SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



1834 William Hutchinson, B.D. (Emmanuel 



Coll. Camb.) " 

 1876 St. Vincent Beechey, M.A. (Caius 



Coll. Camb ) 

 1885 Ernest Frederick Letts, M.A. (Trin. 



Coll. Dubl. andOxf.)" 

 1904. James Andrew Winstanley, M.A. 



(St. John's Coll. Camb.) 



The following more recent churches belong to the 

 Establishment, the Bishop of Manchester collating to 

 the rectories: St. Luke's, Miles Platting, 1875 ;" 

 St. Anne's, 1883;'° St. Mark's, 1884, and St. 

 Augustine's, 1888. St. Cyprian's is a temporary 

 iron church at Kirkmanshulme." 



A school was founded about 1 68 8." 



The Wesleyan Methodists have churches at Newton 

 Heath, Miles Platting, and Monsall.'' The Metho- 

 dist New Connexion also have three, the Primitive 

 Methodists two, and the Independent Methodists 

 one, at Miles Platting. The Congregationalists have 

 a school-chapel at Newton Heath, built in 1 8 93." 

 The Salvation Army has a barracks. The Unitarians 

 have a church in Oldham Road. 



For Roman Catholic worship St. Edmund's was 

 opened in 1873, and Corpus Christi in 1 889-1 908 ; 

 both are at Miles Platting. The latter began as a 

 temporary church in a former glass works ; it is served 

 by Premonstratensian canons. The Alexian Brothers 

 have a house at Newton Heath, and the Little Sisters 

 of the Poor have one at Culcheth. 



FAILSWORTH 



Failesworth, c. 1200. 



Failsworth has an area of 1,073 acres.' The sur- 

 face slopes somewhat to the brooks which bound it on 

 the north-west and south-east, and rises slightly to- 

 wards the east. It had formerly three hamlets : Dob- 

 lane End, Wrigley Head, and Mill Houses. The 

 population in 1 90 1 was 14,152. 



It is traversed near the northern boundary by the 

 road from Manchester to Oldham, which is lined all 



the way with houses and factories ; parallel to this 

 for part of the way is the Street, part of a Roman 

 road from Manchester, and from it branches off a 

 road to the east, through the hamlets called Street 

 End and Holt Lane End. The Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire Company's railway from Manchester to 

 Oldham runs through to the north of the high road, 

 with a station near the middle called Failsworth. 

 The Rochdale Canal crosses the north-west corner, and 

 the Oldham Canal passes near the eastern border. 



The industries of the place are the old ones of silk- 

 weaving and hat-making. To these have been added 

 cotton-spinning, to which the growth of the place is 

 mainly due, and an engineering works. 



Only one house had as many as four hearths liable 

 to the hearth tax in 1666 ; the total number was 

 69.' 



A local board was formed in 1863.' In 1894 an 

 urban district council of twelve members took its 

 place ; the township is divided into two wards, the 

 Higher and the Lower. It possesses a town hall and a 

 cemetery. 



Ben Brierley, the dialect writer, was born in the 

 township in 1825.* John Smethurst, Unitarian 

 minister, 1793-1859, was also a native.' 



Clayton mill, serving for the Byron manors, was 

 locally in Failsworth.* 



At the survey of 1212 it was found 

 MANOR that FAILSWORTH, rated as four oxgangs 

 of land, was held in moieties by different 

 tenures. Two of the oxgangs were held of the king 

 by Adam de Prestwich in thegnage, by a rent of 4;., 

 Adam's under-tenant being Gilbert de Notton, who 

 held by the same rent.' The other two oxgangs were 

 held by the lord of Manchester as part of his fee, and 

 had by Robert Grelley been added to the grant of 

 Clayton to Robert de Byron, the tenure being knight's 

 service.' The Prestwich moiety was also acquired by 

 the Grelleys and granted to the Byrons,' so that this 

 family held the entire township. It descended like 

 Clayton,'" and was acquired by the Chethams ; " but 

 a considerable portion of the land appears to have 

 been sold to smaller holders, who had perhaps been 

 tenants." 



■•7 First rector. 



<8 He was greatly interested in the 

 history of Manchester Church and New- 

 ton Chapelrjr ; several essays by him are 

 printed in Tram, Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. 

 Soc. 



*^ Lond. Gass. ZS J"'y i^7^» ^°' 

 district. 



so Ibid. II Sept. 1883, for district. 



'1 The Crown and the Bishop of Man- 

 chester present alternately. 



52 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 91. 



6' The Wesleyans built a chapel in 

 Oldham Road in 1839 ; Crofton, Nnvton, 



5* Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. vi, 191; 

 services began in 1882. 



1 1,072 acres, including 15 of inland 

 water ; Census Ref, igoi. 



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

 'Lond. Gaz, 20 Nov. 1863. 



* A book of local sketches entitled 

 Failsiuorth Folk, by Mr. Percival Percival, 

 was published at Manchester in 1 901. 



* Diet. Nat. Biog. 



« Crofton, Newton (Chet. Soc), ii, 228, 

 265. 



T Lanes. Inj. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 67. 



8 Ibid, i, 56. Robert Grelley's charter 

 granting two oxgangs of land in Fails- 

 worth, and other lands, to Robert de 

 Byron is in the Record Office ; Trans. 

 Hist. Soe. (new ser.), xvii, 41. The 

 Byron holding was thus raised to half a 

 knight's fee, as recorded in 1212. 



9 Thomas Grelley (1230-62) granted 

 to Richard de Byron all his land of Fails- 

 worth, to wit, the whole moiety of Fails- 

 worth, which his father Robert Grelley 

 bought from Robert de Heap, being of 

 the king's fee, at a rent of 71., to be 

 paid yearly at the four terms ; Byron 

 Chartul. (Towneley MS.), no 2. This 

 moiety must, therefore, have passed from 

 Gilbert de Notton to Robert de Heap 

 between 1212 and 1230. The Prestwich 

 family had no further concern with it, 

 though in 1292 Adam de Prestwich 

 claimed arrears of services from John de 

 Byron for a tenement in Presfwicb ,* 

 Assize R. 408, m. 25. He was non- 

 suited, but the claim probably referred to 

 the 4J. due from Fails-worth to the lord of 

 Prestwich. In 1346 the service due from 

 the lord of Prestwich to the Earl of Lan- 

 caster was 20s., instead of 24^., as in 

 I2I2 ; Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146. 



10 It is scarcely ever mentioned sepa- 

 rately, but is included in Byron feoft- 

 ments ; e.g. Dep. Keef>er*s Rep, xl, App, 

 543 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 44, 

 m. 223 (being called a manor) ; 71, m, 2. 

 The charter quoted in the preceding note 

 explains the rent of js. due to the lord 

 of Manchester for the manor of Clayton j 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 48. 



In 1826 2J. %d. was claimed by Sir 

 Oswald Mosley and ^s, %d. at Michael- 

 mas, as a township quit-rent ; Crofton, 

 Ne-wton Chaplry (Chet. Soc), ii, 366, 



11 Humph. Chetham (Chet. Soc), 19, 

 243. Failsworth, on partition, became 

 part of the estate of Alice daughter of 

 Edward Chetham of Nuthurst, who 

 married Adam Bland ; see the account of 

 Turton, and E, Axon, Chet. Gen, (Chet. 

 Soc), 63. 



12 Among the Clowes deeds arc a num- 

 ber relating to Failsworth. From these 

 it appears that Sir John Byron in 16 10 

 and 1 616 sold lands in Failsworth to 

 Edmund Chadderton of Nuthurst, who in 

 16 19 Bold to Theophilus Ashton. The 

 last-named had in 1609 given land in 

 Failsworth to Catherine widow of Francis 

 Holt of Gristlehurs^ and she ia 1623 



35 



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