A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



warehouses and works. The London and North- 

 Western Company's Manchester South Junction and 

 Altrincham Railway ^ passes through the centre, with 

 stations at Old Trafford, the cricket ground, and 

 Stretford. The Bridgewater Canal also passes through 

 the centre and north of the township, after crossing 

 the Mersey from Cheshire by Barfoot Bridge. 



In 1666 there were in Stretford 117 hearths to 

 be taxed ; the principal house was that of Sir Cecil 

 Trafford with twenty-four.' A century ago it was 

 famous as a fat pig market, some six hundred animals 

 being killed weekly for Manchester.* There was a 

 paper-mill at Old Trafford in 1765. Weaving was 

 formerly one of the chief industries. 



The wakes were held at the beginning of October. 

 A stone celt, Roman remains, and a hoard of 

 Anglo-Saxon coins have been found.' The cross '" 

 was taken down about 1 840 ; the stocks, which were 

 near the cross, had been removed about 1825. The 

 Great Stone — now inclosed by a railing — lies in Old 

 Trafford beside the Chester road ; it has two cavities." 

 A local board was formed in 1868," and its offices 

 were built in 1888 ; it has become an urban district 

 council of eighteen members, elected from six wards — 

 Stretford, Longford, Trafford, Talbot, Cornbrook, and 

 Clifford. There are a public hall, free libraries, and 

 other institutions. There is a recreation-ground at 

 Old Trafford. At Stretford are a cemetery, opened in 

 1885, and a sewage-farm. Gas-works were erected 

 in 1852. 



Stretford gives its name to one of the parliamentary 

 divisions of the county. 



John Holker, who established factories in France, 

 was born at Stretford in 1719." Edward Painter, 

 pugilist, was also a native; 1784-1852." A dis- 

 tinguished resident was John Eglington Bailey, the 

 antiquary, author of a life of Thomas Fuller ; he 

 died there in 1888.'* 



An exhibition of art treasures held at Old TrafTord 

 in 1857 was opened by Queen Victoria. The Royal 

 JubileeExhibitionof 1887 was held there. 



In this township there were anciently 

 MANORS two manors, both held in thegnage of the 

 king in chief as of his manor of Salford. 

 The principal was in 1 21 2 STRETFORD, rated as 

 one plough-land and held by Hamon de Mascy by the 

 service of a judge ; " the other was TRAFFORD, 

 held by Henry de Trafford by 

 a rent of 5/. yearly." Under 

 Mascy a moiety of the former 

 was held by Hugh de Stret- 

 ford, who performed the ser- 

 vice of the judge ; and a fourth 

 part was held by the above- 

 named Henry de Trafford, 

 who paid 4;. a year.'* About 

 1250 another Hamon de 

 Mascy gave the whole of Stret- 

 ford to his daughter Margery," 

 who afterwards granted Stret- 

 ford to Richard de Trafford.'" 

 The moiety of the manor held 



by Hugh de Stretford in 1 2 1 2 does not occur sub- 

 sequently in the records." The Trafford family thus 

 acquired the whole of Stretford and Trafford, and 

 the two manors have descended together. The prin- 

 cipal residence remained at the latter place until 

 about 1720, when Trafford Park in Whittleswick was 

 chosen.^' Manor courts continued to be held until 

 i872.''» 



The pedigree of the lords can be traced at least to 

 the early part of the 12th century.'* Hamon de 

 Mascy before 1 1 90 gave Wolfetnote and his heirs 

 to Ralph son of Randulf and to Robert his son for 

 4 marks.^* This was afterwards confirmed to Robert 

 son of Ralph.'* A further grant was made to Henry 



CD 



Mascy. Quarterly 

 gules and argent in the 

 second quarter a mullet 

 sable. 



fi Opened in 1849. The Great Central 

 Company is a part-owner of the line. 



7 Subs. R. bdle, 250, no. 9 ; John Falk- 

 ner's house had eleven hearths, Edmund 

 Trafford's and Robert Owen's six each. 



^ Baines, Lanes. Dir. 1825? "» 680. 



^ Lanes, and Ckes. Ant'iq. Soc. iii, 269 ; 

 X, 251. 



^^ The pedestal is now in the churchyard. 



^^ Crofton, op. cit, ili, 44—9, with 

 photographs. See also Harland and Wil- 

 kinson, Traditions of Lanes. 53. 



^^Lond. Gax. 7 Apr. 1868. 



1^ Crofton, op. cit. iii, 158-63. Holker 

 was a Jacobite and became lieutenant in 

 the unfortunate Manchester Regiment of 

 1745. He escaped from prison, and found 

 a refuge in France, where, with the en- 

 couragement of the government, he in- 

 troduced various manufactures. He was 

 ennobled in 1775, and died in 1786. 

 There arc biographies of him in Diet. Nat, 

 Biog. } Lanes, and C/ies, Antiq. Soc. ix, 147 ; 

 Pal, Note Bk, iv, 47, &c. 



^■^ Diet, Nat. Biog. 



^5 Crofton, op. cit, iii, 153, 154 ; there 

 is a portrait at the beginning of vol. i. A 

 list of his writings, compiled by Mr.E. Axon, 

 is in Lanes, and Ckes. Antiq. Soc. vi, 129, 



^® Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i. 72. Land in Lanca- 

 shire which had been Hamon de Mascy's 

 was in the king's hands in 1187 ; Farrer, 

 Lanes. Pipe R. 64. 



^7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 1, 70, The 

 payment of 5*. for his land in Trafford is 



recorded in a roll of 1226 as due from 

 Robert son of Ralph de Trafford (ibid. 

 138), but the entry must have been 

 copied from an old roll, as it will be seen 

 that Robert was dead in 1205. 



^s Ibid, i, 72. A large collection of 

 Trafford charters will be found in the 

 Raines MSS. (Chct. Lib.), xxv ; some of 

 them are printed by Crofton, op. cit. iii, 

 234, &c. Among others are two which 

 show how the Traffords became possessed 

 of the two oxgangs held in 12 12. Hamon 

 de Mascy granted to Robert son of Ralph 

 an oxgang of land in Stretford, viz. an 

 eighth part of the land of the vill, at a 

 rent of zs. ; Hugh and Henry de Stret- 

 ford were witnesses ; op. cit. iii, 234. 

 The same or a later Hamon granted to 

 Henry son of Robert de Trafford an ox- 

 gang of his demesne in Stretford, formerly 

 held by William son of Robert, at a rent 

 of zs. ; ibid. This charter mentions that 

 the service of a judge due from the vill 

 was discharged by another. 



The deeds quoted below as * De Trafford 

 deeds * have been taken from the originals. 



^3 F/«a/CoBC.(Rec.Soc.Lanc3. and Ches.), 

 i, 1 54, quoting Trafford muniments, 



"^^ M^LTgery daughter of Hamon de 

 Mascy about 1260 granted to Richard 

 de Trafford the whole vill of Stretford 

 with all its appurtenances in freemen 

 and villeinages, at a rent of id. ; Crofton, 

 op. cit. iii, 237, The seal is described. 

 Then Hamon de Mascy released to Richard 

 all his claim in the whole vill of Stretford, 



330 



which was thenceforward to be held by the 

 new lord of William de Ferrers, Earl of 

 Derby, by the services due from the vill ; 

 ibid. 236. E. de Mascy, widow, released 

 to Richard her claim for dower in Stret- 

 ford ; ibid. 241. A little later Margaret 

 de Mascy, as widow of Roger Payn of 

 Ashbourne, released all her right in the 

 whole vill to Henry de Trafford ; ibid. 238. 



^^ Stretford was used as a surname, 

 but the bearers do not seem to have had 

 the moiety of the manor held by Hugh in 

 12 1 2. 



''^ See the account of Barton on Irwell. 



^ Numerous extracts from the Court 

 Rolls from 1700 will be found in Mr. 

 Crofton's work, ii, 46-183. Plans of tht 

 Trafford tenancies in 1782, with names 

 of fields and tenants, are printed. 



^ For a discussion by Messrs. Bird and 

 Round of the earlier generations of the 

 family see the Ancestor, ix, 65 j x, 73 ; 

 xii, 42, 53. Mr. Bird thinks there may 

 have been two Henrys (c. 1200) between 

 Robert and Richard, while Mr. Round 

 points out that Ranulf or Randulf, the name 

 of the earliest of the Traffords on record, 

 ia distinctly post-Conquest and foreign, 



'^ De Trafford D. no. 140. It is sug- 

 gested that this Ralph may be the Ralph 

 de Dunham mentioned in the Pipe R. of 

 1 187-93 i i"""' Pipe -R. V, 69, 73, 76. 



^ De Trafford D. no. 141. In a pre- 

 ceding note it is shown that Robert son 

 of Ralph also obtained an oxgang of land 

 in Stretford, 



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