SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



generations," In 1 7 1 1 it was bequeathed by Catherine 

 Richards, widow, to Thomas Reynolds, ancestor of 



Reynolds, Or two 

 lions passant gules* 



MoRKTON, Earl of 

 Ducie. Argent a cheve- 

 ron gules between three 

 square buckles sable. 



the Earl of Ducie, the owner in 1850," The present 

 earl owns land in the township. 



A minor estate was SMEDLET, acquired on lease 

 by Edward Chatham in 1640 from Lord Strange." 

 He had a legacy of ^^2,000 from his uncle Hum- 

 phrey Chetham," and in 1659 was mortgagee of 

 Nuthurst,'* which his younger son Edward after- 

 wards purchased. James Chetham, the eldest son, 

 succeeded to Smedley in 1684/^ and dying unmarried 

 in 1692 bequeathed it to a brother George," whose 

 son James, high sheriff in 1730,*^ also dying un- 

 married, was succeeded by his sister Ann.^® She 

 bequeathed it to her 'cousin Edward Chetham' of 

 Nuthurst, son of the last-mentioned Edward."" On 

 the division which took place in 1770, after his death, 

 Smedley passed to his sister Mary, wife of Samuel 

 Clowes.*^ 



The Langleys of Agecroft held a portion of Cheetham 

 as part of their Tetlow inheritance ; ^* and a few other 

 families' occur as having had estates in the township." 



measuring 4 rods by 2 rods 3 yds. ; ^^20 

 was paid, and a perpetual rent of 51. 4^. 

 and 4^/. for 'shearing* was due; Ear- 

 wakcr MSS. In 1587 he had stopped an 

 old footway going over the Knolls into 

 the Walkers' Croft, to the annoyance of 

 his neighbours ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, xo. He 

 died in 1590, leaving a son and heir John, 

 under age ; Strangeways Hall with the 

 appurtenant lands was held of the Earl of 

 Derby as of his manor of Pilkington (i.e. 

 Cheetham) in socage by a rent of four 

 barbed arrows ; ibid, ii, 42 ; Manch, ColL 

 ii, 142. 



A contemporary John Strangeways, 

 described as ' of London, mercer,' had land 

 in Salford. He died before October 

 1598, leaving a son and heir William, 

 about six years old ; Salford Portmote Rec. 

 (Chct. Soc), i, 9, 15. The Salford pro- 

 perty was sold in 1601 during William's 

 minority to George Holden ; ibid, i, 26. 

 Another contemporary, Philip Strange- 

 ways, was one of the missionary priests 

 imprisoned at Wisbech at the end of 

 Elizabeth's reign ; Misc, (Cath. Rec. 

 Soc), i, no ; ii, 278, &c. 



John Strangeways of Strangeways died 

 at the end of 1600, leaving a son John, a 

 minor, as heir ; but in 1609 another son 

 Thomas, then seventeen years of age, was 

 found to be the heir ; Manch. Ct. Leet 

 Rec, ii, 167; Lanes. Inq. p,m, (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 132. A large part 

 of the estate, as well as property in Sal- 

 ford, had been disposed o^ but John 

 Strangeways had held the messuage (i.e. 

 Strangeways Hall), water-mill, 40 acres of 

 land, &c., in Cheetham, the Knolls and 

 other lands in Manchester, Ardwick, 

 Salford, and Withington ; the tenure of 

 the Cheetham estate was said to be ' of 

 the king by knight's service.' In October 

 1 601, at the Salford Portmote, it was 

 presented that John Strangeways had 

 died since the last court, and that Thomas 

 his son and heir was about twelve years 

 old ; Salford Portm. Rec. (Chet. Soc), i, 

 27. In 1622 he sold a messuage and 

 garden which he and Ralph Holland 

 owned in Salford to George Cranage the 

 younger, of Salford ; ibid, i, 167. Eliza- 

 beth, widow of John, recovered her dower 

 in 1603 against Thomas Strangeways, the 

 son and heir ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 292, 

 m. 10 d. Thomas came of age in 1613, 

 and did his fealty at Manchester Court ; 

 Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 279, In the same year 

 he recorded a pedigree ; Visit, (Chet. Soc), 

 13. In 1620, as churchwarden, he was 

 interested in the project of a workhouse 



for the poor; Ct, Leet Rec* iii, 32. He 

 was living in 1646, but had perhaps already 

 sold his estate, being described as * late of 

 Strangeways,* Deed printed in Manch, 

 Guardian, 



2^ Richard Hartley, son of Nicholas 

 Hartley of Manchester, woollen draper, 

 succeeded his father in 1609, but did not 

 come of age till 1617 ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 

 251, 323 and note. He died in three 

 years, leaving as heir his brother John 

 (ibid, iii, 36), the purchaser of Strange- 

 ways. John, who gave a rent-charge of 

 40^. towards the repair of the Manchester 

 Conduit (ibid, iii, 251-6), is described as 

 *of Strangeways* in 1653 ; ibid, iv, 93. 

 He died in 1655, leaving a daughter 

 Ellen as heir. She married another John 

 Hartley, and was succeeded in turn by her 

 sons John and Ralph, who died in 1703 

 and 17 10 respectively; Ct, Leet Rec. 

 iv, 291 (and note) ; v, 71 ; vi, 23 ; Dug- 

 dale Visit, (Chet. Soc), 131 ; Piccopc, 

 MS. Ped. (Chct. Lib.), ii, 260. Aperition 

 against the John Hartley who married 

 Ellen, as being * a man of a contentious 

 and turbulent spirit,' in 1674 is printed in 

 Pal. NoteBk, iii, 37 ; iv, 87. 



22 Raines in Notitia Cestr, ii, 68. An 

 abstract of Catherine Richards' will is 

 given in the Char, Com. Rep, for Man- 

 chester (1826, p. 165) ; the estate was 

 left to Thomas Reynolds, Mary his wife, 

 and Francis their son, with remainder to 

 the issue of Francis. A claim by James 

 Whittle, in right of William Hartley, was 

 rejected in 1721 ; Exch. of Pleas, 

 7 Geo. I, Hil. m. 4, &c. 



Thomas Reynolds was a South Sea 

 director. His son Francis in 1730 married 

 Elizabeth daughter of Matthew Ducie 

 Moreton, Lord Ducie, by Arabella daugh- 

 ter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Prestwich 

 of Hulme. Her elder brother, there being 

 no heir male, procured a second grant of a 

 peerage (Ducie of Tortworth) to descend 

 to her sons. Thus in 1770 Thomas 

 Reynolds, son of Francis and Elizabeth, 

 born at Strangeways, became the second 

 Lord Ducie, and took the surname of 

 Moreton. In 1785 he was succeeded by 

 his brother Francis, and Francis in 1808 

 by his son Thomas, who in 1837 was 

 created Earl of Ducie. His son, Henry 

 George Francis, succeeded as second earl 

 in 1840, and was followed by his son 

 Henry John in 1853. See Collins, Peer- 

 age (ed. 1779), viiJ, 229-32; G.'E.CCom- 

 plete Baronetage, ii, JJ ; Complete Peerage 



iii, 177-8. 



Francis Reynolds was 'of Strangeways' 

 261 



in 1741 ; Ct. Leet Rec, vii, 102 ; his 

 house is figured in Casson and Berry's 

 plan of the town a few years later. In 

 1756 Thomas Reynolds was vouchee in a 

 recovery of the manor of Strangeways and 

 lands in Cheetham; Pal. of Lane. Pica 

 R. 582, m. I a/d. In another recovery 

 in 1797 the Hon. Thomas Moreton was 

 vouchee ; Aug. Assizes, 37 Geo. Ill, 

 R. 8. 



2^ This was the renewal of a lease held 

 by his father-in-law, Robert Wilson of 

 Smedley ; Clowes D. ; Axon, Chet, Gen, 

 (Chet. Soc), 57, 58, from which work 

 the account in the text is chiefly de- 

 rived. 



2-' See the account of Crumpsall. 



^ Chet, Gen. 27, 30, 62. 



26 Ibid. $y, 



^7 Ibid. 58. He passed his brother 

 Edward over, because *he hath several 

 times made attempts to take away my 

 life, and swore he would be my death 

 either by stab or poison.' 



28 P.R.O. List, 74. 



29 Chet. Gen. 61. 

 80 Ibid. 63. 



" Ibid. 



^2 It is described as 40 acres, about a 

 moiety of the estate ; it was occupied by 

 Thomas de Strangeways and his son 

 Geoffrey at the end of the 14th century; 

 Lanes. Inq, p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 50, 

 There is an earlier reference in Final 

 Cone, ii, 132. It was included in the 

 share of the Langley estates which de- 

 scended to the Reddish and Coke families, 

 and was included in a recovery of Reddish 

 and other lands in 1776 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 624, m. 3, 



85 Thomas Goodyer, mentioned in a 

 preceding note, in 1606 purchased lands 

 in Manchester and Strangeways from Mr. 

 John Haughton ; Manch. Ct, Leet Rec* 

 ii, 222. In 1610 Ralph Haughton of 

 Cheetham and George Siddall of the Slade 

 demised to Thomas Watson the Town- 

 field in Cheetham, containing 3 acres, to 

 mow and pasture at 6d. rent ; but if they 

 repaid 205. on St. Stephen's Day, between 

 12 and 2 p.m. in the south porch of 

 Manchester Church, the demise was to 

 be of no effect ; High Legh D. (West 

 Hall). Thomas Watson soon afterwards 

 sold the Townfield and Greater Marled 

 Field to George Tipping ; ibid. In 171 1 

 Henry Newcome, rector of Middle- 

 ton, left to his daughter Elizabeth his 

 messuage or tenement called Townfield 

 Croft in Cheetham ; Pal, Note Bk, iv, 

 96. 



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