SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



estates, and was speedily involved in the disputes 

 as to the markets already described, but established 

 his right. In 1786 he was High SheriiF of Lanca- 

 shire, and on this occasion was accompanied from his 

 seat at Ancoats by an immense retinue of his friends 

 and neighbours. After this, however, the house was 

 deserted, its owner returning to Staffordshire ; '" and 

 it was sold to George Murray. 



Ancoats Hall is described by Aikin in 1795 as ' a 

 very ancient building of wood and plaster, but in some 

 parts rebuilt in brick and stone.' It stood at the end 

 of Ancoats Lane (now Great Ancoats Street) facing 

 north-west, and at the back of the house the grounds 

 sloped down to the banks of the River Medlock in a 

 series of terraces, from which there was a lovely view 

 over green well-wooded country. The house was of 

 two stories with attics, and the front consisted of 

 three gables with a square tower in the centre, con- 

 structed also of timber and plaster, and with a hipped 

 roof Aikin further remarks that it was the back 

 part of the house that was chiefly rebuilt, but some 

 rebuilding of the west wing had been done before the 

 end of the 1 8th century. Britton, writing in 1 807, 

 speaks of Ancoats Hall as a venerable house, the 

 oldest part of which consisted of timber and plaster, 

 ' the first, disposed of various figures, forms a sort 

 of skeleton, and the latter is employed to fill up 

 the interstices. The upper stories overhang the 

 ground floor, and the great windows project before 

 the face of the building.' The house was built early 

 in the 17th century by Oswald Mosley,'*'' and it 

 stood till the beginning of the last century, when it 



was taken down in or about 1827 by its then owner, 

 Mr. George Murray, and the present structure 

 erected. It is a rather interesting brick building of 

 an early type of 19th-century Gothic, and since 1877 

 has been used as an art museum. In 1895 it became 

 the head quarters of a university settlement, which 

 was amalgamated with the museum in 1 901. The 

 hall now stands in squalid surroundings, and the gar- 

 dens at the back, which existed for many years after 

 the rebuilding of the house, have entirely disappeared. 



The Mosley leases for 9,999 years were a pecu- 

 liarity of the district."' 



With Ancoats was connected the family of Old- 

 ham,"' from which sprang Hugh Oldham, Bishop of 

 Exeter, who as founder of 

 the grammar school is justly 

 considered one of Manches- 

 ter's chief benefactors. He 

 was educated at Oxford, gra- 

 duating also at Cambridge,"* 

 and became chaplain to Mar- 

 garet, Countess of Richmond, 

 mother of Henry VII, re- 

 ceiving numerous dignities and 

 benefices and being made 

 Bishop of Exeter in 1504. 

 He died on 15 June 1 5 19, 

 and was buried in the chantry 

 chapel he had built for him- 

 self in Exeter Cathedral."* A pedigree was recorded 

 in 1 664, at which time one branch of the family had 

 an estate in Crumpsall."' 



Oldham. Sahle a 

 cheveron or between three 

 O'wh argent, on a chief 

 of the second as many 

 roses gules. 



121 Fam. Mem. 54-75. The heir was, 

 as previously stated, his grandson Sir Os- 

 wald Mosley, the compiler of the Memoirs 

 cited, who sold the manor of Manchester 

 to the corporation. His father Oswald, 

 eldest son of Sir John Parker Mosley, 

 purchased Bolesworth Castle in Cheshire 

 in 1785, where he died in 1789. 

 ISU Axon, Mosley Mem. 31. 

 i» N. and Q. (Ser. 5), v. 138. 

 ^^ Among the grammar school deeds 

 are the following concerning the family : — 

 1428, Feoffinent by John Oldham of 

 Manchester of a burgage in the Mill- 

 gate, received from William the 

 Goldsmith of Manchester. 

 1462, Purchase of various messuages 

 and lands in Ancoats by Roger Old- 

 ham from William son and heir of 

 John Dean ; Alice the widow, and 

 Roger (chaplain] and Henry, the other 

 sons of John Dean, released theirright, 

 as did John son of John Talbot, esq. 



1471, John son and heir of Henry 

 Chadkirk sold a burgage in Millgate 

 to Roger Oldham (endorsed, ' Usher's 

 house '). 



1472, Roger Oldham having died in- 

 testate, administration was granted 

 to Ellen his widow, Peter and Ber- 

 nard his sons. (Ellen was no doubt 

 a second wife, for the obits to be 

 kept by the appointment of Bishop 

 Oldham included those of Roger 

 Oldham and Margery his wife). 



1473, William Dean released to James, 

 son and heir of Roger Oldham, 

 all his right in the Ancoats estate ; 

 in 1477 he gave a similar release to 

 the widow Ellen. (In the rental of 

 1473 a burgage in Manchester was 

 held by ' the heir of Roger Oldham' ; 

 Mamecestre, iii, 490.) 



1475, James Oldham granted all the 

 lands in Ancoats to his brother Hugh, 

 who at that time was living at Dur- 

 ham. (From all the circumstances 

 it is clear that this was the future 

 bishop and benefactor. The Bishop 

 of Durham at that time was Law- 

 rence Booth, of the Barton family, 

 and Hugh would probably be one of 

 his clerks or chaplains.) 



1494, Lease of a walk mill and the 

 Walker's croft near Millgate in 

 Manchester from Lord and Lady La 

 Warre to Hugh Oldham, clerk ; also 

 a field called the Heath, in the occu- 

 pation of John Bradford. 



1495, Giles Hulton of Manchester re- 

 leased to Hugh Oldham, clerk, a par- 

 cel of land on the east side of the 

 Irk, adjoining the Hopcroft (which 

 he had received on lease in 1487). 



1 505, William Oldham, clerk, granted 



to Adam Oldham all his lands in 



Lancashire. 



1514, Bernard Oldham, archdeacon of 



Cornwall, made a feoffment of his 



lands in Manchester and Ancoats for 



the fulfilment of his will. (He was 



no doubt trustee of his brother the 



bishop, and in the following year the 



lands were granted to the school 



then founded). 



The estate, a third part of Ancoats, has 



proved a most valuable portion of the 



endowment. A partition of the land was 



made early in the 17th century ; Axon, 



Mosley Mem. 31. 



1^ In 1493 the university allowed five 

 years in arts and four in civil and canon 

 law at Oxford to suffice for Mr. Hugh 

 Oldham's entry in laws at Cambridge ; 

 Grace Bk. B. (Luard Mem.), 54, 55. 

 ^^ Hugh Oldham's first known prefer- 



ment was a canoniy at St. Paul's in 1475 ; 

 Le Neve, Fastiy ii, 418, Many others 

 followed. In addition to Manchester 

 school he was a great benefactor to Corpus 

 Christi College, Oxford, and desired to be 

 buried there in case he should die at a 

 distance from Exeter. His will (19 Ay- 

 lofFe) is chiefly concerned with the endow- 

 ment of his chantry and other religious 

 and charitable bequests ; among others he 

 wished his obit to be kept at Durham 

 College in Oxford and at the college church 

 of Manchester, where the warden or his 

 deputy was to receive 31. 4t/., each vicar 

 izd., each priest and clerk of the church 

 8^., and each chorister 4^/. 



Bernard Oldham, his brother, was made 

 Archdeacon of Cornwall in 1509; Le 

 Neve, op. cit, i, 399. In his will(P.C.C, 

 24 Hodder) he styles himself not arch- 

 deacon but 'Treasurer and canon residen- 

 tiary of the Cathedral Church of Exeter.' 

 He names his brother * my lord and bro- 

 ther' Hugh, Bishop of Exeter. Several 

 kinsmen are named, but only the bishop 

 was an Oldham. He does not refer to 

 any landed estate ; note by Mr. £. Axon. 



Biographies of the bishop may be seen 

 in Wood's Atkenae ; Cooper, Atbenae 

 Cantab, i, 21 ; Diet, Nat. Biog. i Hibbert- 

 Ware, Manch. Foundations, iii, 3-7, where 

 there is a refutation of the statement that 

 he died excommunicate. 



126 Dugdale, Visit. 224 ; it gives the 

 generations thus : — Adam — s, Robert 

 (aged 80 in 1664) -s, Adam (d. 1652) -s, 

 Robert (aged 29) -s. Adam (aged 3), 

 Probably descended from this family was 

 Charles James Oldham of Brighton, who 

 in 1 907 left the grammar school j^io,ooo, 

 only because of his kinship with the 

 founder. 



In a preceding note will be found men- 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



