WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LEIGH 



School for teaching two poor children from Pennington, 

 and for buying linen cloth for distribution amongst 

 the poor of the township. In 1723 Henry Bolton 

 bequeathed ;^iio to pay the vicar 10/. yearly for a 

 sermon on St. Bartholomew's Day, and to distribute 

 j^5 yearly amongst twenty necessitous persons of the 

 township.' 



BEDFORD 



Beneford,' 1200-21 ; Bedeford, 1200, 1296. 



The ford of Beda, probably through Pennington 

 Brook where it is now spanned by Breaston Bridge, 

 gave name to this place. The township is traversed 

 by four considerable streams coming from the north, 

 west, and east and uniting a little to the south of 

 Bedford Hall to form the water of Glazebrook, which 

 on its southward course forms for some little distance 

 the south-western boundary of the township. From 

 this stream to Chat Moss on the east, the elevation of 

 the land is barely 50 ft. above mean sea-level, but rises 

 gently until over 125 ft. is reached on the northern 

 boundary near Atherton Grange. The trees sur- 

 rounding Atherton Hall afford to the eye welcome 

 relief from the unpicturesque surroundings and un- 

 bending lines of factories and cottages. The main 

 road from Manchester to Leigh and the Bridgewater 

 Canal traverse the township from east to west. 

 There is also a branch road leading southward to 

 Warrington. The London and North- Western Rail- 

 way from Manchester to Liverpool traverses the 

 southern angle of the township, and the Tyldesley 

 and Leigh branch of the same company's railway has 

 a station called Leigh and Bedford, serving these con- 

 tiguous places.' The township has an area of 2,826 

 acres, and lies partly upon the new red sandstone, 

 and to the north-east partly upon the coal measures. 

 The permian rocks are mostly absent owing to a fault 

 which extends from south-east to north-west. There 

 is a great deposit of alluvium in the lower ground 

 traversed by the Glazebrook and its tributaries. The 

 soil is largely composed of clay ; the land consists mainly 

 of meadow and pasture, and some vegetables are grown. 



The township was formed into a district chapelry 

 in 1843 * out of the civil parish of Leigh. The Local 

 Government Act, 1858, was adopted in 1863,* but 

 by 38 and 39 Victoria, cap. ccxi, the district was 

 dissolved and merged in that of Leigh. In 1 90 1 the 

 population of the township, including Lately Common, 



numbered 11,163, chiefly employed in the Bedford 

 collieries, agricultural implement works, brick-fields, 

 an iron foundry, brewery and makings, cotton, silk 

 and corn mills. 



Dependent before the Conquest upon 

 MANOR the chief manor of Warrington hundred, 

 BEDFORD was afterwards included in 

 the barony of Warrington, upon the creation of that 

 fee. It was not held by knight's service, but by a 

 yearly rent of los., which suggests a continuity of the 

 pre-Conquest drengage tenure, and possibly to uninter- 

 rupted ownership by Englishmen after the Conquest. 

 The place is first mentioned in 1 200, when Simon de 

 Bedford proffered 10 marks and a hunting horse that 

 he might be ' inlawed ' and restored to the benefit of 

 the law in any proceedings taken against him for the 

 death of G. de Spondon." Contemporary with Simon 

 was William de Bedford, his brother and under-tenant 

 of the manor in the time of Richard I, John, and 

 Henry III, who had issue a son Henry and two 

 daughters, Hawise and Avice.' Henry had issue an 

 only daughter Agnes, who died without issue, when 

 the manor was divided between Henry's two sisters.* 



Hawise married a Sale and had issue Adam de 

 Sale ;' Avice married one William, and was sued in 

 1 23 1 by Hawise the relict of Henry de Bedford, for 

 dower in a third part of one plough-land in Bedford.'" 

 Agnes, daughter of William and Avice, married a 

 Waverton, and was mother of John de Waverton." In 

 1292 Henry de Kighley and Ellen his wife were in 

 possession of one-half of the manor, Adam de Sale or 

 his son William of one-quarter, and John de Waverton 

 of the other quarter.'* At some previous date Jordan 

 de Hulton had been enfeoffed for life of one-half of 

 the manor by Adam de Sale, who was also possessed 

 of another fourth part, which he appears to have given 

 before 1292 to his son William and Margaret his 

 wife." It therefore appears that Henry de Kighley 

 acquired one-half of the manor from Adam de Sale.'* 

 One-sixteenth part of Kighley's half of the manor was 

 held by Thomas de Shuttleworth, and represents the 

 ancient messuage known as Shuttleworth House.'* 

 For many generations the manor descended in the 

 representatives of these four families, but the manor 

 court, with view of frankpledge, was vested in the 

 Kighley family, whose estate was usually described in 

 legal instruments as the manor.'^ 



In 1296 Henry de Kighley gave the manor to 

 Richard de la Doune for life," who withheld the chief 



^ End.Char. (Lanes.), 1901, pp. 14-15, 

 65-8. In 1900 the gross annual income 

 amounted to j^48. 



* The early form of the name was 

 probably Bedan-ford. 



' The name of the station was formerly 

 Bedford-Leigh, and was changed out of 

 consideration for public feeling in Leigh. 

 The station stands in that portion of 

 Atherton township which was annexed to 

 Leigh in 1894. 



■• Lond. Gaz. 10 Jan. 1843. 



5 Ibid. 6 Nov. 1863. 



6 Rot. de Ohlatis (Rec. Com.), 98. His 

 neighbours Henry de Culcheth and Adam 

 de Rixton, with three others, were con- 

 cerned in this felony. 



^ De Banc. R. 207, m. 48, 77, loi d. 



8 Ibid. 



9 Ibid. In 1259 Adam (de Sale) son of 

 Hawise de Bedford sued Jordan de Hulton, 

 Henry de Tyldesley and Hawise his wife, 

 and John de Eckesley in a plea of mort 



d'ancestor for 8 oxgangs of land and two- 

 thirds of 181^. rent in Bedford; Lanes. 

 Assiz! R. (Rec. Soc. xlix), 229. The 

 same year Roger de Worsley and Agnes 

 his wife were plaintiffs in a similar suit 

 with Adam against John de Hulton for 

 two-thirds of 8 oxgangs of land in Bed- 

 ford ; ibid. 233. 



i» Curia Reg. R. 109, m. 15. 



11 De Banc. R. 207, m. loid . In 

 1258 Adam de Sale and Agnes daughter 

 of William sued Isolda de Hulton in a 

 plea of mort d'anceslor for a fourth part of 

 the manor of Bedford ; Lanes. Assize R. 

 (Rec. Soc. xlix), 227. 



12 Assize R. 408, m. 11. 



13 Ibid. m. 8 d. 



"In 1 29 1 Adam de Sale acknowledged 

 that Henry de Kighley and his heirs 

 should take the homage of Richard de 

 Pennington and Henry de Eckersley and 

 their heirs for lands and tenements in 

 Bedford, and Henry acknowledged that 



Adam and his heirs should have any profit 

 arising by wardship, relief, or escheat from 

 the fourth part of the manor ; Dods- 

 worth MSS. cxlii, 664. 



" Assize R. 408, m. 36 ; 417, m. 12 ; 

 1321, m. ii</. Between 1314 and 1317 

 there were several suits in the King's 

 Bench between Thomas de Shuttleworth 

 and William de la Doune, holding one 

 moiety, and William son of Adam de Sale, 

 holding a fourth part, of the manor ; De 

 Banc. R. 216, m. 208 ; 216, m. 161. 



1' Lanes. Feet of F. (Rec. Soc. xxxix), 

 182 ; xlvi, 77. 



17 Ibid. In 1303 William de la Doune 

 was summoned to answer Henry de Kigh- 

 ley and Ellen his wife in a plea of throwing 

 down the hall of Bedford, with two cham- 

 bers adjoining and a chamber for esquires, 

 and for felling 300 oak trees and forty 

 apple trees. He replied that when the 

 manor was demised to him there was only 

 an old hall with two chambers annexed ^ 



