SALFORD HUNDRED 



ECCLES 



house or in a barn adjoining, but no trace of it can 

 now be found. 



Opposite the hall was formerly an orchard, the re- 

 mains of which existed until recently, where, in August 

 1864, while laying a new street, an earthen vessel 

 was discovered containing about 6,000 silver pennies, 

 chiefly of the reigns of Henry I, II, and III, several 

 of John, and a few of William I of Scotland. The 

 coins were claimed as treasure trove by the Duchy of 

 Lancaster, but selections were presented to the British 

 Museum and to several museums in Lancashire." 



BENTCLIFFE was another mansion-house in 

 Ecdes, lying to the south-east of the church, on the 

 border of Pendleton ; it was for a long period the 

 residence of the Valentine 

 family, who died out in the 

 1 8th century. They were ori- 

 ginally of Flixton.™ Richard 

 Valentine died in July 1556, 

 leaving a son Thomas, only 

 three years of age. The capi- 

 tal messuage of BentclifFe was 

 held of the heir of William 

 the Clerk in socage by render- 

 ing a pound of incense to the 

 church of Eccles, this rent 

 identifying it with the estate 

 granted by William the Clerk 

 to his brother John about 

 1250." Land in Barton was held of the heir of 

 Agnes daughter of Gilbert de Barton by the rent of 

 a gillyflower, and messuages, &c., in Little Houghton 

 and Haslehurst in Worsley of the lord of Worsley, 

 by a pair of white gloves or \d. yearly.'' 



Thomas Valentine was succeeded by his son John 

 and grandson John.'' The younger John's estate 

 was sequestered by the Parliamentary authorities, 

 because when he was high constable of the hundred 

 of Salford in 1644, Prince Rupert, advancing into 



Valentine of Bent- 

 clifFe. Argent a bend 

 sable betvieen six cinq- 

 foils gules. 



Lancashire, lodged at Bentcliffe, and ordered its 

 owner to send out warrants for provisions for the 

 prince's army ; this he did, ' being, in great fear and 

 terror,' but nothing was actually secured for the 

 troops. As soon as Prince Rupert had departed, the 

 garrison at Manchester sent for John Valentine, and 

 under threat of imprisonment and loss of his estates, 

 he was ordered to bring in £zo in money and j^io 

 worth of provisions ; and this was performed. In 

 spite of this ready compliance a Parliamentary Com- 

 mittee ordered sequestration, and he redeemed his 

 estate in 1 65 1 by the payment oi £2^'^ 4/. ()d.^ 



A charter of incorporation was 

 BOROUGH granted to ECCLES in i892,«»and a 

 grant of the commission of the peace 

 was made two years later,'' armorial bearings following 

 soon afterwards. A new council chamber and police 

 courts were opened in 1899. The town is provided 

 with parks, library," baths, sewage works, cemetery, 

 electricity station, fire station, 

 tramways," and other conveni- 

 ences under public control. 

 The area within the borough, 

 in addition to Eccles proper, 

 includes Patricroft, Monton, 

 Winton, and Barton village ; 

 it is divided into six wards, 

 each with an alderman and 

 three councillors, viz. North- 

 east or Monton and Park, East 

 Central or Eccles, South-east 

 or Irwell, West Central or 

 Patricroft, West or Winton, 

 and South-west or Barton." 

 Gas and water are supplied by the corporations of 

 Salford and Manchester respectively. 



MONTON^" was the manor of the monks of 

 Whalley, being held of the king in socage as 2 ox- 

 gangs of land, by a rent of 6s." The tenure of the 



Borough of Eccles. 



Or on a mount vert a 

 church proper ,■ on a chief 

 azure befween two branches 

 of the cotton plant proper 

 a pale argent itnth a steam- 

 hammer sable thereon. 



^ Mr. John Harland prevented the 

 coins from being dispersed in the first 

 instance. 



«" From the Vawdrey deeds it appears 

 that Thomas Valentine, living in 1476 

 and 1487, had sons John, George, and 

 Geoffrey. John, who was dead in 1508, 

 had sons John and Thomas, of whom the 

 latter survived. Thomas Valentine of 

 Bentcliffe, son of John Valentine, and his 

 mother Joan Langtree, widow, in 1516 

 made a feoffment of messuages, lands, &c., 

 in Eccles, Barton, Little Houghton, Wors- 

 ley, and Bedford. In 1536 he granted all 

 his lands in Eccles, Barton, and Worsley, 

 to his bastard sons John and Richard for 

 life, with remainder to his right heirs. 

 It is probable that this was the Thomas 

 Valentine of Bentcliffe — the place is also 

 called Bencliffe and Beancliffe — whose 

 will (dated 1550) is printed by Piccopc, 

 fVills (Chet. Soc), ii, 1 34, his son Richard 

 being the chief beneficiary. 



«l Whalley Couch, i, 43. 



™ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 31. 



«» Thomas Valentine was buried at 

 Eccles 21 Apr. 1614, and his son John 

 30 Mar. 1625. For the latter, see Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 18. John his 

 son and heir was born in 161 1. 



«< Vawdrey D. Cal. of Com. for Compound- 

 ing, IT, 2725. He recorded a pedigree in 

 1664, giving his age as fifty-five ; Dugdalc, 

 Visit. 320. He died early in 1681, and 

 his son Thomas was buried a week after 



his father. Richard Valentine, the son 

 and heir, was born in 1675, and appointed 

 sheriff of the county in 17 13. He died 

 two years later, and by his will (17 14) 

 left Bentcliffe to 'Thomas Valentine, 

 clerk, formerly of Dublin College, his 

 kinsman.' This Thomas is believed to 

 have been the son of Francis Valentine of 

 Manchester, younger brother of Richard's 

 father. Thomas Valentine lived at Frank- 

 ford in Kilglass, co. Sligo, and 'in 1766 

 (1763) devised the estate to Samuel, eldest 

 son of John Valentine of Boston in New 

 England, by a member of which family 

 the hall and 50 acres of land were sold 

 about the year 1792 to a Mr. Partington '; 

 Piccope, Wills, loc. cit. Samuel Valen- 

 tine of Bentcliffe paid a duchy rent of 

 32i. jd. in 1779 ; Duchy of Lane. Ren- 

 tals, 14/25. 



This account of the Valentines is taken 

 partly from the late Mr. Earwaker's notes 

 on the family, compiled from the Eccles 

 registers, wills at Chester, and other 

 sources. 



** 26 May 1892. 



^ 4 Aug. 1894. 



87 The library was established in 1 904, 

 and the present building erected in 1908. 

 Information of Mr. C. J. Mellor, libra- 

 rian. 



69 The tramways are worked by Salford 

 Corporation. 



6' A full description of the boundaries 

 is given in the council's Tear-book, com- 



369 



municated to the editors by the town 

 clerk, Mr. E. Parkes. 



70 Maunton, Mawinton, xiii cent, 



7^ Rentals and Surv. 379, m, 13. 

 Monton was rated as 3 oxgangs of land, 

 as appears by a charter of Maud de £arton 

 granting half an oxgang there, 'to wit, the 

 sixth part of the town * ; Whalley Couch, 

 i, 56, The abbot's holding is described 

 as 2 oxgangs in 1324 ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, 

 fol. 37^. The survey of 1346 records 

 that the Abbot of Whalley held half the 

 land in Monton in socage by a rent of 6j.; 

 Lord La Warre and the Abbot of Cocker- 

 sand held the rest, the Abbot of Whalley 

 holding of them ; Add. MSS. 32103, 

 fol. 146. The rent of 6j. appears in 

 the sheriffs compotus of 1348 ; while 

 in an extent made in 1445-6 it is re- 

 corded that * the abbot of Whalley holds 

 the moiety of all the lands and tenements 

 in Monton in socage, and renders 6s, 

 yearly ; he says that he holds in frank 

 almoign ' ; Duchy of Lane. Knights* Fees, 

 2/20. 



Hugh the clerk of Eccles, who held 

 I oxgang, gave 10 acres in Monton and 

 Old Monton to Cockersand Abbey 5 Chart, 

 (Chet. Soc), ii, 702, 703. 



The Whalley lands were derived largely 

 from grants by the Byron and Worsley 

 families. Early in the 1 3th century 

 Maud daughter of Matthew de Barton 

 granted half an oxgang of land in Monton 

 to William the Clerk of Eccles, at a rent 



47 



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