A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Elizabeth. The frieze on the opposite wall has a 

 representation of a stag hunt with a tree in the centre 

 bearing the Stanley crest of the eagle and child. 

 There was formerly a moulded plaster ceiling in this 

 room, but it has been removed. 



HOLT, described sometimes as in Withington and 

 sometimes as in Rusholme, seems to have been on the 

 north-east side of the township, and may perhaps be 

 the detached portion of Moss Side.'' Henry de 

 Rusholme, about 1260, made a grant to Hugh de 

 Haslum, including half an oxgang of land in Rusholme 

 and the Holt, at a rent of 6d?^ In the 1 5 th century 

 the Holt was in the hands of the Bamfords of Bam- 

 ford,*° and descended to John Bamford, who died in 

 1557 holding the capital messuage called Holt Hall 

 in Rusholme of Nicholas Longford in socage by a 

 rent of 1 2</.*' The change of tenure may imply an 

 escheat and re-grant. Anne Bamford, the daughter 

 and heiress, married George Birch of Birch,*' and 

 Holt has since descended with Birch in the manner 

 above described. 



The family of Edge of Birch Hall-houses appears in 

 the 1 7th century." Captain Oliver Edge, an officer in 

 the Parliamentary army, comes into notice as the 

 captor of the Earl of Derby in his flight after the 

 battle of Worcester. The place of capture was a little 

 south of Nantwich. The earl writes : ' Lord Lauder- 

 dale and I, having escaped, hired horses and falling 

 into the enemy's hands were not thought worth killing, 

 but have quarters given us by Captain Edge, a Lan- 

 cashire man, and one that was so civil to me that I 

 and all that love me are beholden to him.' " 



The Traffords had land in Rusholme from an early 

 date." 



The land tax returns of 1787 show that the land 

 was much divided ; the principal owners then were 

 John Dickenson and John Carill Worsley, who be- 

 tween them owned about half ; William Egerton and 

 John Gartside had smaller estates." The landowners 

 in 1 844 numbered a hundred and twenty, of whom 



Sir J. W. H. Anson, T. Carill Worsley, and John 

 Siddall represented the ancient owners of Birch, 

 Piatt, and Slade; Richard Cobden owned 21 acres." 



The chapel of Birch, known as St. 

 CHURCH James's, is supposed to have been built 

 about 1580 by the Birch family." 

 The minister was paid by the scanty and pre- 

 carious offerings of the people, until in 1640 an 

 attempt was made to establish an endowment fund." 

 Land was purchased, which Colonel Thomas Birch in 

 1658 settled upon his son Thomas as sole trustee, to 

 the use of * an orthodox preaching minister of the 

 Gospel, to be constantly resident,' and to perform 

 divine service in the chapel. The neighbours object- 

 ing to having a single trustee, a new trust was created 

 in 1672, the income of ithe land being placed at the 

 disposal of a majority of the trustees. This was 

 probably done with the design of preparing the way 

 for a Presbyterian minister as soon as the persecution 

 of Nonconformists should come to an end.'" The 

 chapel in fact remained in the hands of the Presby- 

 terians until 1697, when, on the death of Colonel 

 Birch's widow, George Birch seems to have allowed 

 the claims of the Bishop of Chester and other ecclesi- 

 astical authorities, and the Presbyterian minister, 

 Henry Finch, was ejected." After two years a 

 Conformist curate was nominated by George Birch, in 

 whose family the patronage seems always to have 

 vested, and the succession remains unbroken to the 

 present. In 1708 the endowment was still only 

 j^3 10/. a year, and the contributions of the congre- 

 gation were about ^^16 ;"' but the Dickenson family 

 and others have provided more adequate endow- 

 ments." The chapel was rebuilt in 1 845-6," and a 

 district was assigned to it in 1839." "T^c present 

 patron is Sir W. R. Anson. 



The following have been curates and rectors : — *' 



1699 Samuel Taylor, M.A." (Emmanuel 

 College, Camb.) 



^ See the bounds of Grcenlow Heath 

 as given in the account of Chorlton-upon- 

 Medlock. 



" Booker, op. cit. 184. 



"Ibid. Didsbury (Chet. Soc), 114- 

 20. The Bamford family are several 

 times described as * of Holt.* 



*^ Inq, p.m. printed ibid. 117. 



*** Lanes, Inq, p,m, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 178 ; the capital messuage called 

 Holt Hall and its lands are stated to be 

 •in Withington,* though the 1557 inquisi- 

 tion described them as 'in Rusholme.* 



■" Booker, Birch, 10-12. 



** Ci-uil fVar Tracts, 311, quoting 

 Seacome. 



^^ Richard de Trafford in 1235 released 

 to Robert de Hulton his right in common 

 of pasture in Rusholme in the land be- 

 tween a ditch of Robert*s and land former- 

 ly held by Hugh de Haslum ; Final Cone. 

 i, 65. Matthew the Tailor of Manchester 

 in 1 3 1 6 gave to Nicholas son of Henry de 

 Trafford all his lands, Sec. in Rusholme 

 in the vill of Withington, with various 

 remainders; De Trafford D. no. 135. 

 The grants in Gildhouses (or Heald- 

 houses) recorded in the account of With- 

 ington were perhaps in part or in whole 

 in Rusholme. Lands in Rusholme are 

 named in the later Trafford inquisitions 

 as part of their estate in Withington. 



Sir Edmund Trafford in 1587 leased to 

 one Anthony Scholefield a messuage and 



lands in Birch Hall at a rent of 251. ^d. 

 The lands were among those sold to 

 Gregory Lovell ; after Sir Edmund's death 

 there was a quarrel between his son and 

 the purchaser, and the dispute seems to 

 have gone on until x6oi, when Dame 

 Lovell, widow of Sir Robert the son of 

 Gregory, complained of loss ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Plead. Eliz, cxcviii, L. 11. 



^^ Land tax returns at Preston. 



*'! Booker, Birch, 171. 



^^ This account is taken chiefly from 

 Booker, op. cit. 137-59. The statement 

 that the chapel was ' consecrated * — i.e. 

 licensed for use — by Bishop Chadderton 

 (1579-95) i* derived from Warden Wroe; 

 Gastreli, Notitia (Chet. Soc), ii, 79. The 

 visitation return of 1598 speaks of it as 

 ' lately erected and now void of a curate ' ; 

 Booker, op. cit. 



^' Ibid. 137. A ground plan of the 

 chapel of the same date is printed ibid. 

 142. At the survey of 1650 there be- 

 longed to the chapel ' a house and a little 

 land lately purchased by the inhabitants, 

 worth ^3 loj. per annum*; Commonivealth 

 Ch, Sur'u, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 1 3. 

 The minister had ^i a week allowed him 

 in 1644 out of the sequestrations of Royal- 

 ists' estates, but it was not regularly paid ; 

 and j^5o more was allowed in 1649 ; 

 Plund. Mins, Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 58, 77. A grant of ^50 or^4o 

 a year out of the tithes of Manchester 



308 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



appears to have been substituted for the 

 former grants in 1652 ; ibid, ii, 34, 55. 



5^ Booker, op. cit. 137—9. 



"Ibid. 147-51; the chapel seems 

 to have been used only occasionally 

 until 1672, when Henry Finch was form- 

 ally licensed. In 1689 also it was re- 

 garded as a Nonconformist chapel ; Hist. 

 MSS, Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 231. 



5" Gastreli, Notitia, ii, 79 ; the bishop 

 reports that five of the forty families were 

 Presbyterian. 



" Booker, op. cit. 140, 141. 



" Ibid. 156-9. 



5*LoH</.Ga2!.29Mar.i839,i6Junei854. 



°* This list is taken mainly from Booker. 

 Among the earlier curates were : In 

 1622, Richard Lingard (Misc. Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches. i, 66); 1623, Thomas 

 Norman; 1635, Bentley ; 1641, Hall; 

 1644, John Wigan (Plund, Mins, Accts. i, 

 58 ; Local Glean, Lanes, and Ches, i, 299— 

 32) ; 1659, Robert Birch. 



Henry Finch, mentioned in the text, 

 was the vicar of Walton-on-the-Hill, 

 ejected in 1662. A Conformist was put 

 into Birch for a time, but there being no 

 maintenance Finch was left in undisturbed 

 possession. A curious story of the visit of 

 two German ministers in 1666 is given by 

 Bookerfrom Hunter's Oliver Heywood, 188. 



" In the nomination by George Birch 

 the chapel is styled ' my domestic chapel 

 of Birch* ; Booker, op. cit. 151. 



