A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Wright family ' are said to have possessed the hall ot 

 Cronton for generations, until in 1821 they sold it 

 to Bartholomew Bretherton of Rainhill ;' Mr. Staple- 

 ton-Bretherton is the present proprietor. No manorial 

 rights exist in connexion with it.' 



John Atherton was the principal contributor to the 

 land tax in 1785. 



At the school chapel of the Holy Family, mass is 

 said on Sundays and holidays by one of the priests of 

 the Rainhill mission.* 



There is also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. 



CUERDLEY 



Kyueredeleye, 1275 ; Keuerdele, Kyuyrdele, 1292 ; 

 Kyrdeleye, 1295 ; Keuerdelegh, 1328— a frequent 

 spelling. 



This township has an area of i,S73i acres.' A 

 considerable portion of it lying by the Mersey is 

 marshy. It is situated in extremely unpicturesque 

 flat country between the ■ manufacturing towns of 

 Widnes and Warrington, and presents little of interest 

 so far as its natural features are concerned. 



The soil is a stiff clay, and the chief produce wheat 

 and oats, and many acres afford good pasturage. The 

 geological formation consists of the upper mottled 



sandstone of the bunter series of the new red sand- 

 stone or trias, which is covered by alluvium in 

 Cuerdley Marsh. The principal road is that from 

 Widnes to Penketh. The Cheshire Lines Committee's 

 Liverpool to Manchester railway crosses the northern 

 angle, where it is joined by a branch line from 

 Widnes. The St. Helens Canal passes through the 

 southern part of the township. 



Cromwell's Bank is the name given to an ancient 

 dyke in the marsh. In this marsh the Bold Dragon 

 is said to have been slain. 



Only the name seems to survive of Cuerdley Cross.' 

 Early in the twelfth century CUERD- 

 MANOR LET formed part of the demesne of the 

 Widnes fee, and before 1 1 1 7 right of com- 

 mon in the woods and pasture was granted by William 

 Fitz Nigel to the priory of Runcorn ; which right con- 

 tinued to be enjoyed by the canons of this house 

 after their removal to Norton.' By the marriage of 

 William's daughter Maud to Albert Grelley II, the 

 manor came into the possession of the barons of Man- 

 chester,* and is usually stated in the extents of the 

 barony of Manchester to be held of the honour of 

 Halton by the eighth part of a knight's fee.' 



Early in the fifteenth century it seems to have 

 been granted to the Cistercian abbey of Jervaulx in 



eluded in the settlement made in 1608 ; 

 P»l. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 73, n. 4.1. 



Robert Burgcsj also had a manor of 

 Crooton in 1640; ibid. bdle. 137, n. 10. 

 He was probably a descendant of the 

 Robert Burgess already mentioned among 

 the purchasers from the Holts in 1584. 

 This Robert died the same year (his land 

 being held by the hundredth part of a fee) 

 and at subsequent inquisitions it was 

 found that his son Thomas, aged eleven 

 years, was heir, but the land had been 

 given to a younger son Richard ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, n. 59. Robert 

 Burgess of Hale and Elizabeth his wife 

 occur in the recusant roll of 1641 ; and 

 in 1 7 17 Robert Burgess, son of Thomas 

 and brother of James Burgess, as a 

 * Papist,' registered a small estate in 

 Cronton ; Tram. Hisi. Soc. (New Ser.), 

 liv, 243 ; £"g^' Catk. Non-jurorij 97. 



* William Wright was the second son of 

 Richard Wright of Cronton, who died in 

 June, 1621, seised of a quarter of the 

 manor, held in chief by the hundredth 

 part of a knight's fee. The eldest son 

 John had died before his father, leaving a 

 son Richard, aged thirteen in 1621. 

 Land. In^. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 246. He died 31 Jan. 1635-6, 

 leaving a son and heir John, ten months 

 old ; Duchy of Lane. laq. p.m. xxviii, 

 n. 25. This John was probably father 

 of the John son of John Wright of 

 Cronton, whose guardianship was in 1677 

 granted to Edward Williamson of Tar- 

 bock, John being then fourteen years of 

 age ; Act Book of Chest. 1676-84. 



A William Wright's will (at Chester) 

 was made in 1652 and proved in 1654, 

 Richard being his son and heir ; the lat- 

 ter dying in or before 1665, administration 

 was granted to Thomas Wyke, husband 

 of Jane, a daughter of William Wright. 

 A John Wright of Ditton, yeoman, whose 

 will was made in 17 18, and proved at 

 Chester a year later, was perhaps of this 

 family ; he had Marsh Green House in 

 Ditton, which he left to his brother 

 Francis's children, John Wright and Mary 

 Sankey ; the executors were ' Tremuli, 

 anglice Quakers.' 



The next Wright of Cronton appears 

 to have been the Thomas whose will was 

 dated 10 May, 1747, with a codicil of 

 a year later. He had lands in Cronton, 

 Rainhill, Liverpool, West Derby, and 

 Wavertree. He had a brother Ralph. 

 By his wife, Jane Clayton, he had four 

 sons — Richard, the heir ; Henry, who 

 married Elizabeth, and had a daughter 

 Elizabeth ; Thomas, who married Mary, 

 and had a son and daughter named Clay- 

 ton and Jane ; and John, who died before 

 his father, leaving a daughter Anne by 

 Martha his wife. 



Richard who was living in 1771, died 

 before 1775, when his son and heir 

 Thomas became administrator of his 

 grandfather's will. These particulars are 

 taken from this will, and that of Jane 

 Wright, made and proved in 1771 ; both 

 at Chester. Thomas Wright contributed a 

 ninth part of the land tax in 1785. 

 ^ Baines, Lane:, (ed. 1836), iii, 719. 

 ' Ex inform. Mr. Stapleton-Brether- 

 ton. In SherrifTs map, 1823, Richard 

 Wright is named as owner of the hall. 



* Liverpool Catk. Anrt. There were in 

 1628 thirteen persons fined as recusants 

 in Cronton ; Lay Subs. 131/138. 



' 1,563, including 17 of mland water ; 

 there are also 50 acres of tidal water 

 and 62 of foreshore ; Census Rep. of 

 1901. 



' Lanes, and Ches, Antiq. Soc. xix, 

 212. 



' Ches. Sheaf [■^ri Ser.), v, 28; Ormerod, 

 Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 691. 



» Ibid, i, 691 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New 

 Ser.), xvii, 33 ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 43, 240. 



' The inquest after the death of Robert 

 Grelley, taken in 1282, has the following 

 description of Cuerdley : ' A manor house 

 with a garden and two plats, worth 6s. %d. 

 a year ; 120 acres of arable land of the 

 demesne, worth ,^4 a year, and 1 3 acres 

 of meadow worth 3 21. 6d. a year ; a pas- 

 ture called the Warthe with the Woodhey, 

 worth 1 35. 4//. ; pannage and dead wood 

 were worth the same. A certain free 

 tenant held 1 2 acres of land, and z acres 

 of wood and meadow for one clove gilli- 



394 



flower \ the tenants in bondage rendered 

 58;. 10^. and the cottars 31, 4^. a year. 

 The windmill and water-mill were worth 

 20J., and the pleas of the halmote 44. 

 The manor, which was of the constable- 

 wick of Chester, was held of Edmund, 

 earl of Lancaster, and £z a year was paid 

 to him ; it did suit to the county and 

 wapentake * ; Inq. and ExtentSy 24.7. 



In the extent of the manor of Man- 

 chester in 1322, Cuerdley was recorded 

 to be held of the earl of Lancaster, as of 

 the manor of Halton, for one-eighth of a 

 fee ; there was a dovecote. In the marsh 

 were 50 acres of land worth 505. Fifteen 

 messuages had been built upon lands 

 leased out. The two mills were also in 

 operation, the tenants of the lord being 

 bound to grind there to the sixteenth 

 measure. The arable acreage was 2233 ; 

 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc), ii, 381, &c. 

 Some field-names are given — Salt lode, 

 &c. The fishery in the Mersey, formerly 

 rented at 2j., had become valueless, as the 

 'kiddles' could not be rented ; nor could 

 the bank be rented, as from the depth of 

 the water and other causes, it could not 

 be fished ; ibid. 393, 



Cuerdley is mentioned in the inquisition 

 after the death of John la Warre in 1 347 ; 

 Inq. p.m. 21 £dw. Ill (ist Nob.), n. ^6. 

 In that after the death of hie grandson 

 and heir, John la Warre in 1370, the 

 tenure is stated as before, and a brief ex- 

 tent is given : * There is in the manor of 

 Cuerdley the site of the manor, contain- 

 ing 2 acres j also 220 acres of arable 

 land, worth ;^ii) 10 acres of meadow, 

 20J. ; 60 acres of pasture, 15*. ; a wind- 

 mill, 20f. ; a fishery in the Mersey, 21. \ 

 the rent of free tenants amounted to 40J. 

 and of natives tu ^4 31., and the halmote 

 was worth loj. a year*; Inq. p.m. 44 

 Edw. in (ist Nos.), ff. 68. In 1398 

 the tenure is given as before ; the value 

 of the manor being ;^20 a year ; Inq. 

 p.m. 22 Ric II, n. 53. 



From 1420 the feoffees of Thomas la 

 Warre paid him ^36 5*. 6\d. yearly from 

 this manor ; Inq. p.m. $ Hen. VI, n. 

 54, and Dep. Keeper's Rep. zzxiii, App. 

 27. 



