SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



Toad or Todd Lane," crossing the Irk " and mount- 

 ing Red Bank." Half Street," at the east end of the 

 church, was continued as Millgate,** which wound 

 along by the Irk, to reach the lord's mills on that 

 stream. The grammar school, on its original site, 

 and some old timbered houses "" still distinguish the 

 street, though the mills have gone. From the north- 

 east corner of the church Fennel Street *' led eastward 

 past Hyde's Cross,*^ at the corner of Todd Lane, to 

 Withy Grove" and Shude Hill." 



From the south Deansgate,*^ on the line of the old 

 Roman road from Chester, ran northerly towards the 

 church, but curving to the east near the bridge was 

 continued as Cateaton Street or Hanging Ditch ; at 

 the junction Smithy Door ™ led south to the market- 

 place, which was probably always an open square. 



though the area may have been diminished by encroach- 

 ments through traders desiring to have their houses and 

 shops upon it. Smithy Door has gone and Deansgate 

 has been straightened, but the eastern side of the 

 market-place remains ; from it Mealgate, now Old 

 Millgate,*' leads north to Cateaton Street. 



In the open space stood the market cross, the toll 

 booth or town hall in which the courts were held, 

 and the pillory and stocks.*' The south side of the 

 market-place was formed by a lane leading east and 

 west ; the eastern part was called Market-stead Lane,'* 

 and the western St. Mary's Gate." The conduit 

 stood in it.'* Beyond this lane southward was the 

 field where the fair was held, called Acres Field.'^ 



Other street-names occur." In the town the prin- 

 cipal houses were that of the RadclifFes of the Pool 



^^ * Towdlane ' is named in 1552; 

 Court Leet Rec. i, 6. There was a well in 

 it ; ibid, ii, 268. In 1609 it is called 

 ' Crooked Lane alias Tode Lane,' and in 

 1 61 8 'New Street alias Toade Lane' ; 

 ibid, ii, 245 ; iii, 6. 



■•1 The name Scotland at this point 

 occurs in 1762; Procter, Manch. Streets, 45. 



<** Red Bank is named in 1557 and 

 •573 j Court Leet Rec. i, 40, 159 (a high- 

 way). In later times there was bull bait- 

 ing at Red Bank, at the wakes, with other 

 sports 5 Procter, Manch. Streets, 43, 

 Knoll Bank, on the east side of the road 

 from Manchester to Cheetham, is men- 

 tioned in a deed of 1596 by John Beswick 

 and Elizabeth his wife, as formerly the 

 property of Philip Strangeways ; Chetham 

 Papers, and Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 xxvi, 424. 



■*2 This descriptive name of the present 

 Cathedral Street occurs in 1622 ; Court 

 Leet Rec. iii, 59. 



■''' Millgate (Mulnegate) is named in 

 deeds from about 1300 ; it gave a surname 

 to resident families ; Manch, Corp. D. 

 undated, 1324, 1343. 



^^ These and other remains are de- 

 scribed below. 



*' Fennel Street is named in 1506 ; De 

 Trafford D. no. 71. It was perhaps the 

 same as Middlegate mentioned from 133 1 

 to 1498 ; a burgage in Middlegate stood 

 next to Todd Lane on the west side of it; 

 ibid. no. 6, 29, 68. Middlegate has some- 

 times been identified with Half Street. In 

 Fennel Street was Barley Cross, where in 

 1 816 the corn market was held ; Aston, 

 Manch. 217 ; see also Procter, Manch. 

 Streets, ■}$. The continuation of Fennel 

 Street west to Hunt's Bank was in 1769 

 used as the apple market and so called ; 

 Court Leet Rec. viii, 125. Perhaps it was 

 the Churchyard-side of earlier times. 



^^ Hyde's Cross is supposed to have 

 been the place of sanctuary. In 1662 a 

 place was described as in Todd Lane and 

 near Hyde Cross. At that time the swine 

 market was there ; Court Leet Rec. v, 62. 



*^ The old name was Within-greave ; 

 Court Leet Rec. i, 3. The Dove-house 

 Field was in this lane ; ibid, iii, 60. A 

 house known as Within-greave Hall was 

 part of the Hulme trust estate ; see Proc- 

 ter, Bygone Manch. 42. 



*^ In 1554 James Chetham was ordered 

 to make 'the highway at the Shude Hill 

 as [= which] he hath made, sufficient 

 for carts to come and go' ; Court Leet Rec. 

 i, II. 



In later times at least the lord's pinfold 

 was in Shude Hill, at the end of Withy 

 Grove. The pinfold is mentioned in 

 1535 as 'in the east end' of the town. 



and lying west of land bounded on the 

 north by the highway and on the south by 

 the Claypits ; Manch. Corp. D. 



■*^ A burgage in the Deansgate, opposite 

 the Parsonage, is mentioned in 1395 ; De 

 Trafford D. no. 23. The Parsonage is a 

 piece of land on the west or Irwell side of 

 Deansgate ; near it by the river side was 

 the Lady Lode ; Court Leet Rec. iii, 216. 

 The southern end of Deansgate was called 

 Alport Lane ; ibid, i, 34, 177. Sowse- 

 hill, supposed to be the later Sotshole, was 

 in 1564 a close paying a rent of 4(/. to the 

 lord of the manor ; ibid, i, 86. For old 

 Deansgate see also Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. 

 Soc. xxii, 180. 



™ Smithy Door, afterwards a street 

 name, seems to have been a door or house 

 in 1560, when 'the highway leading from 

 the Smithy Door to the Old Market stead ' 

 is named in a deed ; Nugent Charity D. 

 (Manch. Corp.). About this spot was 

 Patrick's Stone ; see Court Leet Rec. ii, 64; 

 iii, 6. 



»i Robert son and heir of Roger Marler 

 in 1 501 made a feoffment of his messuage, 

 burgages, and land called the Melehouses 

 in the Melegate ; Manch. Guardian N. 

 and Q. no. 355. 'The Melehouse is again 

 mentioned in 1529 and 1546 ; Manch. 

 Corp. D. 



*^ Lanes, and Ches. Antiij. Soc. xv, I ; a 

 new market cross was built in 1752 and 

 taken down in 1 8 1 ;, the pillory and stocks 

 being removed with it. See Procter, By- 

 gone Manch. 124. 



The toll booth, otherwise the Booths 

 or the Town Hall [Court Leet Rec. iv, 262; 

 vi, 73) was partly in private hands for 

 shops, Sec, for in 1656 Arthur Bulkley, 

 woollen draper, agreed not to hinder the 

 inhabitants of the town meeting in ' the 

 great chamber ' upon all public occasions; 

 ibid, iv, 321. 



The constables were ordered to rebuild 

 the cross in 1666; ibid, v, 81. For the 

 various crosses in Mancliester, Salford, 

 and Stretford see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. 

 Soc. xxii, 90-102, 108. 



5' ' A street called Markethstyd Lawne ' 

 is named in one of the Raines Deeds (Chet. 

 Lib.) of 1 5 26. The name was corrupted 

 into Market Street Lane, and then short- 

 ened to Market Street. A ' Daub Hole ' 

 — perhaps that in the part of the lane 

 afterwards called Piccadilly — existed in 

 1555 ; Court Leet Rec. i, 22. There was 

 a ' Brick croft ' somewhere near ; ibid, 

 and iv, 18, 30. The 'brick building' in 

 Deansgate, c. 1650, appears to have been 

 conspicuous by its contrast to other 

 houses ; ibid, iv, 67, 230. 



S'' St. Mary Gate occurs in 1482 ; De 

 Trafford D. no. 57. 



177 



*5 In 1493 there was in the Market 

 stead a * Waste place ' known as the Corn 

 Market stead, which in 1556 was more 

 usually called the Conduit Place ; Hulme 

 D. no. 29, 49. It was perhaps the * old 

 market stead' of 1552 and later years ; 

 Court Leet Rec. i, 4, 1 5 n. ' Both the 

 marketsteads' are in 1647 named to- 

 gether with the shambles ; ibid, iv, 3. 



A complaint made in 1676 shows the 

 difficulties caused by increasing trade in 

 the narrow streets. On market days, it 

 was alleged, during the corn market at the 

 conduit people could not pass or repass 

 with coach or cart or horses laden or un- 

 laden from Marketstead Lane to Smithy 

 Door, which was the best way from Stock- 

 port and Ashton on one side, to Bolton, 

 Preston, and Warrington on the other. 

 Lest therefore the corn market should 

 suffer, the borough-reeve was requested to 

 remove the dealers in crockery, wooden 

 vessels, fruit, &c. to Hanging Ditch, and 

 to move the butchers, who had stalls at 

 the south side of the conduit, to the place 

 thus cleared at its north side ; thereby the 

 corn dealers would obtain the additional 

 room they needed ; Court Leet Rec. vi, 11. 



The Exchange of 1729 was built on the 

 site of the conduit ; ibid, vii, 66. The 

 supply of water came from springs in 

 Spring Gardens and the present Fountain 

 Street. 



56 For a note on the Acres see ibid, ii, 

 7. The Nether Acres and Over Acres, kept 

 open from the time corn had been gotten 

 until Candlemas, were parts of the field. 

 A burgage in the Nether Acres is namei 

 in 1349 ; Lord Wilton's D. 



^^ Wallgate occurs in 1338, in a settle- 

 ment respecting the burgage of John 

 Gowyn, which adjoined it ; the burgage 

 was to descend to John's son Henry ana 

 his wife Ermeline ; Vawdrey D. It was 

 off Millgate, for a burgage in the latter 

 street stood between a burgage called 

 Peuey and a way called Wallgate ; Hulme 

 D. no. 14 (1443). 



In 1484 land called Holcroft abutted 

 upon the highway called Newton Lane 

 and upon Emmot Outlane ; Manch. Corp. 

 D. The name Newton Lane was changed 

 to Oldham Road about 1800. Millers 

 Lane is named in 1564 ; Court Leet Rec. 

 i, 195; Ashley Lane in 1506; ibid, i, 30. 

 A field of 6 acres called the Smithfield 

 was leased to Ralph son of Christophel 

 Beswick in 1496 ; Manch. Corp. D. 



The 'way that leadeth to Ancoats' 

 (probably Great Ancoats) and Shooters 

 Brook were two of the boundaries of a 

 piece of land sold by Thomas Nowell of 

 Read and Alice his wife to Thomas Wil- 

 lott in 1562 ; Burgess's D. Macclesfield. 



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