SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



he became a fellow, and died at Manchester in 1763." 

 Like the manor of Byrom it was bequeathed to 

 Mr. Edward Fox, who took the name of Byrom. 



The house now called Kersal Cell occupies the site 

 of the old religious house. It is a small two-story 

 building of timber and plaster, much altered from 

 time to time, but probably dating from the middle 

 or end of the i6th century. It stands on low ground 

 near a bend of the River Irwell, facing south, with 

 the heights of Broughton and Kersal Moor imme- 

 diately to the north and east. In more recent times 

 a large brick addition has been made on the north, 

 and extensions have also been made on the east in a 

 style meant to harmonize with the timber front of 

 the older part. The original house, which possibly 

 is only a fragment of a larger building, has a frontage 

 of about 5 6 ft. and consists of a centre with a projecting 

 wing at each end. The west wing has a bay 

 window in each floor, but the east wing has an 

 eight-light window and entrance doorway on the 

 ground floor and a slightly projecting bay above. 

 Both wings have gables with barge boards and hip 

 knobs, but the timber construction is only real up 

 to the height of the eaves, the black and white work 

 in the gables being paint on plaster. This is also 

 the case with the east end and the whole of the front 

 of the later extension on the same side. The roofs 

 are covered with modern blue slates, and the west 

 end is faced with rough-cast. The general appear- 

 ance at a distance is picturesque, but at close view 

 the house is too much modernized to be wholly 

 satisfactory, and it is dominated by the brick build- 

 ing on the north, whose roof stands high above that 

 of the older portion. 



In the interior, however, Kersal Cell preserves 

 some interesting features, many of the rooms being 

 panelled in oak and some good plaster-work remain- 

 ing. The ground floor is now below the level of the 

 garden, the ground apparently having risen something 

 like 3 ft. The plan has been a good deal altered to 

 suit modern requirements, but preserves a centre 

 apartment or hall about 1 8 ft. long with a seat against 

 its west wall, which is oak-panelled for 6 ft., and has 

 an ornamental plaster frieze. The lower room in 

 the east wing has oak panelling all round to a height 

 of 7 ft., and in one of the upper lights of the window 

 is a circular piece of heraldic glass with the arms and 

 name of Avnesworthe. The lower room in the 

 west wing has a bay window 8 ft. 8 in. across and 

 5 ft. 6 in. deep. The lead lights in this and in 

 other rooms of the house are of good geometrical 

 patterns, and in one of the upper lights of the bay 

 is an interesting glass sundial so fixed that the 

 shadow is visible from the inside. The staircase 

 is of Jacobean date with square oak newels and open 

 twisted balusters, now varnished. It goes up to the 

 top of the house, which in the centre has an attic. 

 The most interesting room, however, is that usually 

 called the chapel, on the first floor at the west end. 



It is a small room about 1 8 ft. long and 1 3 ft. wide 

 with a five-light window facing west. It occupies 

 the rear portion of the west wing, the room in 

 front with its bay window being sometimes known 

 as the priest's room. What authority there is for 

 these names does not appear, and at present the only 

 indication of the back room having been used for 

 religious purposes is a small square of 1 7th-century 

 glass in the window depicting the crucifixion. The 

 two side lights of the window are plain, but the 

 three centre ones contain fragments of 16th-cen- 

 tury heraldic glass. In the second light is a shield, 

 with the arms of Ainsworth, with helm, crest, and 

 mantling. The centre light has two small diamond 

 quarries in brown stain, over the crucifixion already 

 mentioned. On a beam in front of the window is 

 an elaborate plaster frieze with three shields of arms, 

 somewhat similar to those at Slade Hall, Rusholme. 

 The centre shield bears the royal arms (France 

 quartered with England) with crown and supporters, 

 dexter a lion, sinister a dragon. The left-hand shield 

 is of six quarterings, encircled by a garter, and 

 originally with crest and supporters, but the dexter 

 support and the crest have been cut away, when 

 the plaster panel over the angle fireplace was inserted. 

 The arms are those of RatclifFe, Earl of Sussex, who 

 quartered FitzWalter, Burnel, Botetourt, Lucy, and 

 Multon of Egremont with his paternal coat. 



The right-hand shield has the arms of Stanley, 

 Earl of Derby, encircled by a garter, with crest (eagle 

 and child) and supporters. There is a frieze in the 

 south wall apparently of the same date with Tudor 

 roses and fleurs-de-lys. Over the angle fireplace is a 

 plaster panel of later date, with a shield bearing the 

 arms of Byrom (a cheveron between three hedgehogs) 

 with crest (a hedgehog), and the initials E. B. over. 

 On each side of the shield is a fleur-de-lys, and below 

 is the date 1692. The south and part of the north 

 wall are panelled to the height of 6 ft. in oak, and 

 the door is set across the south-east angle, balancing 

 the fireplace. 



There is a tradition that Dr. Byrom wrote 

 ' Christians, Awake ' in Kersal Cell, and that it was 

 first sang in front of the house on Christmas Eve 

 1750, but both events are more likely to have taken 

 place at Byrom's house in Manchester. 



North of Kersal Cell, facing west towards the road, 

 is Kersal Hall, a two-story gabled timber building, 

 the front of which has been rebuilt in brick and 

 painted black and white. The back of the house, 

 however, shows the original timber construction 

 above a lower story of brick with stone muUioned 

 windows. The house preserves the central hall type of 

 plan with passage and porch at the north end, and has 

 north and south wings. It is a picturesque building 

 with stone slated roof and brick chimneys. The hall 

 has three windows to the front, and in the lower room 

 of the south wing is some good 1 7th-century panelling. 



William Ravald purchased land in Kersal in i 548." 



^ His Diary and other Remains have 

 been published by the Chet. Soc. There 

 is a life in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



** The Ravald family can be traced 

 back in Manchester to the middle of the 

 15th century. In 1473 William Ravald 

 was tenant of a parcel of land near Irk 

 Bridge at a rent of ^. ; Mamecatre, iii, 

 491. This or an adjacent parcel v»as 



granted to him by Thomas West, lord of 

 Manchester, by charter in 1474 ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii, 109 (from an 

 abstract of title of Sir Watts Horton and 

 others, 1792). William son and heir of 

 John Ravald in 1530 agreed with his 

 brother Robert concerning a burgage in 

 Manchester and a piece of land called the 

 Cockpit at the south eni of Irk Bridge'; ibid. 



221 



In 1548, before the sale of Kersal 

 Manor, William Ravald purchased a 

 messuage, 22 a. of land, &c., in Kersal 

 from Baldwin WiUoughby, Joan his wife, 

 Ralph Sacheverell and Philippa his wife 

 (daughter and heir apparent of Baldwin) 5 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. I3,m. 158. 

 He died in April 1560, holding the 

 messuage &c. in Kersal of the queen by 



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