A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Gamelsley, 68 :ind Unton. 69 The only freeholder 

 named in 1600 was Robert Pilkington, who was a 

 justice of the peace, 70 but other names occur in the 

 inquisitions, 71 and several are described as yeomen 

 in the Protestation List of 1641-2." From the 

 returns of the hearth tax of 1663 it appears that the 

 hall, the largest house, had only four hearths ; there 

 were three houses with three hearths, and seven with 

 two. 73 



In 1 796 the executors of Mr. Andrews paid nearly 

 a third of the land tax. 74 At the appropriation of the 

 tithe rent-charge in 184.5 the estate of Robert 

 Andrews was 1,777 acres > of which only 70 were 

 cultivated as arable ; moor and waste lands occupied 

 a little more than half the whole, while the demesne 

 was 200 acres. 



Great House Farm is a two-story stone-built house 

 with mullioned windows and stone-slated roof, erected 

 probably in the middle of the I7th century. The 

 principal front faces east, and has a small gable, and 

 there are two dormer gables on the west side. The 

 building was extended northward about the end of 

 the same century or beginning of the 1 8th, and a 

 further extension in the same direction but on a 

 different axis (swung round to north-east) is probably 

 * the house newly erected on the Great House Farm,' 

 leased to the master of the Grammar School in ij6j. 

 North of the house are the remains of a fine old 

 barn recently restored and used as a tea-house for 

 excursionists, but reduced to three bays in length, 

 carried on two sets of crucks measuring 9 in. by 20 in. 

 on stone bases, with a span of 22 ft. The barn, which is 

 now only 42 ft. in length, was apparently at one time 

 of much greater size ; like the Old Hall barn it is a 

 very fine specimen of ancient timber construction and 

 has been similarly restored, with a west porch and side 

 aisles, which have increased its width to 48 ft. 9 in. 

 The outer walls have been rebuilt, and the roof newly 



covered with stone slates. A short wing with a gable 

 facing south was added on a date subsequent to the 

 original building, 76 but this appears to have been 

 removed during the restoration. In the west gable 



A 



is preserved an old stone with the initials 



TAR 



(Thomas, Alice, and Robert Anderton) and date 1 702, 

 probably the year of an extension or rebuilding of 

 the outside wall. 



' The south end of New Hall Farm, containing a 

 fine large chimney-stack and a spiral stone staircase, 

 is possibly as old as the beginning of the 1 6th century, 

 while the interior oak and plaster partitions look even 

 older. On the east side of the house, over a loft now 

 used for hens, on a portion of the building which is 

 clearly later than the south end, is the date 1642.' 77 

 The church of HOLT TRINITY is 

 CHURCH situated on abrupt rising ground com- 

 manding a fine view westward over the 

 reservoirs and the country beyond. It is a plain 

 stone building of little or no architectural in- 

 terest consisting of a chancel 1 3 ft. 6 in. long by 

 1 5 ft. 6 in. wide, nave 55 ft. 6 in. by 27 ft. 6 in., 

 and south porch. The latter is a modern addi- 

 tion built in front of the old south-west door of 

 the nave, and a small vestry has also been added out- 

 side a corresponding door on the north side. The 

 walls are of sandstone in uneven courses, with large 

 quoins, many of which measure 3 ft. 6 in. in length, 

 and some at the west end over 5 ft. The roofs are 

 covered with modern green slates, and finished with 

 overhanging eaves, and the coping of the stone gables 

 has been renewed in recent times. At the west end 

 is an octagonal stone bell-turret on a square base, with 

 conical roof and good 18th-century cock vane, carried 

 out partly in front of the wall on corbels. 



The present structure appears to be a rebuilding, 

 about 1666, of the 16th-century chapel of Richard 



Robert son of Hugh, Towneley MS. GG, 

 no. 1817; Richard son of John (1316), no. 

 1914, &c. Adam de Knoll in 1 347 held half 

 a messuage by charter of his father Roger, 

 on Adam's marriage with Alice daughter 

 of Roger de Tonge ; Assize R. 1435, m. 

 1 8. Thomas Knoll and Robert his son 

 and heir in 1564 surrendered a rent of 6s. 

 in Rivington to James son and heir of 

 Christopher Anderton ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 26, m. 36. Christopher 

 Anderton of Lostock died in 1592 hold- 

 ing lands in Rivington of George Pilk- 

 ington ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, 

 no. 41. The heirs of Richard Knoll in 

 1610 paid T,d. chief rent to the Pilking- 

 tons' successors. 



68 Gamelsley appears to have been in 

 the south-western corner of the town- 

 ship, and is now covered by the reservoir 

 and filter beds. Richard son of Richard 

 de Gamelsley has been mentioned above. 

 Roger de Gamelsley granted to William 

 his eldest son, on his marriage with Mabel 

 daughter of Thomas de Ridleys, all his 

 lands in Rivington ; Towneley MS. GG, 

 no. 1740. Two persons named William 

 de Gamelsley contributed to the subsidy 

 in 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. 32. Thomas 

 .de Gamelsley of Rivington in 1367 made 

 a feoffment of his lands ; Towneley MS. 

 GG, no. 1870. By 1442 the lands of the 

 .above-named William de Gamelsley had 

 descended to Robert Unton ; they in- 

 cluded a messuage called the Knoll and 

 other lands ; no. 1739, 1740. 



w Alice widow of John Unton of 



Adlington made a settlement of her 

 lands in Rivington in 1405 ; no. 1782. 

 She was probably the heir of the Thomas 

 de Gamelsley of 1367. A Robert Unton, 

 who was the son of John and Alice, 

 made a grant of his hereditary lands to 

 Thomas and Hugh his sons in 1455 ; no. 

 1889. In 1458 Thomas son of Robert 

 Honkinson de Unton released to Robert 

 Unton all right to lands which the latter 

 had had from his father ; no. 1947 ; 

 while ten years later Isabel widow of 

 Robert Honkinson made a similar release 

 to the same Robert Unton ; no. 1959. 



The custody of two messuages in 

 Rivington was granted to John de Unton 

 of Adlington in 1400, they being in the 

 king's hands by the outlawry of Anio ap 

 Ithel Moil ; a year later Robert the son 

 of John had them ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. 

 xl,App. 527, 529. 



7 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 246. 



7 1 Leonard Asshaw of Shaw in Flixton, 

 who died in 1594, had land in Rivington; 

 the tenure is not stated ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. xvi, no. n. 



Between 1544 and 1549 Peter Ander- 

 ton claimed the Knoll in Rivington against 

 Thomas Asshaw ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), i, 168, 232; ii, 95. Leonard 

 Asshaw was plaintiff" concerning Moldes- 

 field in 1579 ; ibid, iii, 73. The estate 

 was sold to Robert Lever and Thomas 

 Breres in 1612 ; Rivington D. 



The Bradshaws of Bradshaw held four 

 messuages and lands of the Pilkingtons 



292 



by a rent of 3^. yearly ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. vii, no. 33 ; ix, no. 31 ; xiii, 

 no. 39 ; also in a fine of 1578 (Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 40, m. 206), and 

 Survey of 1610 quoted above. 



John Ruttor in 1540 made a settle- 

 ment of lands in Standish, Rivington, and 

 Heath Charnock ; they were purchased 

 by Geoffrey Walkden in 1562; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 34; 24, 

 m. 132 ; 38, m. 122. 



Ralph de Pilkington granted land in 

 Rivington to Edmund Crosse in 1468 ; 

 Rivington D. In 1580 John Crosse 

 and Alice his wife sold to Geoffrey Yate ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 42, m. 160. 



7 a The list is printed in full ir Irvine's 

 Ri-vington, 44-6. 



73 Ibid. 47. The same work contains 

 accounts of the following houses in the 

 township ; The Old Hall, which has a 

 water-mill formerly used for churning, 

 123 ; New Hall, 128 ; Great House, 

 formerly owned by the Bulloughs, then 

 by the Shaws, who sold it in 1699 to 

 Thomas Anderton of Rivington, and now 

 the property of Mr. W. H. Lever, 126 ; 

 Brown Hill, 130 ; School Brow, formerly 

 the Andertons', 130 ; Moses Cocker's, 

 132; Ainsworth's Farm, 134; Ward's 

 Farm, 135 ; Higher and Lower Knoll?, 

 136 ; and Higher, Middle, and Lower 

 Derbishires, 138. 



7 4 Land tax returns at Preston. 

 7 s Irvine, Ri-vington, 127, 



7 6 Ibid. 227. 



77 Ibid. 129. 



