SALFORD HUNDRED 



of&pring, of whom Sir Thomas, the eldest son, suc- 

 ceeded him ; Sir Robert married Douce daughter and 

 co-heir of Sir William Venables of Bollin in Cheshire, 

 and became ancestor of the Booths of Dunham Massey, 

 Earls of Warrington ; Roger, a third son, was ancestor 

 of the Booths of MoUington ; William and Law- 

 rence, other sons, became respectively Archbishop of 

 York and Bishop of Durham." John del Booth died 

 seised of the manor of Barton, with various messuages 

 and lands in Barton and Manchester, all held of 

 Thomas La Warre in socage by the service of iti. 

 yearly, and worth j^6o a year. Thomas his son and 

 heir was over forty years of age." 



The new lord of Barton, who became a knight, 

 was succeeded by his son Thomas " and his grandson 

 Robert. The last-named left a son and heir. Sir John 

 Booth,'* slain at Flodden in 1 5 1 3 ; " his son and 

 heir John, then about twenty-three years of age, died 

 in December 1526, leaving as heir an infant son 

 John," who died in 1552/' and whose son John, 

 then ten years of age, died in 1576, leaving four 

 daughters as co-heirs — Margaret, who in 1564 was 

 contracted to marry Edmund TrafFord ; Anne, who 



ECCLES 



married George Legh of East Hall in High Legh, she 

 being his second wife ; Katherine, who died in 1582 

 unmarried ; and Dorothy, who married John Moly- 

 neux, a younger son of Sir Richard Molyneux of 

 Sefton.** 



Edmund Traiford at first claimed the whole estate, 

 in right of his wife as eldest sister; but in 1586 a 

 division was agreed upon, by which the manor of 

 Barton and a moiety of the lands went to him, the 

 other moiety being divided between Anne and 

 Dorothy. The portion of the former of these in- 

 cluded Barton Hall, and descended to two George 

 Leghs, son and grandson of Anne ; the younger 

 George died in 1674, ^"'1 ^'^ sister Elizabeth being 

 unmarried, the estate went by his will to his cousin, 

 Richard Legh of High Legh, descended from the 

 first-named George Legh by his first wife." 



Barton Old Hall was described in 1836 as a 

 ' brick edifice with two gables in front, a projecting 

 wing, and mullioned windows.' "' It was demol- 

 ished in 1 879, but for many years previously had been 

 used as a farm-house. 



The issue of Margaret and Edmund TrafFord were 



*^ For Sir Robert Booth and his descen- 

 dants see Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 

 523, &c. For Roger, ibid, ii, 382. 



William Booth, after study at Cam- 

 bridge, became prebendary of Southwell in 

 1416, and steadily rose till he was made 

 Bishop of Lichfield in 1447 and Arch- 

 bishop of York in 1452. He founded 

 the Jesus Chantry at Eccles. He died 

 at Southwell in 1464, and his will is 

 printed in T«/. Ehor^ (Surtecs Soc), ii, 

 264. There is a notice of him in Diet. 

 Nat, Biog, 



Lawrence Booth, master of Pembroke 

 Hall, Cambridge, from 1450 till his death, 

 and chancellor of that university, adhered 

 to the Lancastrian side in the wars of the 

 Roses, being chancellor of Queen Mar- 

 garet and tutor to her son the Prince of 

 Wales. He became Bishop of Durham in 

 1457, and though suspected by Edward 

 IV, was afterwards reconciled to him, and 

 was Lord Chancellor in 1473—4. He was 

 promoted to the archbishopric of York in 

 1476, and died four years later. See 

 Did. Nat. Biog. He founded a chantry 

 in Eccles Church. 



The Booth family provided other nut- 

 able ecclesiastics in the 1 5th century. 



■" Towneley MS. DD. no. i486 ; Dep. 

 Kapcr'i Rep. xxxiii, App. 24-5. John del 

 Booth was knight of the shire in 141 1 and 

 1420 ; Pink and Beaven, Pari. Rcpre, of 

 Land. 47, 51. 



There are grants of land to John son of 

 Thomas de Booth in De Trafford D. no. 

 232, &c. John de Booth of Barton 

 had licence for his oratories in 1421 ; 

 Lich. Epis. Reg. ix, fol. 3^. 



^' In 1 42 1 Thomas son of John Booth 

 leased to his brother Robert the land called 

 Westslack, as recently inclosed ; De Traf- 

 ford D. no. 238. In 1429 Thomas 

 Booth the elder and Thomas his son were 

 defendants in a Barton case ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 2, m. 14. Sir Thomas 

 Booth was living in 1445 ; ibid. R. 8, m. 

 20, 37i. In 1454 William Booth, Arch- 

 bishop of York, and Sir Robert Booth, 

 sons of John Booth, as surviving feoffees, 

 granted to Thomas, son and heir of Sir 

 Thomas Booth, various lands in Salford, 

 Flixton, Hulme, and Croft, with ultimate 

 remainders to the heirs male of John 

 Booth ; De Trafford D. no. 102. 



Nicholas Booth of Barton, and Henry, 

 sons of Sir Thomas Booth, were with 

 others in 1445 called to answer Alice 

 widow of Nicholas Johnson, who accused 

 them of the death of her husband ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 8, m. 29 ; 9, m. 27. 



** He was made a knight by Lord 

 Stanley in the Scottish Expedition of 

 1482 ; Metcalfe, Book of Knights, 7. Sir 

 John was made a justice of the peace in 

 1487 ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 162. 



^^ The statement is an inference from 

 the date of his death, 9 Sept. 151 3 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 15. The 

 inquisition gives an outline of his descent 

 from Thomas del Booth 1357, which has 

 been followed in the text. 



^s Ibid, vi, no. 46 ; the manor of Barton, 

 Barton Hall, and lands in Barton, Irlam, 

 Hulme, Newham, &c., Poolmill, Barton 

 Mill, Croft Mill and fishery, &c., were 

 held of the lord of Manchester in socage 

 by id. rent. Dorothy [Boteler] his wife 

 survived him. John, the heir, was only 

 a year old. At the Visit, of 1533 he 

 was said to be six years of age ; Chet. Soc. 

 78. 



^7 Duchy of Lane. Inq, p.m. xi, 39. 

 The estate included 200 messuages, three 

 water mills, a fulling mill, &c., in Barton, 

 Manchester, Bradford, Openshaw, Higher 

 and Lower Ardwick, Pyecroft, Florelache, 

 Marshallfield, and Salford ; the lands in 

 Salford were held of the queen in socage 

 by a rent of 41., but all the rest were held 

 of Lord La Warre. Anne, the widow, 

 afterwards married Sir William Davenport, 

 and was in possession of her dower in 

 1564, when the inquisition was taken ; 

 she was the daughter of Sir Richard 

 Brereton of Worsley, and was still living 

 at Bramhall in 1576. For a suit between 

 her and her son John Booth in 1559, see 

 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 209. 



* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 8 ; the 

 ages of the daughters are thus given : — 

 Margaret Trafford, 15 ; Anne, 13 ; Doro- 

 thy, 12 ; and Katherine, 12. Katherine 

 died early in 1582 while still under age 

 and in the queen's guardianship, holding, 

 as it was wrongly stated, a fourth part of 

 the manor of Barton by the fourth part of 

 a knight's fee ; ibid, xiv, 13. The mar- 

 riage agreement between Edmund Traf- 

 ford and John Booth for the marriage of 



the former's son Edmund with Margaret, 

 * daughter and heir ' of the latter, is printed 

 in the yhit. of 1533, vii-ix. In 1574 

 John Booth had a dispute with his father- 

 in-law, Sir Piers Legh, as to his wife's 

 marriage portion j Ducatui Lane, iii, 14. 



*^ From an abstract of title prepared 

 about 1700 in the possession of W. 

 Farrer. The pedigree is given in Orme- 

 rod, Ches, i, 462 ; also yisit. of 1664, p. 

 179. Anne Booth married George Legh 

 in 1587; she was dead in 1612, when 

 her son George married Frances Brooke. 

 George Legh paid j^io in 1631 on declin- 

 ing knighthood ; Mtsc, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 215, In 1651 he com- 

 plained that his estate had been seques- 

 tered, though he had always assisted the 

 Parliament, lent money, and taken the 

 Engagement. It appeared that before the 

 war had actually broken out he had sent 

 two men armed to the force raised by Lord 

 Strange, but had afterwards taken, refuge in 

 Manchester 5 Cal. of Com. for Compound- 

 ing^ Iv, 2898 ; Royalist Comp. P. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches,), iv, 78. 



George, the grandson, who died in 

 1674, bequeathed his lands in Barton to 

 his wife for life, and his lands in Man- 

 chester to his sister Elizabeth for her life, 

 with remainder to his cousin Richard Legh 

 and male issue, and then to Thomas 

 Legh. Elizabeth agreed to this settle- 

 ment. 



It appears from the fines that a settle- 

 ment of the manor was made in 1586, 

 Sir Peter Legh and Sir Edmund Trafford 

 being plaintiiFs, and Edmund Traffbrd and 

 Margaret his wife, Anne Booth, and John 

 Molyneux and Dorothy his wife, deforci- 

 ants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 48, 

 m. 4. In 1588 a settlement was made 

 on George Legh and Anne his wife, the 

 estate being forty houses, 400 acres of 

 land, &c., in Barton, Openshaw, &c. j 

 ibid, bdle, 50, m. 115. For John Moly- 

 neux, see Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 

 24. 



Dorothy Booth's share descended to a 

 daughter, who married Robert Charnock 

 of Astley in Chorley, and their daughter 

 and heir married Richard son of Sir Peter 

 Brooke of Mere in Cheshire ; Visit, of 

 1613, p. 9 ; Ormerod, op. cit. 1,465. 



*^* Baines, Lanes. 



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