SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



In the early pleadings a family surnamed Lostock 

 occurs. 37 In later times there does not seem to have 

 been any important freeholder except the Andertons 

 and their successors. 38 



Chew Moor was inclosed under an Act passed in 



The Wesleyans have a chapel at Chew Moor. The 

 Moravians at one time had a station there. 



A domestic chapel served by Jesuits was maintained 

 at Lostock most of the time the Andertons resided 

 there, and was used by the adherents of the Roman 

 faith in the district. 40 



BLACKROD 



Blakerode, 1200, and commonly ; Blacrode, 1220. 



The township of Blackrod extends for 3 miles from 

 north-west to south-east. The area is 2,388^ acres. 1 

 The highest ground, about 520 ft., is near the centre, 

 where the church and village are situated. The 

 ground slopes away to the north-east and north-west, 

 the lowest ground being in the western corner. The 

 River Douglas and an affluent form the bounda- 

 ries on three sides ; the line of separation from West- 

 houghton appears to be arbitrary ; the Red Moss 

 occupies the eastern corner and divides Lostock 

 from Blackrod. Huyton or Highton lies on the 

 northern boundary, while Arley famous for its coal 1 

 is the western part of the township. The popula- 

 tion in 1901 was 3,875. 



The principal road is that through the centre of the 

 township, leading from Bolton to Chorley and Preston. 

 On its way north-west it passes the hamlet of Scot 

 Lane End, the village of Blackrod, and the hamlet of 

 Chauntry Brow. There are cross-roads leading to 

 Horwich and Anderton on one side, and to Aspull, 

 Haigh, and Standish on the other. The London and 



North-Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Com- 

 panies' joint line from Wigan to Adlington passes 

 along the north-west boundary, by which is also the 

 Lancaster and Wigan Canal. The Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire Company's line from Preston to Bolton 

 passes along the north-eastern boundary and has a 

 station at Blackrod, from which a line to Horwich 

 branches off; to the south another branch leads to 

 the Wigan and Manchester line, and has a station on 

 the boundary called Hilton House. 



A fair is held on the Thursday after 1 2 July. In 

 1 804 there were horse races and a cock-fight at the 

 celebration. 3 



The soil is clayey, overlying clay ; wheat and 

 potatoes are grown. Co.d-mines have long been 

 worked and form the principal industry. There 

 were formerly bleach - works, and calico - printing 

 works. Bricks are made. 



A vaporous sulphur spring existed at Arley. 4 



A local board was created in 1872,* and it provided 

 for the water supply and drainage of the township. 6 

 In 1894 it was transformed into an urban district 

 council of nine members. Gas is supplied by a 

 private company. The cemetery, opened in 1886, 

 is controlled by the district council. 



A castle is traditionally said to have stood in the 

 village. 9 Some ancient dishes and candlesticks were 

 found at Arley in i8o3. 10 



In 1666 there were in all ninety-nine hearths 

 liable to the tax ; the two largest houses had five 

 hearths each. 11 



The manor of BLACKROD, rated at 

 MANOR I plough-land, was in the first half of the 

 1 2th century in the hands of William 

 Peverel, but escheated to the king in H53- 11 About 

 1 190 it was granted by John, then Count of Mortain, 

 to Hugh le Norreys at a thegnage rent of 2O/. a 



.recompense for his true, diligent, and 

 faithful service ' ; and land in Horwich to 

 the value of 401. for a time to enable James, 

 the son of Richard, to pursue his studies at 

 Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship 

 at St. John's College in 1523 ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 8z ; Baker, Hist. 

 St. John's Coll. (ed. Mayor), i, 282. 



Roger Urmston of Lostock, who had a 

 son Richard, was living in 1556 ; Ander- 

 ton Evidences, no. 7. 



In 1574 Robert Barton of Smithills 

 granted a lease of the same tenement to 

 Roger son of Richard Urmston for 301 

 years; ibid.no. 32. Richard, the father 

 of Roger, was still living, and had had a 

 mother, Janet ; Roger was unmarried and 

 had a brother James, and sisters Margery, 

 Anne, and Margaret. 



Roger, son and heir apparent of Richard 

 Urmston, and Christian his wife, in 1594 

 arranged for the succession of his sons 

 Richard and James, with remainders to 

 the heirs of his sisters Anne, wife of John 

 Leigh, and Margaret, wife of William 

 Brotherton ; ibid. no. 70. These Urms- 

 tons were related to the families of West- 

 leigh and Kinknall in Culcheth ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 



433- 



Richard Urmston, the son, was in 1625 

 outlawed for felony, having stolen two 

 sheep. This endangered the lease ; but in 

 1635, Margaret, widow of Roger Urmston 

 of Lostock, and Thomas Anderton of 

 Horwich, made an assignment of the 

 lease, apparently for the benefit of a 

 on John, and daughters Margaret and 



Jane ; Anderton Evidences, no. in, 115. 

 Christopher Anderton appears to have 

 obtained the lease. Sir Thomas Barton, 

 as heir of the original grantor, appears to 

 have claimed the tenement in 1637, but 

 in 1652 it became the property of Francis 

 Anderton, who in 1668 transferred the 

 lease to his brother Christopher ; ibid. no. 

 118-19, 135. In this manner, apparent- 

 ly, the Bartons' estate passed to the 

 Andertons. 



In 1 7 3 5, however, Moss Hall was owned 

 by Richard Clough, and another portion 

 of the estate was held by Ralph Pendle- 

 bury ; Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 149. 



"7 In 1268 Richard de Lostock held the 

 Cockersand estate in the township at a 

 rent of i id. a year, and J mark at death ; 

 Cockersand Chartul. ii, 717. Annora and 

 Mabel, daughters of Roger de Los- 

 tock, in 1291 claimed a tenement against 

 Richard de Redvales ; Assize R. 1294, 

 m. 8 d. The next year Almarica and 

 Mabel, daughters of Roger de Lostock, ap- 

 peared against William son of William de 

 Anderton, respecting a messuage and land 

 in Lostock, which should have descended 

 to them from their grandfather Robert. 

 The defendant asserted that Robert had 

 granted them to his son Richard and put 

 him in seisin ; but the jury admitted the 

 right of the plaintiffs to part of the land, 

 including a place in which was ' the moiety 

 of a grange" ; Assize R. 408, m. 8 d. 

 Ellen, the widow of Roger, was non- 

 suited in a claim for dower ; ibid. m. 4. 

 Almarica and Mabel made further claims 

 in 1301; ibid. 1321, m. 5 d. 



299 



88 In the Land Tax Return for 1789 

 (at Preston) Henry Blundell contributed 

 more than half, the vicar of Bolton, 

 Robinson Shuttleworth, and Miss Clough 

 and others contributing smaller amounts. 



89 47 Geo. Ill, sess. 2, cap. 26. 



< Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 320, 368-73. 



1 The Census Rep. of 1901 gives 2,392 

 acres, including 22 of inland water. 



2 The mines are not at present worked. 

 T. Hampson, Hist, of Blackrod (1882), 



64. 



< Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 581. 



8 Land. Gaz. 9 July 1872 ; for borrow- 

 ing powers see an Act of 1869, 42 & 43 

 Viet. cap. 43. 



6 Hampson, Blackrod) 66- 70. 



9 The name is preserved. Alan del 

 Castel was a tenant of Hugh le Norreya 

 in 1283; Norris D. (B.M.), no. 1003. 



In Hampson, Blackrod, it is stated that 

 a former vicar said : ' At this place the 

 remains of an ancient castle, the entrance 

 to which and the foss were plainly dis- 

 cernible within the memory of many who 

 are now alive (1846) . . . Many relics 

 were found in the field in which the 

 edifice was built. A key weighing ij Ib. 

 and a crown were found ' (p. 20). 



10 Gent. Mag. Mar. 1803, p. 220. 



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



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 68, 121. Peve- 

 rel's forfeiture was the punishment of 

 compassing the death of Ranulf Gernons, 

 Earl of Chester, by poison ; Ormerod, 

 Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 25. 



