A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



near tlie Conduit, and that called Olgreave, Culcheth, 

 or Langley Hall in Long Millgate ; further out were 

 Alport Lodge, Garrett, Ancoats, Collyhurst, and one 

 or two others. To the south of Alport was Knott 

 in Mill Hulme ; a licence for the mill-dam was given 

 in 1509.'° The coclcpit lay to the south-east of Old 

 Millgate.'^ There exists a small town plan, of un- 

 known origin but apparently trustworthy, which may 

 be dated about 1650."" 



Apart from the streets above mentioned the parish 

 was mainly agricultural, areas of wood,*" heath,*' and 

 moss*' being intermixed with arable and pasture lands; 

 the dwellings were the scattered manor and farm-houses 

 andsmall villages. The rural population probably then, 

 as later, combined tillage with weaving. The chapels 

 existing in 1650 serve to indicate the chief centres of 

 population — Blackley, Newton, Gorton, Denton, 

 Birch, Didsbury, Chorlton, Stretford, and Salford." 



In the Civil War Manchester, as might fee expected, 

 took the Parliamentary side.** On an outbreak of 

 hostilities becoming imminent. Lord Strange, who 

 soon afterwards succeeded his father as Earl of Derby, 

 fully alive to the disaffection as to the importance of 

 Manchester, endeavoured to secure it for the king. A 

 small quantity of powder was for convenience stored 

 at the College, then Lord Strange's property, and in 

 June 1642, it being expected that the sheriff would 

 endeavour to secure it for the king's use, Mr. Asshe- 

 ton of Middleton managed to obtain possession of it, 

 and removed it to other places in the town.*' Lord 

 Strange thereupon demanded its return, and on 



1 5 July, after summoning the able men to meet him 

 at Bury in virtue of a commission of array,*" he came 

 to Manchester, intending to lodge at Sir Alexander 

 Radcliffe's house at Ordsall. The people of Man- 

 chester invited him to dine in their town, and he 

 accepted the invitation ; the matter of the powder 

 was discussed and an agreement made.*' But on the 

 same day the Parliamentary Commissioners had issued 

 their summons to the militia, and the banquet was 

 followed by an encounter between the opposing forces, 

 in which was shed the first blood of the struggle.** 



The war did not formally begin until September,*' 

 and Manchester was speedily involved.™ On Satur- 

 day the 24th and the following day Lord Derby 

 assembled his troops against it, and the townsmen 

 summoned assistance from their neighbours." Lord 

 Derby's forces were variously estimated — from 2,600 

 up to 4,500 — and he had some ordnance, which he 

 planted at Alport Lodge and Salford Bridge, thus 

 commanding two of the principal roads into the 

 town." After some skirmishing he proposed terms, 

 but being refiised he continued the siege for a week 

 without any success ; on Saturday I October he 

 drew off his troops, having been ordered by the king 

 to join him. The success of the townsmen was chiefly 

 due to the skill of a German soldier. Colonel Ros- 

 worm, who began on the Wednesday before the siege 

 to set up posts and chains for keeping out horsemen 

 and to barricade and block up street ends with mud 

 walls and other defences." After the raising of the 

 siege he continued his fortifications, and led the ' Man- 



*8 Procter, Manch. Streets, 108. The 

 mill seems to have deri-ved its distinctive 

 name from the miller. 



59 The 'Cockfight Place' is named in 

 1587, and in 1598 an encroachment on 

 the lord's waste at the cockpit was con- 

 demned ; Court Leet Rec. ii, 8, 135. It is 

 possible that the cockpit was transferred 

 from one place to another. 



''" This plan is engraved in a corner 

 of Casson and Berry's plan. 



™ Blackley, Collyhurst, Bradford, and 

 Openshaw were ancient wooded areas, but 

 had probably been cleared by 1 600. 



«1 Newton Heath, Chorlton Heath, and 

 Barlow Moor indicate some of the greater 

 heaths of old time. 



s^ The Great Moss stretched through 

 Withington and Rusholme, giving name 

 to Moss Side ; but there were a great 

 number of other mosses to the north, east, 

 and south of Manchester town. 



*^ The trade of the place in 1641 is 

 thus described : ' The town of Manches- 

 ter buys the linen yarn of the Irish in 

 great quantity, and weaving it returns the 

 same again to Ireland to sell. Neither 

 doth her industry rest here, for they buy 

 cotton wool in London, that comes first 

 from Cyprus and Smyrna, and work the 

 same into fustians, vermilions, dimities, 

 &c., which they return to London, where 

 they are sold ; and from thence not sel- 

 dom are sent into such foreign parts 

 where the first materials may be more 

 easily had for that manufacture * 5 Lewis 

 Roberts, Merchant's Map of Commerce, 

 quoted in Reilly's Manch. 136. 



^■* Though opinion was divided and 

 several influential families, like the Mos- 

 Icys and Prestwiches, took the king's 

 side, the great body of the people appear 

 to have been zealous for the Parliament. 

 At the report of the array of militia ordered 

 iu June 1642, the townsmen, it was 



stated, * all stand upon their own guard, 

 with their shops shut up ; well affected to 

 the king's majesty and both his houses of 

 Parliament,' while the people of ' the 

 country round adjoining' were * very ob- 

 servant to any command ... in readi- 

 ness to attend there or elsewhere for the 

 defence of their country, lives, liberties, 

 and estates, and the defence of the true 

 Protestant religion ' ; Ormerod, Ci'vi! 

 War Tracts (Chet. Soc), 14. 



155 Sir Alexander Radcliffe of Ordsall 

 and Thomas Prestwich of Hulme endea- 

 voured to prevent the seizure, but Ralph 

 Assheton was supported by Sir Thomas 

 Stanley and other deputy-lieutenants ; in 

 their own words they ' thought good to 

 take it into their hands for the defence of 

 the king, both houses of Parliament, and 

 this county of Lancaster.' ' Thus wisdom 

 and honesty,' remarks the Puritan nar- 

 rator, ' in a way of manifest authority, got 

 the leading of subtlety and injustice'; 

 ibid. 16, 112. 



^5 There were two such arrays, the first 

 on Monday, 4 July ; after it Lord Strange 

 made a demonstration against Manchester, 

 which led to circumstantial, but perhaps 

 fictitious, reports of a ' great and furious 

 skirmish' ; ibid. 112, 25-28. 



*' Ibid. 30-34. The agreement was 

 that the principal inhabitants would buy 

 powder to supply what had been taken 

 away ; ibid. 1 12. 



5" Lord Strange's armed escort, consist- 

 ing of some thirty of his own horsemen 

 and about a hundred of the inhabitants 

 who met him, was said to have behaved 

 in an insolent manner on entering ; ibid. 

 113. The Parliamentary leaders (Sir 

 Thomas Stanley of Bickerstaffe, John 

 Holcroft, and Thomas Birch) took alarm 

 and assembled armed men at the Market 

 Cross ; as they refused to disperse at the 

 sheriff's orders, Lord Strange, being Lord 



178 



Lieutenant, came to them and was shot 

 at. Finally the men were driven off by 

 force, and one of them, Richard Percival 

 of Kirkmanshulme, linen weaver, was 

 killed; ibid. 32, 33. Lord Strange's host 

 was Alexander Greene. After this inci- 

 dent Lord Strange and his friends left the 

 town for Ordsall. For it he was im- 

 peached of high treason in Parliament ; 

 ibid. 35-7. See also War in Lanes. (Chet. 

 Soc), 6. 



^9 The king raised his standard on 

 22 Aug. ; the first important battle was 

 that of Edgehill on 23 Oct. 



"0 The narratives of the siege are printed 

 in Civil War Tracts, 42-60, 113-22, 

 220-3 i ^Iso War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc), 

 7-9 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Ref. v, App. 

 142 ; Baines, Lanes. (1868), i, 320, 321 ; 

 see also Mr. E. Broxap in Owens Coll. 

 Hist. Essays (1902), 377-89. 



'' About 2,000 came in, armed with 

 muskets, pikes, &c. ; also some of the 

 gentry, as Holland, Egerton, Dukinfield, 

 Arden, Butterworth, Booth, and Hyde • 

 Civil War Tracts, 45. 



T^ The attack from Salford was that 

 most dreaded, and Rosworm himself super- 

 intended the defence at this point ; the 

 rain swelled the Irwell, so that it could 

 not be crossed except by the bridge ; ibid. 

 221, 116. 



?^ Neither side seems to have been 

 vigorous. There was fighting on Monday 

 the 26th, and on Tuesday after further 

 cannonading there were several parleys. 

 Lord Strange continually reduced his de- 

 mands : 1. Arms must be surrendered ; 

 2. He must be allowed to march through 

 the town ; 3. ,^1,000 must be paid ; 4. 

 Two hundred muskets must be given up ; 

 and 5. Fifty would suffice ; ibid. 48. 

 Rosworm states that on Wednesday the 

 28th a hundred muskets were demanded 

 as the price of withdrawal, and that 



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