salford hundred 



MANCHESTER 



BLACKLEY 



Blakeley, Blakelegh, xiii and xiv cents. ; this spelling 

 agrees with the local pronunciation. Blackley, 

 c. 1600. 



This, the northernmost part of the parish, lies in a 

 bend of the Irk, which bounds it on the north-west, 

 west^ and south-west. A ridge over 300 ft. high 

 projects westward through the northern part of the 

 township, the greater part of which lies on the 

 southern slope of the hill. The area is 1,840 acres, 

 having a breadth of about 2 miles from north to 

 south, and measuring somewhat more from east to 

 west. In the southern part a brook runs westward 

 down Boggart Hole Clough.' Barnes Green is on 

 the border of Harpurhey. The population of Blackley 

 and Harpurhey together was 24,501 in 1901. 



The principal road is that from Manchester to 

 Middleton, going north. At Blackley village another 

 road branches off west towards Prestwich, and from 

 this latter another runs in a zigzag course through 

 Higher Blackley, formerly known as Crab Lane End, 

 to Heaton. There are various subsidiary roads, and 

 the township is becoming a suburb of Manchester, 

 though most of it remains rural. 



To the north of the village is a reformatory. 



The soil is sandy, overlying clay. 



In 1 666 there were four houses with ten hearths 

 each — those of Mr. Legh, Ralph Bowker, Mr. Bow- 

 ker, and Edward Dawson — but no other dwelling had 

 more than five. The total number in the township 

 was 107.' The old water corn-mill was in 1850 

 used for grinding logwood.' The woollen and fustian 



manufactures were actively pursued in Blackley ; a 

 fulling-mill at Boggart Hole Clough is mentioned in 

 1 69 1.* Within the township are a match works, 

 chemical works, a smallware manufactory, and some 

 minor industries. 



Blackley was included in the city of Manchester in 

 1 890, and six years later became part of the new town- 

 ship of North Manchester. There is a free library. 



BLACKLET was anciently a park of. 

 MJNOR the lord of Manchester ; its value in 1282 

 was £6 13/. ^d., for herbage, dead wood, 

 pannage, and eyries of sparrow-hawks.' Forty yean 

 later its circuit was estimated as seven kucae, and 

 it had two deer leaps ; ' the pasturage was sufficie«t 

 for 240 cattle, in addition to the deer and other wild 

 animals.' Leases and other grants of the land and 

 pasture were from time to time made by the lords,'^ 

 and in 1473 John Byron held Blackley village. Black- 

 ley field, and Pillingworth fields, with the appur- 

 tenances, at a rent of ^^33 6/. %d., then recently 

 increased from ^^28 u. a year.' On the dispersal of 

 the Byron estates about the beginning of the 17th 

 century, Blackley was sold in parcels to a number of 

 owners.'" The hall and demesne were acquired by 

 Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton," and sold to 

 Francis Legh of Lyme in 1636." They descended 

 in this family till 1 8 14, when they were sold in 

 thirty-four lots, William Grant of Ramsbottom pur- 

 chasing the hall, which was pulled down." It was 

 haunted by a ' boggart ' or ghost, according to the 

 popular belief." 



Among those described as 'of Blackley' in the 

 inquisitions are Daniel Travis," Francis Nuttall,'° 



^ This name occurs prior to 1700 ; J. 

 Booker, Blackley (Chet. Soc), 115. The 

 picturesque clough has been acquired for 

 a pleasure-ground by the Corporation of 

 Manchester. The name is sometimes 

 derived from a deserted house, said to be 

 haunted, ' Boggart Hall,' but Mr. H. T. 

 Crofton thinks it a corruption of Bowker 

 Hall, which stood in Moston at the upper 

 end of the clough ; see Manch. Guard. N. 

 and Q. no. 401. Oliver Clough, with 

 Oliver's well in it, joins the main clough 

 from the north. 



^ Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9. 



^ Booker, op. cit. 112. 



■"Ibid. 115. 'Judging by the field 

 names this mill was either on the stream 

 ■coming from Boggart Hole Clough or its 

 northern tributary coming past Lyon Fold; 

 most probably the latter, north of which 

 is a farm called Dam Head,' — Mr. Crofton. 



^ tiancs, Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 244. 



^ Mamecestre (Chet. Soc), ii, 368 ; the 

 value was 531. ^, 



' Ibid, ii, 366 ; the value was £6. 

 The 'fence of Blackley park' is men- 

 tioned about 1355 ; Dep. Keeper* 5 "Rep, 

 Mxii, App. 344. 



^ See grants to Henry de Smethley in 

 1343 and to Thurstan de Holland in 1355, 

 quoted in Mamecestre, ii, 439, 445. The 

 latter grant, at a rent of ^^5, included the 

 pasture of the lord's park at Blackley, the 

 arable land of Bottomley with its meadow, 

 and an approvement of 10 acres in Ashen- 

 hurst. 



9 Ibid, iii, 484. A grant or feoffment 

 was made in 1430 by Sir Reginald West, 

 Lord La Warre, at a rent of ,^26 ; Byron 

 Chartul. 15/295. After an intermediate 

 conveyance the estate was transferred to 

 Sir John Byron in 1433 ; ibid, 19/296, 



21/298. See Booker's Blackley (Chet. 

 Soc), 13-15. 



'" The statements in the text are 

 mostly taken from the work last quoted. 



The ' manor ' of Blackley, seventy mes- 

 suages, two fulling mills, a water-mill, 

 1,000 acres of land, &c., in Blackley, 

 Blackley Fields, and Bottomley, were in 

 1598 sold or mortgaged by Sir John 

 Byron and John Byron his son and heir 

 apparent to Richard and William Assheton; 

 the price named in the fine is j^i,ooo ; 

 Pal. of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 60, m. 68. 

 Blackley is, however, mentioned among the 

 Byron manors in 1608 ; ibid. bdle. 7i,m. 2. 



"In a fine of i6n respecting the 

 manor of Blackley, &c., James Assheton 

 was deforciant, and Sir Peter Legh, Sir 

 Richard Assheton, John Holt, and Rich- 

 ard Assheton were plaintiffs ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 77, m. 51. In a 

 later fine the deforciants were Sir John 

 Byron the elder. Sir John Byron the 

 younger. Sir Peter Legh, Sir Richard 

 Assheton, John Holt, and Richard Asshe- 

 ton ; ibid. bdle. 79, m. 34. From the 

 former it appears that James Assheton of 

 Chadderton had acquired Blackley, and 

 sold it to the Asshetons of Middleton. 



A feoffment in 1 6 1 2 by Sir John Byron of 

 Newstead the elder, his son Sir John Byron 

 of Royton the younger. Sir Peter Legh of 

 Lyme, Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton, 

 John Holt of Stubley, and Richard son of 

 Sir Richard Assheton, recites a fine levied 

 of Blackley Manor, surrenders of all free- 

 holds for lives, and recovery suffered to 

 the intent that the manor, &c., be sold 

 for the payment of debts, &c. ; Mr. Crof- 

 ton's note. 



Richard Assheton of Middleton, who 

 died in 1618, held lands in Blackley of 

 the king as of the duchy by knight's ser- 



vice ; Lanes, Inq. p.m, (Rec, Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 107. 



^^ Booker, op. cit. 1 7 ; Ralph Assheton 

 of Middleton, Elizabeth his wife, and 

 Maty his mother were the vendors, over 

 ^2,000 being paid. The sale included 

 Blackley Hall, closes called Bottomley, 

 Hunt Green, Ashenhurst, Hazclbottom, 

 &c. ; a close called Lidbottom, of 4 acres, 

 was excluded. 



^ Ibid. 19, where there is a description 

 of the old building, with a view. "There 

 is also a view in James's series, 1 821-5. 



" ' In the stillness of night it would steal 

 from room to room and carry off the bed- 

 clothes from the couches of the sleeping, 

 but now thoroughly aroused and discom- 

 fited inmates ' ; Booker, op. cit. 20. An 

 account is given of the destruction of the 

 print-shop erected on the site of the hall. 



^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 157, At his death in 1617 

 Daniel Travis held a messuage, 1 5 acres 

 of land, &c., recently purchased from Sir 

 John Byron and others. The tenement 

 was held of the king by knight's service. 

 His will is given. His son and heir, also 

 named Daniel, was twenty-six years of 

 age. His wife Anne was the daughter of 

 Henry Chetham of Crumpsall ; Manch. 

 Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 1 94. 



Of the same family perhaps was John 

 Travis, whom John Bradford about 1550 

 styles ' Father Travis.' Some later mem- 

 bers of the family were benefactors to the 

 poor, and concerned in the erection of the 

 Nonconformist (now Unitarian) chapel, 

 John Travis, a dealer in fustians, who be- 

 came bankrupt in 1691, had an estate of 

 24 acres ; one of the fields was named 

 the Frith field ; Booker, op. cit. 116. 



1^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc), ii, 176. 

 Francis Nuttall died in 1619, holding 



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