A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The freeholders in 1 600 '^ were Miles Ashton of 

 Heyrod," Robert Ashton of Shepley,'* Randle Hulton 

 of Sunderland," and Richard Shalcross of Limehurst.'" 

 A few other names can be gathered from the fines 

 and inquisitions."" At Alt Hill in the 1 8th century 

 were seated the Pickfords, ancestors of the Radcliffes 

 of Royton."' 



With the growth of the town on 

 BOROUGHS the introduction of the cotton manu- 

 facture, the manorial government soon 

 became inadequate, and in 1827 and 1828 Police Acts 

 were obtained for the regulation of JSHTON}"^ 

 The market, which had fallen into decay, was revived 

 in 1828, Saturday being the day chosen. A market 

 place was in 1829 presented to the town by the lord 

 of the manor ; a covered market was built on the site 

 in 1867, and was enlarged in 1881.'°* This is now 

 open daily. The old fairs were replaced by others on 

 23 March, 29 April, 25 July, and 21 November. 

 There was a local tradition that Ashton had been a 

 borough,™^ and though the election of a mayor had 

 become obsolete a revival was made in 183 1. In the 

 following year, under the Reform Act, Ashton — the 

 parliamentary borough consisting merely of the divi- 



sion called Ashton town "' — was privileged to return 

 a member of Parliament ; but a municipal charter 

 was not granted until 1 847, when the council was 

 constituted of a mayor, eight aldermen, and twenty- 

 four councillors. The borough was divided into four 

 wards — Market, St. Michael's, St. Peter's, and Port- 

 land Place."^ The town hall,'" built in 1840, was 

 enlarged in 1878. Gas is supplied by a company 

 established in 1825,'"^ water is under public control,'"' 

 and the corporation has established electricity works. 

 Baths were opened in 1870. The cemetery, formed 

 in 1866, is in Dukinfield in Cheshire. The town 

 has a commission of the peace and a police force ; it 

 has also its own fire brigade. Stamford Park at 

 Highfield, opened in 1873, is managed by the cor- 

 porations of Ashton and Stalybridge jointly. The 

 West-end Pleasure Grounds near St. Peter's Church 

 were opened in 1893. The Libraries Act was adopted 

 in 1880, and a library was opened in the town hall 

 a year later; in 1893-4 this was removed to the 

 new technical school, presented to the town by the 

 trustees of the late George Heginbottom. The arms 

 used by the corporation are those of the Ashton family 

 differenced by a crescent gules.'"' The plate includes 



"> Mhc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 247-8. 



*' Miles died in 1612, holding the 

 capital messuage called the Heyrod, with 

 lands, &c., of Sir George Booth, in socage 

 by 6s. %d, rent. His heir was his grand- 

 eon John Ashton (son of John) 5 Lanes. 

 Inq, p,m, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 239. Maurice Ashton had in 1571 made 

 a settlement of messuages in Heyrod, 

 Harley, &c. ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 33, m. 130. Miles Ashton (son of 

 Maurice, according to the pedigree) made 

 a similar settlement in 1583 ; ibid. bdle. 



45. m- ",5- 



A pedigree was recorded in 1613 ; 

 yisit. (Chet. Soc), 14. A later one of 

 1664 shows that the family had been 

 scattered ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 13. 

 Heyrod was 'afterwards in the possession 

 of John Duckenfield of Duekenfield, esq. 

 and was held by Sir Charles Duekenfield, 

 bart. in 1750. It is now [1849] the 

 property of Ralph Ousey, esq.' ; Raines, in 

 Nolitia Cestr. ii, 5. 



'^ The Ashtons of Shepley recorded a 

 pedigree in 1664, tracing their descent 

 from a Geoffrey son of Thomas Ashton, 

 who married the heiress of Shepley ; 

 Dugdale, Fisii. 16. Geoffrey Ashton and 

 Margery his wife in 1450 made a feoff- 

 ment of three messuages, 60 acres of 

 land, &c., in Ashton ; Final Cone, iii, 117. 

 Geoffrey Ashton in 1467 complained that 

 a bull of his had been seized by John, 

 Richard, William, and Thomas Shepley of 

 Withington ; Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 

 (6 Edw. IV, C) ; see also Writs of Assize 

 (bdle. 8), 6 Edw. IV. 



The estate descended in the Ashton 

 family till 171 3, when Samuel Assheton 

 sold it to John Shepley of Stockport, 

 grocer. In 1675 Robert Assheton of 

 Shepley, John his son, and Thomas his 

 grandson, mortgaged the Great Ridings, 

 part of the demesne lands near Shepley 

 bridge ; Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 104. 

 'It is now (1854) vested in Edward Lowe 

 Sidebotham, esq., as heir of the late Mr. 

 John Lowe, a successful calico printer, 

 its intermediate possessor ' ; Booker, 

 Denton (Chet. Soc), 137. It has since 

 descended to Mr. Edward John Side- 



botham, of Erlesdene, Bowdon, the present 

 owner. 



99 John Hulton (or Hilton), of Sunder- 

 land, occurs frequently in the time of 

 James I ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 234 ; iii, 334. 



'HO The nature of the Shallcross or 

 Shawcross tenure has been stated above. 



i"! George Chadderton of Nuthurst had 

 lands in Ashton in 1552 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 121. Robert 

 Chadderton of Bradshaw in Alkrington 

 had a messuage and lands in Audenshaw 

 in 1639 ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. 

 Lib.), 248. 



John Carrington had messuages, &c., in 

 Audenshaw in 1573 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 35, m. 30. 



The Reddishes of Reddish had lands in 

 Audenshaw, held of the heirs of Sir 

 Thomas Ashton in socage by a rent of 

 i8i. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 48 ; 

 xi, 60. In 1 61 3 the rent was stated to 

 be 25. \od. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 253. 



Joseph Taylor died in 1610 holding 

 Hartshead of the lord of Manchester by 

 the rent of a rose ; his heir was his 

 daughter Mary, a few months old ; ibid, 

 ii, 120. 



Richard Hartley, who died in 1620, 

 held a messuage and lands in Ashton of 

 the lord of Manchester; ibid, ii, 189. 

 See also Lanes, and Ches. Ree. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 242. 



Ralph Sandiford died at Hull in 1620 

 holding several messuages with lands,&c., 

 in Ashton, of the lord of Manchester in 

 socage by the rent of a rose and the frac- 

 tion of a penny ; John, his son and heir, 

 was twenty-two years of age ; Lanes. Inq, 

 p.m. ii, 194. For this family see further 

 in the account of Nuthurst in Moston. 

 Their estate was called the High Ashes ; 

 Dugdale, Visit. 253. 



The landowners contributing to the 

 subsidy of 1622 were :— Robert Ashton, 

 John Ashton, Randle Hulton, Thomas 

 Newton, William Walker, John Sand- 

 ford, and Thomas Chetham ; Misc. (Ree. 

 Soc Lanes, and Ches.), i, 155. 



A large amount of information as to 

 the different estates in Ashton will be 



346 



found in the histories of Ashton by James 

 Butterworth (1823) and Edwin Butter- 

 worth (1841). It has been summarized 

 and to some extent continued in the later 

 editions of Baines's Lanes, (1868 and 

 1889). 



'™ See the account of Royton. 



10s xhese Acts have been repealed ; a 

 new Improvement Act was obtained in 

 1849 ('2 * '3 Vict. cap. 25) and others 

 more recently. 



104 The old market was opened on 

 2 July 1830; the new fish, game, and 

 meat market on 24 Feb. 1882. 



104a No evidence of this has come 

 under notice. 



"* The area of the parliamentary bo- 

 rough was in 1867 extended to include 

 Hurst. 



"s Charter dated 29 Sept. 1847. In 

 1898 the southern boundary of the bo- 

 rough was defined to be the thread of the 

 Tame, which has at different times been 

 diverted. The boundaries of the wards 

 were fixed by the charter ; a detached 

 partof Audenshaw was included in Port- 

 land Place ward. 



In 1898 part of Dukinfield in Cheshire 

 was added to Ashton and became part of 

 the administrative county of Lancaster ; 

 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order, P. 1416. 



"7 The old town hall, or manor court- 

 house, was a brick building, two stories 

 high, situated on the south-west side of 

 the market cross. The Court of Requests, 

 founded 1808, was held on the ground 

 floor ; Jas. Butterworth, Ashton, 86. 



"7» The first Lighting Acts, since re- 

 pealed, were 6 Geo. IV, cap. 67 ; 7-8 

 Geo. IV, cap. 77. 



'"^ The supply was begun by a private 

 company formed in 1835 ; their works 

 were purchased by the corporation in 

 1855 (18 Vict. cap. 70) and have been 

 greatly enlarged. In 1870 the control 

 was vested in a joint board called the 

 Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and Du- 

 kinfield Joint Committee ; 33 & 34 Vict- 

 cap. 131. There are eight reservoirs 



"9 The crest is a griffin's head eiased 

 gules, with ducal collars and beaks or, issu- 

 ing from a mural coronet argent ; the 

 motto — Labor omnia vincit. 



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