A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



were formerly paid.' On Hartshead Pike was a 

 conical pillar, built 1 751, surmounted by a hart's 

 head; it fell down about 1820, but was partly 

 rebuilt in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of 

 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra." Near 

 Lees was a noted chalybeate spring called Lees Spa ; 

 there are other similar ones in the parish. In the 

 bed of the Medlock are the so-called Druidical 

 basins. 



The public buildings include a mechanics' institute 

 founded in 1825, clubs, and a theatre. The infir- 

 mary was built in 1859-60, and a children's hospital 

 in 1893 ; a nurses' home has been added. 



A Volunteer regiment was raised in 1803." Ashton 

 is the headquarters of the 3rd V. B. Manchester 

 Regiment ; the drill hall was built in 1887. There 

 are barracks at Hurst, built in 1843. 



There are two weekly newspapers and an evening 

 daily paper. 



The market cross was taken down in 1829." 



The ceremony of ' riding the Black Lad,' still to 

 some extent kept up, was performed on Easter Mon- 

 day ; the effigy of a knight in black armour was 

 paraded through the streets on horseback in derision, 

 afterwards hung up on the old market cross and used 

 as a target, being finally plunged in a stagnant pool. 

 There are contradictory accounts of the origin and 

 intention of the ceremony." The ' gyst ale ' was 

 another Ashton custom." The annual wake, formerly 

 kept on the third Sunday in September, is now held 

 on the Sunday next after 1 5 August. 



In Ashton Moss red fir trees used to be dug up, 

 and split up for light for the poor ; large oaks were 

 also found. 



Copper tokens were issued in Ashton in the middle 

 of the 1 7th century." 



A cotton mill was established at Stalybridge in 

 1776,'* and the manufacture rapidly grew under the 

 favourable conditions of easy water carriage and 

 abundant coal supply. The modern industries of the 

 district, in addition to this staple trade, include hat- 

 making, brewing, and silk-weaving ; there are also 

 iron foundries, engineering works, machine factories, 

 and collieries. At Ashton Moss are market gardens. 

 Audenshaw has cotton factories and engineering works, 

 and some hat factories ; Hurst also has great cotton 

 mills and some hat-making, together with collieries ; 

 at Lees, again, are cotton mills, as also at Mossley. 

 Stalybridge has much the same industries as Ashton 



itself; also nail-making, and some woollen manu- 

 facture." 



The agricultural land is now apportioned thus : 

 arable land, 173 acres; permanent grass, 5,574; 

 woods and plantations, nil.'* 



The history of the place, apart from its modern 

 manufacturing progress, has been quite uneventful 

 save for the political and industrial riots which have 

 broken out from time to time. To the * fifteenth ' , 

 Ashton paid ^2 14^. out of £^l 14/. 4</. charged on 

 the hundred of Salford, and to the county lay of 1624 

 it paid £^ i6s. out of ^^loo." 



In addition to some of the lords of the manor and 

 one or two of the rectors, the local worthies include 

 John Chetham, psalmodist, who died in 1746 ; 

 William Quarmby of Hurst, a poet, who died in 

 1872; Thomas Earnshaw, watchmaker, 1749-1829;™ 

 James Butterworth, the topographer, born in 1 77 1 

 at a place called Pitses ; " the Rev. John Louis 

 Petit, artist, 1801-68 ;" Evan Leigh, inventor and 

 manufacturer of cotton-spinning machinery, 1811- 

 76 ^* ; and John Dean Blythe, miscellaneous writer, 

 1842-69." 



The above were natives of Ashton. Joseph Rayner 

 Stephens, brother of George Stephens the runic 

 archaeologist, at first a Methodist preacher, caused 

 a schism in the body at Ashton as mentioned later, and 

 as an agitator and journalist exercised great influence 

 in the town and district for many years from 1840 

 onwards. He died in 1879."* 



Originally ASHTON appears to have 

 MANOR been rated as three plough-lands, of which 

 two became part of the estates of the lords of 

 Penwortham, and the third, together with the advow- 

 son of the church, was attached to the barony of 

 Manchester." The former portion, Ashton proper, 

 is probably the two plough-lands held by one Warin in 

 1086, by grant of Roger of Poitou." It also was 

 granted to the lords of Manchester, and in 1 2 1 2 

 Robert Grelley held the two plough-lands and should 

 render 20/. or a goshawk ; " but Albert Grelley, the 

 father, or perhaps the grandfather of Robert, had given 

 to Roger son of Orm ' the whole land of Ashton, with 

 all its appurtenances,' with other lands, just as the 

 said Roger had held them of Albert's father, at the 

 rent of 20/. or a hawk.'' This Roger was the ances- 

 tor of the Kirkbys of Kirkby Ireleth, and the lordship 

 of Ashton descended in this family till the 1 7th 

 century. 



' Lane:, and Ches.Antij. Soc. xv, 195. 



^0 Ibid. XV, 35. There is a view of the 

 old tower in Ailcin's Country Round Man- 

 chester^ 211 i the writer (p. 231) describes 

 the Pike as * a favourite and well-known 

 object for the surrounding country, which 

 is seen at a considerable distance, and in 

 general has been supposed to be a sea 

 mark. It is situated on very high ground 

 betwixt Oldham and Mossley, from 

 whence the traveller has a most delightful 

 view of the surrounding country. We 

 have ascertained from good authority that 

 it was formerly used as a beacon, and 

 there are others in the neighbourhood to 

 answer it.* 



^^ Local Gleanings Lanes. andChes, ii,2o6. 



^2 For this and the crosses at Hurst 

 and Mossley see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq, 

 Soc. xxii, 118-23. 



" W. E. A. Axon, Black Knight oj 

 Ashton. 



^^ Harland and Wilkinson, Lanes. Tra- 

 ditions, 85, 



^* Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Sac. v, 73. 



** An account of the cotton manufac- 

 tures of the district will be found in 

 E. Butterworth's Ashton^ 80-9. 



^^ Dr. Aikin, writing in 1795, says : — 

 ' This place [Stalybridge] has been famous, 

 for a great length of time, for woollen 

 cloth, dyers, and pressers, as well as 

 weavers. These branches still continue 

 to flourish. Here and in this neighbour- 

 hood commences the woollen manufactory, 

 which extends in various directions as we 

 proceed to Saddleworth * ; Country Round 

 Manchester, 230. 



^ Details are given as follows : — 



Arable Grass 



Acres Acres 



Ashton ... 89 190 



Knott Lanes . . 5 ',+07 



,, „ . . 2 224 



Grass 

 Acres 

 1.155 



5'9 

 1,002 



Harland), 



Arable 

 Acres 



Hartshead . . — 



Audenshaw . , 75 



Woodhouses . . i 



Mossley ... 1 



" Gregson, Fragments (ed 

 18, 22. 



2» Diet. Nat. Biog. 



"' See the account of Oldham. 



»2 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



*> Ibid. 



« Ibid. 



^'- Ibid. 



^ This third plough-laud was probably 

 Moston in Manchester. 



26 KC.H. Lanes, i, 287. 



*' Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 34. It is 

 stated that he did not render any service ; 

 he had passed it over to his sub-tenant. 



^ Farrer, Lanes, Pipe R, 403, and note. 



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