A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



CULCHETH 



Culchet, I20I ; Kulchit, 1242; Culchith, Kil- 

 chiche, Kylchiz, 1292. The usual spelling is Cul- 

 cheth or Culchith ; the local pronunciation is shown 

 by the surnames Culshaw and Kilshaw, derived 

 from it. 



Peasfurlong, Holcroft, and Risley : there has been 

 no material change in the spellings. 



This large township, with an area of 5,369 ' acres, 

 has long been divided into four quarters, though 

 the boundaries are not always clearly defined, viz. : 

 Culcheth proper in the north ; Holcroft and Peas- 

 furlong, the eastern and western parts of the centre ; 

 and Risley in the south. The eastern and northern 

 boundaries are formed by the Glazebrook and its 

 tributary the Carr Brook ; another brook on the 

 west divides Peasfurlong from Croft. The southern 

 boundary appears to be drawn chiefly through moss- 

 land. 



The surface of the country is flat, the highest 

 elevation at Twiss Green being but 107 ft. above sea 

 level. In the north is agricultural country, fairly well 

 timbered. In the south the land is but sparsely 

 inhabited, and consists of reclaimed moss-land ; some 

 patches still exist where peat is cut for fuel and moss 

 litter. 



The characteristic vegetation of the moss-land is 

 still in evidence here and there, where birch and 

 bracken and nodding cotton sedges flourish. Potatoes 

 and corn, more particularly oats, thrive in a clayey 

 soil, where the land has been cleared of the bulk of 

 the peat. The geological formation is represented by 

 the Bunter series of the New Red Sandstone, and 

 consists mainly of the Upper Mottled Sandstone of 

 that series. Between Risley and Holcroft Mosses the 

 pebble beds extending from the north-west almost 

 touch an area of the Lower Keuper Basement Beds, 

 which juts into this county from south of the 

 Mersey. 



The population in 1901 numbered 2,294. 



Cotton is manufactured, and bricks and tiles are 

 made. In the 17th and 1 8 th centuries many of the 

 inhabitants followed the occupation of linen weaving. 



Culcheth proper has Carr, Hurst, Fowley and 

 Twiss Green in the north-west, north-east, south- 

 east, and south-west corners ; the village of Glaze- 

 bury * has sprung up in the last thirty years by Hurst, 

 on the banks of the Glazebrook. The hall is to 

 the east of Twiss Green. The area measures 1,310^ 

 acres. 



Holcroft Hall is near the Glazebrook ; to the 

 north is Eshot Lane, and a mile to the south Schole- 

 field. The chapel was built in this division, at the 



corner where the boundaries of Holcroft, Peasfttrlong, 

 and Culcheth meet. The area of this quarter is 

 i,2o6J acres. 



Peasfurlong, which measures 1,296 acres, has 

 Kingnall, or Kinknall, and Wigshaw in the north- 

 west corner and Flitcroft near the centre. 



Risley Old Hall is near the northern boundary of 

 the quarter ; the area is 1,556 acres. In Risley Moss 

 pre-Roman and Roman remains have been dis- 

 covered. 



The principal road is that leading north and 

 north-east from Warrington to Leigh. It is joined 

 near the church by the road from Winwick through 

 Croft. TheWigan Junction Railway of the Great 

 Central system crosses the township, having a station 

 (Culcheth) near Kinknall. 



Culcheth Wake ceased in 1822.' 



The township is governed by a parish council, and 

 has been divided into three wards : Newchurch, 

 Glazebury, and Risley. 



The first notice by name of the manor 

 MANORS of CULCHETH is that in the survey of 

 1 2 1 2, when it was within the fee or 

 barony of Warrington.* It so continued with some 

 modification of tenure' until 160 1, when Thomas 

 Ireland of Bewsey, in consideration of 100 marks, 

 released all his rights in the tenures, suits and services, 

 ward, homage and reliefs in Culcheth held of the 

 barony of Warrington.* 



In 1 2 1 2 Hugh son of Gilbert held the manor, by 

 knight's service, of William le Boteler, as four plough- 

 lands paying 4 marks a year. A certain Reynold had 

 held it of Pain de Vilers, and as nothing is said as to 

 the origin of his tenure, he may have been in posses- 

 sion when the Warrington fee was granted to Pain.' 



Gilbert de Culcheth, probably a son or grandson 

 of Hugh son of Gilbert, held the manor in 1242.° 

 He was killed in 1 246 by unknown malefactors, and 

 the township was fined because it made no pursuit.' 

 He left four infant daughters as co-heirs, Margery, 

 Elizabeth, Ellen, and Joan, who became wards of the 

 lord of Warrington ; and in course of time William 

 le Boteler granted their marriage to Hugh de Hindley." 

 Hugh married them to his own four sons, and Cul- 

 cheth was divided among them," its four quarters 

 becoming the manors of Richard de Hindley, who 

 took the name of Culcheth ; Adam, called de Peas- 

 furlong, and later de Hindley ; Robert, called de 

 Risley ; and Thomas, called de Holcroft. 



I. — Margery, the wife of Richard de Culcheth, was 

 dead in 1276 when Richard son of John de Haydock 

 complained that he had been disseised of his common 

 of pasture in CULCHETH. Richard de Culcheth 

 replied that the land had been divided, and that the 



1 5,373 according to the census of 

 1 901, including g acres of inland water. 



2 The old name was Bury Lane ; sec 

 Lanes, and Ches, Antiq. Notes, i, 2. 



' Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 647. 



^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc* 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 9. 



* In 1548 four rents each of xs. 2.^d. 

 were payable to Sir Thomas Boteler from 

 Culcheth, Peasfurlong, Holcroft, and Ris- 

 ley, the tenants being Gilbert Culcheth, 

 Sir John Holcroft (two), and John Risley ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 142. 

 The total rent of &s. lod. shows a great 

 reduction from the 4 marks of 1212, 

 being one-sixth only. 



' Culcheth D. no. 253 ; these abstracts 

 are printed in Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and 

 Gen. Notes, i, and to them are added a 

 large number of abstracts of wills, &c., 

 compiled by Mr. J. P. Rylands. 



^ Inq. and Extents, loc, cit. ^ \\>\i. 147. 



' Assize R. 404, m. 18A. As he is 

 named as defendant in the same roll 

 (m. I d.) he must have been killed in or 

 just before 1246. His widow, Dame 

 Cecily de Layton, in 1275 at Thornton 

 in the Fylde demised to Richard de Cul- 

 cheth, her son-in-law, her dower in the 

 mill at Culcheth, and granted that her 

 tenants should grind there as in Gilbert 

 de Culcheth's life ; Culcheth D. no. 23. 



156 



1" Culcheth D. no. 20 ; it would appear 

 from no. 2 that 40 marks was paid by 

 Hugh. 



This Hugh was lord of the manor of 

 Hindley, or a moiety of it, which de- 

 scended with Culcheth. There were 

 others of the name. 



1^ This appears from various suits re- 

 ferred to, and from the deeds preserved 

 by Dodsworth, cxlii, fol. 113 ; by one, 

 Richard's approvements in the Little 

 Twiss, Blind Hurst, Kinknall, and the 

 mill houses were allowed. Richard and 

 Margery's acknowledgement of the justice 

 of the partition 'a no. 21 of the Cul- 

 cheth D. 



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