw appears as early as 

 1292 as plaintiff against Henry de Traf- 

 ford respecting a tenement in Harwood ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 57. In 1306 Robert 

 de Bradshaw was one of the two free ten- 

 ants of Harwood [i.e. for Bradshaw], and 

 Nicholas D'Ewias granted his homage and 

 service to his brothers Roger and William 

 D'Ewias ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 19, no. 37. 



27O 



In 1311 he held of the Earl of Lincoln a 

 pasture in Tottington by homage and the 

 service of izd. a year ; Mamecestre, ii, 255. 



11 Henry de Bradshaw attested a charter 

 in 1341 and John Bradshaw in 1350; 

 Harl. MS. 21 12, fol. i45*/i8i, 152/188, 



A few notes from charters are 

 printed in the Pisit.of 1613 (Chet. Soc.),, 

 58. From one of these it appears that 

 Robert de Bradshaw had a son Henry,, 

 occurring in 1343, and another son 

 Richard, mentioned in 1393-4; a Thomaa 

 son of John de Bradshaw was living in 

 1378-9. Further, Henry de Bradshaw 

 had a son Ellis, also living in 1378-9. 

 The succession therefore was probably, in 

 spite of the long descents, Robert s. 

 Henry s. Ellis. 



Ellis de Bradshaw appears several: 

 times between 1385 and 1395 ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 13, 6 1. He is prob- 

 ably the Ellis de Bradshaw who, with 

 Margaret his wife, recovered seisin of 

 lands in Coppull, &c., in 1403 ; Dep. 

 Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 3. John son of 

 Ellis de Bradshaw was in 1395 already- 

 married to Eleanor, one of the daughters 

 and heirs of John de Arderne, then seven 

 years of age, to whom his father was one 

 of the guardians ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. i, 60 ;. 

 ii, 7-9. John de Bradshaw is from time 

 to time mentioned down to 1433 5 'bid. 

 ii, 37 ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. 1/9, m- 

 72. The land in Lower Darwen, after- 

 wards in possession of the family, prob- 

 ably came from his marriage. After forty 

 years another Ellis appears as lord of 

 Bradshaw ; Mamecestre, iii, 480. 



la In 1501 Alexander (son and heir- 

 apparent of John) Bradshaw of Bradshaw 

 agreed with Richard Holland of Denton 

 concerning the marriage of Alexander's 

 son and heir John with Ellen daughter of 

 Richard Holland; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 

 154/190. 



The Tottington court rolls (preserved at 

 Clitheroe Castle and the Record Office) 

 afford another clue, by means of the acre 

 in Affetside. In 1508 Andrew Bradshaw 



