SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



he by several generations of the same name. 13 In the 

 i yth century the family was remarkable for its Puritan- 

 ism in a Puritan district. 14 About this time their 

 fortunes began to decline, and in 1 694 the manor was 

 purchased by Henry Bradshaw of Marple in Cheshire, 

 a nephew of the regicide John Bradshaw. 15 It has 

 since descended regularly, by Henry's daughter and 

 heir Mary, who married Nathaniel Isherwood of 



AAA 



BRADSHAW. Argent 

 nao bendlets between as 

 many martlets sable. 



ISHIRWOOD. Argent 

 afesse dancetty assure, OH 

 a chief of the second a 

 lion passant or. 



Bolton, to Mr. John Henry Bradshawe Isherwood, the 

 present lord of the manor and principal landowner. 18 



Bradshaw Hall stands a little over a quarter of a 

 mile north of the village on the left bank of the Brad- 

 shaw Brook, hidden from the road by tall trees. The 

 house is a fragment of a fine I yth-century building, 

 with a new south front dating from the early years of 

 the last century and a large modern north-west wing. 

 The original building had a frontage facing east of over 

 60 ft., and was of three stories with centre porch and 

 flanking bay windows going up the full height, and 

 with an almost continuous range of mullioned and 

 transomed windows on each floor. The walls were 

 faced with sandstone and finished with a plain parapet 

 ornamented with spiked finials, and the roofs were 

 covered with stone slates. On the north side the 

 house extended westward about 60 ft., the plan thus 

 forming an irregular L-shape, eaci wing being 25 ft. 

 in width. The north wing still stands pretty much 

 as when built, being still three stories in height and 

 preserving its rows of mullioned and transomed 

 windows, together with the stone parapet, but the east 



had died, leaving a brother and heir John, 

 who received possession of the land. The 

 next in succession was Alexander Brad- 

 shaw, who died in 1514, and his son John 

 succeeded him. At this point the inquisi- 

 tion* and visitations begin. 



18 John Bradshaw had a letter from 

 Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland and 

 Warden of the Marches, desiring his 

 assistance against the Scots ; VIM, of 1613, 

 p. 58. He died 19 Jan. 1542-3, holding 

 the manor of Bradshaw in Harwood, with 

 sixteen messuages, a fulling mill, a water- 

 mill, &c., together with messuages and 

 lands in Sharpies, Bolton, Harwood, and 

 Rivington, the manor and lands in Brad- 

 shaw being held of Lord La Warre in 

 socage, by a rent of <)d. yearly and two 

 suits at his court of Manchester ; the land 

 in Harwood was held of Edmund Traf- 

 ford in socage by the rent of a barbed 

 arrow ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 

 33. The inquisition recites a feofFment 

 for the benefit of his wife Ellen, who sur- 

 vived him ; also grants to his surviving 

 brothers Hugh and Robert, made in 1523 

 and 1532 respectively. John Bradshaw, 

 the son and heir, was over forty years of 

 age. He had special licence of entry ; 

 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 551. See 

 also Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 64. 



John Bradshaw the younger died on 10 

 July 1548, leaving a son and heir only 

 fourteen years of age. His wife was Mary 

 daughter of Ralph Orrell ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 31. By his will 

 he gave all his lands, &c., in Bradshaw 

 and Rivington to Mary his wife for a term 

 of twelve years ; they included the hall 

 with its appurtenances, various closes 

 named Mort's Hill, Beysingley, Chapel 

 Fields, Holmes after the Water (formerly 

 Holme Hurststead), Oldham, &c. Pro- 

 vision was made for his younger sons and 

 daughters Ralph, Robert, Alexander, 

 Richard, Agnes, Ellen, Margaret, Anne, 

 and Elizabeth. To his son and heir John 

 he left ' all such heirlooms as are specified 

 in my father's last will,' his best gelding, 

 a great ark standing in the barn, and all 

 his harness. He desired to be buried with- 

 in Bolton Church, near the accustomed 

 burial-place of his ancestors ; With (Chet. 

 Soc. new ser.), i, 6-10. See also Ducatus 

 Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 15, 32. 



The heir, the third John Bradshaw in 

 succession, had special licence of entry in 



1556 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 551. 

 He died on 14 May 1574, leaving as heir 

 his son John, then twenty-two years of 

 age. The manors and lands were un- 

 changed ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, 

 no. 39. The day before his death he 

 made provision for his younger son 

 Nicholas and his daughters Anne, Eliza- 

 beth, Alice, and Mary ; ibid. See also 

 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. (ed. Earwaker), i, 1 68. 

 In 1587 disputes arose over the provision 

 made for the daughter Anne, who married 

 Thomas Holt of Hagley, Bucks.; Duchy 

 of Lane. Plead, cxlii, H, 2 ; cxxv, H, 20. 



John Bradshaw, who succeeded, made a 

 settlement of the manor and lands in 

 1580 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 42, 

 m. 140. He was living in 1613, when a 

 pedigree was recorded, which begins 

 wrongly. He died 31 Dec. 1626 holding 

 the manor of Bradshaw, with sixteen 

 messuages, a fulling mill, 300 acres of 

 land, 200 acres of meadow, 500 acres of 

 pasture, 50 acres of wood, 500 acres of 

 moor, &c., in Bradshaw, ij acres in Har- 

 wood, and a messuage in Bolton ; John 

 his son and heir was over forty years of 

 age ; Towneley MS. C, 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 

 fol. 78 ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 128. 



John Bradshaw the heir was still living 

 in 1664, when a pedigree was recorded, 

 showing a son John and a grandson also 

 John, the last-named being eighteen years 

 of age ; Dugdale, Ft sit. (Chet. Soc.), 50. 

 This pedigree was signed by Hugh Brad- 

 shaw, a younger son of John the grand- 

 father. John Bradshaw, a ' very ancient ' 

 man, was buried 3 Feb. 1665-6 ; an inci- 

 dent at his funeral is narrated by Oliver 

 Heywood in his Diaries, iii, 94. 



A settlement of the manor of Brad- 

 shaw, &c., was made by fine in 1642, the 

 deforciants being John Bradshaw and Anne 

 his wife, John Hartley and Alice his wife ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 141, no. 5. 



A ' Shakespeare Bible ' noticed in N. 

 and Q. (6th ser. xi, 57) contains some 

 particulars of the Bradshaw family, 

 William, younger son of John Bradshaw, 

 having been an owner of it. 



14 A zealous Protestant, writing in 

 1595 to some one in authority urging 

 the more rigorous prosecution of recusants, 

 suggested John Bradshaw of Bradshaw as 

 a proper person to be nominated a commis- 

 sioner for the purpose ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 585. He was a justice 



271 



of the peace ; ibid. 583. In 1620 he and 

 a number of others were presented ' for 

 not communicating at Easter last or not 

 receiving the same kneeling ' ; he appears 

 to have conformed by deputy ; Scholes and 

 Pimblett, Bolton, 315. He was a member 

 of the Presbyterian classis in 1 646. After 

 the Restoration Bradshaw Chapel, by the 

 conniva.ice of the Bradshaw family, re- 

 mained in the hands of the Nonconfor- 

 mists for some time. 



15 ' John Bradshaw of Bradshaw, Esq., 

 in his will dated 15 March 1693-4, re- 

 cites his indentures of 15-16 May 1692, 

 whereby he empowered his trustees, 

 Henry Wrigley of Langley, Thomas Brad- 

 shaw of Haslingden, and John Jenkinson 

 of Failsworth, gents., by lease, mortgage, 

 or sale to raise legacies for his younger 

 children from his manor of Bradshaw, 

 Bradshaw Hall, and all his lands in Brad- 

 shaw, Harwood, and Tottington ; and 

 these trusts fulfilled he devised the same 

 lands to his son John Bradshaw and his 

 heirs. This son shortly afterwards, hav- 

 ing no issue by his wife, a daughter of 

 Gregge of Chester, sold the estate 

 to Henry Bradshaw of Marple Hall ' ; 

 Raines in Notitia Cestr. ii, 17. 



John Bradshaw, the testator, was buried 

 30 March 1694; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App. iv, 291. The sale of his estates 

 must have been determined upon already, 

 for by fine of 28 March 1694 Henry 

 Bradshaw secured from John Bradshaw, 

 Thomas Bradshaw, Henry Wrigley, and 

 John Jenkinson the manor of Bradshaw, 

 together with messuages, water grain 

 mill, lands and pasture rights in Brad- 

 shaw, Harwood, and Tottington ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 232, m. 70. 



'After the sale of Bradshaw the family 

 was represented by the descendants of 

 Thomas Bradshaw, Esq. (great-uncle of 

 the vendor), and his wife Elizabeth, 

 daughter and heiress of Edward Raws- 

 torne of Lum Hall, Esq., and whose 

 grandson, Rawstorne, gent., by his wife 

 Dorothy, daughter of the Rev. Henry 

 Walmsley of New Malton in the county 

 of York, had a son Dr. Henry Bradshaw, 

 living in Salford in 1765, and who con- 

 sidered himself entitled to this estate of 

 his male ancestors'; Raines, op. cit. ii, 18. 



18 For an account of this family see 

 Earwaker, East Cheshire, ii, 61-76; 

 Ormerod, Cheshire (ed. Helsby), iii, 843. 



