SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



died in 1865, and afterwards to John William 

 Crompton, grandson of their sister Hannah Maria, 

 wife of Robert Fletcher of Liverpool, whose daughter 

 Lucy in 1834 married Woodhouse Crompton. 



In 1900 Mr. Crompton sold his interest in the 

 manor and his estate in the township, including 2,100 

 acres of land, to Mr. William Hesketh Lever, of 

 Thornton Hough in Wirral. Mr. Lever laid out 

 about 360 acres as a park for his native town of 

 Bolton. In 1902 the Corporation of Liverpool 

 sought to buy all the land to preserve the purity of 

 the Rivington water supply, and ultimately succeeded ; 

 they own the soil of the park, but have to main- 

 tain it. 



RlflNGTON HALL is said to have been originally a 

 wood and plaster building in the form of a quadrangle, 

 inclosing in its centre a square court and approached 

 by an open gateway. 63 No part of this timber struc- 

 ture, however, remains, though the quadrangular plan 

 is still retained with an open side on the east. The 

 house seems to have been partly rebuilt in stone at the 

 end of the 1 7th, or beginning of the i8th century, 

 though it is possible that the timber building did not 

 extend to more than one portion of the whole. The 

 north wing of the present building is of stone and 

 bears on the lower parts of the wall to the courtyard, 

 which has several built up low mullioned windows, a 

 stone with the date 1 700 and initials WBM [Wil- 

 liam Breres and his wife Martha (Gill)], while over a 

 doorway on the west side of the court are the initials 



W B (William Breres) and the date 1694. The 

 upper parts of both these wings have been rebuilt in 

 stone in later times. The greater part of the house 

 was pulled down in 1774 by Robert Andrews, who 

 built the present west front, a substantial two-story 

 structure, in red brick with a pediment. The date of 

 erection and the initials of Robert Andrews are on 

 the spout heads. The south wing is a later igth-cen- 

 tury addition also in brick. On the stable buildings 

 to the east of the house are two door heads, one dated 

 1713 with the initials WBMI (William and Martha 

 Breres and their son John), and the other 1732 with 

 the initials IAA (John Andrews and Abigail Crookes 

 his wife). 



On the north-east of the hall is a very fine old barn 

 105 ft. 8 in. in length, divided into seven bays by six 

 pairs of massive crucks standing on stone bases, vary- 

 ing in size from 10 in. to 15 in. by 18 in. to 20 in. 

 The width of the main span is 25 ft. 6 in., but 

 * aisles ' have been added in a recent restoration mak- 

 ing the total width of the building at present 

 57 ft. 6 in. The timbers are now wholly exposed, new 

 exterior stone walls having been erected during the 

 restoration, porches added in the north and south 

 sides, and the whole re-roofed with stone slates. The 

 barn is now used as a place of refreshment in connex- 

 ion with Lever Park. 



The Hospitallers had lands in Rivington. 64 

 Among the families occurring in the early deeds and 

 pleadings are those of Rivington, 65 Broadhurst, 66 Knoll, 67 



68 Introduction to ' Statutes of Riving- 

 ton School,' by Rev. Joseph Whitaker, 

 1837, quoted by Irvine, Rivington, 124. 



64 Lanes. Inj. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 105 ; 

 held by Ralph Pilkington in 1476. Cat- 

 holes, part of the land, lies to the north 

 of the church, between Dean Brook and 

 the reservoir. Richard Pilkington held 

 it by the same rent of izd. in 1540 ; 

 Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. 



The expression ' church land ' in a 

 charter of Cecily de Worsley (Towneley 

 MS. GG, no. 1673) may refer to the 

 Hospitallers' estate. 



65 Some deeds of this family have been 

 quoted in previous notes. From the 

 survey of 1610 it appears that William 

 Rivington held by the rent of a barbed 

 arrow. His estate is thus identified with 

 part of that called the Street in Char- 

 nock, held by Alexander Waddington at 

 his death in 1622 ;. Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 339-341. 

 The place gave a name to the Street 

 family about whose possessions there were 

 some violent proceedings in 1533 ; Duchy 

 Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 

 60-69. 



One of the earliest Rivington charters 

 is a grant by Simon de Rivington to 

 William de Burnhill of a part of Winter- 

 hold (Winter Hill), in the northern part 

 of the township ; the bounds mention 

 Tunstead End, the Hoarstones, Winter- 

 hold Pike, Armshead, and the Deane ; 

 Towneley MS. GG, no. 1818. Again, a 

 Roger de Rivington gave to Hugh son of 

 William de Worthington all his part of 

 Winterhold, the bounds again naming 

 Winterhold Pike ; ibid. no. 1974. 



Nel son of Geoffrey de Brun and Isabel 

 his wife released to Cecily widow of Roger 

 de Worsley land in Rivington called 

 Winterhold ; ibid. no. 1659 ; Irvine, 

 op. cit. 155. Cecily was the daughter of 

 William de Rivington, and she granted a 

 fourth part of Knolleshalgh (Knowlshaw) 



to Adam son of Robert son of Dorant ; 

 the bounds mention Caldwell by Wil- 

 liam's house, Whernstonescliff, Frith 

 Brook, Rivington Pike, Standing Stone, 

 Cringlebrook, and the foot of the cliff; 

 Towneley MS. GG, no. 1673 ; Irvine, 

 op. cit. 156. She was probably the 

 mother of the Alexander son of Cecily 

 already mentioned, living in 1327 and 



I33 6 - 



66 The Broadhurst estate is probably 

 the eighth part of the manor subse- 

 quently held by the Shaw family ; Irvine, 

 Ri-vington, 5, 22. Robert de Broadhurst 

 in 1277 claimed common of pasture in 

 Rivington against Robert del Knoll ; As- 

 size R. 1238, m. 34 d. Roger de Broad- 

 hurst in 1279 complained that Richard 

 de Heywood and others had broken into 

 his house at Rivington ; De Banco R. 30, 

 m. 84 d. Roger son of Roger de Broad- 

 hurst took action in 1301 against Roger 

 de Broadhurst and others, concerning 

 messuages, &c., in Rivington ; but the 

 case was deferred through an error in the 

 writ due to a blunder by the scribe ; 

 Assize R. 419, m. 9. In the following 

 year Roger de Broadhurst unsuccessfully 

 claimed 80 acres of moor and pasture in 

 Rivington and 131. $d. rent against 

 Richard de Pilkington, Adam de Hey- 

 wood, and others ; Assize R. 418, m. 2. 

 Roger was again a plaintiff in 1313, re- 

 specting land he had demised to Richard 

 de Hulton for a term ; De Banco R. 

 20 1, m. 64 d. 



William de Broadhurst contributed to 

 the subsidy in 1332 ; Exch. Lay Subs. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 31 ; he 

 was a defendant in 1347 ; Assize R. 

 1435, m. 1 8. It appears that William 

 was a son of Roger de Broadhurst ; in 

 1327 a settlement of his estates was 

 made on William and his wife Ellen, 

 with remainder to Richard de Hulton ; 

 Towneley MS. GG, no. 1663. From a 

 document cited in the text it appears 



291 



that Richard de Hulton was already in 

 possession of an eighth part of the manor. 

 This deed may therefore refer to a part of 

 his estate lying in the Hulton lordship. 

 The surrender of lands to Alexander de 

 Pilkington, already quoted (GG, no. 

 1704), may have preceded the grant by 

 Pilkington to Hulton. The heir of 

 Roger Broadhurst, however, paid a chief 

 rent of ^d. to the Pilkingtons in 1610. 



From a suit in 1506 it appears that a 

 William Broadhurst in 1390 settled his 

 lands on his daughter Ellen and her issue 

 by Robert son of Thomas Bradshaw, 

 their descendants being the plaintiffs 

 Robert Banastre and Hugh Eccleston. 

 Ellen, however, had another husband, 

 Richard Bulhagh, and another settlement 

 was made by her father, in virtue of which 

 John Shaw held the estate in 1 506. There 

 had been an arbitration about the succes- 

 sion in 1440 ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 33-6. 



6 ? Simon, son of Henry de Knoll, mar- 

 ried a Godith, and they had a son Roger; 

 thus Thomas de Coppull granted the 

 Hanging Load in Rivington to Simon 

 son of Henry de Knoll and his wife 

 Godith ; the bounds began at Tunstead 

 Brook, and passed the land of Roger son 

 of John de Broadhurst ; Towneley MS. 

 GG, no. 1933 ; Simon de Knoll and 

 Godith his wife made a grant to Roger 

 their son ; no. 1799 ; and Roger son of 

 Simon de Knoll granted to his mother, 

 Godith de Broadhurst, a fourth part of 

 his land of Anderton Carr between Tun- 

 stead Brook and Baxstondene water ; 

 no. 1910. Roger and Godith appear to 

 have surrendered their lands to Richard 

 de Pilkington (no. 1662, 2052), who 

 granted Broadhurst to Godith again ; no. 

 1918. Alicethe widow of Roger claimed 

 dower in 1324 (De Banco R. 257, m. 

 I36d.), and held it in 1341 ; Towneley 

 MS. GG, no. 1896. Other members of 

 the family are mentioned in the deeds t 



