A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Lindsay, Earl of Craw- 

 ford and Balcarres. Quar- 

 terly^ I and 4 : Gules a 

 feise cheeky argent and 

 azure for Lindsay ; 2 and 

 3 : Or a lion rampant 

 gules debruised by a ribbon 

 sable, for Abernethy, 



His son Sir Roger, the last baronet, died in 1787 

 without issue," the heir to the manor and estates 

 being his sister Elizabeth.*' 



She married John son of Sir 

 Humphrey Edwin,'" and her 

 daughter and heir, Elizabeth, 

 married Charles Dalrymple of 

 North Berwick, whose daugh- 

 ter and heir, Elizabeth Brad- 

 shaigh," married Alexander 

 Lindsay, sixth Earl of Bal- 

 carres. He thus became lord 

 of the manor of Haigh," which 

 has descended regularly " with 

 the title to James Ludovic 

 Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and 

 Balcarres, who succeeded in 

 1880." His son. Lord Bal- 

 carres, is the member of Par- 

 liament for the Chorley divi- 

 sion of the county. At the Hall is a valuable library, 

 including a Mazarin Bible among the printed books." 



Apart from the Bradshaw family there do not seem 

 to have been any important landowners '° in the town- 

 ship, though in 1600 Ralph Charnock was also re- 

 turned as a freeholder." 



A poor man named John Rycroft was in trouble 

 with the Commonwealth authorities during the Civil 

 War ; he explained that he had assembled with the 

 king's men on Westhoughton Common but had not 

 joined them later/' 



In connexion with the Established Church St. 

 David's, Haigh, was consecrated in 1833 as a chapel 

 of ease to Wigan ; a district was assigned five years 

 later. The rector of Wigan is patron." At New 

 Springs, St. John Baptist's, an iron church, was licensed 

 in 1 87 1 ; and rebuilt in brick in 1897. 



A schoolwas founded here about 1660 by the 

 township."" 



ASPULL 



Aspul, IZI2 ; 1292 ; Hasphull, 1277 ; Haspehull, 

 1292; Aspehill, 1292 ; Aspell, 1301; Asphull, 1304, 

 common ; Aspull, 1356, common. Aspden and Asp- 

 shaw occur in the district. 



This township, though in the parish of Wigan, is 

 in the hundred of Salford. It is separated from West- 

 houghton by a brook running through Borden or Bors- 

 dane Wood, but has no marked physical separation 

 from the other neighbouring townships, which, like 

 itself, are in Wigan parish. The ground rises from 

 south to north, reaching 400 ft. The area is 1,905 

 acres.' The population in 1901 was 8,388.' 



The principal road leads north from Hindley to 

 Haigh, passing through Pennington Green, which 

 lies 2^ miles east-north-east of Wigan Church. To 

 the south-west of this lies Hindley Hall, and a 

 road branches off to the north-west, going through 

 New Springs to Wigan. The Lancaster Canal passes 

 through the western corner of the township. 



Aspull Moor lies in the northern half of the town- 

 ship. 



Cannel coal was found in Aspull. There are several 

 large collieries, also malt kilns and a cotton mill. Wheat, 

 oats, and potatoes are grown. 



A local board was formed in 1876. This has been 

 succeeded by an urban district council of nine members. 

 The earliest notice of JSPULL is that 

 MANOR contained in the survey of 1 2 1 2, when, as 

 one plough-land, it formed part of the Child- 

 wall fee held by Richard son of Robert de Lathom, 

 under the lord of Manchester.' Immediately after 

 this lands in Aspull are found among the possessions 

 of William de Notton, being described as the right of 

 Cecily his wife, daughter of Edith, lady of Barton-on- 

 Irwell.' The Lathom mesne manor was commonly 

 ignored* ; thus, in 1302 Richard de Ince, as son and 

 heir of Henry de Sefton, and Adam de Hindley, were 



^^ Little seems to be known of the 

 last Sir Roger, or of the male descendants 

 of the previous baronets. 



*^ These and the subsequent particulars 

 are from the pedigree in Baines, Lanes. 

 (ed. Croston), iv, 294-296. 



'" See the note in G.E.C., Complete 

 Peerage, ii, 419 ; Herald and Gen. vi, 62 ; 

 viii, 186, 187. 



«lShe died 10 Aug. 1816. There is 

 a monument to her in Wigan Church ; 

 Bridgeman, op. cit. 703. There was a re- 

 covery of the manor in 1804; Aug. 

 Assize, 44 Geo. Ill, R. 5. 



*^ The Earl of Balcarres resided at Haigh, 

 which has since remained the principal 

 seat of the family. He became de jure 

 23rd Earl of Crawford in 1808, but did not 

 assume the title. He died in 1825, and 

 was buried at Wigan ; see Did. Nat, Biag. 



s^ See G.E.C. loc. cit. James, son of 

 the sixth earl by Elizabeth Dalrymple, was 

 member for Wigan 1820 to 1825, and was 

 created Baron Wigan of Haigh Hall in 

 1826. In 1848 the House of Lords de- 

 cided that he had justified his claim to the 

 earldom of Crawford. He died 15 Dec. 

 1869. For his younger son Colin, see 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



The eldest son and heir, Alexander Wil- 

 liam Crawford Lindsay, Earl of Crawford 

 and Balcarres, author of Hist, of Christian 

 Art, &c., died 13 Dec. i88o ; see Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. He was succeeded by his son, 

 the present lord of Haigh. 



'* He was member for Wigan 1874 to 

 1880, is a fellow of the Royal Society, and 

 was formerly president of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society. 



^^ Lanes, and Ches.Antiq. Soc, i, 59 ; iii, 

 236. 



'"^ Robert son of Richard de Windle 

 granted to his brother Adam Haleshurst 

 and Middlehurst in Haigh ; Kuerden MSS, 

 ii, fol. 213, n. 22. 



^^ Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 238, 243. 



Robert Charnock, in right of James 

 Bradshaw, claimed possession of a water- 

 mill, &c. in Haigh in 1581 ; Dueatus 

 (Rec. Com.), iii, 109 ; see also iii, 435. 



Roger Bradshaw was the only landowner 

 contributing to the subsidy in 1628 ; Nor- 

 ris D. (B.M.). 



Other holders of land in the i6th century 

 were Thomas Holt, Christopher Anderton, 

 and Gilbert Sherington, probably as pur- 

 chasers of land of suppressed monasteries 

 and chantries. 



'8 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, ii, 1093. 



" Bridgeman, ff^igan Ch. 783 ; Land. 

 Gax. 3 Apr. 1838. 



"•Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 251. 



' 1,906, including 23 of inland water, 

 according to the Census of 1901, 



' Including New Springs and Tor- 

 lock. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 54, The fee was a 

 composite one of 6 j plough-lands (of which 



118 



Aspull formed one), held chiefly by Richard 

 de Lathom, and partly by Roger de Samles- 

 bury and Alexander de Harwood, 



^ The evidence of Edith's holding is 

 contained in grants preserved in the 

 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc), ii, 695-8. 

 Edith de Barton herself gave the canons 

 of Coclcersand a portion of land in Aspull 

 in free alms ; Lonington Brook, Holelachc, 

 Scraplache, and Cranberry Lea, are named 

 among the boundaries ; no. 6, 



William de Notton, with the assent of 

 Cecily his wife, of whose dower it was, 

 gave half of Hulgreave in Aspull ; and 

 added a portion bounded by the Roskit 

 (brook), from the ford, thence by a lache 

 and oaks marked with crosses to the 

 Meanway, and so back to the ford ; no. 4, 

 I. Sir Gilbert de Barton, son of William 

 and Cecily, confirmed these gifts, and him- 

 self added the Millward's croft ; the bounds 

 of this went by Mickle Brook, starting at 

 the ford, to the boundaries of Richard de 

 Hindley's land, and by various dykes to 

 Sinerhill Leach, and so to the ford ; also 

 waste near Brinshope; no. 5, 2. The land 

 called Scrapps in Aspull was in 1501 held 

 by Richard Houghton at ii rent of 2d. ; 

 Cockersand Rent. (Chet. Soc), 4. 



* From a subsequent note it will be 

 seen that the lordship of the Lathoms 

 was recognized in 1290. In 1346-55 

 Sir Thomas de Lathom is said to have 

 held the same fee, including Aspull ; Feud. 

 Aids, iii, 89. 



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