AN 
 
 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 
 
 THE TOWNS 
 
 ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, 
 
 STALYBRIDGE, AND DUKINFIELD. 
 
 BY EDWIN BUTTERWORTH, 
 
 BUSK, NEAR OLDHAM. 
 
 ASIITON : 
 
 rniNTED BY T A. PHlLI.irS, STATIONEP, \. ., n?.I. r . . .v 
 
i 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Author of these pages feels conscious that he 
 has endeavoured, as far as his humble opj)ortuni- 
 ties permitted, to supply a concise sketch of the 
 History and Topography of Ashton-under-Lyne, 
 Stalybridge, and Dukinfield ; therefore, scarcely 
 any apology is necessary in introducing the book. 
 A comprehensive local history is generally admitted 
 to be useful ; and, if the present slight production 
 should have the good fortune to be deemed to be 
 in any way conducive to the public good, the wishes 
 of the writer will be amply realized. 
 
 Edwin Butterwortji. 
 
 Bisk, Oldham, 
 
 December 'Jlh, 1841. 
 
HISTORY, Sec. 
 
 The Pakish of AsHXON-rxDER-LYXE is within the 
 diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the 
 deanery of Manchester ; the county palatine of Lancaster 
 or Lancashire : the representative and assize division of 
 South Lancashire ; the hundred of Salford ; the magis- 
 terial division of Ashton-under-Lyne ; and the county 
 division polling district of Ashton-under-Lyne. 
 
 The Parish is in one of the south-eastern parts of the 
 count}', bounded by the adjacent parishes of two adjoining 
 counties — Yorkshire and Cheshire. On the north-east, 
 a brook separates it from the district of Quick, in the 
 parochial chapelry of Saddleworth, in the county of 
 York. On the east, the river Tame divides it from the 
 hamlet of Micklehurst, in Tintwistle, and the township of 
 Staley, both in the parish of Mottram-in-Longdendale, in 
 the county palatine of Chester ; on the south, the same 
 stream marks its limits from the township of Dukinfield, 
 in the parish of Stockport, likewise in Cheshire. The 
 Tame afterwards winding to the south, becomes the 
 south-east boundary of the parish, where it is bordered 
 by Dukinfield, in the parish and county just named. On 
 the south-south-west, the district is bounded by the 
 township of Haughton, and the to^\Tlship and chapelry of 
 
4 HISTORY OF 
 
 Denton ; on the south-west, by the township and chapehy 
 of Gorton ; on tlie west, by the townships of Droylsden 
 and Failsworth. Haughton, Denton, Gorton, Droylsden, 
 and Failsworth, are in the parish of Manchester. On the 
 north, the parish is bounded by the township, parochial 
 chapelry, and borough of Oldham. The north-north- 
 east, north-north-west, west, and south-west boundary 
 lines are chiefly imaginary. The form of this parochial 
 tract is nearly a square, rendered oblong by a narrow 
 arm on the north-east, intervening betwixt Oldham and 
 Saddle worth, and a broader portion on the south-west, 
 projecting betmxt Gorton and Dukinfield. 
 
 The length of the Parish, from Shepley Hall, at the 
 south-south-west extremity, to Cross, at the north-north- 
 east limit, is estimated at six and a half computed miles ; 
 the hreadth^ from Cat- Alley, near the west border, to 
 Bottoms, at the eastern verge, is about five miles. The 
 breadth of the north-east limb is generally about a quarter 
 of a mile ; and of the south-west angle upwards of a mile 
 and a half. 
 
 The entire surface of the district comprises, cus- 
 tomary, 4,208^ acres^ as ascertained in the survey made 
 for the assessment of a fifteenth on each estate, in 15th 
 James I. The number of statute acres is about 9,300. 
 
 There are four principal divisions in the parish, viz. : 
 Ashton Town, Hartshead, Knott-Lanes, and Audenshaw. 
 Ashton Town (now a parliamentary borough) is the most , 
 populous, yet the smallest; no ]>ortion of it being above 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. O 
 
 a mile from the centre of the town. It is on tlie south 
 side of the parish, lined on the south hy the river Tame, 
 and possesses no subordinate divisions as yet. Harts- 
 head, the largest of the four divisions, stretches to the 
 east, north-east, and north of the town, extending to the 
 centre of the parish. It contains the inferior districts 
 or hamlets of Luzley-with-Lanes, (including a portion of 
 the town of Stalybridge), Mossley, Hartshead, Hazle- 
 hurst, Lyme, Smallshaw, and Hurst. Knott-Lanes is of 
 irregular form, narrow in its north-east and south-west 
 parts, and expanding in the centre : it is situated to tlie 
 north and north-east of the tovm, and is detached from 
 Ashton Town division by parts of Hartshead and Auden- 
 shaw. Its sub-divisions are Cross Bank, Lees, Thornlee- 
 cum-High Knowles, Alt Edge, Alt, Alt Hill, and Park. 
 Audenshaw extends over the whole of the western side 
 of the parish, and lies north-west, west, and south-west 
 of the town. It is divided into Shepley, Little Moss, 
 Waterhouses, and Woodhouses, vills or hamlets. — The 
 sub-'districts mentioned here are those enumerated in the 
 Fifteenth Book ; and, strictly speaking, they are still the 
 only proper divisions ; but an increase of population has 
 added to the number of villages, whence we find, in the 
 assessment books of the last and present century-, nume- 
 rous places of modem growth represented as hamlets, or 
 inscribed as villages, that have taken the lead of their 
 several divisions, or, in name, superseded such of the 
 ancient spots as have not increased to an equal degree of 
 consequence. — Dr. Aikin and Mr. Baines have stated the 
 following places, all of recent creation, as hamlets of 
 Ashton-under-L}-ne : — Boston, Charlestown, (adjacent to 
 
 B 2 
 
6 IIISTOHY OF 
 
 and now part of Ashton Town), Stalybridge, Sour Acre, 
 (not, as often erroneously written, Tower Acre), Hey 
 Chapel, and Hooley-Hill. Stalybridge, Ridgeliill-Lane, 
 and Sour Acre, are parts of the ancient hamlet of Luzley- 
 with-Lanes. Hey or Hey Chapel is a modern portion of 
 the ancient hamlet of Lees, now commonly expressed 
 Lees-cum-Hey. Knott-Lanes and Wood Park hamlets 
 have been taken from the ancient hamlet of Park a 
 considerable time. The name of Knott-Lanes, as applied 
 to a division, is ancient ; but, as used for a village or ham- 
 let, modern. So it is with Audenshaw : the division is 
 of considerable antiquity, but the village or hamlet of 
 that name is comparatively modern. The hamlets or 
 villages of Audenshaw and Hooley-PIill are portions of 
 the ancient hamlet of Shepley. 
 
 The ToAVN and Bokough of Ashton-under-Lyne are 
 situated within the division of the town. The borough 
 and division are co-extensive. The tow^i occupies the 
 greater part of the division, and is built upon the flat 
 of an extending eminence, which is steep on the south, 
 and rises from the northern bank of the river Tame. 
 
 The town is upwards of five miles from Cross Bank, 
 the most distant part of the parish, to the north-north- 
 east ; two and a half miles from Wood Park, the northern 
 extremity ; two miles or upwards from Buckley-Hill, 
 the western point ; about two miles from the termination 
 of Hooley-Hill, the south-west verge; and the same 
 distance from Heyrod, at the eastern limit. The respec- 
 tive distances from the surrounding towns are 5^ miles 
 
ASHTON-XJNDER-LYNE. / 
 
 east of Manchester : 1 mile west of Stalybridge ; 4 miles 
 south of Oldham ; 7 miles north-north-east of Stockport : 
 3^ miles north of Hyde; and 186 north-west of London. 
 The geographical position of the site is in north latitude 
 53^ 25, and west longitude 2^ 8. 
 
 The derivation of the term Ashton is apparently 
 satisfactory ; the Estitn of the ancients in inquisitions 
 and surveys of the county, being manifestly formed of 
 fpyc, an ash, and tun, an enclosed place or town ; the 
 enclosed dun or tun ton of Ashes. In the era when a 
 Saxon chief fixed upon the mount the first habitance of 
 the subsequent Thanes of Ashton-under-Lyne, the preci- 
 pitous banks of the Tame were doubtless deeply shrouded 
 by the ash. It is difficult to determine the origin of the 
 affix " Under Lyne, or Line." Dr. Ormerod, the learned 
 historian, of Cheshire, is of opinion that it is so termed 
 owing to the situation of it below the Lime of Cheshire. 
 The designation Ashton sub Lima, used in Sir John de 
 Assheton's rent roll, appears to give countenance to the 
 conjecture of the Doctor. The fact of Ashton never 
 having been recorded as subordinate to Lime in any 
 I manner bears strongly against the accuracy of this idea ; 
 and still the Asshetons and Leghs, of Lime, were closely 
 connected with each other. By a decree of the Earl of 
 i Derby, 1 1 Henr}- VII., ^' Sir Piers Lygh and his heires 
 I shall or mowe here ye same armes whartly, so they be 
 not in the first quarter, as Sir Thos. de Assheton, with 
 a bezant of gold, kc, for difference.'*^ In this instance 
 
 I * ^N'hitaker's Richmondshire, foUo 24G, vol. 2, adtns., 1823. 
 
 B 3 
 
8 HISTORY OF 
 
 the Leghs procure licence to have armorial bearing 
 similar to the Asshetons, implying a supelriority in the 
 latter family. In an early survey of Manchester Manor, 
 (Harl. MSS., Codex 2085, fol. 527, b. Baines' 4to.,) 
 the manner of expression is " Ash ton subter lineam," — 
 Ashton-under-Line. The river Tame was, for a time, 
 the boundary of the Saxon Heptarchial kingdoms of 
 Northumbria and Mercia ; and the affix may have arisen 
 from the situation upon the line of division. The foun- 
 dation of the place is to be attributed to the Saxons ; and, 
 therefore, to endeavour to trace the designation to the 
 Roman period is, perhaps, to enter upon a time when 
 this tract was nameless. Manchester, in Lancashire, 
 and Aldmondbury, in Yorkshire, were stations of the 
 Romans; and, in order to connect these towns, the 
 conquerors were obliged to construct a road through the 
 higher part of the tract of country which was afterwards 
 the Parish of Ashton-under-Lyne. Remains of this road 
 are still existing at Street, in the adjoining township of 
 Failsworth. The better to facilitate the opening of the 
 forests, and the subjugation of the natives, the legions 
 threw up a trench across the hills, in a line with the iter. 
 The Saxons, under feelings of admiration and lasting 
 impression of the magnitude of this work, were induced 
 to impart the distinguished appellative of Under Lyne, or 
 beneath the trench. The name Lime is still perpetuated 
 in the parish, in Limehurst ; and it was anciently the 
 denomination of an hamlet, no longer recognised. This 
 hamlet might have been of more importance than the 
 Eston of the Saxons, supposing Lime to have been the 
 abode of a Saxon baron, the paramount lord of Eston. 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. » 
 
 In the Book of Assessment of a Fiftecntli, temp. James 
 the First, Ashton and Lyme appear to be deemed of 
 equal magnitude. The utility of this disthictive is mani- 
 fest on beai'ing in mind the Large number of places of 
 tlie name of Ashton. 
 
 The History of Ashton-under-Lyne is not barren of 
 interest ; the succession of the lords of this mesne barony, 
 and a description of the customs and services of their 
 dependants, form amusing traits of the feudal character. 
 Dr. Aikin, Dr. Hibbert, and jNIr. Baines, have hitherto 
 been the principal writers on the topography of the parish : 
 their articles illustrative of this subject are of a vigorous 
 and comprehensive style. 
 
 The Rev. John Whitaker, historian of Manchester, 
 an ingenious and singularly entertaining antiquary, asserts 
 Ashton and other adjoining parishes to have been the 
 tirst portions of Lancashire inhabited by the Setantii, or 
 dwellers amidst the country of the waters, a wandering 
 tribe, whom he believes to have invaded this part of the 
 province five hundred years before the birth of Chi'ist ! 
 The Druids were tlie priests of the Setantii and the other 
 native tribes ; and such of the priesthood as committed 
 to memory by metre the distinguished acts of the chiefs, 
 were called the Bards. The eai'ly mansion of Bardsley 
 is conjectured to have been the field or grove of the 
 Druidical bards. The antiquities of the parish connected 
 with the remote era of druidism were in existence within 
 memor\', and consisted of two cucuLar basons wrought 
 out of solid rock. The Medlock now flows over part of 
 
10 HISTORY OF 
 
 the rock. The larger is yet discoverable below a weir 
 or dam at the coal-works in Rocher Vale, Knott-Lanes ; 
 it is six feet in diameter and three in depth. The smaller, 
 now buried under an embankment, is perfectly circular 
 and smooth within, and is represented to be of the some- 
 what extraordinary dimensions of nine inches in width 
 and eighteen feet in depth. Several circumstances indi- 
 cate that they have been wrought by art for druidical rites. 
 According to Borlase, such basons were for " lustrations 
 and purifications by water." These remains were known 
 by the common name of Pots and Pans. A cell, once 
 inhabited as a human dwelling, was excavated out of 
 rock on the summit of a perpendicular cliif overlooking 
 Rocher Vale. The legend of the hamlet points to this 
 lone spot as the scene of a tragical deed, perpetrated upon 
 a female. The works of the Romans have been already 
 associated with the history of the parish. The Roman 
 way from Manchester to Aldmondbury skirted the section 
 of the parochial tract called Lyme or Line, and after 
 traversing Oldham entered Ashton-under-Lyne parish 
 near Lees, passed Hey (not Haigh chapel as erroneously 
 written) chapel, and immediately afterwards entered 
 Saddleworth. 
 
 The Kinderton, Stockport, and Almondbury iter passed 
 the south-eastern borders of the parish. Mr. Whitaker 
 says *' this way extended into Ashton parish, near the 
 foot of Stalybridge, was the third road from the station, 
 (Stockport) and is denominated Staley-street for a mile 
 together." The first sentence is obviously incorrect, for 
 the direct line would be through Staley, on the opposite 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYXE. 1 1 
 
 side of the Tame, and therefore not through Ashton. 
 There cannot be a doubt as to the certain bearhig of this 
 way all along the Staley side of the Valley of the Tame. 
 
 I have alluded to the Tame as the line of division of 
 the early Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. 
 
 Dr. Dunham ^Vhitaker contends that the Ribble 
 separated these small states. It is not improbable that 
 both rivers were the boimdaries at different periods. 
 
 This is the era in which there is much reason to place 
 the erection of the rudely fortified abode of a Northum- 
 brian chief, and of the huts of his serfs, on the summit 
 of JEiSdun^ the hill of ash trees. 
 
 Ashton was originally included in the Saxon parish 
 of Manchester, not only in its ecclesiastical, but also in 
 its civil character. The first edifice of christian worship 
 was a chapel of Manchester, and the first Saxon pos- 
 sessor held the manor in fee of the greater lord of 
 Manchester. In this manner the lordship and the parish 
 became co-extensive ; the ordinary parity of spiritual and 
 secular possessions was created by this almost universal 
 istom of early times. In modern days there are 
 numerous exceptions to the rule ; but in Ashton-under- 
 Lyne, after upwards of nine centuries have passed away, 
 the parish and the manor continue of equal extent or 
 nearly so. 
 
 The name of Canute is traceable in the abbreviated 
 
\Z HISTORY OF 
 
 corrupted A^ute or Knott-lanes, Knott-liill, &c. The 
 tradition of the parish is, that the Danish conqueror 
 crossed it in his way from the west to the east seas. 
 Bottomley, the topographer of Saddleworth, has marked 
 Knott-hill, in Saddleworth, as the spot where the hero of 
 the descendants of the Frisian Goths harangued his 
 fatigued troops. 
 
 William, the Norman, laid prostrate Danish usurpation 
 and Saxon policy. The Saxons who dared to dispute 
 his will were quickly despatched : those who implicitly 
 submitted are the mesne lords denominated drenches in 
 domesday book. The Saxon lord of Eston was ap- 
 parently of the former and larger number. The great 
 barons of the Norman chief distributed their vast pos- 
 sessions to their immediate dependants, the lesser barons; 
 who provided for a still more inferior class : and these in 
 their turn parcelled out the land to the tenantry, all 
 holding in fee from their superior ; the lower the rank, 
 the more degrading was the nature of the subjection. 
 Roger of Poictou, or Rogerius Pictavensis, was para- 
 mount lord of the land betwixt Ribble and Mersey, and 
 afterwards of all Lancashire : he may be said to have 
 been the founder of the great Barony, Earldom, and Duchy 
 of Lancaster. Of his lesser barons was Albert Grelle, 
 who held in fee the barony and parish of Manchester, to 
 which the manor and chapel of Ashton-under-Lyne were 
 appurtenant. Robertus Grelle has been represented as 
 the first Norman grantee of Eston from Roger of Poictou, 
 but this now appears to be incorrect. Emma, the daugh- 
 ter of Albert, married Ormeus Fitz-Eward or Ailward, on 
 
ASIITOX-rXDER-LYNE. 13 
 
 whom Albert settled Eston as part of the marriage por- 
 tion, to be held by him as superior lord At the time of 
 making the inquisition which was the basis of the Testa 
 de Novilh it was found that the land in Eston acquired 
 by Orm in this marriasre was a carucate (about one 
 hundred acres) ; and it is held by Orm and his heirs on 
 condition of yielding a rent of ten shillings per annum to 
 the Baron of Manchester. The passage subjoined is 
 from the Testa de Xevill, p. 404, and forms the first 
 notice of the manor after the conquest ; for Domesday 
 Book is silent on this head. 
 
 " Albtus Gredle senior dedit Orm fil' Eward h. filia sua 
 Emma in maritag' una caruc' Tre' in Eston p xs. p aiinu 
 heredes ipsius Orm' tenent Tram illam." 
 
 The remainder of the marriage portion consisted of a 
 knight's fee (480 acres) in Dalton, (Wigan parish) 
 Parbold, and Wrightington, (Eccleston in Leyland 
 parish) members of the Barony of Manchester. 
 
 Ormeus, the Norman, fixed his residence at Ashton- 
 
 under-Lyne, and is designated Orme de Assheton. He 
 
 was the parent of a knightly race, whose descendants, in 
 
 the female line, have nearly attained the summit of 
 
 English nobility. By Emma, daughter of Albertus Grelle, 
 
 the paramount lord, he left issue two sons, Roger and 
 
 Thomas. Ormeus is conjectured to have been living in 
 
 the reign of Heniy the First. His eldest son, Robert or 
 
 la Roger de Assheton, sometimes styled de Wrightington, 
 
 ■ received from Albertus Juvenis Grelle, a confirma- 
 
 B tion of the grant of Albertus, senior, of a carucate of 
 
 9 
 
14 HISTORY OF 
 
 Assheton ; and also a grant in fee of all As she ton. (Dr. 
 Keurden's MSS., fo. 262) Roger, now termed Roger 
 Fitz Orm de Ash ton, inspired by the piety of his age, 
 gave to God, St. Mary, and the abbey of Cockersand, 
 his lands in Nuthurst. (Keurden MS. fo. 214) His second 
 son, Thomas, with consent of his father, granted lands to 
 Robert Buron (Byron) '' pro homagio et servicio." (MS. 
 sans date, in possession of the Rector of Middleton, 1617.) 
 The exertions of the succeeding lord enabled him to 
 procure the privileges of an independent parish for his 
 chapelry of Ashton about 1280. The next member of 
 the family on record is Thomas de Assheton, designated 
 Sir Thomas, he was probably the first knight of the line, 
 and son of Roger. (Keurden small vol., p. 54.) Some 
 pedigrees describe Sir Thomas Asheton to have left two 
 
 sons, Robert (who was a knight, and m. Elizabeth ) 
 
 and Gilbertus. His successor, however, was Sir John de 
 Assheton, Knt., summoned to Parliament 17 Edward H. 
 He was living 18 Ed. IH., and married Margery, daughter 
 of Sir John Byron, relict of Sir Edmund Talbot, who died 
 18 Ed. HI., (Whitaker's Craven, p. 25) and Sir Henry 
 Fenwick, Knts. A number of fines, of very early date, 
 relating to lands and messuages in this manor, are pre- 
 served in the Chapter-house Record Office : vide Bundel. 
 Rot. Fed. Finium de com. Lane, temps. Ed. HI. In 
 the first year of the duchy of Lancaster, 25 Ed. HI., 
 John de Radcliife, senior, is entered as plaintiff in a suit 
 at law, against Hugh de Toft and Alicia his wife, de- 
 ibrceants of the property in Ashton which William de 
 Moston held: the issue is not recorded. In the fourth 
 
ASIITOX-TJNDEE-LYXE. 15 
 
 year of the dueliy,29th Ed. III., Joliii de RadclifF,^ parson 
 of tlie chureh of Bury, appeared as plaiiitifl* ai^ainst 
 ; John de Astslieleiih and Ellen liis wife, deforccants, of 
 messuages and lands in Ashton. The result of this suit 
 is also unknown. (^Baines' 4to., v. 2, p. 435) Sir John de 
 Assheton was father of Sir Robert de Assheton, a cour- 
 tier and a counsellor. He was returned to the parliament 
 of 13*2 1 ; and to this circumstance probably owed his 
 future fortunes. On the 15th of May, 1359, 34 Ed. III., 
 the king appointed him Governor of " Guynes," near 
 Calais: in 37 Ed. III., Lord Treasurer of England, (in 
 this capacity he witnessed a charter to Edmund of Langley, 
 the king's son) ; in 42 Ed. III., Grantee of the Castle of 
 Saudgate, prope Calais. According to fines in the Tower, 
 he was Admiral of the narrow seas 43 Ed. III. ; con- 
 stituted Justice of Ireland 46 Ed. III., discharged 47 
 Ed. III. ; Vice-chamberlain to the King 47 Ed. III., 
 Treasurer of the Exchequer 49 Ed. III. ; a Trustee with 
 other eminent persons of royal property designed to endow 
 the abbey of St. Mary-le-Grace, 50th Ed. III. ; (Dugdalc 
 Men. Ang., p. 944) one of the Executors of Edward 
 the Third, 1377 ; Constable of Dover Castle and War^ 
 den of the Cinque Ports for life, 4 Richard II. (Weaver's 
 Fun. Monuments, p. 268.) He gave the largest bell of 
 the church of Dover Castle. He married first Elizabeth, 
 whose father's name is unknown ; and secondly, Philippa, 
 widow of Sii' or Lord Matthew de Gomey, (Inq. Keur- 
 dfTi MSS., A.) In one pedigree he is inserted *' Nuper 
 
 In 20th Efl. III., tliis John de Radcliff pair] a rent of half-a-mark 
 ^o Henn-, Duke of Lancaster, for lands in Assheton-inuler-Linr. 
 
 C 
 
16 HISTOKY OF 
 
 defunctus," 4 Rich. II. ; but he died Constable of Dover 
 Castle, Jan. 9, 1384, 8 Rich. II. He was interred in 
 iho clmrch of that castle, under a marble, whereon is his 
 portraiture as a knight inlaid in brass, and an inscription : 
 '* Hie jacet Robertus Assheton, myles quondam consta- 
 bularius Castri Dourie, et custos quinque Portuum qui 
 obijt nono die Januar, Anno Domini millesimo CCC. 
 octogesimo quarto, cujus anime propitietur Deus. Amen." 
 Philippa, second wife of this knight, married secondly, 
 Sir John Tiptoft, Knt., and died May 3, 1417. The 
 record of the extent of Manchester manor in Keurden's 
 MSS.,fo.274, (Baines' 4to., vol. 2, p. 182) states Robert 
 de Ashton to hold of the lord, for the term of his life, two 
 borates in Denton. 
 
 Sir Robert was father of Thomas de Assheton? 
 William, LL.D., Eleanor, (who married John Berkley, 
 Esq.), and also of an Henry it is conjectured. Henry 
 signed the treaty of peace betwixt Edward III. and 
 John, King of France, 8th of May, 1360. Thomas, the 
 eldest son and heir, was distinguished in his youth for 
 an ardour of military fame; and he captured the royal 
 standard of Scotland, at the battle of Durham or Neville 
 Cross, 17th of October, 1346. — Dr. Aikin states, that 
 he was knighted for his heroism on this occasion ; and is 
 of opinion that he instituted the custom of riding the 
 Black Lad, to commemorate this event. — Mr. Baines 
 (12mo., vol. 1, p. 491) observes, that the king knighted 
 Ashton and Coupland, another Lancashire esquire, who 
 distinguished himself in the battle ; but the same author, 
 (4to., vol. 2, p. 539) on the authority of Rymer's 
 
ASIITOX-UXDEK-LYNE. 17 
 
 Fcpdera, (vol. 7, p. 490 ; vol. 9, p. 425) corrects the 
 error of the creation of knighthood on Ashton, he beini^ 
 termed an esquire forty years after this period. Coupland 
 certainly received the honoiu*. On the 7th of Jan., 1385, 
 9 Richard II., the king granted him letters of permission 
 and protection to accompany John of Gaunt into Spain. 
 His younger brother, William de Assheton, is styled 
 *' Doctor of Laws to the Serene Prince Lord John, King 
 of Castile and Leon." (Rymer.) The name of the lady 
 of Thomas de Assheton is omitted in the genealogies. 
 
 His only son and successor was Sir John de Assheton, 
 Knt. He was Knight of the shire for Lancashire 6, 12, 
 and 13 Richard II. ; and cut a high figure in the French 
 wars. Froissart (tom. 1, p. 363) relates of him, that 
 when before Xoyon, a fortified village in Picardy, he 
 leaped over a fortress wall, and, single handed, attacked 
 a dozen experienced French warriors, two of whom he 
 wounded ; but they scorned to seek revenge, and were 
 astounded at his braver}'. The translator of Froissart 
 mistakes him for Su' John de vSeton. He married Mar- 
 garet, sister or daughter of Perkins de Legh, of Lyme ; 
 his daughter, Johanna, married Robert Davenport, of 
 Bramhall, Knt. (Ormerod's Cheshire, v. 3, p. 401.) 
 Collins states him to have been drowned at Norham ; 
 but it was his only son and heir. Sir John de Assheton. 
 
 Sir John de Assheton, who mamed a daughter of Sir 
 Robert Standish, of Standish, Knt., or, as others say, a 
 daughter of — Stanley, was father of John and Nicholas, 
 both Knights : the latter was of the order of St. John, of 
 Jerusalem or Rhodes. (Sir George Booth's Evidences.) 
 
 c 2 
 
18 HISTORY OF 
 
 John, the eldest son, and the successor of his father, 
 was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of 
 Henry the Fourth, Oct. 13, 1399. (Anti's Knights of 
 the Bath, appen., f. 22.) Sir John, in 1412-13, was 
 successful in attempts to render his subordination to the 
 superior lord merely nominal. The custom roll and 
 rental of Sir John, dated 1422, 1st Henry VI., is a 
 valuable record of the tenures of his tenantry, and an 
 interesting illustration of the manners of lord and serf. 
 It is much too detailed to be treated of in this place ; and 
 is, therefore, more appropriately assigned to the article 
 Manorial Rights, Customs, &c. 
 
 Sir John was chosen Knight of the Shire 1413, 1st 
 Henry V.; appointed Seneschal of Bayeux 1417, 5th 
 Henry V., in which capacity he received, on the 14th of 
 December, 1417, the king's command to protect the 
 religious within Bayeux. In 7th Henry V., he became 
 BailiiF or Constable of Constance, and Captain of Hadu- 
 pais. He was living 1427, 5th Henry YI., (Harl. MSS., 
 Cod. 2085, fol. 400) and married first Jane, daughter of 
 John Savile, of Tankersley, county of York; Collins 
 says Isabel, daughter of Elland, of Brighouse, county of 
 York : secondly, Margaret or Mary, daughter of Sir 
 John Byron, of Clayton, Knt., who afterwards married 
 John Talbot, of Bashall, Esq. The issue of the first 
 wife was Sir Thomas Assheton, Knt., his successor; 
 Robert, Lawrence, John, (omitted in some descents) 
 Lucy, married first Sir Bertine Entwistle, Knt. ; secondly, 
 Richard Byron ; thirdly, Ralph Shirley, Knt. : Margaret, 
 married Thos. Langley, of Agecroft ; Katharine, married 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 19 
 
 John Dukinfield ; Elizabeth, married first Sir Ralph 
 Harrington ; secondly, Sir Richard Hammerton ; Agnes, 
 married Thos. Booth, of Barton, Esq. ; Anne, married 
 Button, of the county of Chester, Esq.; Mary, and Isabel. 
 The second wife of Sir John left an only child, Ralph, 
 who, by marriage with Margaret, cousin and sole heiress 
 of Richard Bai'ton, of Middleton, became seated at 
 Middleton, and was knighted. He was the ancestor of 
 the Asshetons of Middleton, who flourished as knights 
 and baronets for upwards of three centuries ; the female 
 heiresses of the last male representative of which house 
 married the heads of the noble houses of Suffield and 
 Wilton, towards the close of the last century. The 
 Asshetons, of Middleton, were the parent stock of the 
 younger branches of Whalley, Dowmham, Cuerdale, 
 Great Lever, Fayrsnape, kc. William Assheton, of 
 Downham, (Whalley parish,) Esq., is reputed to be the 
 only lineal descendant of the male line of the Asshetons 
 now living in the county. Joseph Ashton, Esq., of 
 Much Woolton, (Childwall parish) is said to be descended 
 from the Ashtons of Ashton-in-Mackerfield, a collateral 
 line of the Asshetons of Middleton. 
 
 Sir John de Assheton died 7th Henry VI., 1428, and 
 was succeeded by his eldest son. Sir Thomas de Asshe- 
 ton ; married 3 Heniy V., Elizabeth, daughter of Sir 
 John Byron, of Clayton, Knt , sister of his father's se- 
 cond wife. Unlike a long line of ancestors of military 
 repute, Sir Thomas, when young, attached himself more 
 to the study of the laboratory than the feats of the field. 
 In an age prone to belief in witchcraft and other absurdi- 
 
20 
 
 HISTOHY OF 
 
 ties, the secret studies of Sir Thomas were viewed with 
 suspicion ; and lie and several more knights of a similar 
 studious habit, were considered as proficients in the 
 hlack art. He and his friend, Sir Edmund TrafFord, of 
 Trafford, Knt., are stated to have been eminently skilled 
 in the sciences of philosophy and chemistry, subjects 
 little understood at that period. Their superior acquire- 
 ments did not prevent them from apparently imposing 
 upon themselves as well as others, by procuring a patent 
 from the king in the 24th of Henry YI., 1455, " by the 
 art or science of philosophy (alchymy) to work up certain 
 metals, to transmute metals from their own kind, and 
 then to transubstantiate them, by the said art or science, 
 into perfect gold or silver, unto all manner of proofs and 
 trials to be expected and endured, as any gold or silver 
 growing in the mine." The sages commissioned to effect 
 these golden projects, or, as they modestly designated 
 themselves, ''lovers of truth and haters of deception," 
 boasted that man, by their powers, would enjoy perpetual 
 youth. So credulous was the king, that he actually 
 informed his people that the happy hour was approaching 
 when all his debts would be totally discharged ! (Baines' 
 12mo.,vol. 1, p. 37.) The populace were alarmed at the 
 supposed artfulness of the workers in alchymy, and their 
 persons were endangered. But before their experiments 
 could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, they too 
 late discovered that they had omitted to prepare the 
 elixir vitse of their brethren ; for the messenger of death 
 invaded their laboratory, and spread a lethal gloom over 
 their golden speculations. (Transactions of the Lanca- 
 shire Antiquarian Society, part 1, p. 16, 17.) Sir Thomas, 
 
ASHTOX-rNDEE-LYNE. 2 1 
 
 the date of wliosc death does not occur in the genealogies, 
 left issue, Sir John, liis eldest son and successor ; Ed- 
 mund, who became seated at Chadderton. in Oldham, by 
 marni-ing Johanna, dani^hter of Richard Radcliffe, or 
 Radcliffe Chadderton, Esq. : Geoffrey, first of Shepley, 
 in right of his wife, the daughter and lieiress of Thomas 
 Mannow. of Shepley ; Nicholas, sergeant at law, 1443, 
 justice of the king's bench, 1445, married Mary, daughter 
 of Lord Brook : Elizabeth, wife of Sir Jolm Trafford, of 
 Trafford, Knt. ; and Dulcia, married Thomas Gerard, of 
 Bryu, Esq. He had also issue four other children, who 
 probably died yomig. 
 
 Sir John having taken an active part in the quarrel 
 bet\vixt the houses of York and Lancaster, was ^vith 
 King Henry VI. in the fatal battle of Northampton, 
 July 10, 1460, where, with eight others, previous to the 
 engagement, he received the honour of knighthood. He 
 married twice ; first, Dulcia, daughter of Sir Edmund 
 Trafford, and secondly, Isabel, daughter of De Elland, 
 and died 1508. By his first wife, Dulcia, he had issue 
 Sir Thomas Assheton, who w^as knighted at Ripon, 1491 
 he married first, EUzabeth, daughter and sole heiress of 
 Ralph Staley, Esq., of Staley Hall, rear Stalybridge : 
 and secondly, Agnes, one of the ten daughters of Sir 
 James Harrington, of Woolfage, Knt. Sir Thomas died 
 in 1516, and was the last surviving male representative 
 i the ancient family of the Ashtons, of Ashton-under- 
 JLyne. By the heiress of Staley he had issue three 
 daughters : his co-heiresses, Margaret, the eldest, 
 married Sir William Booth, of Dunham Massey, Knt. ; 
 
22 HISTORY OF 
 
 Elizabeth married Randle Ashton, of Burton, Esq., but 
 died without issue ; and Joan married Sir John Leigh, of 
 Boothes, near Nether Knutsford, Knt., by whom no issue. 
 The children of Sir Thomas Assheton, by his second 
 marriage, were John, who, though married, died issueless 
 apparently, in his father's life time ; and Alice, who 
 married Sir Richard Hoghton, of Hoghton Tower, Knt., 
 by whom Thomas Hoghton, Esq., who temporarily pos- 
 sessed the manor of Ashton, according to inquisitions 
 post mortem of 22nd Elizabeth. Elizabeth, wife of 
 Randle Ashton, Esq., possessed a third of the manor, 
 she died 1557 : and Joan, wife of Sir John Leigh, had 
 also a portion. These possessions reverted to the Booths 
 and Hoghtons ; but the manor and chief part of the 
 hereditaments fell to the share of the Booths, and the 
 ancient name of Ashton became extinct, while the place 
 passed into a non-resident family. 
 
 Sir William Booth was a lineal descendant of John 
 de Booth, lord of the manor of Barton-on-Irwell. He was 
 twice married, first to the heiress of Ashton and Staley ; 
 secondly, to Ellen, child of Sir John Montgomery. 
 He was the parent of a large family. He died Nov. 9, 
 1519, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George 
 Booth, Esq., who married Elizabeth Butler. He died 
 1531, and was followed by his eldest son, George Booth, 
 Esq., who expired 1544, aged 28. His successor was 
 his only son, William, who was but three years of age 
 at his father's death. In 1578, he was knighted. He 
 married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Warburton. 
 He died Nov. 28, 1579, and had issue seven sons and 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. 23 
 
 six daughters. He was succeeded by his second son, 
 George, who was knighted about 159 J, and was created 
 a baronet May 22, 1611 ; which thus rendered him the 
 first knight and baronet, and the tenth baronet. He was 
 once high-sheriif of both Lancashire and Cheshii'c, and was 
 a warm supporter of the parHamentary cause. He died 
 Oct. 24, 1652, and his estates and honours were inherited 
 by his grandson, George, (son of William, who died 1636) 
 the future Baron Delamere, who was born Dec. 8, 1622. 
 He represented Cheshire in parliament 1641 and 1651. 
 He maiTied first in 1638, Catharine, daughter and heiress 
 of Theophilus Fienes, Earl of Lincoln ; she died 1643 ; 
 and he married secondly, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of 
 Henr}' Grey, Eai4 of Stamford, by whom he had issue 
 six sons and five daughters. Sir George embodied an 
 army in Cheshire in 1659, ostensibly for the purpose 
 of obtaining a " free parliament," but in reality for the 
 purpose of restoring the Stuarts. This insurrection 
 having failed, the attempt to restore monarchy was not 
 resumed till the death of Oliver Cromwell, when Sir 
 George formed one of a deputation for inviting Chas. H. 
 to ascend the throne of England ; and after the restora- 
 tion he was elevated to the peerage, April 20, 1661, 
 under the title of Baron Delamere, of Dunham Massey. 
 Not being studious to please the court, he was subse- 
 quently disregarded by the king, and ill used by his 
 .successor, James H. He died August 8, 1684, and was 
 succeeded by his second son, Henry, second Lord Dela- 
 mere, who was, in his father's life-time, member for 
 Cheshire in several parliaments. This nobleman had 
 scarcelv taken his seat in the House of Peers before he 
 
24 HISTORY OF 
 
 was consigned to the Tower, and placed at the bar of 
 the Lords accused of high treason. He had, with great 
 zeal, acted for the interests of his country, and had been 
 particularly anxious for the passing of the famous bill 
 of exclusion, for which the great and good Lord Russell 
 complimented him on the morning of his execution. For 
 this he incurred the displeasure of the then Duke of 
 York. After some months' confinement he was released ; 
 but on the accession of James II. he was again commit- 
 ted ; and, on being admitted to bail, was committed a 
 third time on a false accusation of high treason, January 
 14, 1685. He was shortly afterwards tried in West- 
 minster Hall, before the Lord Chancellor, Jeffreys, his 
 particular enemy, who was constituted Lord High 
 Steward on the occasion. The jury consisted of twenty- 
 seven peers, of a select class, summoned by Jeffreys. 
 The impeachment accused his lordship of " conspiring 
 with Charles Gerard, Esq., and other false traitors, to 
 dethrone his majesty, James II., with assembling to 
 make war in the county of Chester, and with a design to 
 seize the city of Chester, and the castle of the said city." 
 In support of this charge, a wretch of the name of Saxon 
 was called, who had been clearly suborned to tender 
 false testimony ; and who deposed that Lord Delamere 
 had sent for him to his lordship's house, at Mere, and 
 had despatched him with a message to the Duke of 
 Monmouth, to inform his grace that ten thousand men 
 Avould be raised in Cheshire ; but that the rising must 
 be delayed from the first of June till Midsummer. His 
 lordship made so full and able a defence, that he was 
 pronounced not guilty, by the unanimous vote of the jury. 
 
ASIITOX-rXPEIl-LYNE. 25 
 
 Happy was it for him that he liad been tried by his peers, 
 and not by such hireling juries as Lord Russell and others 
 had suffered by. Subsequently he lived retired at Dun- 
 ham Massey, till four years afterwards, on the arrival of 
 the Prince of Orange in England, he raised a large force 
 in Cheshire and Lancashire, to aid in effecting the revo- 
 lution, and marched to meet the prince at Windsor. On 
 the 17th of December, 1688, he, together with the 
 Marquis of Halifax and the Earl of Shrewsbury, were 
 charged by Prince ^^"illiam with a message to King 
 James, commanding him to leave his palace and to re- 
 nounce his throne. Here is a striking instance of the 
 mutability of fortune. King James, to the honour of 
 Lord Delamere, said, when in retirement in France, that 
 none of the messengers behaved with so much respect as 
 Lord Delamere. On the 13th of February, 1688, Lord 
 Delamere was appointed a member of the Privy Council, 
 and on the 9th of April, 1689, Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer; by letters patent, dated April 17th, 1689-90, 2nd 
 of William and ]Mary, he was created Earl of Warring- 
 ton, in Lancashire. He died Jan. 2, 1693, and was 
 succeeded by his second son, George, second Earl of 
 Warrington, and third Baron Delamere, who died Aug. 
 2, 1758, without male issue, by which the earldom be- 
 came extinct ; but the title of Baron Delamere passed 
 his cousin, Nathaniel Booth, Esq. Mary, only child 
 and sole heiress of the second Earl of Warrington, con- 
 veyed the family possessions, by marriage, to the Right 
 Hon. Henrj* or Harrj' Grey, fourth Earl of vStamford, 
 who became possessed of the manor of Ashton-under- 
 Lyne in 1758. He died May 30, 1768; his consort 
 
26 HISTORY OF 
 
 died 1772. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George 
 Harry Grey Booth, fifth Earl of Stamford, and F.S.A. 
 He was created Baron Delamere and Earl of Warrington 
 April 22, 1796. He married Henrietta Cavendish 
 Bentinck, second daughter of William, second Duke of 
 Portland. He died May 23, 1819, and his titles and 
 estates were inherited by his eldest son, George Harry 
 Grey, sixth and present Earl of Stamford, and fourth and 
 present Earl of Warrington ; Baron Delamere, of Dun- 
 ham Massey ; Baron Grey, of Groby ; Baron Bonville 
 and Harrington ; Lord Lieutenant and Gustos Rotu- 
 lorum of the county of Chester. He married Henrietta 
 Charlotte Elizabeth Charteris, daughter of the Right 
 Hon. Francis Lord Elcho, son of Francis, fifth Earl 
 of Wemyss: she died 1838. His lordship's family 
 consists of a grandson and two daughters. The present 
 earl appears recently to have evinced much solicitude for 
 the prosperity and welfare of the inhabitants of Ashton- 
 under-Lyne. For the purpose of maintaining the due 
 value of property in Ashton, as compared with the 
 increased worth of land in the adjacent districts, he 
 procured an Act of Parliament a short time ago (1838-9), 
 effecting a considerable change in the tenures by which 
 lands are held from the manor. In order to create a 
 general feeling of kind regard and good will, the earl 
 occasionally resides at the Old Hall, the ancient mansion 
 of the Asshetons, which was first fitted-up for the 
 temporary residence of his lordship, in August, 1838. 
 On the 22nd of August, 1838, this nobleman visited 
 the town, to superintend the arrangements for his abode 
 at the manor house, and to view the parish church. 
 
ASIITON-UNDErv-LYXE. 27 
 
 This event was commemorated by tlie presentation ot* a 
 congratulatory address to the earl, and a public dinner of 
 a number of the principal inhabitants. — For upwards of 
 fifty years, the extensive manorial possessions of the 
 Stamford family were managed by the late Mr. Hugo 
 Worthington and his lamily, with considerable efficiency; 
 and the retirement of that highly respected gentleman 
 from the official situation which he held under the lord 
 of the manor, was deeply regretted by those persons with 
 whom his duties brought him into connexion. 
 
 The Old Hall of Ashton-under-Lyne probably 
 
 occupies what was the site of an out-post, or rude fort 
 
 ot Northumbria, in the Saxon period. The Norman 
 
 possessor of the manor appears to have erected a tower 
 
 I here ; and, from the pedigree and rent roll of Sir John 
 
 :de Assheton, it is evident that the hall and its yard were 
 
 ,both in a complete state in the 3rd of Richard H., 1380, 
 
 for in the covenant regarding the swine of the Assheton 
 
 ;tenantr}' are these words : — " that the s\\'ine are allowed 
 
 jto run in the demesnes of the town, excepting only the 
 
 iLittle Park and Hall yards." Dr. Aikin gives 1483 as 
 
 ^the supposed date of the fabric, which may be true of the 
 
 "'•^^ent edifice. In the reign of Heniy VI., Sir John dp 
 
 • -heton resided here in a style of feudal grandevu', and 
 
 Ijwith all the hospitality of manner which characterized 
 
 gentr}' of the olden time. The great room called 
 
 hall was frequently a scene of rude festivity, where, 
 
 Uie amusements were not highly refined, they were 
 
 J ^thoroughly jovial. Strict in the exaction of manorial 
 
 J dues, Sir John was generous to all whom he conceived 
 
28 HISTORY OF 
 
 deservedly merited his approbation. In accordance witli 
 the true spirit of chivahy, he gave more countenance to 
 tlie arts of ^var than those of peace ; and whilst the 
 bowmen were suffered to cluster around him on festive 
 days, the rustics of the fields were placed in a position 
 beneath the men of arms. The appearance of the Old 
 Hall is striking, but sullen ; and when surrounded by 
 stately gateways, court-yards, moats, and draw-bridges, 
 it would assume a formidable air. The free and intrud- 
 ing hand of modern improvement has gradually destroyed 
 these needless works of defence, and the greater part of 
 the mansion is as much modernised as its ancient form 
 will allow. The pile is large and irregular, and stands 
 on the south side of the church-yard, overlooking the 
 valley of the Tame. The south part of the building 
 resembles a prison, and was used as such within the last 
 century. 
 
 Dr. Aikin remarks, that the Ashtonians once regarded 
 the prison of the Old Hall as a kind of bastile to the 
 town. The prison portion is a strong but rather small 
 edifice, with two round towers, one at each angle, clothed 
 in ivy, and bearing a gloomy aspect. These towers are 
 designated " The Dungeons." They appear only to have 
 been conveniences for the prisoners, as they have door 
 places, a flag for the feet, and a rail to prevent them from 
 falling backwards, with drains from the bottom. They 
 are not large enough for a person to live in, but seem to 
 have been added to make the place look more formidable. 
 A large room used to be hung with gilded leather, and 
 there was a fine painting of St. George and the dragon in the 
 
ASIITOX-rXDER-LYNE. 29 
 
 window; handcuffs, fastened to the wall, were remaining 
 not many years ago."^ Within the prison were two court- 
 yards, an inner and an outer, with strong walls. Over 
 the outer gate was a square room, ascended to, from the 
 inside, by a flight of stone steps, very ancient : it was 
 always called the Jailer's Chapel, as it was supposed 
 that prayers were occasionally read in it to the prisoners. 
 This ruinous room was taken down about 1794. The 
 adjacent house was inhabited by an aged man, wlio 
 remembered a gate being open through the house in 
 1733. On the west side of the hall the walls were strong, 
 and contained numbers of loopholes. A short distance 
 is a close which has been called Gallows Field, doubtless 
 the place of execution, when the lord of Ashton had 
 power of life and death : 
 
 ** AVhen lords could hang t±ieir serfs at once, 
 Xor give a reason — why ; 
 And ladies loved that tourney most, 
 'MVhere most were doomed to die I" 
 
 The manorial rights and customs of Ashton-under-Lyne 
 are profuse — the greater number of them obsolete. 
 Taking them in distinct heads they chiefly resolve into 
 tenures, services in money, kind, and labour ; restriction 
 as to soke, manorial heriots, incidental privileges, royal 
 grants of frankpledge, courts, markets, and fairs. 
 
 Orm Fitz-Eward, the fii'st mesne lord of Ashton of 
 the Norman line, paid a tribute of ten shillings to 
 
 ♦ Aikin's Manchester, 1795, p. 225-6. Barritt's Collections, 
 Chetham Librarj-, 4to., p. 58. — In Aikin are three views of parts 
 of the hall. 
 
 D 2 
 
30 HISTORY OF 
 
 Albcrtus Grelle, Baron of Manchester, the paramount 
 lord. Roger, the son of Orm, held Assheton and Heton 
 of Albertus, grandson of Albertus, by the service of ten 
 shillings for each of these manors, and a soar of hawks. 
 Gilbert Fitz-Orm, whom I take to be of the Fitz-Orms 
 of Assheton, held his lands by paying annually three-, 
 pence, or some spurs, to Benedict Gurnet, the heir of 
 Roger de Heton, in thanage. (Tes. de Nevill.) 
 
 Robert de Holland held part of the knight's fee in 
 Dal ton, Parbold, &c., that was anciently the Asshetons'. 
 In Gregson's Fragments of Lancashire, p. 4, it is said, 
 that Robert de Holland received Assheton by gift of 
 Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to whom he afterwards 
 proved faithless. Robert de Holland appears to have 
 been only authorized to receive the services due from 
 Assheton to Thomas Plantagenet, as Earl of Lancaster. 
 
 Edward L, in the 13th year of his reign, 1284, is 
 described (upon what authority I have hitherto been 
 unable to discover) to have granted to Sir Thomas de 
 Assheton, reputed son of Roger, right of view of frank- 
 pledge, and of a market and fairs in his manor. (See 
 article markets and fairs.) The first part of the tran- 
 sactions of the Lancashire Antiquarian Society states 
 the date of this grant to be unknown. It was confirmed 
 temp. Henry VI., and the confirmation has been taken 
 for the original grant. 
 
 In the same year he was required to pay tw^enty-two 
 shillings annual rent to Sir Richard de Kirkeby, who 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. 31. 
 
 was either a lessee or trustee for Robert Grelle, or 
 Gresley, the superior lord, son of Peter, great grandson 
 Iff the younger Albertus Grelle. 
 
 Sir John de Assheton was chartered to have free 
 warren in his demesne lands of Ashton, Aug. 27, 1335, 
 9th Edward III. (Rot. Chart. Par. Uuic. m. 23. 
 
 In the 3rd of Richard II., 1380, Sir John de Assheton, 
 Knt., covenants with his tenants, that " they shall havr 
 free pannage for their hogs or swine, from harvest to 
 seed time, in all his demesnes, except in the Little Park 
 and Hall yards, on condition they are ringed, and no 
 trespass done."* (Barritt's MSS., in Manchester College 
 Libraiy, copied from a paper of Sir Raphe Assheton, of 
 Middleton, Bart., 1749.) 
 
 In 1412, 13th of Henry IV., or 25th February, 1413. 
 1st of Henry- V., Thomas (Magister) de la Warre, ninth 
 Baron of Manchester, and also Rector of Manchester, 
 empowered Thomas Longley, (Langley) Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, William Th}TmTig, Miles Johes Henege Nichns 
 Mott, parson of Swynshead, and others, to inquire into 
 the degree of subjection of the Lord of Ashton to Man- 
 chester: they accordingly issued an indenture representing 
 Sir John de Assheton to hold the manor with its appur- 
 tenances of Thomas Lord de la Warre, by fealty, service 
 of twenty-two shillings annually, and one hawk, or forty 
 shillings, and a contribution called putura, to the main- 
 tenance of the foresters of Horewich and Blakelegh, as 
 part of the manor of Manchester. Dated at Swineshead, 
 D 3 
 
32 HISTORY OF 
 
 and witnessed hj Radpho de Stanley, Johe de Pekyngton, 
 Johe de Hilton, Rico de Radeclyff, Adam de Leuer. 
 
 (Harl. MSS., Codex 4,900, fo. C.) 
 
 Another document of the same date, states Sir John 
 to have held Assheton of Sir Richard de Kirkeby, and 
 Sir Richard to have held it of Thomas Lord de la Warre, 
 by fealty. The rent due from Sir John to Sir Richard 
 is entered as 07ie penny per annum ; and the amount 
 yielded by Sir Richard to Lord de la Warre is marked 
 as twenty-two shillings, a circumstance which occasions 
 doubt and distrust of the assertions in this record. It is 
 added that Sir Richard was acquitted of twenty-one 
 shillings and eleven pence, reducing the rent to one penny. 
 The sum of one penny formed the whole service subse- 
 quently due from Sir John and his successors to Kirkeby 
 or de la Warre, and their successors, as paramount lords. 
 Mr. Baines (vol. 1, 12mo., p. 490) places the date of this 
 transaction in the 5th Henry VI., citing MSS., British 
 Museum, 2085 E, p. 410. Kirkeby or the Baron de la 
 Warre, further conceded to Sir John a confirmation of 
 his right of '' view of frankpledge (and incidental privi- 
 leges) of the tenants and inhabitants of the manor and 
 town of Assheton, with tollage, fishery, and stallage." 
 A contribution was previously levied from '' Ashton- 
 under-Lyne and its members, to the maintenance of the 
 Bailiff (the lord's sergeant sworn) of the Barony of 
 Manchester, and his assistants." 
 
 In the 4th of Henr\^ YL, Thomas de la Warre, Clerk, 
 is recorded to have died, seized of Ashton-under-Line 
 manor, &c., as superior lord. 
 
ASHTOX-UXDER-LYXE. 33 
 
 By the activity and care of the Sir Jolin de Assheton, 
 Knt., of the reigns of Henry V. and VI., a detailed 
 and accurate survey of his possessions was taken, the 
 results of which have heen entered in his " Custom Roll 
 and Rental" of the manor, bearinc: date 1422, 1st of 
 Henry ^ I. This curious document was in the hands of 
 Sir Raphe Assheton, of Middleton, Bart., 1749; and a copy 
 came into the possession of Jonah Harrop, of Bardsley, 
 Gent, (several transcripts have been taken) ; and Dr. 
 Hibbert has added to the interest of the MS. by his pro- 
 found illustrative notes, entitled " Illustrations of the 
 Customs of a Manor in the north of England, by Dr. 
 Hibbert, of Edinbm*gh." A copy of the Custom Roll 
 and Rental appears in the " History of Ashton-under- 
 Lyne," published in 1823. The MS. is too large to be 
 comprised within my limits; and I shall, therefore, endea- 
 vour to elucidate its general features. Mr. Baines (4to., 
 vol. 2, p. 543) remarks, that this custumale '' casts much 
 light on the early customs and manners of the parish, 
 which, though not differing much from other manorial 
 customs, there is a minuteness of detail that interests 
 while it informs ; and exhibits at once a state of 
 society where senice was substituted for money, and 
 local authority for national law." 
 
 The roll of the names of the tenants presents the 
 following choice appellations : — " Magot, that was the 
 wife of Richard of Hadfield ; William and Robert the 
 Walkers, Syssot, that was the wife of Patrick ; Malkyn, 
 that was the wife of Diccon Hoggeson ; Mergot of Stealey, 
 Alys, that was Pole's wife ; Nan of Windebank, Roger 
 
34 HISTORY OF 
 
 the Smith; Syssot, that was the wife of Thomas the 
 Cook; Hobbe Adamsoii, Roger the Baxter, William the 
 Arrowsmith, Jak the Spencer, Elyn the Rose, Jenkyn of 
 the Wood, Thomlyn of the Leghes, Jak the Mercer, John 
 the Slater, Roger the Cropper, Robert the Wright, 
 Syssot, that was the wife of Jak of Bardsley ; Rauf and 
 Robyn of Assheton, the Heir of Hobbe of the Leghes, 
 Jankin of the Winterbotham, Magot, that was the wife 
 of Jenkyn the Cropper, and Tomlyn the Tailor." This 
 list of the artisans and husbandmen of Assheton of the 
 fifteenth century indicates the origin of many surnames 
 still subsisting in the parish. It is not surprising that 
 the distinct profession of an arrowsmith should have 
 occurred in the town of Ashton four centuries ago, at a 
 time when bowmen were the " flower of the English 
 armies." 
 
 In the first page of the roll is inserted the covenant 
 respecting the swine of the tenantry, 3rd Richard II. ; 
 (see p. 27) and a decree, 1st Henry IV., inflicting a for- 
 feiture of 20s. at the lord's court, on such tenants as did 
 not multer at the lord's milne. In the order made for the 
 receipt of rents at the court, for the year 1422, the style 
 of the lord is " John of Assheton, Knt., the which came 
 out of Normandy." All the tenants were required to pay 
 their rent twice a year, at the feasts of St. John the 
 Baptist and St. Martin, — to give their presents at Yule, 
 Christmas ; and in return the " lord shall fleed all his 
 said tenants and their wives, upon Yule-day, at the din-- 
 iier. They shall send neither man nor woman in their 
 
ASnTOX-rXPER-LTNE. 35 
 
 name, except their son or daug'hter."'^ Each tenant who 
 had a plough was to ploiv two clays, and eacli who had 
 half a plough one day, m wheat and lenten secdinii^. 
 Eveiy tenant, ^* when they bin charged," was to han'ow 
 day, in seeding time : each of them was to cart ten 
 cai'tfiil of turre from the Moss to Ashton ; shear four 
 days in haryest; and cart a day coi*n. At the death of a 
 tenant — his or her heirs were commanded to pay a prin- 
 cipal " the best beast they haye, which other deed (is to 
 be done) next after (the tribute) holy ku*k.*' 
 
 '•At the period in which tliis knight, Sir John, settled 
 upon the estate of Assheton (says Dr. Hibbert), tenures 
 had assumed that definite form to which were applied the 
 tenn Soccage, a word of obscure et}Tnolog}', supposed 
 to denote priyilege or liberty, in contradistinction to the 
 indeterminate senices of more ancient feuds. By the 
 necessit}- imposed upon feudatories of dispensing with 
 the militar}- obligations of part of their tenants, an ap- 
 proach was making in the feudal system towards a civil 
 estabhshment. The dependants thus exempted from the 
 militaiy sen-ice, then the most honourable and distin- 
 guished employment, cultiyated the land, attended to the 
 labours of husbandr}', and made a return of com, cattle, 
 : money, in lieu of other obligations. The residence of 
 tlie lord had long conferred upon Ashton the appellation 
 
 * T}ie Yule Feast, synonymous to Ale Feast, was a saturnalia 
 in which rank gave way to equality. In Yorkshire and some parts 
 of Lancashire it was customary- to bum a large log of wood on 
 ( hristmas Eve, called the ** Yule log ;" and for all the family to take 
 . mess of creed wheat, boiled in milk and spiced, calleil furmcnty. 
 
36 HISTORY OF 
 
 of manor. The obligements of the tenants at will were 
 of a base and servile nature, yet determinate, and there- 
 fore comprehended under the name of Villanum Soc- 
 cagium. They were excluded from partaking in the 
 honours of the ' tented field,' being destined, on the 
 manor of their lord, to perform the duties of civil and 
 agricultural drudgery. Thus the opprobrium cast upon 
 such menial employments as ploughing the lord's lands, 
 or carting the lord's fuel or manure, originating from the 
 high sense entertained, in this early period, of military 
 allegiance, is transmitted to later times, in the debasing 
 idea, that the name of villain, originally nothing more 
 than a feudal term, never fails to excite. Soccage labour 
 was familiarly called boon work; hence an old adage 
 still retained when a man is supposed to be working for 
 nothing, * that he has been served like a boon shearer.' " 
 
 It is remarked, that, in some manor houses of Lanca- 
 shire, once dedicated to the annual scenes of festivity at 
 Yule or Christmas, may be observed an elevation of the 
 floor at the extremity of the great hall, or, in the place 
 of it, a gallery which stretches along one side of the 
 room, with the intention that it should accommodate the 
 lord and his family, as that they might not be annoyed 
 by the coarse rustic freedoms, which the tenants would 
 be too apt to take with them, during the hours of their 
 conviviality. In a hall of this kind, in the manor house 
 of Assheton, we may imagine the Yule fire to be kindled; 
 while, in a gallery, or on a raised floor, Sir John, his 
 lady, and family, together with his kinsmen, Elland, of 
 Brighouse, and Sir John Byi'on, are feasting apart, yet 
 attentive to the frolics or old songs of the company below. 
 
ASIITON-UXDErv-LYXE. 37 
 
 It was on these occasions that pi^ tankards were 
 used, and horns that bore the names of the Saxons 
 and Danes, whom the Normans had ousted out of their 
 possessions. We may suppose that on such festivals as 
 these, the wooden bowl or horn would pass freely through 
 the hands of Sir John's tenants at will, all clad in their 
 l)est hoods, and brown woollen jackets and petticoats. 
 The ancient musical instruments were a characteristic 
 kind of liddle, and a stringed instrument called virginals. 
 The provincial songs, few of which lasted less than half 
 an hour, rehearsed the deeds of Launcelot du Lake, the 
 uiant slayer : Ranulph, of Chester, and his crusade ; and 
 Roger de Calverley's amorous feats. In order to preserve 
 as much as possible, the degi'ee of decorum necessary at 
 such meetings, there was frequently introduced a dimi- 
 nutive pair of stone stocks, of about eighteen inches in 
 length, for confining within them the fingers of the unruly. 
 This instrument was entrusted to the general prefect of 
 manorial festivities, the king of mivsrule, whose office it was 
 to pimish all who exceeded his royal notions of decency. 
 Accordingly, such a character appears among the list of 
 Sir John's tenants, under the name of Hobbe the King. 
 A festivity of this kind, wrung from the pockets of vas- 
 sals, acquired, in derision, the appellation of drink lean : 
 and it is not improbable that the name of landlord was 
 originally attached to the host of an inn, as a satirical 
 allusion to the manorial landlord. 
 
 The rustic jubilees of the Gyst Ale, guising, (or, more 
 properly, disguisings) termed also marlings, were cele- 
 brated in the spring, after the fields had been manured 
 
38 HISTORY OF 
 
 with marl, preparatory to the sowing of wheat. They 
 were the principal feats or ales in Lancashire. For the 
 celebration of the gyst ale of a township, contributions 
 were raised from all ranks of society; — the lord of the 
 manor, the esquire, or the farmer, wdiose bounty might 
 be supplicated, came forward, and announced the sum 
 that he intended to give. The treasurer of the feast 
 exclaimed a largesse! The populace demanded, with 
 one yoice^from whom? The sum was not then actually 
 published ; but it w^as vauntingly proclaimed that the 
 donor, who had always, on these occasions, the title of 
 lord prefixed to his name, had contributed a part of 
 several thousand pounds. After the collection had been 
 made, an immense garland was formed of every flower the 
 season affbrded, being also decked with a profusion of 
 ribbons ; but the number and variety of silver, or silver- 
 plated vessels, w^hich were suspended from every part of 
 it, constituted its chief attraction. The villagers, who 
 were overwhelmed with rustic finery, then formed them- 
 selves into a procession, in which they were attended by 
 an Arbiter Eleg ant ar turn ^ named the King. The fool 
 was an indispensable character ; a grotesque cap, a tail 
 hanging to the ground, the usual appendage of a bell 
 behind, and a formidable mask, constituted the pecu- 
 liarities of his apparel. He w^as, in ancient times, mounted 
 on a hobb)^, and his office, wdiich was a lucrative one, 
 from the money that he collected, was named Hoh riding. 
 Thus, in the manor roll of Assheton, Jak the Mercer 
 paid to his lord, for such a privilege, the annual sum of 
 6s. 8d. These disguisings were practised to a late period; 
 and formed a favourite amusement in "the spirit-stirring 
 
ASHTOX-TJNDER-LYNE. 39 
 
 times" of Queen Elizabeth. Sports denominated 
 maskings, or mummings, were prevalent amongst the 
 peasantry of the parish as late as 1773. Similar frolice 
 have been ealled churnings. 
 
 The service of the tenants in yielding to the lord a 
 principal at their death, has been noticed : this Avas 
 evidently an heriot. According to general custom, the 
 second best beast of the dying was the property of the 
 priest ; but in Assheton the lord was not entitled to his 
 heriot till the best beast (the mortuary) had been delivered 
 to the holy kirk.''^ This oppressive relic of ancient 
 military subjection was found particularly galling ; and 
 its abuse was in some measure prevented by a statute of 
 21st Henry VIII. The clergy of the archdeaconry of 
 Chester were anciently subject to an ecclesiastical mor- 
 tuary of the Bishop. — Mr. Baines (History of Lancashire, 
 4to., vol. 2, p. 533) observes, that the feudal system pre- 
 vailed here in all its details of degrading servility, for the 
 villani soccagii were little better than serfs of the soil, 
 whose utterance of expressions condemnatory of their 
 condition would have been punished by executions at 
 their own doors without any form of trial. The able 
 historian of his native county proceeds to contrast the 
 condition of the people in the past periods of feudal 
 domination with their state in the present times of com- 
 mercial enterprize. He truly remarks, that trade has 
 tended to confer a freedom of action and of sentiment on 
 
 * It was usual to drive tho boast before the corpse of the deceased 
 
 at the funeral procession to chrirch. 
 
 E 
 
40 IIISTOHY OF 
 
 the lowest classes which would not have been tolerated 
 in the days of the early lords of Assheton. — A strongly 
 wrought picture of the condition of the serf of the fif- 
 teenth century compared with that of the factory artisan 
 of the nineteenth, follows. The vassals of the generation 
 of Sir John de Assheton were, however, doubtless pos- 
 sessed of an equal amount of happiness with their more 
 intellectual and improved descendants of our own times. 
 The philanthropist who undertakes to compare the 
 features of the feudal system with the character of the 
 factory system, engages upon a momentous inquiry — the 
 former relating to the domestic condition of our early 
 agriculturalists, and the latter to the situation of a vast 
 diversified manufacturing community. 
 
 The free tenants enjoyed their lands by a tenure 
 originally of military service, compromised for slight 
 acknowledgments of money. The list of their names is 
 free from appellations denoting any menial occupation of 
 life ; and the better to define the distinction betwixt the 
 free and the lowly tenants, an ordinance, inserted in the 
 custom and rent roll, settles the degree of precedence to 
 be observed by the female members of their families in 
 taking their seats in the parish kirk on the sabbath. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of the tenures in this 
 manor is expressed in these terms : — " Syssot, that was 
 the wife of Patrick, for a liouse and garden at the Milne, 
 she shall shear four days in harvest, and she shall give a 
 principal at her dying; and for her term shall pay 2s. 
 and a present at Yole to the value of 4d.*' Another runs 
 
ASIITOX-UNDEK-LYXr;. 41 
 
 thus: — •• Rauf of Assheton and Robyn of Asshcton have 
 the Sour Car, Gukle llode, and Stanc Rynges, for the 
 term of their lives ; Rauf, of the gifte of John of Asshe- 
 ton, Knyg'hte, the eUier : and Robyn, of the gifte of 
 John of Asshe-ton, Knyghte, the younger, the Farm."" 
 Richard of Bardesley's render for Bardesley was a rose. 
 
 The number of tenants holding by free will *•'"' appears 
 
 to have been 1*20: of these the holders of tenements or 
 
 parts of tenements amounted to 89; of cottages 25; of a 
 
 cottage and garden, 1; of the kilne,' bakehouse, smithy, 
 
 barn, and the two corn mills, 1 each. The free tenants 
 
 who held lands for limited periods were 30, five of whom 
 
 leased intakes in Palden wood, anciently the largest 
 
 hi the parish, and others farmed the Leghes (Leys' 
 
 .lelds, i. e. Lees), the Knolles (the rising grounds), and 
 
 the Hursts (the thickets), from which they derived their 
 
 names. Those whose leases of lands terminated on the 
 
 annunciation of the Virgin Mary, w^ere 1 1 ; at the term 
 
 .f Pentecost, 8; of St. John the Baptist, 21; of St. 
 
 Michael the Archangel, 18; of "the holy'' St. Martin, 
 
 11. In addition to these, there were the " Libi tenent 
 
 de Termo Natal Dmi," fourteen in number, six tenants 
 
 for term of life, and one tenant for a term of ten years. 
 
 The entire number of the holdings in lease of Sir John 
 
 amounted to 240. Several tenants held many tenements 
 
 each, for instance, Richard of Bardesley held seven ; 
 
 Thomas of the Leghes, six ; Ricus de Moston, six ; 
 
 * Or soccage, wlio took tlieir tenements for twenty years, or '* for 
 twenty winter terms." 
 K 2 
 
42 HISTORY OF 
 
 Willielinus de Aldvvinshagh, five ; Thomas Claydon, 
 live ; Petrus de Shepley, five. — The total number of 
 tenants of Sir John is estimated to have amounted to 
 190, not including the eleven tenants given to "Thomas 
 of Assheton,"' his son and heir, at the period of his son's 
 marriage. The turvery of the Moss was chiefly in the 
 lord's hands. The free tenants who made " fiine yearly" 
 for the making of the milne, &c., were four; the indi- 
 viduals who rendered a " ffine" of 3s. 4d. each, total 20s., 
 for the privilege of procuring contributions at the Gyst 
 Ale, or Village Feast, were six in number ; and one of 
 the rustics paid for the privilege of " Hob-riding" at the 
 feast, his buffoonery being well remunerated by the gifts 
 of the amused. -, 
 
 The rents of the tenants at will varied greatly, ac- 
 cording to the size of the farms ; the average rent may 
 be loosely estimated at seventeen shillings each. The 
 cottages yielded, on an average, three shillings each per 
 annum. The presents for the Yole dinner varied from 
 four-pence to twenty-pence each. The sums paid by the 
 free tenants varied from sixpence to seven shillings and 
 one penny. Few of the rents of the remaining tenants 
 exceeded two shillings each. — The annual payments of 
 the holders of " the son and heir" varied from ten to 
 thirty shillings each. The *' turvery of the moss" was 
 valued at £5 yearly. The profits of the "courts and 
 ffines" amounted to forty shillings ; and the tolls of the 
 market and fairs, to two marks. The sum total of Sir 
 John's rent, exclusive of services and presents, produced 
 £27 12s. llfd. (this is erroneous if the items are cor- 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 43 
 
 rectly transcribed) ; and his son's marriage portion of 
 £9 2s. 7d. The cxphinations of the customs and bye- 
 laws enacted in the court of the manor for the preserving 
 of order and propriety of conduct amongst the tenantry, 
 are not the least engaging parts of the ancient table of 
 the rents and laws of Asshcton. Due care was evinced in 
 binding the tenants to maintain their farms in good con- 
 dition; in requiring them to multer at the lord's milne, and 
 none other :^* and to suffer the corn of the lord to be ground 
 first before that of any other person, without mulcture or 
 service on his part to the milner, other than voluntary. 
 The consent of the free tenants ''to be Infeoffed in the 
 Hall mote of Assheton, after the custom and burgales of 
 the town," is registered, — with a signification of their 
 willingness to participate in inquests composed of the 
 free tenants and the tenants at will. The tenantry in- 
 vested Sir John with power of distress by his bailey, on 
 trespassers convicted by inquest. If the offenders could 
 not be punished by loss of goods, the next remedy was 
 the use of the stocks. Trespassers bent upon doin.^ 
 
 * The obligation of tenants to grind at the mills of lords of 
 nianoi-s is of high antiquity. The corn mills of all manors seem 
 to have been possessed by the lords. At Assheton, John of the 
 Txlge appears to have been the milner, and the annual rent rendered 
 hy him for his two mills was IGs. 4d., the mills to he held up (re- 
 paired) by the lord. The general toll of the miller was the sixteenth 
 vessel. If any one sold the corn growing on his own tenement, 
 and secretly bought com of other tenants of the lord, representing 
 The purchased corn to be of another manor, therefore only liable to 
 the *Move socome" (twenty-fourth vessel), having been dried by 
 other than the lord's fuel, — such offender, if convicted, was fined at 
 the lord's will. 
 
44 HISTORY OF 
 
 harm, and coming from a distance, were overcome by 
 arrest executed by the offended, &c. ; and those who 
 concealed the transgressor, or were remiss in securing 
 him, brought upon themselves the amercements of the 
 court. Any tenant who became a rebel, engaged to for- 
 feit his term of lands, and to remove out of the manor 
 and parish. The free tenants daring to dispute the 
 customs of the manor deservedly incurred the loss of 
 their tenements, and also the love of the superior. A 
 fighter was liable to a penalty of half-a-mark for his first 
 offence ; if still contumacious, he forfeited a mark ; and 
 a third violation of the peace raised the fine to twenty 
 shillings. A resetter of such disorderlies was also to 
 abide the sentences of the inquest for his officiousness. — 
 The document enumerating the forms in the Parish 
 Church, and the families by whom they were occupied in 
 the fifteenth century, will be treated of in the account of 
 the Church. 
 
 In the earliest history of Norman tenures (says Dr. 
 Hibbert) the lord of Assheton had absolute power of life 
 and death ; strong dungeons were constructed near the 
 manor house, the remains of which still appear ; and a 
 meadow near the town, still called Gallows-field, was 
 selected for a place of summary execution. But as civil 
 liberty gained ground the severity of the feudal system 
 was ameliorated by the institution of the Court Baron, 
 which in time became necessary to constitute a manor. 
 
 Having brought this copious, but, I fear, faint eluci- 
 dation of the customs of Ash ton manor in 1422, to a 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. 45 
 
 close, it will be proper to describe tbe privileges and 
 customs subsequently acquired or claimed. 
 
 I find that Sir Thomas de Assheton, the son and 
 successor of Sir John, preferred a claim in the reign of 
 Henry YI. to the exercise of the rights of piccage, wcif, 
 stray, theol. picag. et stalag. (Memoranda in Latin, 
 Keurden fol. MS., p. 54.) — Piccage was money paid at 
 fairs for breaking ground for booths ; weif, a right to 
 things which have no owners ; stray, a claim to impound 
 stray cattle, kc. ; theol., toll, (toll of passage I presume); 
 stalag., payments for the privilege of having stalls in the 
 fairs or markets. 
 
 Of all the nmnerous usages of the manor, there is 
 none so remarkable and perhaps none the origin of which 
 it is so difficult to discover, as *' the custom of riding the 
 Black Lad," the parading through the streets of the 
 figure of a man in black apparel placed on horseback, a 
 ceremony occurring annually on Easter-Monday, and 
 possessed of great attractive powers to strangers. There 
 is scarcely a topographer general or local, in print or in 
 manuscript, who has described Ashton, and omitted to 
 express liis opinions concerning the *' Black I^ad.*' It is 
 reasonably inferred from the entire silence of the custom 
 roll and rental of 1422 on the subject, that the custom 
 h?ul not then commenced ; yet '^ Rauf of Ashton," after- 
 wards named '* the Black Knight of Middleton," whom 
 Dr. Hibbert conjectures to have been the original of the 
 j)ersonified, was living at the period referred to, but 
 })robably those appalling acts of his galling tyranny, if 
 
46 HISTORY OF 
 
 lie were the execrated, the memory of which continue 
 after upwards of three centuries have expired, had not 
 then heen perpetrated. The date of the commencement 
 of this custom is by one author placed in the latter end 
 of the reign of Edward IV. Douce (MS. notes) speaks 
 of it in these terms : " It is said to have arisen from 
 there having been formerly a Black Knight who resided 
 in these parts, holding the people in vassalage, and using 
 them with great severity." The best received and most 
 probable accounts of the causes of this commemoration, 
 trace it to an ancient feeling of the inhabitants to mark 
 with detestation, wanton acts of tyranny that occurred 
 when the arbitrary sway of the feudal system was dimi- 
 nishing before comparative independence of action and 
 liberty of speech of all classes. Dr. Aikin names the 
 recorded share which Sir Raphe Assheton is believed to 
 have taken in the acts producing this custom, but is of 
 opinion from the sum allowed out of the manor to fit up 
 the effigy, and from the existence of a suit of armour 
 formerly placed upon it, and other matters, that Thomas 
 de Assheton (whom he erroneously states to have been 
 knighted) instituted the observance to commemorate his 
 prowess at the Battle of Durham, or Neville Cross, in 
 1346, 19th Edward III., where he captured the standard 
 of the King of Scotland. The doctor adds : he left the 
 sum of ten shillings to fit up the figure, with his own 
 suit of black velvet, and a coat of mail, of which the 
 helmet is remaining. It must be again remarked that 
 the custom roll and rental drawn up seventy-six years 
 after the battle of Neville Cross, is destitute of any men- 
 tion of the custom. In a metrical tale of tradition published 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 47 
 
 in Harrop's Manchester Volunteer, the Black Knight is 
 represented to have imprisoned a member of the family 
 of Staley and a daughter of a Staley in the dungeons of 
 Ashton : the story is altogether merely a flight of fiction. 
 The '* true and faithful" relation of the origin, contained 
 in a connnunication to a society at the New Inn, Ashton, 
 is egregiously absurd. The proficiency of Sir Thomas 
 de Assheton in the "'black'' art of alchymy has led to a 
 supposition of his having been the original of the Black 
 Knight. — Bell's Gazetteer states Sir Ralph Assheton to 
 have been shot as he was riding down the principal street 
 of the town, on one of his Easter-Monday visitations, and 
 the inhabitants to have taken no trouble to discover the 
 
 Dr. Hibbert, now Dr. Ware, has supplied a detailed 
 and laboured essay on the subject, full of ingenious 
 conjectures and cogent inference ; yet apparently 
 void of instances of acts sufficiently vicious to justify 
 such long-continued imprecation. He has discovered, in 
 the rent-roll of Sir John de Assheton, the terms '' guld 
 rode" in connexion with '' Rauf and Robyn of Assheton," 
 who held the *' guld rode;'' and they are considered to 
 imply the observance, at Ashton-under-Lyne, of the 
 ancient Scottish custom of guld riding,"^ a perambulation 
 of lords of manors, or by their representatives or officials* 
 to examine the lands of the tenantr}^ in search of the weed 
 
 • The custom of guld riding is retained at Cargill, in Perth- 
 shire, to the present day.— (Statis. Act, 15,536, 537, Rev. J. Ban- 
 nerman, quoted by Dr. Hibbert.) 
 
48 IIISTOUY OF 
 
 (^idd, or gool, and to punish, by fine, the farmers who 
 suHered their growth. llie words guld rode might 
 indicate a tenement perhaps overgrown with gool, held 
 by "' Rauf and Robyn ;*' yet rode is to be taken to mean 
 ride. Rauf became Sir Raphe Assheton of Middleton, 
 and to his severe exercise of the privilege of guld-riding, 
 retained for life, (in the manor of Assheton, though he 
 was of another manor) Dr. Hibbert ascribes the rise of 
 '* Riding the Black Lad;" while the majority of writers 
 on the matter believe Sir Raphe to have earned his ill- 
 fame by an arbitrary act of his vice-constableship. He 
 was appointed to this office in 1486, at the accession of 
 Richard III. A copy of his commission is to be seen in 
 Rymer's Foedera. 
 
 The Sour Carr, a large extent of low w^et land in the 
 vicinity of Ashton, was overrun in the days of Sir John 
 de Assheton with corn marigolds, the Scottish carr-gulds, 
 which were deemed so destructive to the growth of corn 
 that rigorous measures of manorial regulation were 
 enforced for their extirpation. Such farmers as permitted 
 a profusion of the carr-guld to be found on their lands 
 suffered by fine, imprisonment in the stocks, or incar- 
 ceration, on the visit of the carr-guld riders, upon a 
 certain day in spring, supposed to have been Easter- 
 Monday. The obnoxious black knight. Sir Raphe of 
 Middleton, was designated the '* Black Boy" from wear- 
 ing black armour. In executing his duties of search 
 after carr-gulds he appeared at Ashton annually, mounted 
 on a charger, and attended by a numerous train of fol- 
 lowers. The tenants of Ashton regarded his interference 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 49 
 
 as the tyrannical intrusion of a stranger. At tlie present 
 day the name of the Black Boy excites feelings of 
 horror, and tradition has indeed perpetuated the prayer 
 which was fervently ejaculated for a deliverance from 
 his tyranny : — 
 
 •* Sweet Joso, for tii} merry's sake, 
 And for thy bitter passion ; 
 Save us fioin the axe of the Tower, 
 And from Sir Raphe of Asslicton." 
 
 On the death of the dreaded guld-rider, the heir and 
 successor of Sir Thomas de Assheton (not Sir John as 
 usually asserted) abolished the unpopular usage of guld- 
 riding, and charged upon the estate a small sum of money 
 to bear the costs of a yearly celebration of disapproval of 
 tlic oppression of Sir Raphe. The custom is maintained 
 at present on the memorable Easter-Monday. An effigy 
 is made of a man in armour ; and since the arbi.rary 
 kniglit was the son of a second marriage, (which for this 
 reason had been esteemed by the heir of Sir John as an un- 
 fortunate match,) the figure is now deridingly emblazoned 
 with the initial letters of the name of the last couple tliat 
 are linked together in the course of the year. The 
 ii:?ure is then placed on horseback, and after a march 
 througli the town, followed by a coarse vulgar crowd and 
 a throng of inquiring strangers, it is dismounted ; and all 
 fire arms beinir duly primied for the occasion, the mock 
 representation of the Black Knight is quickly destroyed. 
 
 After all the profound reasoning of Dr. Ilibbert on tlie 
 matter, there is yet vacancy for additional research. His 
 conjectures are urged with a])parent probability ; but it is 
 
50 HISTORY OF 
 
 difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that a more 
 atrocious act than the extirpating of corn marigolds must 
 have led to a practice so deeply marked with expressions 
 of abhorrence to those whose infamy is thus perpetuated 
 for centuries. Mr. Baines very properly observes : — 
 *' Supposing this account (Dr. Hibbert's) to be correct, it 
 is manifest that the offence of Sir Ralph in obliging the 
 farmers to keep their grounds free from weeds, was not 
 of so heinous a nature as to require to be expiated by 
 centuries of execrations, and the solemnity might now be 
 permitted to cease, without any detriment to the moral 
 feeling of the place." (Lancashire, 12mo., vol. 1, p. 494.) 
 
 The Town and Parish were, for centuries, governed 
 solely by the officers appointed at the courts of the manor, 
 which will be duly noticed in the account of the local 
 government. To the west of the Old Hall stretched two 
 Parks, amply stored with vert and venison, and on their 
 ])orders stood the corn-mill of the manor, at which the 
 tenants were bound to have their corn ground, or to 
 suffer condign punishment. The principal ancient places 
 within Ashton Town Division are Ryecroft^ now a west 
 suburb of the tow^n, originally a farm, which was held in 
 1422 by Robert de Wright, the principal tenant at will 
 of Sir John de Assheton ; Currier-Lane^ a suburb, built 
 in the last century : Throstle J\^est^ a village half-a-mile 
 east of the town ; and Park Hall^ a venerable house. 
 
 Historical Events. — Of the state of Ashton in many 
 reigns succeeding the erection of the Old Hall and the 
 Church we know little, except what is related of the 
 
ASIITON-UNDER-LYNE. 51 
 
 Asshetons. — The place was a small village for several 
 centuries. In the days of the spirited Queen Elizabeth, 
 the feasts of the dedication of the churches, or the local 
 festivals named U^akes^ had become such irreligious 
 affairs that it was deemed requisite to sup2:)ress the 
 ** Sunday piping, drinking, profanity, bear and bull 
 baiting, &cc." Accordingly the Bishop of Chester and 
 others waged an exterminating war for some time against 
 the sabbath fiddlers and fuddlers : they did not succeed, 
 however, in effectually abolishing wakes, for about fifty 
 years afterwards they were revived with nearly all their 
 ancient attractions : and, to this day, annual local festivals 
 are yet held, partaking, in a slight degree, of the liveliness 
 of the early English pastimes ; bear and bull baiting are, 
 however, happily uncommon ; and though there is still 
 much intemperance and profanity, there are indications 
 of a growing taste for mental amusements. 
 
 ** Now many a humble group is seen, 
 By cottage hearth or village green, 
 With sparkling eyes and joyous looks^ 
 All poring eager o'er their books ; 
 "While curly locks and haffets grey, 
 Glist in the light of mental day.** 
 
 The doctrines of the Protestants were extensively 
 preached in this place during the reign of Mary, by John 
 Bradford, a native of Manchester, and a zealous minister 
 and martyr. 
 
 If this parish escaped the sequestration of the pro- 
 perty of the royalists, in 1646, it was not exempt from 
 
 Y 
 
rZ HISTORY OF 
 
 the visitation of the Bartholomew Act, by which the 
 rector was ejected, in 1662. 
 
 Daring the seventeenth century, owing to a scarcity 
 of small coin, tradesmen frequently coined pence, for the 
 purpose of provincial circulation. Mr. Barritt has pre- 
 served a drawing of one of the trade tokens of Ash ton ; 
 it is thus inscribed on the obverse : — " George Bardslay in 
 Ashton-under-lyne," and on the reverse '^ G. B. E. 1669." 
 
 For nearly two centuries, the seventeenth and part of 
 the eighteenth, the to^vn underwent but a trifling change ; 
 in extent, the place was merely a moderate-sized vil- 
 lage; the houses were chiefly in the immediate vicinity 
 of the hall and church, and were principally of a rude 
 construction, being low and thatched. The primitive 
 methods of spinning and weaving, combined with hus- 
 bandry and gardening, formed the occupations of the 
 population, whose manners w^ere free and jocose. 
 
 In the days of Queen Anne, many of the cottages let 
 at two shillings each per annum, in consequence of the 
 non-existence of large manufactories to impart a com- 
 parative high value to property. As la;te as the reign of 
 George XL, 1750, the whole town was contained in four 
 narrow dark streets, formed by mean-looking dwellings. 
 
 A number of stragglers from the rebel army of 1745, 
 visited the district, and dispossessed a few farmers of 
 horses. A serious shock of an earthquake occurred on 
 Sunday, the 14th of September, 1777, — the congregation 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. 53 
 
 in the church were much disturbed by the shaking of the 
 pews. The progress of the cotton manufacture, and tlie 
 results produced by its estabUshment, form the subject 
 of a separate article. In the latter part of the last 
 century the cotton trade was in its infancy, and though 
 the town was then much increased by means of com- 
 mercial enterprise, the ultimate consequences arising 
 from the extraordinary spread of trade were not fully 
 developed until the second or third decennial periods of 
 the present century. In the view of the town, published 
 in Aikin's iSIanchester, in 1795, the appearance is partly 
 rural and partly town-like, and there seems to have been 
 scarcely a dwelling south of Old-street, and only two 
 houses adjacent to Dukinfield-bridge. The buildings 
 and streets increased rapidly from 1810 to 1824; yet in 
 the latter year, the houses to the west of Mill-lane were 
 fevv ; the banks of the canal and the Tame were almost 
 destitute of dwellings and mills ; the space from Old- 
 street to Charlestown consisted principally of gardens, 
 intersected by a foot-path ; west of Oldham-road there 
 was not one street ; and north of the Old Cross stretched 
 an expanse of fields to Hurst. 
 
 During the last fifteen years the place has rapidly 
 augmented, so that Mill-lane is nearly become the centre 
 of the town ; the banks of the canal and the Tame lire 
 now lined by numerous streets ; the area betwixt Old- 
 street and Charlestown is nearly all built upon, and a 
 portion of it foims a spacious Market-place, on the north 
 side of which is erected an elegant and large Town Hall ; 
 the fields formerly bordering on the north of the Old 
 
 F 2 
 
54 HISTORY OF 
 
 Cross have been transformed into street avenues ; the 
 east side of the Rectory has received a large accession of 
 habitations ; the west side of Oldham-road is become a 
 portion of the town ; and the vicinities of Henry-square 
 and St. Peter's Church abound with new edifices. 
 
 When the era of building set in with spirit, a praise- 
 worthy care was invariably manifested to secure regularity 
 in the plans of the erections ; and hence, by continued 
 uniformity being preserved in the construction of the 
 streets, Ashton-under-Lyne has been rendered the most 
 elegant ordinary town in the county. The beneficial 
 system of education pursued in Sunday Schools was first 
 introduced here in 1790. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon of a dismal day in 
 January, 1791, the place was visited by an awful thunder 
 storm ; a vast accumulation of electric matter seemed to 
 collect over the town, and between fiye and six in the 
 evening, the clouds burst with a tremendous explosion, 
 which occasioned an involuntary exclamation of horror 
 through the place. Lightning struck the church steeple, 
 and melted a part of the vane: a number of stones were 
 thrown from the belfry, where an iron rod was fused by 
 the fluid, and many pews in the west end of the church 
 and in the Earl of Stamford's chapel were shivered to 
 atoms. 
 
 The threats of an invasion of England by the French 
 in 1803, put the whole country in military array, — the 
 volunteer system now became general, — and the patriotic 
 
ASHTON-TJNDER-LYNE. 56 
 
 flame burning with much vigour in the hearts of the 
 Ashtonians, the Ashton voUinteers were embodied with 
 no sHght degree of formality and tact; and Jolm Wood, 
 Esq., of the Old Hall, one of the principal cotton manu- 
 facturers, was appointed commander. This formidable 
 body of men were, fortunately for the peace of the 
 country, unenaged in any exploits of national strife, 
 doubtless much to the regret of such a " valorous and 
 puissant legion,*' many of whom professed eagerness to 
 be hailed as deliverers of their country. 
 
 *' A memorable phenomenon, at once terrific and 
 t>ublime, occurred in the district between the Medlock 
 and the Tame on Thursday, June 19th, 1817 : — at four 
 o'clock on the afternoon of that day, an unusual darkness 
 came on, and prevailed about twenty minutes, duriuL^ 
 which period, successive flashes of lightning served to 
 render the ' darkness visible,' and hailstones fell, or rather 
 irregular prisms of ice, of from four to six inches in 
 diameter. The storm swept along the plain from Harts- 
 head, by Mossley and Hazle-hurst, and terminated witli 
 the parish of Ashton, to the west of Stalybridge. The 
 wind was from the north-west, and the glass in every 
 window bearing that aspect in the whole range of that 
 part of the parish was demolished, though no other 
 ver}- material mischief was done." (Baincs, Vol. 1, 12mo., 
 p. 494.) A destructive fire broke out in the Parish Church 
 on the 30th of March, 1821.— ^See article Church.)— The 
 coronations of George IV., William IV., and Victoria, 
 were commemorated here by splendid public entertain- 
 ments. 2 
 
 T 3 
 
56 HISTORY OF 
 
 Shortly after Whit-Monday, 1827, the town was first 
 lighted by means of that useful and important modern 
 discovery, coal gas. 
 
 In 1832 the legislature effected an extensive change 
 in the representation of the people, by granting members 
 to the principal unrepresented towns : by this measure 
 Ashton-under-Lyne was constituted a parliamentary 
 borough. — (See article Representation.) — A most afflict- 
 ing event occurred on Sunday evening, the 6th January, 
 1 833 : six boys were thoughtlessly at play together upon 
 the ice of a pit at the top of Cricket's-lane, which, being 
 but slightly frozen, gave way, and all the juvenile com- 
 pany were immersed in a watery grave ; a middle-aged 
 man was also drowned in attempting to rescue the boys. 
 
 As in all thoroughly manufacturing districts, where 
 immense numbers of the diligent operatives are employed 
 by a few enterprising capitalists, lamentable disputes have 
 prevailed here on the subject of the rate of wages : thus 
 in 1829 thousands of hands were unemployed for a con- 
 siderable period, owing to the want of an amicable feeling 
 betwixt the employers and the employed ; whilst some 
 of the masters, it is probable, have been largely influenced 
 by the desire of gain, the operatives have been generally 
 indiflerent to their own individual welfare. A large 
 number of the factory operatives are intelligent, energetic, 
 and active ; but the great mass are of coarse and low 
 habits. 
 
 The town of Ashton-under-Lyne is even now in 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 57 
 
 course of considerable extension and improvement, and 
 yet the manufacturers complain of depression of trade ; 
 still there are decided indications tliat the place is to 
 increase materially. 
 
 The Parish Church was originally a chapel of 
 case to the Parish Church of Manchester. When it 
 was tirst founded is unknown ; but mention is made of 
 *'ecclesia Aston" in the return of livings taken by order 
 of Pope Nicholas IV., in 1291. In a deed relative to the 
 advowson dated in 130 1, this church is termed the Chapel 
 of Ashton, — the patronage was then in the lords of 
 Manchester. The patronage did not become vested in 
 the Asshetons until 1427; and probably the church 
 was rendered parochial about that period. During the 
 life-time of Sir Thomas Assheton, who died in 1516, the 
 church was greatly repaired and enlarged, and a new 
 tower erected. For several generations there were no 
 changes in the structure ; but in 1791, many of the pews 
 having been seriously damaged by a storm, the body of 
 the church was re-pewed in 1792, at the cost of the seat 
 holders, and the roof was painted and plastered at the 
 expense of the parish. The present handsome tower was 
 erected in 1820, and the whole of the north side of the 
 church was rebuilt in 1821. Whilst these improvements 
 were in progress an alarming fire broke out, in the interior 
 part, on the evening of Satiu'day, the 30th March, 1821, 
 owing to one of the flues under the west gallery being 
 overheated. The flames spread their destructive ravages 
 to all the timber around the place where they originated, 
 and before they could be suppressed the valuable fine- 
 
58 HISTORY OF 
 
 toned organ was completely consumed, and several 
 antique carvings shared the same fate. Though the north 
 side of the church and the tower were both rebuilt, and 
 the body of the edifice restored to its usual condition, the 
 south side remained in its ancient decayed state until the 
 year 1840; w^hen, owing to the liberality of the patron 
 of the rectory and lord of the manor, that portion was 
 rebuilt, in a style corresponding with the rest. The first 
 stone w^as laid May 18th, 1840, by N. Howard, Esq. 
 The ancient porch, a pleasing specimen of early ecclesi- 
 astical architecture, has been duly restored. The tower 
 was slightly burnt by accident March 21st, 1841. 
 
 This Church is dedicated to St. Michael. The living 
 is a rectory, of which the annual value in 1291, according 
 to Pope Nicholas's valuation, was fifteen marks, or £10; 
 the yearly value in the king's books of the reign of Henry 
 VIIL, was £26 13s. 4d., tenths, £2 13s, 4d. ;^ its 
 estimated annual value in the recent parliament returns, 
 1833, is £1409. The tithes have been commuted for 
 fixed rates, in pursuance of a recent act of parliament, 
 passed 1831. The Grelles, as lords of Manchester, are 
 the earliest patrons of the advowson on record ; but, in 
 1304, William de Marchia, parson of Manchester, 
 usurped the patronage, in place of Thomas Grelle. The 
 De la Warres were subsequently patrons by right of 
 relationship to the Grelles. 
 
 In 1427, " Magistcr"' Thomas de la Wane, Baron 
 
 ■* The Parliamentary Inquisition of 1650, states the value at £113 
 68. 8d. 
 
ashtox-under-Lyne. 59 
 
 and Rector of Manchester, conveyed the advowson and 
 glebe of the church of "Assheton'' to Sh* John de 
 '' Asshetown." (Harleian MSS., codex 2085, fo. 410.)— 
 The descendants of Sir John Assheton have retained the 
 patronagre, ^vit]l a few exceptions ; and it is at present 
 vested in tlie Karl of Stamford and Warrington. 
 
 According to a deed without date, but apparently 
 relating to the thirteenth century, Swioii de Cranesley^ 
 clerk, was parson of Ashton, on the presentation of the 
 Lord of Manchester. 
 
 It is probable that Simon Cranesley w^as succeeded in 
 the rectory by John Huntington^ or Huntingdon, B.D., 
 who was the first Warden of Manchester, instituted 
 1422. Hollingworth, the historian of Manchester, thus 
 describes the first warden ; — '' a man learned in the 
 learning of those times, veiy devout and magnificent '. 
 hee built the chancel or quire, (Manchester) in the midst 
 whereof and just before the high altar, as then it stood, 
 he lies buried, with the suitable inscription, ^ Domini, 
 dilexi decorem domus tuae.' His rebus or name-devyse, 
 (device — a custome borrowed from the French) is to bee 
 seene on either syde of the middle arch, as it looketh 
 eastward : on the syde is an huntsman with dogges, 
 whereby hee thought to expresse two former sillables of 
 his name, — Hunting; on the other syde, a vessell called a 
 tonne, which being joined together makes Huntington. *''^' 
 
 ♦ HollingAvorth's Mancuniensis, TN'illis's edition, p. 43-44. — 
 Camden's Remains. — Baines, 4to., vol. 2, p. 19G-7 — Aston's Man- 
 chester, p. 34. 
 
60 HISTORY OF 
 
 This eminent ecclesiastic held his dignified station thirty- 
 seven years, and died November 11, 1458. 
 
 From 1458 to 1554 there are no records extant as 
 to the rectors. In 1554, on the 20th August, Tf^illiam 
 Roger son was instituted rector, on the presentation of 
 Thomas Stanley, Knt. This divine retained the living 
 only a short period ; for on the 12th June, 1557, Hugo 
 Griffs Do(!tor in Divinity, was appointed the clergyman, 
 by the gift of King Philip and Queen Mary. Another 
 defect in the list of rectors ensues, from the time of Dr. 
 Griff to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when 
 Robert Parker^ A. M. , occurs as rector. The first 
 notice of him is in 1608. He died February, 1618, and 
 was succeeded by Henry Fairfax^ D. D., son of Lord 
 Cameron. This incumbent is stated, by Herbert,^' to 
 have been a regular and sober man, well affected to 
 God and the king." He seems to have been much 
 attached to episcopacy, and hence incurred the dislike of 
 the PrCwsbyterian party, then the most powerful body in 
 the state. Notwithstanding the great influence of his 
 brother and nephew with the then rulers, he was obliged 
 to surrender the rectory in 1650, and fled to Bolton Percy, 
 in Yorkshire.! He is said to have been a prebend of 
 York. He died April 6th, 1665, aged 77.— John Har- 
 rison was inducted rector, by a party of soldiers, accord- 
 ing to the manner of the times (1650), for a fierce spiritual 
 warfare w^as raging betwixt the Episcopalians and Pres- 
 byterians. Walker asserts that Harrison rifled Dr. 
 
 * Country Parson, f Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy. 
 
ASHTON-rNDEH-LYNi:. 61 
 
 Fairfaxes books and papers ; but the statements of writers 
 tinged with partisanship must be cautiously received. 
 The ecclesiastical commissioners of the commonwealth, 
 who were by no means admirers of episcopacy, pronounce 
 Harrison to have been *' a painful (pains-taking) able 
 minister ;** and state that he '* was put in by the parlia- 
 ment." These commissioners urgently recommended a 
 division of parishes, for the purpose of rendering the 
 clergy comparatively equal, in labour as well as income ; 
 They therefore proposed in their report, dated July 18, 
 1650,t " that a Parish Church be built at Alt-Edge, 
 distant about three miles and a half from the Parish 
 Church of Ashton." This project was not carried into 
 effect, and Alt-Edge still remains destitute of either 
 church or chapel, although there has been a vast increase 
 of population since that period. — Mr. Harrison possessed 
 the rector}' till the 24th of August, 1662, when he was 
 obliged, by act of parliament, to conform to the doctrines 
 of the Church of England, or resign. He made choice 
 of the latter, and consequently ceased to be incumbent : 
 it was at this time that not only the Presbyterians but the 
 Independents had become considerable in numbers. It is 
 doubtful who was Harrison's successor : but Thomas 
 EUiso7i was rector in the latter part of the seventeenth 
 century : he is commemorated by a tablet in the churcli, 
 and died 1700. — The next incumbent was Jolui de la 
 Heuze, or de la Howe, who was instituted May 3rd, 
 1700: he died January 1 5th, 1726; and was followed by 
 
 T Parliamentfin Surveys of Church Lands, Lambeth Library, No. 
 912, fo. 260. 
 
62 HISTORY OF 
 
 John Penny ^ A.M., who was collated March 3rd, 1726, 
 and is recorded on a monument to have died July 9th, 
 1758. — His successor was the Itev. Sir George Booths 
 Bart., presented September 9th, 1758, a cousin of Lord 
 Delamere, on whose death he became a baronet January 
 9th, 1770. Su' George expired in 1797 ; and the suc- 
 ceeding rector was Oswald Leycester^ A. M., who was 
 inducted December 1, 1797 ; but resigned shortly after- 
 wards, for the Hon. Ancliitel Grey., A. M., third son of 
 the fifth Earl of Stamford, was instituted to the living 
 April 5th, 1 799. He resigned the incumbency in March, 
 1810 ; and his successor was John Hutchinson., B. A., 
 appointed May 7th, 1810, who resigned January 24th, 
 1816; and was succeeded by George Chetwode^ A.M., 
 the present rector, the date of whose induction is May 
 16, 1816. This reverend gentleman was chaplain to his 
 late Majesty, William IV., when Duke of Clarence, and 
 is nephew of the present Earl of Stamford. — The Rev. 
 Jonathan Craddock, who became curate of the Parish 
 Church in 1758, was locally eminent for his promotion of 
 topographical studies. — The Rev John Handforth is the 
 present curate of this church. — The Rectory-House is 
 a modern edifice, a short distance to the east of the 
 parochial pile. 
 
 The registers of baptisms and marriages commence 
 in 1594, and those of burials in 1596 ; but the numerical 
 results of the bills of mortality, as indicative of the state 
 of population, are treated of in another article. During 
 the period of the commonwealth marriages were solem- 
 nized here by the magistrates, John Gwillym and Edmund 
 Hopwood, Esqrs. 
 
ASHTOy-UNDER-LYNE. 
 
 63 
 
 The Churcli, considered entire, is spacious and well 
 built ; the north side, though hut a recent re-erection, 
 appears weather-beaten ; the south portion is a very late 
 restoration : and the tower is a handsome lofty fabric, of 
 modern date. The style of the architecture is decorative 
 LTothic, of which the porch presents an excellent example. 
 
 A triangular shield was caned on the north side of 
 
 the ancient tower, charged with a mullet, the arms of 
 
 Ashton, impaling the arms of Staley of Staley, respecting 
 
 whom Dr. Aikin says a popular tale was current, probably 
 
 a terrilic legend of some act of feudal character. The 
 
 nature of the tmdition seems, however, to be lost. The 
 
 arms on the steeple evidently alluded to the union of the 
 
 families of Ashton and Staley. — The interior of the church 
 
 formerly bore strong '' marks testimonial of its antiquity,"' 
 
 and was ornamented by — 
 
 '* The high ernhowed roof, 
 AVith antique pillars' massy proof." 
 
 The present appearance of the interior is by no means 
 agreeable ; the stately columns and the springing arches, 
 the carved timbers and the numerous pew s, are in a rude 
 condition, and require considerable improvement. There 
 is said to be an intention to renovate the whole interior, 
 in the perpendicular gothic style, from designs of Mr. 
 Tattersall. 
 
 The east window, which is large, contains many frag- 
 ments of stained glass ; but they are so much mutilated 
 as to be nearly illegible, — the subjects of representation 
 seem to be scriptural. A portion of the pulpit is decorated 
 
 G 
 
^4 HISTORY OF 
 
 by ancient car\ ing. There were formerly several singular 
 ligures under the seats of the pews; and one of those 
 relics of Catholic faith, a Rood gallery, or place for the 
 celebration of the rites of the cross, existed in the nave, 
 but was removed in 1792. 
 
 The monumental memorials of this place are nume- 
 rous, but not extraordinary. In the church-yard, a short 
 distance from the north side of the tower, is a tomb, 
 bearing the subjoined inscription : — 
 
 " Here resteth the body of John Leach, of Hurst, buried the 
 16th day of October, 1689, aged 92 years, who, by Ann his wife, 
 had issue twelve children ; and, in his time, was father to twelve, 
 grandfathg: to seventy-five, great-grandfather to ninety-two, great- 
 great-grandfather to two, in ail one hundred and eighty-one persons." 
 
 Upon the tomb there has been sculptured the arms of 
 the Leach family ; on the top there are traces of the figure 
 of a serpent, which tradition says he kept tame in his 
 house ; and beneath is inscribed the motto " J^irtus est 
 venerahilis.'^ We are not informed what kind of serpent 
 this pet of the aged Leach was ; but probably its nature 
 was innoxious. A descendant of the sire, Mr. Joseph 
 Leach, who was resident at Hurst-Cross in 1833, pre- 
 served the board whereon the serpent is said to have fed 
 and reposed. 
 
 In the interior of the church is a neat mural slab, 
 
 thus inscribed : — 
 
 " To the memory- of John Brown, lieutenant in the 44th regi- 
 ment, who fell on the 13th of March, 1801, in his 20th year, in an 
 attack made by his Majesty's forces on the fortified heights before 
 Alexandria, in Egj'pt. 
 
ASHTOX-UXPER-LYXE. 65 
 
 Reader, this monument records, descriptive of his worth, 
 his dying words : — 
 
 "NVlicn on Aboukir's blood-stain' d shore, 
 He heiu'd undaunted the loud cannon's roar ; 
 And marching boldly onward met the ball, 
 The fatal cause of his lamented fall : 
 He said, * If this be death I feel no pain, 
 Happy I die.' Such hope of heavenly gain, — 
 Religion, loyalty, and corn-age tried, 
 Afforded liim, who for his country died." 
 
 A small tablet, on the north side of the interior, 
 commemorates John Posethwaite, whom it records to 
 •'have sustained the highest honours of masonry without 
 pride:" he died February 2nd, 1818, aged 70 years, 
 '' preserved from indigence by the bounty of his friends.'' 
 Several ordinary monuments are in memory of the Re^". 
 Thomas Ellison, died 1700; Rev. John Penny, died 
 1758 ; George Mower, gent., died 1758 ; Joshua Old- 
 ham, gent., died 1785 ; John Wych, gent., died 1806 ; 
 John Lees, gent., died 1812 ; and Samuel Swire, son of 
 Samuel Swire, gent., died 1786, and others of that family. 
 In the church-yard are inscriptions recording the Rev. 
 Jonathan Catlow, who was curate here tw^enty-one years, 
 died June 1st, 1746 ; and William Barlow, Esq., lieu- 
 tenant-colonel in the 12th foot, who died October 25th, 
 1790, aged 81. 
 
 An excellent peal of ten bells, placed in the lofty 
 tower of the Parish Church, affords to the ringers a 
 favourable opportunity for becoming clever in ringing ; 
 hence Ashton is famous for steeple music. 
 
 G 2 
 
66 HISTORY OF 
 
 For several centuries St. Michaers was the only 
 episcopal church in Ashton ; but, owing to the great 
 increase of population, the parochial pile has been con- 
 sidered, for many years, insufficient to accommodate the 
 inhabitants; accordingly, in 1821, subscriptions were 
 entered into for the purpose of erecting a new church ; 
 a liberal grant being procured from the parliamentary 
 commissioners for the erection of additional churches, 
 and a site comprising 15,680 square yards having been 
 presented by Lord Stamford, the first stone of St. 
 Peter's, or The JVew Church, was laid October 24th, 
 1821, by the Right Rev. George Henry Law, the Lord 
 Bishop of Chester. This episcopal church was conse- 
 crated December 12th, 1824. Its situation is adjacent 
 to Stamford-place, near the western extremity of the 
 town. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed by 
 seat-rents, surplice fees, &c. The annual value, as 
 returned in 1833, w^as £137. Patron, the Rector of 
 Ashton. The structure is a rich specimen of the deco- 
 rative gotliic style ; the architect was the celebrated 
 Francis Goodwin, Esq., of London. The body of the 
 building, as well as the tower, is highly decorated, and 
 in the eastern wall is a spacious rose window. This 
 pleasing edifice forms an appropriate termination to that 
 elegant avenue, Stamford-street. The sum of £14,000 
 was appropriated to the erection, which is calculated to 
 h(jkl 1800 persons, and 1390 of the sittings out of that 
 number are free, and appropriated to the use of the poor. 
 The area of the church is 142 by 65 feet, and the height 
 of the tower is 128 feet. The first and present incum- 
 bent is the Rev. John Hutchinson, A.M., for many years 
 the respected rector of the parish. 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. 67 
 
 The Catholics possessed a meeting-room in Ashton 
 in 1823, in Harrop's-yard, a narrow passage near the 
 Market Cross, where they assembled for worship till 
 November, 1825; when the Catholic Chapel, in Astley- 
 street, Dukinfield, being completed, the congregation 
 removed thither ; and that is now become the only 
 church of the society for the town of Ashton and the 
 village of Dukinfield. 
 
 The Independents have existed here, in a small 
 degree, since the secession of the sect from the English 
 Presbyterians, in the seventeenth century ; but they were 
 destitute of a regular place of woi^ship until a recent 
 period. In 1795-6 attempts were made to establish a 
 societ}% but these efforts failed. In 1806, however, a 
 chapel of the sect was erected, in Dukinfield, and named 
 "Providence;" but this appearing to many an unwise 
 proceeding, a meeting-room was opened in the town of 
 Ashton in 1815. By further exertions a chapel was 
 built, near Cricket's-lane, and was opened April 9th, 
 1817. In a few years afterwards (1820) Providence 
 Chapel became connected with the Secession Church of 
 Scotland ; and the Independents of Ashton having com- 
 paratively increased in numbers and in wealth, the chapel 
 of 1817, calculated to accommodate 500 persons, became 
 too small, and was superseded by the present spacious 
 and striking edifice, which was erected in 1838, and 
 contains seats for 1000 persons. Its cost was £4000. 
 
 The Wesleyan Methodists were established in Ash- 
 ton prior to 1781, from which time to 1801, they had a 
 G 3 
 
68 HISTORY OF 
 
 chapel in Harrop's-yard. In 1804 the chapel in Stam- 
 ford-street was erected ; and in 1815 it was enlarged and 
 considerably improved. 
 
 The J\rew Connexion Methodists are a large body, 
 and have flourished in this district for many years. The 
 spacious and neat chapel of this society is in Stamford- 
 street, and was originally commenced in 1799. The 
 edifice has received several decorations of late years. 
 
 The Independent Methodists began to assemble for 
 worship in Ashton about 1818-19. In 1823 they had 
 a meeting-room in New, or Stamford-street ; but in 1838 
 the present chapel in Wellington-road, Charlestown, was 
 erected. 
 
 The Primitive Methodists prevailed in this town 
 prior to 1823, and have still a meeting-room. 
 
 The Saptists have a small place of worship in 
 Oldham-road, of recent date. 
 
 The Stephensites originated in the secession of the 
 Rev. J. R. Stephens from the Wesleyan Methodists. 
 The admirers of this singularly distinguished personage 
 erected, in 1837, a large but plain building for worship, 
 in Charlestown, which is calculated to accommodate 
 1100 persons. 
 
 The Israelites^ commonly called Johannites^ from 
 their belief in the doctrines of Johanna Southcote, had 
 
ASIITON-UNDER-LYNE. 69 
 
 become so numerous here in 1823 that they had a room 
 in Charlestown. In 1825 they erected a commodious 
 and well-finished chapel in Church-street, which was 
 opened on Christmas-Day, in that year. This sect were 
 once considerable in extent. The peculiarity of their 
 opinions, and the oddity of their appearance, imparted 
 an extraordinary notoriety to the society. At each of 
 the four cardinal points of the outskirts of the town they 
 erected a species of temple, called, in the shibboleth of 
 the sect, "The Northern," ''The Southern," "The 
 Eastern,'"and "The Western" Gates of the Temple of 
 the Children of Israel. These edifices are no longer 
 either inhabited by the high priests or the low priests of 
 the Israelitish fraternity, having passed out of the hands 
 of the body, who were in a flourishing condition from 
 1825 to 1833-5. 
 
 The Local Government of the town and parish was, 
 for several centuries, vested entirely in the officers ap- 
 pointed by the court leet for the manor, held in October, 
 yearly ; and these officers consisting of a Mayor, Con- 
 stables, Assistant Constables, Bye-law Men, Market 
 Lookers, and minor officials, are still chosen at the court 
 leet, and exercise authority over the manor. — Owing to 
 the election of a functionary, named a Mayor, the place 
 has been erroneously regarded as a corporate borough. — 
 Dr. Aikin remarks : " It appears, from a ver}^ ancient 
 manuscript in the possession of Joseph Pickford, Esq., 
 of Royton, r>ontaining the rent-roll and several very 
 curious particulars concerning the estate, drawn at a 
 remote period, to have been a borough ; but why the 
 
70 HISTORY OF 
 
 charter was withdrawn, or by what means the privilege 
 was lost, there is no accfount: yet the custom of yearly 
 nomination, and the insignia of office, are still kept up 
 by the inhabitants."^ On this passage Mr. Baines 
 observes : " We have sought in vain for the charter of 
 incorporation of this borough ; nor do we find, in any of 
 the ancient documents quoted or referred to in this work, 
 that it was ever so designated."! — The office of Mayor 
 was maintained till the conclusion of the last century, 
 when it fell into disuse ; but in 1831 a number of the 
 principal inhabitants foreseeing that they would shortly 
 be empowered to elect a parliamentary representative* 
 and conceiving that the Mayor ought to be the returning 
 officer at parliamentary elections, the appointment of this 
 local dignitary was resumed. 
 
 The powers of the court leet and its officers were 
 fully adequate for the efficient government of the district 
 so long as the place was a mere village ; but they proved 
 defective for the purposes of the executive when Ashton 
 had become a large manufacturing town : therefore, the 
 want of something beyond ordinary police was felt, — 
 extended means of street regulation and improvement 
 were obviously necessary. A bill was, accordingly, 
 introduced into the House of Commons, in the early 
 part of 1827, for the purpose of ^' lighting, cleansing, 
 watching, kc. the town ; for regulating the market, and 
 building a new market-place; and for regulating the 
 police thereof." This measure was strenuously opposed 
 
 * Aikin's Manchester, 4to., p. 224, 
 t Baines* s Lancashire, 4to., vol. 2, p. 553. 
 
ASHTOX-rNPER-LYNE. 71 
 
 by three public meetings of the inhabitants, as unneces- 
 sary and burthcnsome ; but, as Mr. Harrison, the counsel 
 tor the opponents, justly observed, such a bill would, 
 probably, at some future time, be of advantage to the 
 ])lace ; it is clear the magnitude of the town rendered 
 some police provisions needful. The bill received the 
 royal assent June 14th, 1827, 7th and 8th George IV., 
 and its powers are vested in certain rated inhabitants, 
 named Conmiissioners, by whom police rates are levied. 
 The jurisdiction of the act extends over the district called 
 Ashton Town Division, which comprehends the town 
 and its immediate vicinity : the number of Commissioners 
 is necessarily variable. They appoint salaried constables, 
 as a deputy and two or three others, who are usually 
 appointed constables by the court leet also. The cost of 
 the police and watching establishment in the year ending 
 June 24th, 1840, was £715 Is. 2d. The town is Hghted 
 by contract with the Gas Company. The cleansing of 
 the streets and highways, the regulation of the market, 
 and the management of the fu'e engines, are directed by 
 the Commissioners, who use the arms of Ashton for their 
 corporate seal. The rural parts of the parish are governed 
 by the County Police, introduced 1840.''^' The Magis- 
 trates of the district hold a weekly Petit Sessions in the 
 Manor Court-room, or Old Town Hall, on Wednesdays. 
 The numl)er of gentlemen in the commission of the peace 
 in this locality is comparatively large, probably owing to 
 the frequency of crime. The present Magistrates, and 
 the dates of their qualifications, are, — the Rev. Joseph 
 Saville Robarts Evans, clerk, Woodfield, Stalybridge, 
 
 * ^Vhich cost the district, in that year, £411 ^s. 7d. 
 
72 HISTORY OF 
 
 January 10th, 1831 ; James Jowett, Esq., Stamford- 
 place, Ashton Town, January 12th, 1835; Ralph Ousey, 
 Esq., Heyrod, Stalybridge, January 12th, 1835; David 
 Harrison, Esq., Cross-House, Stalybridge, January 12th, 
 1835; Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P., Dukinfield-Lodge, 
 January 1 1th, 1836 ; John Cheetham, Esq., Stalybridge, 
 January 11th, 1836: Abel Buckley, Esq., Ryecroft, 
 Ashton Town, February 26th, 1838; William Wright, 
 Esq., Welbeck- House, Ashton Town, April 15th, 1839; 
 James Lord, Esq., Park-parade, Ashton Town, April 
 15th, 1839; John Grimshaw, Esq., Audenshaw-Lodge, 
 Audenshaw, October 26th, 1840 ; Jonah Harrop, Esq., 
 Bardsley-House, Knott-Lanes, October 26th, 1840; and 
 John Buckley, Esq., Mossley, July, 1841. 
 
 Ashton-under-Lyne and the adjoining townships of 
 Droylsden, Denton, and Haughton, were rendered a 
 magisterial division of the county March 1st, 1839. 
 
 A Court of Requests, for the recovery of debts not 
 exceeding £5, within the Parish of Ashton, and the 
 adjoining townships of Stayley, Dukinfield, Newton, 
 Matley, and Hattersley, was established by an act of 
 parliament, which received the royal assent June 3rd, 
 1808. This Court is held every Thursday fortnight, in 
 the Manor Court-room, Ashton, before such of the Com- 
 missioners of the court as are in attendance. No. of 
 suits in 1837, 1898. 
 
 An extraordinary impulse in favour of a change of the 
 representative system in the House of Commons, took 
 possession of the public mind in 1831 ; and one of the 
 
ASHTOX-rXDEK-LYNE. 73 
 
 principal purposes sought to be accomplished b}- this 
 change was, to confer on large towns the riglit of repre- 
 sentation in the legislature, hence on the 3rd of February, 
 1831, a number of inhabitants petitioned for members : 
 but in the tirst plan of the Reform Bill, introduced in the 
 Commons March 1st, 1831, Ashton-under-Lyne was not 
 included in the list of intended parliamentary boroughs. 
 This omission was felt by many of the inhabitants as a 
 serious defect ; and a public meeting was consequently 
 held April 22nd, 1831, to institute proceedings for 
 securing a member or members for the Town or for the 
 Parish. Messrs. John J. Southam, William Nicholson, 
 and John Campbell, M.D., were appointed a deputation 
 to take measures for obtaining the insertion of Ashton in 
 the Reform Bill. The inclusion of the place in the 
 modern Magna Charta was, liowever, not very readily 
 obtained : in consequence, it was rumoured, of a fear on 
 the part of the framers, to add to tlie interests of Lord 
 Stamford, and partly owing to endeavours to have the 
 whole Parish, including Stalybridge, enfranchised. About 
 June, 1831, the proceedings for obtaining a legislative 
 representation of the district were renewed ; and Messrs. 
 Charles Hindley and John Campbell, M.D., were chosen 
 by a subsequent public meeting, to urge the claims of 
 Ashton to parliamentary' notice. On the 13th September, 
 1831, Ashton was promised a representative; but the 
 proposal that Stalybridge should form a portion of the 
 borough seems to have been coolly received by the leadins? 
 classes of that place. The idea that Stalybridge ought 
 to be a part of a borough, to bear the name of Ashton 
 oiily, did not square with their views of politic rank : 
 
74 HISTORY OF 
 
 iuid, tliercfore, the project was unsuccessful. During 
 the sittmg of the Committee of the House of Lords on 
 the Reform Bill, May 22nd, 1832, when a motion was 
 made that Ashton-under-Lyne be plciced in Schedule D, 
 Lord Ellenborough observed, — '' that this town had not 
 appeared in the first, nor yet in the second Reform Bill 
 that had been brought before parliament. The town of 
 Stalybridge was unwilling to have anything to do with 
 the franchise in conjunction with Ashton, and Ashton 
 had the same disinclination to be united in electing re- 
 presentatives with Stalybridge." The Lord Chancellor 
 said, " that Ashton-under-Lyne was an important town, 
 containing a population of 14,000 or 15,000 inhabitants, 
 which was a sufficient reason for giving it representatives. 
 It was the fact that Stalybridge, though it wished repre- 
 sentation for itself, yet objected to have the franchise in 
 conjunction with Ashton ; and there was no love lost — 
 (a laugh), — for Ashton had an equal objection to be 
 united with Stalybridge. This was unfortunate ; but, 
 as was the case sometimes with women, the closeness of 
 affection was not in proportion to the proximity of 
 situation. — (a laugh.) This dislike on both sides was, 
 however, a complete justification for not coupling together 
 two reluctant communities. He would just give one 
 instance of the extent to which this dislike went. An 
 act was passed, some time ago, for the purpose of paving 
 and lighting Ashton and the places adjacent ; but a 
 positive exception was introduced into the bill, excluding 
 Stalybridge from the operation." The Committee agreed 
 that Ashton-under-Lyne should stand part of the schedule 
 D, thus granting one member to the place. 
 
\SIITO^^-r^'DER-LYNE. 
 
 75 
 
 The Reform Bill eventually received the royal assent 
 June 7th. 1832 ; and, according to its provisions, every 
 occupier of certain premises of the yearly value of £10 
 is constituted an elector. — The Boundaiy Act, passed 
 July llth, 1832, directs that the borough shall extend 
 over the whole space of district which is regulated by 
 the provisions of an act passed in the 7th and 8th Geo. 
 IV., usually entitled the Police Act. The Mayor, whose 
 office has been recently revived, is rendered Returning 
 Officer, pursuant to the wording of schedule D. Long 
 before there was a probability of an early election, the 
 electors of Ashton were amply engaged in considering 
 the claims of the candidates that were presented for 
 parliamentary- honours. The Radical party invited George 
 Williams, Esq., of Little Woolton, near Liverpool, once 
 a colonel in the army, and at present a magistrate of the 
 county, to become an aspirant for legislatorial rank. He 
 did so on condition that he w^as elected without incurring 
 a personal canvass : such event ultimately occurred. — 
 The Liberal Whigs introduced as their candidate, Chas. 
 Hindley, Esq. of Dukinfield, master cotton-spinner and 
 manufacturer, a talented advocate of free trade ; and he 
 w^as extensively supported. — The Conservative party 
 were not slow to avail themselves of whatever advantages 
 they could derive from position and influence ; and, 
 accordingly, Thomas Williams Helps, Esq., of London, 
 barrister, the son of a highly respectable merchant, of 
 London, who was formerly a manufacturer of Ashton, 
 was proposed as the Tory candidate, and received large 
 promise^of support. 
 
 H 
 
76 HISTORY OF 
 
 On Monday, the 12th November, 1832, the first 
 Court for the revision of the lists of electors for the 
 borough, was held in the Court-house, before H. Law- 
 rence, Esq., Revising Barrister. The number of electors 
 (qualified to vote amounted, after revision, to 420. The 
 parliamentary returns of 1832, relative to the population 
 and constituencies of the boroughs, contain the subjoined 
 entries: — " Ashton : population, 14,673; qualifying 
 tenements, or £10 houses, 610; registered electors, 450; 
 assessed taxes, per annum, £1400; houses, 2900." — 
 On Wednesday, the 12th of December, 1832, the first 
 parliamentary election took place, and was held in the 
 Market-square. The proceedings commenced shortly 
 after nine o'clock, by Mr. Swire moving the nomination 
 of Charles Hindley, Esq., which was seconded by Mr. 
 Raynor. Mr. Wright proposed George Williams, Esq., 
 who was supported by Mr. John Harrop, sen. ; and Mr. 
 Jowett nominated Thomas W. Helps, Esq., who was 
 seconded by Mr. James Heginbottom. Messrs. Hindley 
 and Helps, and Mr. John Smith on behalf of Mr. Wil- 
 liams, delivered eff'ective speeches, explanatory of their 
 respective political views. On a show of hands, a vast 
 majority appeared for Colonel Williams. The other 
 candidates, consequently, demanded a poll, which com- 
 menced on Thursday morning, and terminated near noon 
 on Friday, December 13th and 14th. On Thursday, an 
 electioneering mob committed serious disorder, by injuries 
 to persons, and also to property. The numbers at the 
 close of the poll were, — Williams, 176; Hindley, 156; 
 and Helps, 44 ; so that 376 voters exercised their 
 sufirage. George Williams, Esq., was duly elected, 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 77 
 
 and sat in the first Reformed House of Commons as 
 Member for Asliton. 
 
 The second Election for Asliton-under-Lyne occurred 
 January 7th, 8th, and 9th, 1835, when the numbers at 
 the close of the poll being, — Hindley, 212; Helps, 105; 
 Williams, 63 ; or 380 polled votes, — Charles Hindley, 
 Esq., of Dukinfield, one of the candidates at the first 
 election, was returned as the representative of the borough. 
 
 The third Election took place July 26 and 27, 1837, 
 when a rather severe contest ensued betwixt Charles 
 Hindley, Esq., and James Wood, Esq., of Manchester ; 
 the latter a Conservative. The results of the poll were, — 
 Hindley, 237; Wood, 201; Stephens, 19; total voters, 
 457. Charles Hindley, Esq., was duly elected as 
 member for the borough. 
 
 The fourth Parliamentary Election for Ashton 
 occurred on the 30th of June and 1st of July, 1841; 
 and was characterized by extremely riotous proceedings, 
 which were almost equally injurious to persons as well as 
 to property, owing to the reckless conduct of a body of 
 railway workmen, apparently introduced by those pro- 
 fessed supporters of order — the Conservatives, There 
 were two candidates, Charles Hindley, Esq., the old 
 meml>er, and Jonah Harrop, Esq., of Bardsley-House, 
 who stood on the Tory interest. The numbers at the 
 close of the poll were, — Hindley, 303; Harrop, 254; 
 so that the former was returned by a large majority. — 
 In periods of excitement, party feeling runs sufficiently 
 
 H 2 
 
78 HISTORY OF 
 
 high in this place ; but the prevalent tone of opinion 
 of the elective body is in favour of a system of legislation 
 that will be amply protective of commercial interests. 
 
 The gentlemen who, as Mayors of Ashton-under- 
 Lyne, have acted as returning officers at elections since 
 1831, merit notice. The subjoined is a list of them from 
 that period :— 1832, John Wood, Esq. ; 1833, Nathaniel 
 Howard, Esq. ; 1834, James Jowett, Esq. ; 1835, Thos. 
 Smith, Esq. ; 1836, Samuel Earnshaw, Esq. ; 1837, 
 the same ; 1838, Joseph Oldham, Esq.; 1839, Samuel 
 Heginbottom, Esq. ; 1840, Samuel Swire, Esq. 
 
 Ashton received a grant of a Market as early as 1284, 
 12th Edward I. (Keurden.) — This grant was renewed 
 by letters patent, bearing date February 13th, 1413, 14th 
 Henry YI., procured by Sir John de Assheton. The 
 privilege was again confirmed November 24th, 1608, by 
 James I., on the application of George Booth, Esq. The 
 orighial market was held on Mondays, pursuant to the 
 charter; but Aikin remarks, in 1795, — "there was 
 formerly a market held here every Wednesday, at a place 
 where an ancient cross is still standing; it has been 
 discontinued above thirty years ago, (1762) though such 
 a convenience is now particularly wanted, from the rapidly 
 increased population." Although the town was rapidly 
 increasing in the first quarter of the present century, the 
 Market seems not to have been fully re-established till a 
 few years ago; for in 1825, Mr. Baines observes: — that 
 " it is not difficult to foresee that this market will be again 
 brought into requisition at no distant day." The essential 
 
ASHTOX-rXDER-LYXE. 79 
 
 wants of so populous a place rendered the holding of a 
 market indispensable ; and accordingly, in 1827-8, a sort 
 of market was commenced in the streets, on Saturday 
 evenings. The formation of a new market was projected, 
 and the powers of the Police Act, enabling the Com- 
 missioners of Police to provide such a place of public 
 accommodation, operations for the construction of a 
 square arid erection of covered stalls, were commenced 
 in 1828, the Earl of Stamford having given a site ex- 
 tending over 14,000 yards, and likewise surrendered his 
 interest in the rents of several houses adjoining the 
 proposed Market. In March, 1829, the building of the 
 butchers" stalls was commenced, in the centre of the new 
 area, which extends from Old-street to Stile-bara. 
 
 This spacious square of weekly traffic was opened, 
 with much ceremony, on Saturday, July 2nd. 1830. The 
 butchers' stalls form a large brick edifice, surrounding a 
 flagged opening. The number of shops is 26, at rents 
 varying from £10 to £13 per annum each. Four-and-a- 
 half per cent, of the gross produce of the tolls is claimed 
 by the lord of the manor ; the remainder is received by 
 the Commissioners of Police. The principal market-day 
 is Saturday : Markets are also held on Mondays and 
 A\'ednesdays. The ancient Market Cross was taken 
 down in 1829. 
 
 The grant of 1284 conferred two Fairs on the place, 
 
 and the letters patent of 1413 confirm the grant, and 
 
 further direct that they shall be held yearly, one on the 
 
 Eve. the Feast, and the Morrow, of St. Swithin, f July 
 
 11 3 
 
80 HISTORY 01^ 
 
 14, 15, 16) and the other on the Eve, the Feast, and the 
 M31T0W, of St. Martyne, (November 9, 10, 11.) The 
 present Fairs are held March 23rd, April 29th, July 25th, 
 Nov. 21st, and a Cattle Fair on the second Thursday in 
 every month. — The tolls of the markets and fairs pro- 
 duce a net income of about £500 annually. 
 
 The principal employment of the inhabitants is in 
 cotton-spinning, weaving, and other branches of the 
 Cotton manufacture. Little more than a century ago, 
 the cotton trade was scarcely noticed as a business of 
 interest ; and its development, whilst almost unaided by 
 machinery y was extremely slow. The one-spindled ap- 
 paratus and the rude hand-loom were, for very many 
 years, the chief instruments of operation in this now 
 extraordinary system of commerce. The genius of 
 Hargreaves, however, sought means to extend the trade, 
 by partly substituting methods of art for the strength of 
 human labour ; and he was successful. Instead of a 
 small creaky ill-contrived apparatus for spinning, a large 
 vv^ell-organised and admirable machine was formed, and 
 brought into general use. Arkwright planned many 
 singularly useful improvements, and nearly matured the 
 factory system. Watt rendered the steam-engine nobly 
 adapted to carry out, fully, the details of that system. 
 Ci'ompton contributed materially to the effectiveness of 
 the machinery. Cartwright almost accomplished the 
 utmost purposes of art in this manufacture, by the pro- 
 duction of the power-loom. But Roberts, on the other 
 hand, has added another triumph to science, as well as 
 another thrust at human labour, by substituting, in spin- 
 ning, machine motion for man motion. 
 
ASIITOX-UNDER-LYNE. 81 
 
 In 1 750, the villagers of Ashtoii were busily engaged 
 in humble methods of spinning and weaving, both of 
 wliich were carried on in the cottages. In 1769, the 
 weaving of light cottons was considerable. A gradual 
 extension in the sizes of spinning, carding, and other 
 machines, rendered large rooms necessary for these seve- 
 ral operations ; and hence, whilst small apartments were 
 allotted to looms, spacious chambers or ample attic stories 
 were provided for spinning, kc. : thus the concentration 
 of machines and of hands was becoming usual, and 
 factories or mills of a primitive sort were being formed. 
 Considerable quantities of twist, and also warps, were 
 largely manufactured, and chiefly used in the weaving of 
 velverets, cotton thicksets, and other goods. The spin- 
 ning machine of Arkwright became prevalent here about 
 1785 ; but for several years the spinning concerns were 
 on a small scale, and weaving was effected in cottages. 
 The introduction of the improved steam-engine, in 1790, 
 gave a vast impetus to the trade ; numbers of spinning, 
 carding, and other machines, were shortly after set to 
 work in buildings of moderate size, and all the processes, 
 except weaving, became placed under the control of 
 systematic mechanism. The popular dislike of unproved 
 machinery manifested itself in this district comparatively 
 early; for in 1776, the doors of the mill of Mr. Hall, of 
 Stalybridge, were obliged to be locked night and day, to 
 prevent the populace from breaking in. — The mineral 
 treasures of the country, combined with the good supply 
 of water, tended materially to promote the establishment 
 of manufactories. 
 
82 HISTORY OF 
 
 In 1794, the town of Ashton contained about ten 
 spinning rooms, or small factories; in 1814, nine cotton- 
 mills, of moderate size, not including small twining and 
 other rooms; in 1818, fourteen; in 1825, twenty-two; in 
 1831, twenty-seven; in 1834, thirty; in 1839, about 
 thirty-three. — In 1825, the entire number of steam- 
 engines in the town and vicinity, engaged in cotton 
 manufactories, machine works, and mines, was 34, of the 
 power of 840 horses ; in 1831, their number was 45, of 
 the power of 900 horses. — In 1794, the total of cotton- 
 mill workers in the town was upwards of 900 ; and the 
 amount of capital invested in the trade is said to have 
 been not more than £6000. The present number of 
 cotton-mill hands in the town is about 7000 ; and the 
 amount of capital invested, is estimated at £600,000. 
 
 There were about 300 power looms herein 1818. — 
 Of the 1740 families in the town in 1821, 1680 were 
 engaged in trade ; and of the 2823 families in the same 
 space in 1831, 2784 were employed in trade. In 1794, 
 the Parish of Ashton, including the town of Ashton and 
 part of the town of Stalybridge, contained twenty small 
 spinning concerns ; in 1814, sixteen factories, of moderate 
 size, exclusive of small rooms; in 1818, thirty; 1825, 
 forty; 1831, fifty-one ; 1839, about fifty- eight. In 1825, 
 the steam-engines in the parish were fifty-eight, of which 
 forty-six were engrossed by cotton-mills ; in 1831, their 
 number was 81, (of the power of 1474 horses) of which 
 fifty- three were engaged in the cotton trade, seventeen in 
 collieries, four in machine works, three in calico printing, 
 
ASHTOX-UXDER-LYXE. 83 
 
 and one each in silk and woollen-mills, in tile and tire- 
 brick making, and raising water. At the latter period 
 there were twenty-two water-wheels, namely: — 11 in 
 cotton manufactories, three in woollen, three in calico 
 printing, two in roller and spindle making, and one each 
 in dying, fulling, and corn grinding. 
 
 The number of families in the parish engaged in trade 
 in 1801, was about 1700; of the 3393 families in 1811, 
 2757 were employed in manufactories ; of the 4787 
 families in 1821, 4545 were in trade ; and of the 6408 
 in 1831, 6233 were in trade. 
 
 The number of persons employed in the cotton trade 
 of Ashton town, and the out-parts of the parish, exclusive 
 of Stalybridge and Lees, was, in 1834, 8396. The steam 
 power was equal to that of 1200 horses, and the water 
 power to 33 horses. According to the returns of the 
 Inspector of Factories, dated May 1st, 1835, the cotton- 
 mills in the entire parish were 51 ; steam engines, 53 ; 
 horsepower, 1617; water wheels, 11; power. 111 ; total 
 power, 1728; actual power employed, 1604: children 
 from 9 to 1 1 years employed, 86 ; young persons from 
 1 1 to 18 employed, 3509 ; total hands employed in cotton 
 trade, 10,168. Woollen-mills, 3; steam engines, 3; 
 horsepower, 12; water wheels, 2; horse power, 15; 
 total power, 27 : children between 9 and 1 1 in woollen- 
 mills, 1 ; young persons between 11 and 18, 43; total 
 hands in woollen, 117. Silk-mills, 1 ; steam engines, 1 ; 
 horse power, 1 : children between 9 and 11, in silk-mills, 
 45 : young persons between 11 and 18, 128 ; total hands 
 
84 HISTORY OF 
 
 ill silk, 250. Total mills in the parish, 55 ; steam engines 
 7 of 422 horse power, 2 of 80, 8 of 282, 25 of 563, 19 
 of 260, and 6 of 28 : water wheels, 7 of 97 horse power, 
 and 5 of 29 : total steam engines in manufactories, 67 ; 
 horsepower, 1635: total water wheels in ditto, 13; horse 
 power, 126 ; total engines and wheels, 80 ; horse power? 
 1761; actual power employed, 1697: children between 
 9 and 1 1 employed, 132 ; young persons between 1 1 and 
 18, 3680 ; total hands employed 10,535. 
 
 The increase in the cotton trade in this district in 1836 
 was such, that it was said a demand would be created for 
 at least 7000 new hands. How far these expectations 
 were realized will appear, in some degree, from the 
 returns of the Factory Inspectors, dated Feb. 9th, 1839, 
 which afford the subjoined information as to the extent 
 of the trade in Ashton Parish at that period : — Cotton 
 manufactories or concerns, 82 (this is not the number of 
 mills, but of firms) ; woollen, 3 ; silk, 1 ; total, 86 : 
 unoccupied concerns, 4 ; actual power employed, equal 
 to 2875 horses ; children between 9 and 13, 339 ; young 
 persons between 13 and 18, 4,047; total hands, 12,371, 
 of whom, at least 12,000 are engaged in the cotton trade; 
 indicating but an increase of 1832 hands from 1835 to 
 1839. So much for the value of the report alluded to 
 above. 
 
 The spinners of the district are chiefly employed in 
 spinning the finer kinds of yarn, — the power - loom 
 weavers in weaving stout printing calicoes, — and the 
 hand-loom weavers in producing ginghams, &c. 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXE. 85 
 
 *• When tlie cotton trade was in its domestic state 
 there was little fluctuation in prices, little competition 
 between individuals, and the mind became contracted 
 from this general stagnation and its being so seldom roused 
 to exertion. Men being mostly employed alone, or having 
 few but their own families to converse with, had not their 
 understandings rubbed bright by contact and interchange 
 of ideas; they witnessed a monotonous scene of life 
 which communicated a corresponding dulness and me- 
 chanical action to their minds. The greatest varieties of 
 scene which they witnessed were the market day of the 
 country town, and the attendance at church or the Sab- 
 bath : and the suinmum honum of their lives was to sit 
 vacant and inactive in each other's houses, to sun tliem- 
 selves in the Market-place, or to talk over news at that 
 great mart of village gossip — the blacksmith's shop.'' 
 (Guest.) 
 
 The present condition of the cotton manufacturing 
 population presents a widely different state. Now, the 
 immense extent of the traffic, and the consequent great 
 number of enterprising traders, occasions frequent and 
 devastating fluctuations in prices : whilst, on the other 
 hand, the necessities of competition tend to increase 
 commerce and improve machinery. Though, by such 
 causes, mechanism is augmenting, and manual labour 
 diminishing; yet probably as large, if not a greater amount 
 oS. mere attendants on the automatic apparatus are em- 
 ployed, as the extent of hands displaced by the new 
 methods of production. The concentration of large 
 bodies of workers in the mills has a decided tendency to 
 
«0 HISTORY or 
 
 render them well disposed and social with each other ; 
 and they thus obtain no slight facilities for promoting, in 
 a great degree, habits of virtue or of vice. 
 
 " In regarding the manufacturing population of this 
 district, we are forcibly struck with its condensation 
 within limit ed spots ; its consequent means of free inter- 
 communication ; the intelligence, energy, and activity of 
 many of its members, with the coarse low habits of the 
 general mass ; from the want of sound moral and religious 
 education, the slaves of vice, prejudice, and passion ; the 
 bond of union between masters and servants feebly knit, 
 and resembling more the animosity of adverse interests 
 than the salutary influence of the one class, with satisfied 
 subordination on the part of the other. A more formid- 
 able array of these habits and propensities may render 
 such a population of an apprehensive character, as their 
 labour on the other hand, may, under due regulation, 
 conduce to the advantage of society." (Rickards.) 
 
 Cotton -mill employment is of a tedious nature, and 
 much more wearisome than laborious ; and, in this, 
 appears the cause of a deal of the intemperance of mill 
 operatives. Attention is more requisite than action in 
 such a calling, and therefore the work becomes tedious. 
 The rate of wages is higher than in the generality of 
 employments where greater physical exertion is called 
 for ; but the hours of work in the latter are considerably 
 less than in factory work. '' Men may be found who 
 have not yielded to the debilitating and improvident habits 
 of the mass, who are living in comfort and decency upon 
 
ashtox-uxher-i.yxe. f^y 
 
 the average amount of wages earned by the whole popu- 
 lation— a sufficient proof, if proof were wanting, that the 
 mischief lies full as uu.ch with the labourers themselves, 
 as in the system of labour,- which, though comparatively 
 light, is too long in daily duration. 
 
 The domestic comforts of the factory classes are 
 seriously affected by the improvident habi'fs of many of 
 the operatives; and yet there are numbers of workin- 
 families who are apparently in agreeable circumstances'^ 
 owing to the practice of sobriety, and the desire for 
 mental cultivation. 
 
 "Though the general appearance of the operative is 
 squalid, and the majority of the middle-aged badly dressed 
 the young women expend considerable sums upon their 
 persons: the extreme cheapness of printed calicoes and 
 nuishns giving a taste for showy clothing, the factory girl 
 «-.th her pale face and languid expression, offers, when 
 decked out in her Sunday and holiday apparel, a strange 
 anomaly with the dirty, unfurnished, and misernble house 
 from which she, in too many cases, issues." (Ga..kell.) 
 
 Although the management of cotton-mills i. now 
 regulated by legislative enactment, still the internal 
 economy of the factories is variable.-In some establish- 
 ments the employers manifest the utmost anxiety for the 
 comfort of their hands, whilst the cmplovcd arc conslaullv 
 endeavouring to render their labours satisfactory, and U, 
 'btain as many rational advantages as are consistent wi,h 
 their position. lu oth.r mills ,|„. masters are of gro.s 
 
 I 
 
88 HISTORY OF 
 
 and scltish habits; and tlierefore, the workers, in such 
 instances, are often of similar dispositions, debased and 
 careless. The factories of the vitiated class are ill-con- 
 ducted. It is to such mills the following lines apply : — 
 
 " There, shut for ever from the gladdening sky, 
 Vice premature, and care's corroding seal, 
 vStamp on each sallow cheek their hateful die, 
 lAne the smooth open brow, and sink the saddened eye." 
 
 Whatever censures are bestowed on the factory system 
 by the admirers of the institutions of the olden time, ''its 
 morbid distemj)erature is certainly not so great as that 
 of the agricultural system of England, and it is more 
 accessible to control and amelioration." "The party 
 who lately declaimed so loudly about the inmates of fac- 
 tories being universally victims of oppression, misery, 
 and vice, if actualed by a philosophical spirit, might have 
 ascertained, very soon, whether Goldsmith's Auburn, or 
 Crabbe's Village, reflected the truest picture of their 
 country s pride ; and by inspecting thereafter, an in- 
 creasing factory village, they might have discovered 
 whether the town was staining the country or the country 
 the town." (Ure.) 
 
 " In point of intelligence, there can be no doubt that 
 a manufacturing population far exceeds an agriculturaL 
 one. The opportunities of associating with each other, 
 the facilities of obtaining books and newspapers, and the 
 discussions in their unions, combinations, and clubs, 
 stimulate and sharpen the intellects of the working classes 
 in towns ; whilst the solitary labourer in husbandry too 
 often grows up in stupid ignorance and inertness. Yet 
 
 li 
 
ASTITOX-UXPER-LYXK. 89 
 
 there are too mnny j-iroofs of want of information amoni;^ 
 the working classes in towns, and of tlieir liability to 
 delusion ; and every one acquainted with these classes 
 must acknowledge the necessity of a better system of 
 education.** (Baines.) 
 
 The estimated value of the buildings and machinery 
 in the cotton trade in the Parish of Ashton is £1.100,000, 
 and the amount of capital required to work them £400,000. 
 The quantity of yarn spun daily in the cotton-mills of the 
 parish by steam, is as much as would . have been spun 
 with the distaff and spindle by 3,000.000 persons. 
 
 The hand-loom weavers in this district are not incon- 
 siderable. According to the report of the Commissioners 
 for Inquiiy into the State of the Hand-loom Weavers, 
 dated March, 1839, the subjoined were the results of an 
 investigation of the condition of the w^eavers of Ashton : — 
 Heads of families visited, 483 ; number of persons em- 
 ployed, 813: number of looms idle, 213; number of 
 persons dependant on the earnings of those employed, 
 1955; clear total average weekly income, £119. 3s. 3d.: 
 average per family per week, 4s. 1 1 id. They are chiefly 
 employed in weaving ginghams, shawls, kc. 
 
 There are no navigable rivers in this part of the 
 rountr}* ; but it is extensively intersected by Canals. 
 which have proved highly useful in promoting the internal 
 traffic of commerce. 
 
 The Canal from Manchester to Ashton-under-Lync 
 and Oldham, was constructed pursuant to an act of par- 
 
 I 2 
 
90 HISTORY OF 
 
 lianicnt, passed 1792, 32nd George III., by a company 
 of shareholders : amoni^st whom were ihe Earl of Stam- 
 ford and Warrington, Rev. Thomas Evans, D.D., Benj. 
 A. Ileywood, John Lees, Esqrs., &cc. By an act passed 
 1793, the company were empowered to form a branch to 
 Stockport, and another to Hollinwood, both of which 
 were completed. These several navigations extend from 
 Manchester to Ash ton, Fairfield to Fairbottom, Water- 
 houses to Hollinwood, and Clayton to Heaton-Norris, 
 an aggregate length of 18 miles ; and their cost was about 
 £150,000. The funds were raised according to the acts 
 passed 1792, 1793, 1798, 1800, and 1805, in share? of 
 £100 each, and by mortgages, &c. The canals were 
 opened in 1797. Coal and lime are the chief objects of 
 carriage. The principal -works of this navigation in 
 Ashton Parish are the tunnel, near Waterhouses, and 
 the reservoir at Crime, an area of five acres. 
 
 The idea of forming a connecting link betwixt the 
 west and the east seas suggested the formation of the 
 Huddersfield Canal, which w^as cut according to acts 
 passed 1794, 1800, 1806. This canal commences in Sir 
 John Ramsden's Canal, at Huddersfield, and passes 
 under Pule Moss, by a tunnel of 3^ miles in length, 
 which cost £56,000 ; it then winds through Saddleworth, 
 and entering Ashton parish at Stalybridge, terminates in 
 the Ashton Canal, near the town of Ashton, where it 
 passes through another tunnel. Its length is 19 J miles, 
 and the summit level is 656 feet above the surface of the 
 sea, higher than any other canal in England. Nature 
 having thrown great impediments in the making of this 
 canal, its cost was about £300,000. 
 
ASHTOX-t'XDER-LYXE. 91 
 
 On the south side of the town of Ashton, the Peak 
 Forest Canal forms a junction with the Ashton Canal. 
 and crosses the Tame hy a liigh acqueduct. This navi- 
 gation was formed hy tlie authority of acts passed 1794, 
 1800, and 1805, and extends from Ashton to Chapel 
 Milton, in Derhyshire, ahout 15 miles. Its cost was 
 about £140.000. 
 
 By the Ashton Canal merchandize is conveyed to 
 Manchester, and thence by water to Liverpool ; by the 
 Huddersfield Canal a w^^ter conveyance is opened to the 
 German Ocean : and by the Peak Forest Canal a water 
 communication is made into the heart of Derbyshire, for 
 the conveyance of fuel and the reception of lime. The 
 convenience of transit opens, for the coal district, a never- 
 failing market. 
 
 The commercial resources of the principal parts of 
 the kingdom have been benefitted by the formation of 
 Raibvays, as they are highly useful for the purposes of 
 general conveyance. — A line of railway, to pass from 
 Manchester to Sheffield, through Peak Forest, was 
 planned in 1830, by Mr. G. Stephenson : and an act of 
 parliament, wliich cost £11,300, was procured, but the 
 project failed in 1832. A company, entitled ^' The 
 Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Sheffield, Railway 
 Company,'' was established January, 183G, with a capital 
 (.f £700,000, in 7000 shares of £100 each. From the 
 estimates of the committee, several facts indicative of the 
 extent of the traffic carried on betwixt Ashton, Stalybridge^ 
 and Manchester, were brought out. In a summary of the 
 
 I 3 
 
92 HISTORY OF 
 
 l)assenger traffic, it was stated, that the number of persons 
 annually conveyed to and from Ashton-under-Lyne and 
 Manchester, was 54,812; and to and from Stalybridge, 
 Ashton, and Manchester, 87,630 : the annual transit of 
 coals from Ashton, was set down at 800 tons. The 
 receipts of the present traffic of the whole line, were 
 estimated at £121,478 per annum, and the*" prospective 
 traffic at £120,337. The company obtained"* an act of 
 parliament May 5th, 1837, for cutting the railway from 
 Manchester, by Ashton to Sheffield ; and also to form a 
 branch line to Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge. The 
 length of the line will be upwards of 39 miles, including 
 a tunnel of three miles in length, betwixt Woodhead and 
 Dunford-bridge. The works were commenced October 
 1st, 1838; and the amount expended to June 30th, 1841, 
 was £251,526; the balance due to the bankers at that 
 period, was £5104. The line is expected to be open to 
 the vicinity of Ashton and Hyde in a short time. The 
 branch line to Ashton and Stalybridge has not been 
 commenced ; it will join the main line at North-street, in 
 Audenshaw, 4 miles 76 chains from Manchester, 1^ miles 
 from Ashton, and 2 miles 45 chains from Stalybridge. 
 The Ashton station is to be near Mill-lane, 6^ from 
 Manchester ; and the Stalybridge Station near the Hud- 
 dersfield Canal, in the Dukinfield portion of Stalybridge, 
 7| miles from Manchester. — Mill-lane, Ashton, is 330 
 feet above the level of the sea. An unsuccessful attempt 
 was made in 1837, to form a company for constructing a 
 railway from Manchester to Ashton and Stalybridge only; 
 the capital was to have been £200,000. 
 
ASHTOX-U>'DER-LTNE. 93 
 
 Thus enriched by Canals and a Railway, surrounded 
 by Coal-mines, and benefitted by an ample supply ol' 
 water from the Ta:ne, Ashton is admirably situated, both 
 for the purposes of trade and manufacture. Mills abound 
 on the banks of the river, and the dyers lind in its waters 
 a source of continual purification. The rapid increase of 
 the town of Ashton, arising from the extension of the 
 Cotton trade has been noticed. The town of Stalybridge 
 has augmented in an equal if not greater ratio to Ashton. 
 The principal manufacturing villages Lees, Mossley, 
 Hooley Hill, Hurst, and Audenshaw, have become so 
 large that if situated in agricultural districts, they would 
 be deemed important towns. The environs of Ashton 
 and Stalybridge are decorated by the elegant mansions of 
 the wealthy manufacturers, which are mostly belted by 
 tastefully disposed pleasure-grounds. The dwellings of 
 the humbler classes are generally of neat appearance as 
 regards the exterior, and many are agreeable abodes 
 internally, there are numerous cheerful habitations of 
 the middle classes, equally far from display on the one 
 ban 1. or meanness on the other. 
 
 The Population of the town has multiplied with 
 ?reat rapidity during the last and present century. I 
 infer from the information conveyed by the ancient rent 
 roll of the Assheton's, that the population of the town in 
 1422 was about 150; and in 1618 about 400. Shortly 
 after the introduction of the cotton trade, namely in 1775 
 the first satisfactory- census was taken, its results as far 
 as relate to the town, were as follows : — Inhabitants, 2859; 
 Houses. 553 : Families, 599 ; Males, 1406; Females. 
 
94 HISTORY 0¥ 
 
 1453; Married, 982; Widowers, 50; Widows, 81: 
 Persons under five years of age, 509 ; 5 to 10, 396 ; 10 
 to 20, 54 1 ; 20 to 50, 1044 ; 50 to 70, 307 ; 70 to 90, 62. 
 
 Towards the close of the last century a great number 
 of families from the adjacent counties, and from Ireland, 
 settled here, in order to participate in the advantages of 
 trade, so that the population multiplied considerably ; 
 during the American War, two suburbs of the town 
 were erected named Charlestown and Boston. 
 
 The number of houses paying window-tax in Ashton 
 Town in 1793, was 279; Boston, 28; Charlestown, 23; 
 total, 330 : this return is obviously under the real num- 
 ber, as compared with that of 1775. In 1796, the town, 
 including Charlestown, Boston, Hurst, Botany-Bay, and 
 the immediate vicinities, contained 1600 houses ; and, 
 estimating five inmates to each house, the population 
 would then be 8000 ; but this, as a statement of the 
 population of the town alone, is manifestly too high : 
 5000 would be nearer the truth. In 1801, when the first 
 decennial census was taken, the population was about 
 6500; and in 1811, about 1700. The returns were not 
 compiled separately for the four divisions of the parisli 
 until 1821, when a distinct census for Ashton-under- 
 Lyne is first supplied. The total number of persons at 
 the last period named was 9222 : males, 4514 ; females, 
 4708; families, 1750; inhabited houses, 1643; unin- 
 habited, 36 ; building, 22 ; families engaged in agricul- 
 ture, 19; families engaged in trade, 1690; families not 
 connected with trade or agriculture, 41. In 1831 j the 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYNE. D5 
 
 number of persons was 14,()70 ; indicating an increase 
 of 5448 from 1821 to 1831 : males, 7176; females, 7494; 
 families, 2823 ; inhabited houses, 2648 ; uninhabited, 
 147 ; building, 35; families engaged in agriculture, 16; 
 families engaged in trade, 2784 ; and families not con- 
 nected with trade or agriculture, 23 ; and males twenty 
 years of age and upwards 3442. 
 
 In 1834-5, a statistical survey was taken of 3835 
 houses in the town of Ashton ; of which, 2149 were 
 separate dwellings ; 627 were sitting-rooms ; 59 cellars ; 
 69 public-houses ; and 89 beer-houses : the population 
 inhabiting dwellings, was 14,604; inhabiting rooms, 
 627; cellars, 59. Of this population, 4723 were able to 
 read and write ; 4334 only able to read. The heads of 
 families who professed to belong to the Church of Eng- 
 land, were 1517; and lodgers who professed the same, 
 23 : heads of families professing to be Dissenters, 624 ; 
 lodgers professing the same, 139 : heads of families 
 professing to be Catholics, 399; lodgers who professed 
 the same, 290 : heads of families not making any religious 
 profession, 1293; lodgers of similar opinions, 584."^ In 
 1841 the total of persons was 22,686, forming an increase 
 of 8,016 from 1831 to 1841, attributable to the exten- 
 sion of the cotton trade, males 10,724, females, 11,962, 
 inhabited houses, 4066 ; uninhabited, 495 ; building, 37; 
 total of houses, 4598. The official return of the census 
 of 1841 is not yet published. The proportion of the 
 working class to the whole population of the town is 8 1 
 per cent. 
 
 ♦ Paper read to the British Association, 1H3T. 
 
96 
 
 IIISTOIIY OF 
 
 The roll of the tenants of the manor m 1422, rc- 
 
 i^arding the enumeration of occupiers as strictly correct, 
 
 induces me to think that the population of the parish, at 
 
 that time, was about 1380 ; and I infer from the data 
 
 furnished by the rate books, that the number of persons 
 
 in the parish in 1618, was about 3300. A survey of the 
 
 population was taken in 1775, and presents several rather 
 
 peculiar features ; the annexed are the results : — 
 
 Parish, exclusive Entire 
 
 of Town. Parish. 
 
 Inhabitants 5097 .... 7956 
 
 Houses 941 1494 
 
 Families 971 .... 1570 
 
 Males 2584 .... 3990 
 
 Females 2513 3966 
 
 Married 1679 .... 2661 
 
 Widowers 67 .... 117 
 
 Widows 95 .... 176 
 
 Under 5 years of age . . 896 .... 1405 
 
 From 5 to 10 „ .. 764 1160 
 
 „ 10 „ 20 „ .. 1011 .... 1552 
 
 „ 20 „ 50 „ ,.1882 .... 2926 
 
 „ 50-,, 70 „ .. 471 .... 778 
 
 „ 70 „ 90 „ .. 73 .... 1-35 
 
 The rate of increase of the population of the rural por- 
 tions of the parish is, of course, smaller than that of the 
 town. The number of houses paying the window-tax in 
 the part of the parish exclusive of the tov/n, in 1793, 
 was 824; and in the entire parish, 1154 : but this was 
 clearly far from the real number of houses at that time. 
 The parliamentary returns of the population for the 
 
ASIITOX-UNDEll-LYNE. ^/ 
 
 % 
 
 decennial periods, have been ais follo\Ys, exceptini^ tlie 
 
 numbers set down in 1801 and 1811, for tlie population 
 
 of the town, wliicli are computations : — 
 
 Furish, exclusive Entire 
 
 of Town. Parish. Town. 
 
 In 1801, Inhabitants .. 9,132.. 15,632.. 6,500 
 
 „ 1811, „ .. 11,252.. 19,052.. 7,800 
 
 „ 1821, „ .. 16,745.. 25,967.. 9,222 
 
 .. 1831, „ .. 18,927.. 33,597.. 14,670 
 
 ,. 1841, „ . . 23,657. . 46,343. .22,686 
 
 The increase hi the population of the parish from 1775 to 
 1801, was 7676; 1801 to 181 1, 3420 ; 1811 to 1821. 
 6915; 1821 to 1831, 7630; 1831 to 1841, 12,746. 
 The total number of houses in 1801, was 3018. 
 
 According to the returns of 1811, the parish contained 
 inhabited houses, 3042 ; families, 3393 ; houses building. 
 ; houses uninhabited, 85; males, 9146; females, 9906: 
 families engaged in agriculture, 213; families hi trade, 
 2757; families not connected with trade or agriculture, 
 423. In 1821 the number of families engaged in agri- 
 culture, was 152 ; in trade, 4545; otherwise employed, 
 90; total families, 4787. In 1831 the number of agri- 
 cultural families, was 115: families in trade, 6233, and 
 otherwise emplo}( d 60 ; total families, 6108. In 183 I 
 there were of males 20 years of age, 7821 ; occupiers of 
 land employing labourers, 24 ; occupiers not employing 
 labourers, 98 ; labourers in agriculture, 57 ; labourers in 
 manufactures, 204 ; persons in retail trade, 1452 ; capi- 
 talists, bankers, and professional men, 171 : labourers in 
 labour not agricultural, 5614; males not labourers or 
 servants 20 years of age, 187; male ^^(•rvants 20 vears of 
 
9% 
 
 IIISTOllY OF 
 
 aij:c, 14; male servants under 20, 13; female servants 251. 
 —Population Returns, 1831, vol. 1, p. 294. 
 
 The returns for 1821, 1831, and 1841, present the 
 following results ; similar returns for the Town are pre- 
 viously given: — 
 
 Parish exclusiv 
 of Town. 
 
 1821, Inhabited Houses 2812 
 
 1831, „ 3312 
 
 1841, „ .... 4158 
 
 1821, Uninhabited Houses . . 65 
 
 1831, „ .. 176 
 
 1841, „ .. 479 
 
 1821, Plouses in Building . . 3 
 1831, „ ..30 
 
 1841, „ .. 35 
 
 1821, Plouses 2880 
 
 1831, „ 3518 
 
 1841, „ 4682 
 
 1821, Males 8406 
 
 1831, „ 9305 
 
 1841, „ 11.471 
 
 1821, Females 8339 
 
 1831, „ 9622 
 
 1841, ., 12,186 
 
 The population of the several divisions may be thus 
 summed up :- 
 
 Entire 
 Parish. 
 
 4465 
 
 5960 
 
 8234 
 
 101 
 
 323 
 
 974 
 
 35 
 
 65 
 
 72 
 
 4601 
 
 6348 
 
 9280 
 
 12,920 
 
 16,481 
 
 22,197 
 
 13,047 
 
 17,116 
 
 24,146 
 
 Ashton Town 
 Hartshead . . 
 Knott-lanes. . 
 Audens-haw . . 
 
 1821. 
 9222 
 9137 
 3827 
 3781 
 
 1831. 
 
 14,670 
 
 10,073 
 
 4,862 
 
 3,992 
 
 1841. 
 
 22,686 
 
 12,760 
 
 5,523 
 
 5,374 
 
ASTITOX-UNDER-LYNE. 
 
 99 
 
 The population of the town of Stalybridge, in 1831, was 
 14,216; in 1841, about 20,000: but the principal portion 
 of it is in Cheshire. The population of the Hartshead or 
 Ashton-under-Lyne portion, in 1841, was 5747. 
 
 The population of the principal villages in the parish, is 
 
 as follows : — 
 
 1831. 1841. 
 
 Hooley Hill 1500 2000 
 
 Mossley 1300 1500 
 
 Lees 1400 1700 
 
 Hurst Brook 1600 
 
 The chief village is Lees-cum-Hey. 
 
 The progress of poi)ulation is further illustrated by the 
 annexed tables of baptisms, marriages, and burials, at 
 the Parish Church of Ashton, during the last and present 
 centuries."^ In the first year of the registers, 1594, 
 there were 90 baptisms, and 21 marriages; the register 
 of burials does not commence till 1596, in which year 
 there were 10. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 
 Baptisms. 
 
 Burials 
 
 1765.. 
 
 . . 235 . . 
 
 . . 159 
 
 1775.. 
 
 . . 332 . . 
 
 .. 241 
 
 1785.. 
 
 . . 427 . . 
 
 . . 201 
 
 1793.. 
 
 . . 545 . . 
 
 .. 348 
 
 1830. . 
 
 . . 800 . . 
 
 .. 703 
 
 1840.. 
 
 . . 1343 .. 
 
 . . 700 
 
 184 
 200 
 
 The National system of Ii( i^istration of Births, 
 Deaths, and Marriages, commenced in 1837, and will 
 
 ♦ Dr. Percivars Obsersations on Pop\ilalion, p. 57. 
 K 
 
100 III S TO 11 Y OF 
 
 ultimately prove of great value for legal as well ast 
 statistical purposes. — The towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, 
 Oldham, Stalybridge, Middleton, and a number of ad- 
 jacent populous tow^nships in Lancashire and Cheshire, 
 form one Superintendent Registrar's District, — com- 
 prising fifteen Ordinary Registrars' districts, and a 
 population of 133,474, according to the census of 1831. 
 The births and deaths registered in the district of Ashtou 
 Town have amounted to the annexed sums : — 
 
 Births. Deaths. 
 
 1837-8 662 .... 515 
 
 1838-9 814 782 
 
 1839-40 840 .... 701 
 
 The average number of births registered in the Parish 
 of Ashton is about 1800, and of deaths about 1400. — 
 The number of births registered in the Ashton-under- 
 liVne and Oldham Superintendent Registrars' district^ 
 in 1838, was 5723; 1839,6799: deaths, 1838, 4488; 
 1839, 5501. The district contains 17 churches and 
 chapels of the establishment in which marriages are 
 solemnized, and 18 places of worship of the dissenters 
 that are registered for the solemnization of marriages. 
 The number of episcopal marriages in 1838, was 1475; 
 dissenters, 84: 1839, episcopal, 927; dissenters, 85. 
 
 The rate of mortality in the manufacturing district 
 of Ashton-undcr-Lyne and Oldham united population in 
 1831, 133,474, as compared with the mortality of the 
 ugvicultin-al districts of Ormskirk, Fylde, Garstang, 
 
ASHTOX-UNDER-LYXi;. 
 
 101 
 
 Clitheroe, Ulverstoiie. and Chorlcy united population in 
 1831, 139,597, was as follows, in 1838-9: — 
 
 Manufacturing Agricultural 
 District. District. 
 
 Epidemic, Endemic, and Con- 
 
 
 
 tagious Diseases 
 
 819 
 
 449 
 
 Nervous Diseases 
 
 891 .... 
 
 371 
 
 Diseases of the Respiratory 
 
 
 Organs 
 
 1237 .... 
 
 686 
 
 ,, of the Organs of Circulation 
 
 17 ... . 
 
 24 
 
 ,, V Digestive Organs . . 
 
 429 ... 
 
 . 165 
 
 ,, ,, Urinary Organs .... 
 
 18 ... 
 
 . 17 
 
 ,, ., Organs of Generation 
 
 72 ... 
 
 . 31 
 
 „ ,, Organs of Locomotion 
 
 38 ... 
 
 . 13 
 
 ,, ,, Integumentary System 
 
 6 ... 
 
 . 2 
 
 ,, of Uncertain Seat 
 
 559 ... 
 
 . 347 
 
 „ of Old A^e 
 
 229 ... 
 
 104 ... 
 
 69 ... 
 
 . 310 
 
 Violent Deaths 
 
 . 127 
 
 Causes not specified 
 
 . 196 
 
 Total 
 
 4488 ... 
 
 .2738 
 
 This table suggests many matters for observation, 
 relative to the causes of the difference in the rate of mor- 
 tality betwixt populous and impopulous districts, but the 
 discrepancy principally arises from the density of the 
 people in manufacturing places, partly from the nature of 
 their employments, and in some degree from the want of 
 prudent and cleanly habits amongst the lowest class of the 
 town residents. A number of those excellent institutions. 
 Friend/?/ Societies, for the support of the member ^- 
 during sickness, and the defrayal of tlie costs of funerals. 
 K 2 
 
102 HISTORY OF 
 
 liave existed in this parish many years, and conduce not 
 only to the welfare of the contributors but tend to create 
 increased feelings of sociality amongst the working class. 
 The manners of the body of the inhabitants have not im- 
 proved in the same ratio as the buildings and manufac- 
 tories, and yet the number of intelligent and sober 
 operatives is considerably greater than it was a few years 
 ago ; the bulk of the population however is in a deplorable 
 state of ignorance, and much addicted to habits of intem- 
 perance ; and yet though negligent in many cases of 
 domestic welfare they are generally neat in their personal 
 appearance. 
 
 Schools. — The district is not provided with any 
 ancient endowed school, and yet a school house was 
 erected in the seventeenth century on land given by the 
 manorial owners adjacent to the Church-yard, for the 
 education of the children of the parishioners generally, 
 the means of its support have been chiefly derived from 
 the parents of the scholars, the school was re-built by the 
 parish in 1721, partly under the auspices of the Earl of 
 Warrington : Mr. John Newton, of Woodhouses, gave 
 by Will dated February 17, 1731 to the school of Ashton 
 £3 yearly, for the education of six poor children, two to 
 be nominated by the Rector, two by the Curate, and two 
 by the Wardens, the children not to remain above two 
 years each, they are taught to read and write. Mr. John 
 Walker of Manchester having by his Will dated July 7, 
 1755, devised the interest of £600 to be applied to the 
 education of poor children in Ashton, Oldham, and Sad- 
 dle worth, £8 of the annual interest was divided amongst 
 
A8HT0N-UNDER-LYNE. 103 
 
 three schools in Aslitoii, £4 for ten scholars, Taunton £!2 
 for five, and Hey £2 for live. The school was re-built 
 in 1807, and a^ain re-crected and enlarged in 1827 ; it 
 is a spacious pile, decorated by a mullet sable on a 
 shield of white marble, the arms of Ashton ; about 200 
 children are taught daily by subscription, and scholars 
 payments. The appointment of master is vested, in the 
 Earl of Stamford and the Rector. St. Peter's Sunday 
 School is an excellent edifice built in 1838. 
 
 In a Report on the state of Elementary Education in 
 several towns of Lancashire in 1840, by the Hon. and 
 Rev. Baptist W. Noel, it is stated that Ashton has not 
 one public infant school or day school; and but one- 
 nineteenth part of the population are found in the dame 
 and common schools only. A writer in the Manchester 
 Sunday School Magazine asserts, that in Ashton, Staly- 
 bridge and Dukinfield, only one child in forty-six attends 
 daily instruction, and yet one in four ought always to be 
 at school. A large proportion of the poor children of 
 these populous places are destitute of efiicient moral and 
 religious training.** As there are numbers of children 
 who are neither taught in schools nor employed in factories, 
 there is a great want of public day schools. By the 
 I'ecuniaiy assistance of the wealthy, and the personal 
 services of virtuous operatives, great attention is paid 
 to schooling poor children on Sundays, by means of 
 Sunday schools, which is highly necessary where many 
 
 » llie number of children of the "SVorking Class in the day school 
 of Ashton, Stalybridu'p, and DukiuHeid -n 1^"5 was 2496. 
 K 3 
 
104 niSTORY OP 
 
 of the juveniles are engaged in the cotton-mills on the 
 week days. '' The labours of Sunday school teachers 
 are of immense value, but the instruction is so superficial 
 that it cannot be properly termed education : there ought 
 to be a system to teach the population to master their 
 appetites, to contend with their passions, to resist temp- 
 tation, and to seek through all their lives that improve- 
 ment of mind and heart, which may end in the moral 
 and intellectual perfection of a better state.'' 
 
 The annexed tables exhibit the state of Sunday 
 Schools at three distinct periods : 
 
 
 1823. 
 
 1831. 
 
 184L 
 
 Episcopal Schools in the Town . 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 „ „ „ Parish. 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 Episcopal Scholars ,, Town . 
 
 . 600 
 
 1330 
 
 2400 
 
 „ „ „ Parish. 
 
 . 700 
 1300 
 
 1216 
 2546 
 
 1300 
 
 Total 
 
 3700 
 
 Dissenters' Schools in the Town . . 5 5 6 
 
 „ „ „ Parish.. 12 13 14 
 
 Dissenters' Scholars „ Town . . 1200 2500 2275 
 
 „ „ „ Parish.. 1600 3520 3556 
 
 Total 2800 6020 5831 
 
 Schools for all Denominations of 
 
 Children in the Town, . 
 
 „ „ ,, Parish. .3 2 2 
 
 Scholars of all DenominationSjParish 400 320 500 
 
ASHTON-UNDEK-LYNE. lOo 
 
 It appears, from tliis table, that in 1823 there were 
 24 Sunday Schools, and loOO scholars : 1831, 26 schools, 
 8886 scholars: and 1841, 29 schools, and 10,031 
 scholars. 
 
 Parochial ^4ffairs. — The assessment and distribu- 
 tion of the rates for the relief of the poor and other 
 purposes, as far as relate to Ashton Parish, are in the 
 management of one body of overseers, of whom there is 
 an honorary overseer to each of the four divisions. The 
 annual value of the property in the parish assessed to the 
 county rates in 1815, was £33,548; 1829, £71,837; 
 1840, £143,803 : in the Magisterial division of Ashton, 
 1815, £44,087; 1829, £90,645; 1840, £172,203.— 
 The expenditure for parochial purposes, in the year 
 ending October 28, 1823, amounted to £4,001 2s. 4d. : 
 within the same period £1,071 18s. 6d. was paid to the 
 mothers of illegitimate children; and £453 3s. lid. for 
 salaries and casualties. — In the year ending March 25, 
 1834, the sum of £5,801, 9s. 4d. was collected as poor's 
 rates, o^ which £1,365 14s. lOd. was paid for illegitimate 
 childien. The poor's rates of 1837 amounted to £4390. 
 The proportion of county rate paid by tlie parish in 1830, 
 was £1619; 1834, £1035 15s. 9d. ; 1836, £1041; 
 1840, £1989 lid. 
 
 Ashton was constituted a Poor-law Union in 1837 ; 
 the union is composed of Ashton Parish and the following 
 townships : Droylsden, Denton, Haughton, (Lancashire); 
 Dukintield, Staley, Newton, Godley, Hatterslcy, Matley, 
 Hollingwortb, Mottram, and Tintwistle, (Cheshire., 
 
106 HISTORY OF 
 
 Ashton elects five guardians ; Dukinfield, two; and the ■j 
 remainder one each ; total, twenty. — The workhouse for 
 Ashton is an ancient building, situate on the east side of 
 the Market-place, in the town. 
 
 Charities^ — Considering the wealth of the town, 
 Ashton is not remarkable for its charitable institutions. 
 It appears, from the Sixteenth Report of the Commis- 
 sioners for Inquiring concerning Charities, that Dame 
 Elizabeth Booth devised, January 17th, 1619, to the 
 overseers of the poor of Ashton, the sum of £2 10s. a 
 year, to be laid out in the purchase of bread, to be dis- 
 tributed weekly to the poor attending morning service. 
 Amongst other bequests of this pious lady, 10s. a year 
 is appointed to be paid to a preacher in the parish 
 church of St. John, Chester, for delivering a sermon on 
 8uch day as the mayor may appoint ; and the sum of £2 
 is left to the mayor, aldermen, and common-council, for 
 a ^^ good-drinhing" immediatel}^ after the sermon! — 
 The sum of twenty shillings a year was bequeathed bj^ 
 Priscilla Pickford to the poor of Ashton, June 15, 1740, 
 which is distiibuted, in shillings, to the communicants at 
 the church, on Christmas-Day. Miles Hilton, of Auden- 
 shaw, left, in 1741, the interest of £130, now £145, to 
 purchase ten stuff gowns, to be given, by the Rector and 
 Wardens, to ten poor old women who attend church. 
 Mrs. Hey wood granted the interest of £15, to be given, 
 in sixpences, to tliirty old women of the parish, every 
 Christmas-Day. Mr. James Walker, of Manchester, by 
 his will, dated November, 1749, gave the interest of 
 £250 yearly, to be laid out in the purchase of grey wool- 
 
 i 
 
ASHTON-UXDER-LYNE. 107 
 
 len cloth, to be made into twelve coats, to be i^iven, by 
 the Rector and Wardens, in October, yearly, to twelve 
 poor old men who are not paupers. John Sandilbrd, 
 gent., of Deanshut, gave £o to the poor, February 17th. 
 1575. The Charities of Audenshaw and Stalybridge are 
 noticed elsewhere. For the purpose of providing cheap 
 medical aid for the sick poor, institutions named Boards 
 of Health have been established ; their support is derived 
 from subscriptions, and, by this means, advice and medi- 
 cines are supplied. — '' The Ashton and Dukinfield Female 
 Benevolent Institution" was established March, 1827, for 
 the purpose of assisting poor lying-in women and others 
 with relief, in clothes, linen, kc. 
 
 A Bible Society., auxiliary to the London Society, 
 was established here April 2nd, 1823 ; and the public 
 liberality once displayed towards this institution seemed 
 to prove that the dormant flame of benevolence was ready 
 to burst forth wherever it was excited by proper objects. 
 The principal religious bodies are possessed of flourishing 
 Missionary Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 amongst Heathens in Foreign Lands. 
 
 There is a Savings' Bank, formed in 1829; it has 
 been of much advantage to the prudent class of operatives, 
 as will appear from the subjoined table : — 
 
 1833. 1840. 
 
 Amount deposited £39.94 £5355 
 
 withdrawn 815 3296 
 
 The number of depositors on the 20tli of December, 1840. 
 was 530, the deposits of 327 of whom did not exceed 
 £20 each. 
 
108 HISTOEY OP 
 
 LdXterary Institution. — A society for the literary and 
 scientific improvement of the working class, designated 
 *' The Ashton and Dukinfield Mechanics' Institution/' 
 M'as established in 1825, and re-organised in 1836; but 
 in 1840 the number of members was smaller than it had 
 been for several years, and consequently the resources of 
 the institution are impaired. That such a useful society 
 should be suffered to languish is degrading to the in- 
 habitants of the place. — The amount of members in 1840, 
 was 153, or only one in 163 of the population of Ashton 
 and its immediate suburbs. The library contains 791 
 volumes of well-selected works ; and classes for the study 
 of arithmetic, grammar, instrumental music, and lands- 
 cape and figure drawing, meet on stated evenings in the 
 week. The reading and other rooms are in Warrington- 
 street, Ashton ; and the charge to members for the general 
 advantages of the institute is but eight shillings per 
 annum. The president for 1840 was Charles Hindley, 
 Esq., M. P. 
 
 Public Buildings. — The only public building for 
 municipal purposes wdiich existed for ages was the 
 Court-House^ a large edifice ; the present pile was, 
 apparently, built in the latter part of the seventeenth 
 century, and is still used for manorial meetings, &c. A 
 new pile, named the Gas Buildings^ erected adjacent to 
 the Gas Works, in Oldham -road, in 1827, were intended 
 to be used as Police Offices, Assembly-rooms, and a 
 Theatre ; but the objects of the designers have not been 
 fully realised, although one portion of the neat fabric has 
 been occupied as a Theatre. A large dwelling, on the east 
 
ASIITON'-UNDEK-LYXE. lOfi 
 
 side of the Market-place, \vas converted, in 1831, into a 
 temporary Police Office. — The erection of a public hall 
 sufficiently conniiodious for all recpiisitc local purposes, 
 and worthy of the modern importance of the town, beinir 
 liighly desirable, the Commissioners of Police deter- 
 mined, in Septeml)er, 1839. to raise a Town Hall. An 
 eligible site ^vas secured, on the north side of the 
 Market-place, and the funds necessary for the erection 
 'about £6000) were provided by a mortgage of the 
 tolls of the market. The Avorks were commenced in 
 April. 1840, from designs of Mr. Young, architect, of 
 Manchester; and the edilice is now (September, 1841} 
 nearly completed. It is a handsome building of stone, 
 of the Corinthian order. The style of architecture is 
 Roman ; but, as respects the disposition of the columns 
 composing the order, and the substitution of the plain 
 ])iers, or antir, at the angles of the building, for the range 
 of pilasters usually introduced along the front and side 
 walls, the simpler peculiarities of the Grecian style have 
 been resorted to."^ The main portion of the entrance 
 front is composed of four engaged colunms in (n?fisj 
 surmounted by an appropriate attic : in the central com- 
 partment of which, (desiLcr.od as a ])edestal for a sculptured 
 tigure of Justice) is an inscri|)tion recording the date of 
 the building, 1840. The remainder of the front consists 
 of two minor compartments or wings, having only a plain 
 parapet above the cornice. I'liese plainer portions, al- 
 thougli forming part of the order, and designed in perfect 
 
 * CoramuTiication of Mr. Young, architect. — (CiTil Engineer and 
 Architects' Journal, January, 1841.) 
 
110 HISTORY OF 
 
 keeping witli the central pavillion of the facade, serve to 
 connect and blend the comparatively enriched front of the 
 ediiice with the more subdued architecture of the two 
 sides. The building consists, internally of two stories 
 (principal and first floor) and a basement : the former of 
 these, distinguished as a sort of rustic arcade, is ap- 
 proached, in front, by a lofty flight of steps, flanked on 
 each side by a projecting portion of the stylohate^ or 
 continued pedestal, on wdiich the order itself is elevated. 
 The stone necessarily used for the purpose of economy, 
 is of too coarse and porous a nature to admit of that 
 delicacy of execution which could have been desired ; 
 but, nevertheless, owing to the uniform use of that 
 material throughout, and the harmonious connexion of 
 the side elevations wdth the front, the edifice presents an 
 appearance of solidity and importance hardly consistent 
 with the comparatively small sum expended in its erection. 
 The interior contains a Police Oflice and Prison, with a 
 residence for the principal police ofiicer. Offices, and 
 Committee-rooms, with a spacious public room, 83 feet 
 by 40 feet, for the holding of magistrates' sessions, large 
 meetings, assemblies, &:c. 
 
 The town is well lighted by gas, supplied from Gas 
 Worlis^ which were erected by a large body of share- 
 holders, at a cost of about £35,000. The company w^as 
 incorporated by Act of Parliament, passed May 20, 1825, 
 and the streets were first lighted in 1826. The works 
 are situate in Oldham- road, and comprise gasometers of 
 such ample dimensions as will hold 100,000 feet of gas ; 
 the main pipes exceed eight miles in length. 
 
ASIITON-XTNDER-LYNE. 133 
 
 ^art^|)farr. 
 
 The Division of Hartshead is the largest in the parish, 
 and comprises nearly the whole of its eastern side, 
 stretching over 1513 customary acres. The centre is 
 ahout two miles north-east of the town. — The name 
 Hartshead, is supposed to have arisen from a co^ ert or 
 shed for deer of the hart species. The name, doubtless 
 originated when this tract was a forest, equally composed 
 of wood and heath : then forming — 
 
 " The woodland wild — where the dun deer roam, 
 And the song-bu'ds build them a happy home." 
 
 The north-east portion of Hartshead contains several 
 liicrh elevations, — the principal is Hartshead- Pike, the 
 highest point in the hamlet of Hartshead, on which 
 formerly stood a conical-shaped fabric of stone, called a 
 pike, with a vane at its apex, which was cut into the 
 form of the head of a hart. On the west side of the pike 
 were inscribed the annexed lines : — 
 
 " Look well at me before you go, 
 And see you nothing at me throw." 
 
 *' This Pike was erected, by public subscription, 1758." 
 This tower was generally regarded as a sea-mark : and 
 was also formerly used as a beacon in times of public 
 
134 HISTORY OF 
 
 alarm. So rapid was its decay, that in 1794 it was split 
 from top to bottom, half-a-yard in width ; shortly after- 
 wards, the whole walls fell into ruin, and only a few 
 stones are remaining. A public subscription was lately 
 promoted for the re-erection. — The prospect from the 
 site is extensive and diversified. It was once customary 
 with the farmers of Hartshead to pay small sums in lieu 
 of tythe, at a meeting that was held around a large stone, 
 at Twarl-Hill, designated the tythe-stone. 
 
 Heyrod-Hall^ anciently Heyrode, was, at an early 
 period, the mansion of a family of the local name. John 
 del Heyrod was the possessor in 1422. Subsequently 
 the Dukinfields, of Dukinfield, and the Shelmerdines 
 were the owners, — the latter for one hundred and fifty 
 years. The house was rebuilt in 1638. 
 
 Hydes is a solitary but agreeably situated habitation, 
 belonging, in 1823, to the family of Hyde. 
 
 Gamerog-Bank was a bequest of W. Hulme, Esq., 
 to Brazennose College. 
 
 Mosdelee, anciently enjoyed by the Bardsleys, has 
 been long the estate of the Halls, of whom was the Rev. 
 Samuel Hall, M.A., first minister of St. Peter's Church, 
 Manchester. 
 
 Lusley-End was, according to tradition, a dwelling 
 of a branch of the Ashtons, of Ashton. A Robert 
 Ashton, gent., of Lusley, occurs in 1618. 
 
ASnTON-UXDER-LYNE. 135 
 
 Hoss-botto???^ an old farm, near Stalybridge, was held 
 by Robertus de Rossbotham, in 1422, by the rent of a 
 rose, when the valley adjacent was a rugged wood. 
 
 Scont-MlU, on the banks of the Tame, a short dis- 
 tance to the south of ^losslcy, is described by Dr. Aikin, 
 in 1794, *' as a place well known for its very rural and 
 romantic situation, and partly for its melancholy and 
 unfortunate inhabitants.'' It was, at the period named, 
 a private lunatic asylum. The scenery at this spot has 
 been injured by the formation of a new road. 
 
 irUsliaiv-Dale-Gro'ce^ in Smallshaw, is a pleasing 
 residence, of the Higginbottoms. 
 
 StaJy-BanJc is a good house, of the Rev. Joseph 
 Saville Robarts Evans, situate near the Tame. 
 
 Hey rod-House^ the seat of Ralph Ousey, Esq., is 
 occupied by Legh Richmond, Esq. 
 
 The division contains two Episcopal Chapels, viz., — 
 Mossley Chapel, and St. George's Chapel, Stalybridge. 
 (See article Stalybridge.) That at Mossley was built in 
 1755, by subscription, and enlarged 1786. It is large 
 but plam, and contains a tablet to the memory of Catherine 
 Kenworthy, died 1776, aged 18. The curacy is of tlie 
 annual value of £127, in the patronage of the Rector of 
 Ashton. — The Dissenters have four Chapels, viz., — two 
 of the Methodist New Connexion, Mossley, built 1823, 
 and re-built 1835, at a cost of £2600 ; and Hurst-Brook 
 
 N 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 S '• ;r "' ^'^ ^^"^^^^ ^^P*'^^^' -d one of the 
 
 Stephen, es. (See Stalybridge.)- The inhabitants are 
 Pnnc:pa,l, en^ployed in the various processes of the co 
 
 s:trrir"-""- — -.aca::; 
 
 ^osfyis a large village, on the north-eastern side 
 o Hartshead, three nailes north-east of Ashton. The 
 
 r:rY rl : nr"^' ^^°°'^-'^^"^-' ^« - «^^^'e! 
 
 woith, Yorkshire. About 1773, this place ^vas a small 
 V age; but in 1794, there .ere about 100 housesT 
 1821, they had xncreased to 300; and in .1841, to 500 
 These estimates include Brook-bottom. There are seven 
 cotton-mills: formerly the staple trade consist d of 0^. 
 
 andt/MLi-r^br--^ 
 
 Murst-BrooJc, the principal place in the hamlet of 
 Hurst was, m 1422, the patrimony of Nicholas de hJ s 
 nd for more than three centuries was an obscure Lti 
 pot. Owmg, m part, to its vicinity to the town of Ashton 
 (a quarter of a mile) it has become a considerable village 
 
 and yet, m 1803, there were only a few detached h'!-' 
 now there are upwards of 300, and two cotton-mills. ' 
 
 /%/^.r//e^r.ns remarkable for the large cotton 
 ..ns^^and neat mansions of John Whittaker,'^^^ 
 
 The following places are small villages and hamlets: 
 
ASHTON-UNDER-LYXE. 137 
 
 Hiirst-AhoA', 1 mile nortli of Ashtou ; Hurst-Cross, 
 adjacent to Hurst-Xook ; Ilazlehurst, 1| miles north- 
 east of Ashton ; JRotto/fis, 4 miles north-east ; Heyrod^ 
 3, east-north-cast ; Hartskead, 3, north-east ; Small- 
 sha?i\ 1, north; Lusley^ 2 J, north-east; vmd Ii^d(/e' 
 Ju^-La?ie, IJ, east- north-east. 
 
 The population of Hartshead, in 1821, was 9137 ; 
 1831,10,073; 1841,12,760. The Chapel School, at 
 Mossley, was built in 1785. The Methodist New Con- 
 nexion School, Higher Hurst, received, in 1840, a 
 bequest of £100, devised by the late John Whittaker, 
 Esq., — There are Sunday-Schools at Mossley, Hurst- 
 Brook, Higher Hurst, Heyrod, and Hartshead-Green. 
 
 N 2 
 
138 HISTORY OF 
 
 THE TOWN OF STALYBKIDGE. 
 
 Staley-Bridge, or, as lately changed to Stalybridge, 
 is one of the largest towns, either in Lancashire or 
 Cheshire, wholly owing its origin to the success which 
 followed the establishment of the cotton manufacture. 
 It is seated in a deep valley, extending along both sides 
 of the River Tame, which, here, divides Lancashire 
 and Cheshire : the Parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, in 
 the former county, from the Parishes of Stockport and 
 Mottram-en-Longdendale, in the latter county. In these 
 three districts the place is jointly situated ; and there is, 
 here, a unity of three parochial interests. The Lancashire, 
 or second principal portion of the town, is in the Harts- 
 head division of Ash ton Parish, the principal por- 
 tion of the town is in Cheshire, in Dukinfield township? 
 Stockport parish : the remainder of the place is also in 
 Cheshire, in Stayley township, Mottram-en-Longdendale 
 parish. These portions are closely connected by the 
 antient bridge over the Tame, which gave name to the 
 town, as well as by two stone bridges and an iron bridge. 
 Such parts of these respective townships as form the 
 town of Stalybridge, are comprehended in one district, 
 namely, — the Police limits of Stalybridge, defined as the 
 established boundaries of the town, by a late Police Act. 
 About twelve thousand of the inhabitants reside in Dukin- 
 field, five thousand in Hartshead, and three thousand in 
 Stayley. 
 
STALYBRIDGE. 139 
 
 Stalybridge is seven miles east-south-east of Man- 
 chester ; 1 mile east of Ashton-iinder-Lyne ; 5 south - 
 south-east of Oldham ; 8 north-north-east of Stockport ; 
 2;^ north-north-east of Hyde ; and 186 north-north-east 
 of London ; nearly in 53 28 iiorth latitude, and about 
 2 4 west longitude 
 
 The name Stalybridge is derived from the township 
 of Staly, or Staley, being connected in this portion of the 
 vale of the Tame with the adjacent division of Hartshead, 
 by a bridge, of considerable antiquity. The district of 
 Stayley, in the Parish of ^lottram-en-Longdendale, was 
 formerly, and is yet, in some degree, a wild and romantic 
 region, interspersed with bold hills, and the moorish 
 gullies separating them. From these then solitary glens, 
 poured the tributary streams of the Tame, through woods 
 almost impenetrable, except to the half-civilized huntsman. 
 Such was the rude and savage state of this tract on both 
 sides of the river, when the Romans constructed a road 
 from their station at Stockport to that at Castleshaw, in 
 Saddleworth, yet known by the designation of " Stayley- 
 vStreet." This way passed the foot of that once impending 
 rock, near Stalybridge, named Castle-hill. At a subse- 
 quent period, Bucton Castle reared its warlike walls on 
 one of the hills of Micklehurst ; and, in a later age, 
 Stayley -Hall rose with its gables, as the seat of Robert 
 de Stavcley^ in 1343, and his descendants, who held the 
 manor from the superior lords of Mottram. The marriage 
 of Elizabeth, heiress of Ralph Stayley, Esq., to Sir Thos. 
 de Assheton, in 1471, united the two bordering families, 
 and ultimately contributed to the advantage of this, — the 
 
140 HISTORY OF 
 
 intervening village. The heiresses of the Asshetons 
 marrying the Booths of Dunham, and their successors 
 becoming similarly allied to the earls of Stamford^ the 
 earl of that name is the present Lord of Stayley, for 
 Avhich a court baron is held. 
 
 *' The scenery of the neighbourhood is bold and im- 
 pressive ; but those enemies to the picturesque — pit coal 
 and steam-engines, have diminished the natural beauties, 
 and substituted in their place employment for the poor 
 and opulence for the wealthy. The views from the 
 summit of ' The Wild Bank^ elevated as it is (thirteen 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea,) are very exten- 
 sive ; and, though the axe of the woodman has prostrated 
 the stately oaks, which, in the time of the Staveleighs, 
 and for several ages afterwards, clothed the neighbouring 
 vallies, yet there is still here much of grandeur and beauty." 
 
 The intercourse betwixt the two counties, at this point, 
 becoming daily more common and reciprocally beneficial, 
 a bridge was erected, probably at an early period of the 
 seventeenth century. About 1707, this structure was 
 re-built by the landholders of the vicinity. 
 
 For several centuries, a few straggling habitations 
 were all that constituted the place, which neither in- 
 creased nor retrogaded till the situation was judiciously 
 chosen by manufacturers, for the erection of their works. 
 
 CastJC'IIiU^ improperly called CastlCrHall, is an an- 
 cient abode, situate in Dukinfield, on a steep rock, near 
 
 I 
 
 I! 
 
STALYBRIBGE. 141 
 
 the river Tame, almost in the midst of the modern town 
 of Stalvbridge. The house is said to have been re-built 
 by William Dukinlield, Esq., (son of Sir Robert Dukin- 
 Held, of Dukinfield, Bart.) who died August 30th, 1735. 
 The Kcmvorthys, woollen clothiers, were long the owners, 
 and the late John Lees, Esq., cotton-spinner, who died 
 August 25th, 1824, was resident here. 
 
 Formerly there was but one dwelling bearing the 
 name of Eosshottom^ or Rassbottom, (Hartshead) : this 
 was the habitance of Robert de Rasbotham, in 1422. 
 
 Thompson-Cross (Hartshead,) received its desig- 
 nation from a plain cross which stood at the junction of 
 several narrow lanes. 
 
 Gorse-Hall (Dukinfield,) w^as so named from the 
 abundance of furze on the adjacent grounds. 
 
 Dr. Aikin states, that the place was '' famous for a 
 f/reat length of time for weavers, dyers, and pressors of 
 woollen cloth.** These branches flourished in the com- 
 mencement of the present century, so that here was the 
 western verge of the woollen manufacture, which extended 
 through the vales of the Tame and the Etherow. In 
 1748, the principal employment of the inhabitants was 
 the spinning of worsted yarn for the Nottingham hosiers ; 
 but the cotton trade prevailed in a slight degree, in its 
 domestic stage. At this time, a single dyer monopolized 
 all the trade in his line, with the aid of two mastiff dogs, 
 who were made to grind the wares, by turning a sort of 
 
142 HISTORY OF 
 
 canine tread-mill^ similar in construction to those in 
 which squirrels are sometimes placed, and to which a 
 piece of grinding machinery was attached. At the period 
 alluded to the number of houses was about fifty-four, and 
 the inhabitants amounted to one hundred and forty. In 
 1763, the population had increased to ?LyQ hundred per- 
 sons, and cotton-spinning and weaving were becoming 
 common in the cottage garrets and shops. The first 
 cotton-mill was erected by a person of the name of Hall, 
 in the year 1776, in which carding was performed by 
 water power, and spinning by hand. The year 1776 was 
 a memorable era in the annals of the town, for the old 
 episcopal chapel, as well as the first mill, were erected in 
 that year. The place then consisted of a group of houses, 
 ranging along the lane betwixt the bridge and Rassbot- 
 tom, and a number of houses straggled on Cocker-Hill. 
 
 In 1794, Dr. Aikin describes Stalybridge as a " very 
 large and extensive village, in a continued street of half- 
 a-mile, well paved, the houses well built, some of stone, 
 but the greatest part of brick." At the period of the 
 Doctor's highly-favourable sketch, the houses were about 
 two hundred and twenty, and the population one thousand 
 one hundred. From 1776 to 1801, Messrs. Halls re- 
 mained the only cotton-manufacturers who carried on the 
 processes of the trade in a mill. — About 1796, the first 
 steam-engine erected here (one of six horses' power) was 
 introduced into Messrs. Hall's mill,*^' by Mr. N. Hall. 
 The introduction of the improved machinery into the 
 
 * Baines, 12mo., v. 2, p. 555. 
 
STALYBRIDGE. 143 
 
 manufacture of cotton had here to encounter a violent 
 opposition, and to such a pitch were the threats of the 
 populace, and the apprehensions of the mill-owner raised, 
 that the doors were locked by day as well as by night, 
 and the mill resembled a garrison. Time served to dis- 
 sipate these alarms, and to reconcile the people to the 
 progress of mechanical improvements. The growth of 
 the town, both in population and trade, has been extremely 
 rapid. It has been swelled into importance by the 
 advantages of its local situation. " Placed on the banks 
 of the Tame, the parent, as it may be called, of the 
 Mersey, near to an ample supply of coal, and enjoying, 
 through the medium of the Huddersfield Canal, the 
 advantages of inland navigation, this place seems marked 
 out as one of the favourite resorts of the manufacturers." 
 
 No branch of the cotton-trade has perhaps been so 
 uniformly successful as the spinning ; and it is to this 
 circumstance principally that Stalybridge owes its wealth 
 and numbers. In the year 1801, Messrs. Lees, Cheet- 
 ham k Co., erected an engine of 40-horse power, to work 
 their cotton-mill. — An intelligent inhabitant remarks, 
 that it is probable no place has increased so amazingly 
 within the last half century, in the number of the build- 
 ings, the population, and the cotton manufactories, and 
 the consequent improvement in the pecuniary condition 
 of the people. 
 
 In 1814, there were nearly twelve factories ; in 1818, 
 they had increased to about sixteen. During the first 
 twenty years of tlie })resent century, the excellent position 
 
144 HISTORY OF 
 
 of Stalybridge in its advantages of fuel and facilities of 
 conveyance were duly appreciated : so that the town 
 became larger every year ; the streets multiplied rapidly ; 
 houses started into existence as if by magic ; extensive 
 factories reared their massive walls ; and the site of the 
 woods of Stayley became a flourishing town. — In 1823, 
 the spinning mills, inclusive of loom mills, were twenty- 
 six ; and in 1825, the spinning factories, exclusive of 
 loom mills, amounted to twenty-two. In 1831, the 
 number of cotton-mills was twenty-five; and in 1841, 
 their number, in the town and vicinity, was thirty-two. 
 The amount of hands engaged in these numerous 
 manufactories is upwards of 9000. 
 
 In 1825, the mills were worked by twenty-nine 
 steam-engines (and by six water-wheels,) of the aggregate 
 amount of 862 horse power. In 1831, there were about 
 thirty-eight steam-engines (and several water wheels,) 
 equal to upwards of 1000 horse power. In 1823, these 
 engines gave motion to 200,000 spindles ; in 1825, to 
 354,580 spindles; and in 1841, to 536,000.— The num- 
 ber of power-looms in 1825, was 2470 : the present 
 number is about 5000. 
 
 The aggregate amount of the net earnings of 8,542 
 hands, in Stalybridge and Dukinfield, for the month 
 ending May 4th, 1833, was £19,409 7s. 5Jd., giving an 
 average of 13s. 6d. per week to each hand: the present 
 average weekly wages may be about 10s. per hand. — 
 There are several machine works and iron-foundries. 
 
STALYBEIDGE. 145 
 
 The population of Slalybiidge is similar to that of 
 other large manufacturing towns, of a mixed and fluc- 
 tuating character : many of the .streets have been rather 
 hastily and imperfectly constructed ; numbers of the 
 dwellings are small, and of slight erection ; the inmates 
 are too much crowded : and the low situation of a great 
 portion of the town is unfavourable to health, yet many 
 habitations are neatly built and well placed. There are 
 too many heads of families who wholly neglect the edu- 
 cation of their children, hence incentives to vice remain 
 unchecked. 
 
 Although the factory system admits of improvement 
 in its moral and mental qualities, '' the hardest labour in 
 the worst room, in the worst-constructed factory, is less 
 hard, less cruel, and less demoralizing, than the labour in 
 the best of coal-mines." '' As a body, the manufacturers 
 are wealthy — clever — have extensive business connexions ; 
 but their political interest is the most feeble of that of 
 all branches of commercial industry, for they have allowed 
 their accumulated riches to entomb them. They have 
 huge factorj'-like houses within the sound of their ma- 
 chinery, dinners of puzzling variety, equipages, servants, 
 ever}' thing of the costliest and best to administer to their 
 sensuous wants ; but where are there any indications of 
 a refined and generous liberality. The yearly stagnation 
 of their incomes generates nothing but a noxious desire 
 to have a higher chimney or a bigger mill than their 
 neighbours." An opposite line of conduct is desirable 
 amongst some masters, and would have been eminently 
 conducive to the spread of an harmonizing spirit, in place 
 
146 HISTORY OE 
 
 of that reckless independent animalism, which, in part, 
 characterises the factory population. Generally speaking, 
 good feelings have, of late, prevailed betwixt the principal 
 employers and the operatives, as was most gratifyingly 
 evinced on the occurrence of a splendid festival given by 
 Messrs. Harrisons, to their work-people, at Stayley-mill, 
 July 24th, 1838. This event was a highly creditable 
 instance of well-directed liberality. 
 
 The number of houses in 1823, was about nine hun- 
 dred; and in the years 1823-4, 1824-5, from seven to 
 eight hundred new houses were built. In the course of 
 1827, 1828, 1829, and 1840, seven hundred dwellings 
 were erected; and in 1831, upwards of one hundred 
 and twenty were raised. — In the latter year, the town 
 chiefly consisted of the streets extending from Stamford- 
 street, or the New-road, to Grosvenor-street, comprising 
 two thousand three hundred and fifty-seven inhabited 
 houses. From 1833 to 1837 the town increased rapidly, 
 and a number of new streets were formed, in both the 
 Dukinfield and Hartshead portions, especially in the 
 former, where the buildings extend partly on the side of 
 Hough-Hill. In the above period, about four hundred 
 houses were built. The number of houses in 1836, 
 amounted to 2982 ; the number in the present year is 
 estimated to be about 3100. 
 
 It is a principle in political economy, almost as un- 
 erring as the descent of water in physics, that population 
 follows prosperous trade ; and hence Stalybridge has 
 increased within the last ninety -two years, from 140 to 
 21,000 souls. 
 
STALYBRIDGE. 147 
 
 In 1823, the population was 5500 ; in the course of 
 the succeeding two years there was a most extraordinary 
 increase, partially owing to the settlement of a considerable 
 number of Irish families, who were attracted hither by 
 the prospect of better wages than were to be obtained in 
 their own country. — In 1825, the population appears to 
 have been at least 9000. 
 
 In 1831, the first satisfactory census of the population 
 within the police limits was taken. The following were 
 its results: — persons, 14,216; males, 6625; females, 
 7591; inhabited houses, 2357 ; families, 2629 ; families 
 employed in trade, 1949; in agriculture, 23; in other 
 occupations, 657 (this is obviously too high a number) ; 
 males upwards of twenty years of age, 2976 ; men em- 
 ployed as excavators, labourers, builders, &c., 1997. 
 
 In 1836, the condition of the people of Stalybridge 
 was accurately ascertained by a statistical survey, effected 
 at the instance of the Manchester Statistical Society. 
 At that time the population was estimated at 17,200; 
 the number of dwellings examined was 3313, of which 
 2587 were hou^es ; 670 sitting-rooms ; 56 cellars ; 29 
 old public-houses ; and 10 beer-shops. The number of 
 persons inhabiting houses, was 12,345; rooms, 670; 
 cellars, 56. The number of persons who could read and 
 write, was 4484; read only, 4188. The heads cf 
 families belonging to the Church of England, were 769; 
 lodgers of the same profession, 95. Heads of families of 
 Dissenters, 917 ; lodgers of the same profession, 169. 
 Heads of families of Catholics, 455; lodgers of the same 
 
 o 
 
148 HISTOBY OF 
 
 profession, 436. Heads of families not making any 
 religions profession, 1174; lodgers of similar opinions, 
 588. — Ninety per cent, of the population were of the 
 working class. 
 
 In the month of August, 1840, the Catholic popula- 
 tion within the police limits of Stalybridge, amounted to 
 3665,^' of whom 2184 were upwards of thirteen years of 
 age. — The population, in 1841, was estimated to amount 
 to from 20,000 to 21,000, forming an increase of about 
 7000 since 1831. 
 
 The Huddersfield Canal provides the tovvn with the 
 benefits of inland navigation ; and it is to be hoped that 
 a branch of the Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, and 
 Sheffield Railway will be shortly extended to Stalybridge. 
 
 The places of public worship have nearly all been 
 built during the present century. The old Episcopal 
 Chapel was erected in 1776, by subscription; but being 
 badly constructed, the w^alls gave way May 15th, 1778, 
 and the present structure was shortly afterwards erected. 
 It is dedicated to St. George ; but, owing to the recent 
 building of a new church, at a short distance to the west, 
 this singular edifice has been entirely superseded as re- 
 gards the celebration of divine service, but it is still 
 occasionally used as an oratory for the adjacent burial 
 ground. The old chapel being in the octagon form, its 
 interior is remarkably light and elegant, and the elevated 
 
 * Communication of the Kev. J. F. Anderton. 
 
STALYBKIDGE. 149 
 
 site on which it stands renders the fabric a tine object 
 when viewed from the vale of the Tame. The appear- 
 ance of the chapel when the hill was clothed with wood, 
 and when the few cottages of the village were scattered 
 below amidst the exuberant foliage lining the river, 
 would be pictm'esque. The interior is decorated by a 
 marble tablet, erected and inscribed by the late F. D. 
 Astley, Esq., ** to the memory of the Rev. John Ken- 
 worthy, B. A., eleven years curate here, who died Aug. 
 10th, 1806, aged 34." Beneath this memorial are the 
 annexed lines : — 
 
 ** And we who boast of strength or thirst for power, 
 Or on whose brow fair science builds her throne, 
 Must bow before death's desolating hour, 
 And in the dust his ruthless empire own." 
 
 The new Chapel or Church of St. Georr/e, is situate 
 to the west of Cocker-Hill. It was erected partly by a 
 parliamentary grant and subscription, at a cost of £4500.* 
 The foundation-stone was laid August 27th, 1838, by- 
 Thomas Preston, Esq., and the consecration took place 
 June 24th, 1840. The living is a curacy, of the annual 
 value of £143, in the patronage of the Rector of Ashton. 
 The building is in the early decorated style of Gothic 
 architecture, from the designs of Mr. Edmund Sharpe, 
 and contains 1200 sittings, of which 500 are free. 
 
 *S*^ Paul's Church is situate in the Stayley portion 
 of Stalybridge, and was built by subscription, at a cost 
 of £4100 : the site was presented by the Earl of Stam- 
 
 ♦ Communication of the Rev. I. N. France. 
 
 2 
 
150 HISTORY OF 
 
 ford and Warrington. The first stone was laid February 
 2nd, 1838, by Lord Combermere, and it was consecrated 
 October 9th, 1839. The patronage of the curacy is in 
 trustees. — This church is Gothic in the style of archi- 
 tecture, which prevailed towards the close of the thirteenth 
 century. The architect was Mr. Richard Tattersall. — 
 The number of seats is 1006, of which 360 are free. 
 
 St, John's Church, another recent erection, being 
 situated in that part of the village of Dukinfield which 
 adjoins the town of Stalybridge, it will be described in 
 the article Dukinfield. 
 
 The Catholics have a chapel in the part of the town 
 which is in Dukinfield. This edifice was commenced in 
 June, 1838, and consecrated September 25th, 1839. It 
 is dedicated to St. Peter, and was erected by subscription, 
 at a cost of about £5000. The architecture is of the 
 early lancet style, from the designs of Mr. M. A. Had- 
 field. The structure presents a handsome appearance, 
 and contains an elegant window of stained glass, 
 illustrative of the life of St. Peter. — The number of 
 seats is 1400. 
 
 The Methodist JVerv Connexion erected a chapel 
 in Chapel-street, in the Hartshead part of the town, in 
 1802 ; but this was superseded by a neat and spacious 
 chapel in Grosvenor-street, Dukinfield part, which was 
 opened November 11th, 1832. 
 
 The Wesleyan Methodists had formerly a meeting- 
 
8TALYBRIDGE. 151 
 
 room at Cocker-Hill. Their chapel in Caroline-street, 
 Dukinfield part, was built 1805, re-edified 1815, en- 
 larged 1829. 
 
 The General Baptists held meetini2:s here in 1807. 
 Their chapel in Rassbottonij Hartshead, built 1819, 
 was superseded by the present edifice in Cross- street, 
 Hartshead, erected 1828. 
 
 The Particular Baptists originally worshipped in 
 a room near Castle-Hill, about 1813; subsequently they 
 had two other rooms. Their present Chapel in Cross- 
 Leach- street, Dukmfield-part, was built 1832. 
 
 The Independents opened a meeting-room in 1830; 
 but in 1835, they erected an excellent chapel in King- 
 street, Dukinfield part. 
 
 The Primitive Methodists commenced a Meeting- 
 place previous to 1830. The chapel of this society is in 
 Canal-slreet, Dukinfield part, and its date is 1833. 
 
 The Stephenites have a chapel, called Mount Zion, 
 near Rossbottom, Hartshead, which they opened about 
 1835-6. This place of worship was built 1824, and 
 once occupied by the Particular Baptists. 
 
 The Local Government of the j)lacc was entrusted, 
 for a considerable time, to the constables of the respective 
 townships wlieroin the town is situated. — A Lock-up, 
 or small prison, was erected in the Hartshead portion in 
 
 o 3 
 
l02 HISTORY OF 
 
 1824. — The streets requiring due regulation and im- 
 provement, a public meeting of the inhabitants, held 
 October 22nd, 1827, resolved to apply for an act of 
 parliament, in order to enable the ratepayers to appoint 
 Commissioners for the directing of the police affairs, &c. 
 An act for these purposes was obtained May 9th, 1828, 
 and provides that the ratepayers shall annually elect, on 
 the first Wednesday in May, twenty-one ratepayers, 
 who occupy premises of the yearly value of £50, to be 
 Commissioners for cleansing, lighting, and regulating the 
 town, erecting a Town-hall, providing a market, &c. 
 These provisions have been complied with in a great 
 measure. — The police force consists of two salaried and 
 four other Constables, appointed by the Commissioners. 
 The cost of the police for the year ending June 24th, 
 1840, was £556 5s. 8d. 
 
 A line drawn from the brook west of Ridge-hill, and 
 extended over the Tame towards Stayley-mill, then 
 diverging west to the foot of Dukinfield-Brow, and then 
 north to where the brook below Throstle-Nest joins the 
 Tame, will afford a tolerably good definition of the limits 
 of the Stalybridge Police Act. A weekly Petit Sessions 
 is held. An unsuccessful attempt was made, in 1832, to 
 render Stalybridge a parliamentary borough. 
 
 This once obscure village was constituted a market 
 town by tlie Police Act, and a Market was established 
 weekly, on Fridays, on the oOtli of December, 1831, in 
 a spacious Market-House. — Fairs are held here on the 
 last Monday in January, second Monday in June, and 
 November 5th, 
 
STALYBRIDGE. 153 
 
 The principal public improvement effected in the town 
 of late years has been the formation of a new road, from 
 the Old Bridge to Thompson Cross, extending along the 
 elevated bank immediately north of the narrow passage 
 named Rossbottom. This new avenue is designated 
 Stamford-street, and is joined by an improved line of road 
 to Saddleworth. From the foot of the new road, the 
 whole of the town is seen stretching across the valley, so 
 that buildings, mills, and streets extend beneath the eye 
 of the spectator. ^* The factories, when lighted, with 
 the brilliant gaseous vapour of modern discovery, present, 
 in the evenings of the w inter months, a towering illumi- 
 nation, of the imposing grandeur of which it is difficult 
 to convey an adequate idea.*' From this spot the various 
 striking] mansions of the manufacturers are seen to 
 advantage, placed chiefly on gentle eminences, in the 
 environs of the town. The principal modern seats are 
 the following : — The Abbey ^ Abel Harrison, Esq. ; The 
 Prior y^ David Cheetham, Esq. ; JFestivood -House ^ 
 John Cheetham, Esq. ; Staly Mount, William Harrison, 
 Esq. ; Cross-House, David Harrison, Esq. ; Gorse- 
 Hall, John Leach, Esq. ; and the mansions of Jeremiah 
 Lees, Esq., John Lees, Esq., William Bayley, Esq., 6cc. 
 
 Numerous benefit societies, sucli as the Masonic body. 
 Foresters, Druids, kc, and other associations, have been 
 fonned, in which provision is made for sickness and old 
 age : these institutions are alike highly honourable to 
 their founders and supporters. 
 
 The annual holiday termed a Wake, is held here 
 
154 HISTORY OF 
 
 usually on the third Saturday in July, and several sub- 
 sequent days. The amusements of this festival are 
 becoming of a more rational nature than they formerly 
 were, and yet sports of a brutalising tendency are 
 prevalent. 
 
 The town is not possessed of an endowed School ; 
 but an Infant School was established in November, 1839, 
 in the Temperance-Hall, by subscription, and payments 
 from scholars. The number of boys and girls receiving 
 tuition is 145. — There are Sunday -Schools^ connected 
 with the several places of worship, which are supported 
 by voluntary contributions. The number of Sunday 
 scholars here in 1823 was 1200; and the sum of £200 
 was subscribed for their support in 1824. A Sunday- 
 School for Children of all Denominations was formed in 
 1815. The Wesleyan Methodists erected, in June, 1825, 
 a Sunday-School, in Canal-street, at a cost of £890, 
 calculated to accommodate 1200 children. The Methodist 
 New Connexion School is spacious, built 1838. The 
 Catholics have two schools : the average ages of their 
 Sunday Scholars are from 11 to 17 years. The annual 
 net outlay for Sunday-School education is about £450. — 
 The subjoined tables exhibit the state of these Schools 
 here : — 
 
 Episcopal Schools 
 Dissenters ,, 
 Catholic ,, 
 
 1825. 
 
 1831. 
 
 1841. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
STALYBRIDGE. 155 
 
 1825. 1831. 1841. 
 
 Scholars in Episcopal Schools 160 250 600 
 
 Dissenters „ 1408 2375 2200 
 
 Catholic „ 550 
 
 1568 2625 3350 
 
 Notwithstanding the number and extent of the Sabbath- 
 Schools, three-fourths of the children of the poor are 
 destitute of efficient day-school education. 
 
 The Charitable Institutions of the place consist of 
 Bible and Tract Societies, which are supported by the 
 vai*ious religious bodies. The Rev. John Cape Atty 
 devised the interest of £100, to be given in clothing to 
 poor persons of Stalybridge, every Christmas-Day, by 
 the minister and churchwardens of St. George's. 
 
 A Savings* Bank, for the purpose of enabling the 
 industrious and provident to prepare for times of need. 
 was established here in September, 1828. The sums 
 received from depositors in the year ending November 
 20th, 1840, were £8632 15s. lOd. ; and the sums with- 
 drawn in the same period, were £5602 15s. 4d. The 
 number of depositors was 822, and the amount of deposits 
 was £24,115 lOs. 2ld. 
 
 The To7vn~Hall and Market-House erected by the 
 Police Commissioners, at the cost of the ratepayers, is a 
 well-built edifice, in a disagreeable situation, — the base- 
 ment stor}- fronting Rassbottom, and tlic upper story 
 
156 HISTORY OP 
 
 opening to Stamford-street ; the entrance to the Hall is 
 surmounted by massive pillars, and altogether that portion 
 of the fabric is stately. The market contains ample and 
 neatly arranged stalls for butchers, fish dealers, and 
 fruiterers. The public-room and a gallery for the sale of 
 general wares, are supported by twelve strong columns. 
 This public building was commenced in June, 1830, and 
 opened with great ceremony December 30, 1831. 
 
 That very necessary and beneficial establishment, the 
 Fire-engine House, was erected in 1824, by subscription. 
 
 The " Temperance Hall,' erected 1838, in the 
 Dukinfield portion of the town, by subscription, at a cost 
 of about £800, consists of a public room of 72 feet in 
 length by 39 in width, used for temperance meetings, 
 scientific lectures, and a school : half of the cost was 
 contributed by the working class. 
 
 The *' Foresters^ Hall^'' also in the Dukinfield part 
 of the place, built 1836, by the contributions of six lodges 
 of Foresters, at an expense of about £2,200, is appro- 
 priated to the holding of Foresters' assemblies, public 
 meetings, lectures, &c. The large room, which is provided 
 with a gallery and organ, and decorated by a window of 
 elegant stained glass, is 72 feet in length by 36 in width. 
 A night school for the children of Foresters' is formed. 
 
 The Stalyhridge Mechanics' Institution was esta- 
 blished Sept. 7, 1825. It was at first styled "A Society 
 
STALYBRIDGE. 157 
 
 for Mutual Instruction/' under which modest designation 
 the germ of a literary and pliilosophical institution was 
 discoverable ; a considerable stock of scientific apparatus 
 was rapidly obtained : classes for instruction in arithmetic, 
 mathematics, music. Lreology, &c., were formed ; a reading- 
 room has been opened in Queen-street, and a lecture-room 
 in Shepley-street. The number of members in 1840 was 
 64, or only one in every 300 of the population. 
 
 A News-room, well provided with papers, was opened 
 in 1825. — There is here a branch office of the Manchester 
 and Liverpool District Bank. 
 
 In 1828-9, a Joint-stock Company was established to 
 supply the town with gas ; the number of shares was 400, 
 and their original value was £25 each. The company 
 erected Gas TF^orks, in Acre-lane, Dukinfield, in 1829. 
 There are three gasometers ; and, in addition to lighting 
 houses and shops, the company receive £400 per annum 
 from the Commissioners of Police for lighting the street 
 lamps. 
 
 In 1835, a Company was instituted by Act of 
 Parliament for supplying the town of Stalybridge, and 
 the village of Dukinfield with Water; this association is 
 in 600 shares of £20 each. A reservoir of five acres in 
 extent has been excavated near Lyon-edge, in Dukinfield, 
 and the works were completed October 1, 1840. 
 
 A short time prior to 1825, the old bridge was super- 
 
158 HISTOKY OF 
 
 seded by an excellent new one, erected at a cost of £4000, 
 and approached on the Lancashire side by a new line of 
 road. — A bridge entirely of iron was thrown across the 
 river near the Town Hall about 1834. In 1831, there 
 was a manufactory of fire bricks; formed of the argillaceous 
 earth, on the banks of the Tame, near Cocker-hill. A 
 petrified tree, the trunk about twelve feet in length, and 
 ten or twelve inches in diameter, was discovered in a 
 stone quarry, in March, 1831 : it lay in the bed of a rock 
 about thirty feet below the surface. 
 
 ck I 
 
 d 
 
DUKINFIELD, 159 
 
 DUKINFIELD. 
 
 The To^vnship of Dukinfield is within the parish of 
 Stockport, in the county palatine and diocese of Chester, 
 the deanery and hundred of Macclesfield, in the repre- 
 sentative division of North-east Cheshire, — the county 
 division polling district of Mottram-en-Longdendale, and 
 the magisterial division of Hyde. 
 
 This district is bounded by the river Tame 0:1 the 
 north and west. The adjoining districts on the north 
 are Ashton-under-Lyne and Hartshead ; and on the west 
 Audenshaw and Haughton : on the south it is partly 
 separated by a brook from Newton ; and on the east it 
 is skirted by Matley and Stayley. The length of the 
 township is about two miles and a half, and the breadth 
 (;ne mile. The number of computed statute acres is 1690. 
 
 The central and north-west portions of the township 
 are occupied by the village of Dukinfield, and the north- 
 east part contains the principal portion of the town of 
 Stalybridge. The village of Dukinfield is within half-a- 
 mile of both of the tov.'ns of Ashton and Stalybridge, and 
 the buildings extend close to those of the two towns. 
 
 Dukinfield is supposed to derive its name from the 
 r 
 
160 HISTORY OF 
 
 circumstance of the standard of the Danes having been 
 captured here by the victorious Saxons. The figure of 
 a raven or dolxcn was impressed on the Danish flag, 
 hence the spot was named, in the Anglo-Saxon dialect, 
 Dockenveldt^ or the field of the raven. 
 
 Iron-ore appears to have been smelted here in a 
 remote age, as, in a field now called the "' Burnt Earth,' 
 scoria of that metal has been found in large quantities, 
 and some under the roots of old oak trees. — The Tame, 
 in the time of the heptarchy, w^as the boundary of two 
 kingdoms, which will account for the strong out- works 
 of the Old Hall of Ashton, oppot-ed by equally strong 
 fortifications on this side. These were situated some 
 where on the grounds now occupied by the Lodge ; and 
 the mansion of the Saxon proprietors, thus defended, 
 stood on a place called the Hall Green. No traces of it 
 remain but the name. The hall now called Dukinfield- 
 Hall was erected in its stead, and the modern seat of the 
 principal family, Dukinfield Lodge was built in the last, 
 century. — Aikin terms the place a barony ; but it is a 
 portion of the barony of Macclesfield. 
 
 At the earliest period to which records extend, this 
 township was included in the fee of Dunham-Massey. 
 The third Hamon de Massey confirmed Dukinfield to 
 Matthew *de Bromeale (Bramhall), about 1190. The 
 family of Dukinfield seem to ha\c held the place in 
 fee of the Bramhalls. — Uobcrt de Dokenfield, the first of 
 his name on record, was living about 1160; his son 
 Hamo's grandson, Robert, was owner here in 1315- 
 
■DVKIN FIELD. 161 
 
 John de Dokcnticld held flic manor in 1401, of the k)rd 
 Bronieale, hy niilitary service. His great grandson, John 
 Dokenticld, married Katherine, daughter of Sir John de 
 Assheton. Robert Duldniield, Esq., fourth in descent 
 from this John, died September 2nd, 1548 ; he held the 
 manor from the king, in capite, by military service, at a 
 rent of lis. 8d. Robert, his grandson, died 1624, and 
 was succeeded by Robert, his son; whose son, Robert, 
 born about August, 1619, became a colonel in the service 
 of the Parliament. During the civil wars, he opposed 
 Prince Rupert, at Stockport, in May, 1644, and was 
 High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1649 ; Governor of Chester 
 in 1651; Member of Parliament for Chester in 1653; 
 assisted in suppressing Sir George Booth's insurrection; 
 1659, and received £200 for his services on that occasion. 
 He was tried, after the restoration, as one of the officers 
 who sat at the trial of the Earl of Derby; but the result of 
 the trial is not stated : he appears to have died before 1665. 
 His eldest son and heir, Robert, who was created a baronet 
 1665, was living after 1713 : and was followed by his son, 
 Sir Chas. Dukinficld, Bart., whose son. Sir \Vm., assumed 
 the name Daniel, in addition to Dukinfield. He was 
 High Sheriff of the county in 1751. After his death, the 
 baronetage i)assed to Samuel, son of John, a son of Sir 
 Robt. Samuel died issueless, 1768; and thetitle went to 
 Nathaniel, son of Nathaniel, son of Robert. Nathaniel's 
 eldest son, Sir John Lloyd Dukinfield, Bart., appears to 
 be living. Sir William Dukinfield Daniel devised the 
 estate of Dukinfield to his lady, Penelope, daughter 
 of Heniy Vernon, Esq. She conveyed the property, by 
 marriage, to John Astley, Esq., a fellow-pupil with Sir 
 
 r 2 
 
162 HISTORY OF 
 
 Joshua Reynolds in the art of painting. He was born 
 at Wem, in Shropshire, in 1720, and acquired the pos- 
 session of Dukinfield about 1767. His first lady died 
 issueless. Mr. Astley was descended from the Astleys of 
 PatshuU, in Staffordshire, who are described by Sir Wm. 
 Dugdale as " an ancierit and honourable family," claiming 
 to have sprung from Simon de Montford, Earl of Leices- 
 ter. Mr. Astley married secondly, Mary, daughter of 
 Mr. Wagstaffe, surgeon, and died November 14th, 1787. 
 His widow, a lady of considerable personal attractions 
 married secondly in 1793, William Robert Hay, Esq., 
 who afterwards became the Rev. W. R. Hay, Vicar of 
 Rochdale. The eldest son and heir of John Astley, 
 Esq., Francis Dukinfield Astley, Esq., was born at 
 Dukinfield-Lodge, July 17th, 1781, and succeeded to the 
 estates in 1802. He served as High Sheriff of Cheshire 
 in 180!l7- His father had greatly improved Dukinfield. 
 but his efforts to contribute to the prosperity of the place 
 were equal if not superior to those of his parent. He was 
 a liberal promoter of the fine arts, particularly painting. 
 His poetical talents were much superior to the standard 
 of mediocrity in that line of composition. He printed a 
 small volume of poems for private circulation, and a piece 
 entitled " Varni-shando," which is a severe exposure of 
 the tricks of low dealers in pictures. Several of the 
 unpublished songs are full of rich humour and a racy 
 pleasantry. — In his younger days, he was much attached 
 to the sports of the field ; and, for the purpose of occa- 
 sional festive enjoyment, a building, named " Hunters' 
 Tower," was erected in a high situation, on the eastern 
 side of the township. This edifice was opened February 
 
 11 
 
DUKINFIELD. 16S 
 
 27th, 1807. Mr. Astley was highly distinguished for 
 his good nature and kindness to all classes. He addressed 
 the following poetical reply to a lady who wished him to 
 leave the place of his birth to reside elsewhere, because 
 his estate was situated in a manufacturing district: — 
 
 " Thou maj-'st say that this land is by commerce dcbas'd, 
 That its people, its manners, its customs are rude, — 
 Should the love then of home from the breast be eras'd, 
 Because our poor neighbouj's must toil for their foodT" 
 
 Mr. Astley married in 1812, Susan, daughter of Roger 
 Fyshe Palmer, Esq., and died suddenly July 23rd, 1825. 
 He left a son, Francis Dukinfield Palmer Astley, who is 
 yet a minor. The property is, at present, held in trust 
 by Thomas Gisbourne and Samuel Ashton, Esqrs. — 
 William Astley, Esq., a natural son of the late Mr. 
 Astley, resided at Dukinfield -Lodge several years. 
 
 It is remarkable, that this valuable domain has, since 
 the earliest records, always passed by hereditary descent, 
 or by will. Dr. Hibbert relates a singular adventure to 
 have occurred to one of the Dukinfields : — A tenant's 
 boy, on the death of his father, was driving an only cow 
 to the manor house of Dukinfield. He was met by the 
 lord of the place, with whose person and rank he was 
 unacquainted, who questioned him whither he was taking 
 the beast. '* I am driving it as far as Dukinfield for the 
 heriot,** replied the boy; '^ My father is dead, — we are 
 many children, — and have no cow but this, — don't you 
 think the devil will take Sir Robert for a heriot when he 
 dies ?" The lad was fortunately addressing a humane 
 landlord. " Return home," said the baronet, " take the 
 
 p 3 
 
164 HISTORY OF 
 
 COW back to thy mother ; I know Sir Robert, — I am 
 going to Dukinfield myself, and I will make the matter 
 up with him." 
 
 Diikinjield Old Hall was originally built in the 
 Norman era ; but the gabled front and frogged pinnacles 
 of the present edifice denote it to be a structure of the 
 reign of Henry VIII. The building was formerly large, 
 of quadrangular form, the walls of timber and plaster, 
 suiTounded by a moat, which is even yet partly remain- 
 ing. This house continued to be the abode of the 
 Dukinfields till the last century. In 1794, they were 
 spoken of with much respect by the aged inhabitants. 
 The hall is now become a dilapidated dwelling. — A 
 domestic chapel anciently adjoined the mansion. This 
 chapel is noticed elsewhere. 
 
 Dukinjield-LiOdge is a modern house, delightfully 
 situated on a woody eminence, overlooking the Tame, — 
 in front is a terrace, alongside a precipitous rocky slope, 
 which is clothed with shrubs ; adjacent is a large grove, 
 penetrated by several retired walks. The beauties of 
 the place have given rise to a poem, by Mr. William 
 Hampson, published in 1793. He thus sketches the 
 scenery of this spot : — 
 
 " AVhere, trickling down the moss-grown mountain's side, 
 From dripping rocks the murm'ring waters glide, 
 Springs o'er their bosoms in soft eddies creep, 
 Commix their rills, and with each other weep ; 
 There Tame supplies his urn, and down below, 
 As the vale slopes, his current gives to flow. 
 Till soon arriving, HunclifF's rocks to lave, 
 In rude cascades descends the broken wave. 
 
Dl^KINFIELD. 165 
 
 There lip the steep, -vvith native oak o'ergrown, 
 Frowns tlie dark fir-tree, on tlie rugged stone ; 
 A lighter green the poplar leaves o'erspread, 
 And, ting'd more lightly, bends the laieh's head." 
 
 The mansion was erected by John Astley Esq., but the 
 design has not been fully executed. The most interesting 
 room is octagon in form; it is decorated by stained glass, 
 and here was a portion of the valuable collection of pic- 
 tures acquired by the two Astleys, father and son, the 
 former of whom was an eminent artist. The lodge is, 
 at present, occupied by Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P. 
 
 An Episcopal Chapel was erected adjacent to the 
 Old Hall, by John de Dokenfield, to whom it was licensed 
 as a private oratory in 1398. The succeeding edifice of 
 the chapel is yet remainhig, but in a state of decay and 
 neglect. The architecture indicates it to have been built 
 in the reign of Henry VH. This small place of worship 
 forms a wing of the Old Hall, and does not appear to 
 have been otherwise than domestic, although it is included 
 by Sir Peter Leycester, amongst the chapels of ease in 
 Stockport Parish, and is inserted as such in the present 
 official catalogue. '^-^ After the Reformation of the Church 
 it is probable its e])iscopal jurisdiction was never renewed; 
 yet the Dukinhelds continued its use for family devotion, 
 and appointed their own chaplains, until Col. Dukinfield 
 and his successor promoted the prevalence of dissent. 
 Here were buried some of the later l)ranches of the local 
 family, whose tomb-stones, with perfect inscriptions, were 
 remaining in 1793.t None of these reHcs arc now visible. 
 
 * Leycester's Cheshire : Ormerod's ditto, f Aikin's Manchester. 
 
166 HISTOBY OF 
 
 A new Episcopal Chapel^ dedicated to St. John the 
 Evangelist, was founded on the 27th of August, 1838, 
 by Lord Viscount Combermere, with much ceremony. 
 This recent erection is situate on a commanding eminence, 
 in the part of Dukinfield adjoining Stalybridge, and was 
 consecrated May 24th, 1841. The living is a curacy, 
 in the patronage of the Rector of Stockport. The number 
 of seats is 1200, of which 605 are free. The edifice is 
 plain but neat, and its cost about £4000, was defrayed 
 by parliamentary grant and subscriptions. 
 
 The eminent founder of the Quakers, George Fox, 
 is conjectured to have first commenced his itinerant 
 preachings at Dukinfield, in 1647. (Fox's Diary, v. 1, 
 p. 97.) The house in which early meetings of the Friends 
 were held was standing in 1 825. 
 
 Colonel Dukinfield having become acquainted with 
 vSamuel Eaton, a popular preacher of the Pi^eshyterians 
 at Chester, he induced him to settle at Dukinfield, in 
 1650, where he formed a society shortly afterwards. 
 Eaton vrrote a work entitled '' The Mystery of God 
 Incarnate." Tradition can yet point out the place, in a 
 neighbouring wood, where, on days set dpart, under the 
 watch of sentinels, and at night-fall, when they were less 
 likely to be observed, the proscribed presbyterian minis- 
 ters were met by their faithful adherents ; when the pious 
 service of prayer, pi'aise, and exhortation, had no other 
 walls to surround it than the oaken thicket, and no other 
 roof for its protection but the canopy of heaven.^ Imme- 
 
 * Monthly Rei)ository of Theolog}^ and General Literature, toI. 
 18, p. 081 ; Tol. 20, p. 518. 
 
DITKINFIELD. 167 
 
 diately after the passing of the Act of Toleration, in 1C89, 
 an outhouse of the Rev. Samuel Angier, who resided in 
 Dukinlield, on an estate called *' Anglers Tenement," 
 was converted into a Presbyterian meeting-house, and 
 licensed under the Toleration Act. Mr. Angier became 
 the minister, and the Dukinfield fiimily were members of 
 his congregation. By the contributions of Sir Robert 
 Dukintield and other principal members of the society, a 
 chapel, well known as the '• Old Chapel," was erected in 
 1707, as appeared by an inscription over the southern 
 entrance. A vestry and an organ-gallery were erected, 
 and the cemetery enlarged a few years ago, principally 
 by the liberality of F. D. Astley, Esq., who conveyed 
 the premises to trustees in perpetuity. It is said that 
 the Rev. W. R. Hay, late Yicar of Rochdale, endeavoured 
 in vain to render this chapel episcopal, and was not very 
 scrupulous in the means which he took in attempting 
 to effect his object. Several families of the first respec- 
 tability in the neighbourhood are members of the congre-. 
 gation. In 1838, a subscription fund for the re-erection 
 of the chapel was formed ; and on the 26th of June, 1839, 
 the first stone of the present structure was laid by Samuel 
 Ashton, Esq., of Pole Bank. The re-opening took place 
 August 26th, 1840. The minister's stipend partly arises 
 from a freehold estate of about thirty-three statute acres, 
 which was the gift of Mr. James Heywood, in 1714, to 
 the pastors of the chapel. A curious register is extant 
 in the hand -writing of the Rev. Samuel Angier; it 
 contains numerous notices of remarkable events which 
 occurred in his time. He is commemorated by a beautiful 
 Latin inscription, on a tomb in the chapel-yard, and died 
 
16 HTSTOUY 
 
 November 8th, 1713. His successor in the ministry was 
 the Rev. William Buckley, a highly respected and virtuous 
 man, who in a MS. note described his congregation to 
 consist of the following classes. — ''baronet, 1; esquire, 1 ; 
 gentlemen, 12; tradesmen, 16; yeomen, 76; late comers, 
 labourers, servants, &c., 687 — 793, votes for members 
 for the county, 96." Mr. Buckley was minister nearly 
 forty years, and died May 26th, 1752. At a subsequent 
 period, his only son^ the Rev. William Buckley, held tlie 
 ministry about twenty -nine years, with great credit. He 
 died April 29th, 1797. The present minister is the Rev. 
 R. Brook Aspland, M. A. The Old Chapel was an 
 ordinary edifice. The present structure is a massive 
 and rather incomplete specimen of the early English style 
 of architecture ; its plan is cruciform, and the interior is 
 much admired. The cost of re-erection was about £4000. 
 The architect w^as R. Tattersall, Esq., of Manchester. 
 The number of seats is 977, of which 194 are free. On 
 the east side of the cemetery is a mausoleum, erected in 
 1826, to the memory of F. D. Astley, Esq. It is elegantly 
 constructed, and exceeds 14 feet in height ; the cost was 
 about £280. The chapel is decorated by monuments 
 commemorating John Astley, Esq., and William Hampson, 
 Esq. The latter died November 18th, 1834. He pos- 
 sessed creditable literary attainments, and was an active 
 magistrate. The only remaining memorial of the Duk- 
 infields is a tomb of William Dukinfield, of Castle-hill, 
 Esq. (See Stalybridge.) There are inscriptions recording 
 Thomas Harrison, of Stalybridge, Esq., died September 
 6th 1 820 ; and John Lees, also of Stalybridge, Esq., died 
 August 25th, 1824. The situation of this interesting 
 
DUKINFIELD. 169 
 
 place of worsliij) is upon a coinnianding einincnce, forming 
 the highest part of the village, and rendering the cliapel 
 a striking object from various parts of the vale of the Tame. 
 The i)rospect from Chapel-hill overlooks a pleasing and 
 populous couutiy. 
 
 The United BreihreiK or Moravians, formed a 
 small society here in 1743 ; but their meeting-house ^vas 
 not completed till 1751. and the choir houses in 1757. 
 The chapel was built at the sole expense of Mr. William 
 Walker ; and a donation of half the cost of the original 
 ' dilice was made by Mr. Barham. The chapel was 
 riilarged in 1774, by the libeiality of Mr. Walker. The 
 adjacent buildings were then inhabited by an industrious 
 )rderiy society of ^Moravians ; but, owing to misunder- 
 standings with Mr. Astley, respecting the leasing of the 
 premises, the principal part of the sect erected the village 
 of Fairfield, near Manchester, to which they removed in 
 1785. The llev. Benjamin La Trobe, a most amiable 
 and excellent religious writer, was once the minister here. 
 He died, November 29th, 178G. There is still a society 
 of Moravians at Dukinfield. 
 
 The Calviniats' chapel, named Providence, was 
 •reeled by the Independents, in 1806; but, in 1820, it 
 was first occupied by a society of Secessionists from the 
 Church of Scotland. The buildiiig is now a Calvinists' 
 chapel. 
 
 The Indcpcndcnta have a chapel near Dukinlleld 
 Hall, erected in i8o9. 
 
170 HISTORY OF 
 
 The .Yew Connexion Methodists built a small place 
 of worship in Town-lane, in 1835; but on the 17th of 
 April, 1840, the first stone of their handsome chapel, 
 named Bethesda, was laid. The style of its architecture 
 is early English, and its extent is 81 feet in length by 51 
 feet in width. The estimated cost was £2000, defrayed 
 b)' subscriptions. 
 
 The Catholics have a neat chapel near Astley-street. 
 The erection was commenced in March, 1825, and the 
 opening occurred in November following. It is of the 
 Grecian order, and the dedication is to St. Marie. 
 
 The Wesley an Methodists'^ chapel is a small edifice, 
 erected in 1836. 
 
 The Primitive Methodists' possess a diminutive 
 place of worship, raised in 1836. 
 
 The Local Government of this populous township 
 is partly entrusted to four constables, nominated by the 
 rate-payers, and appointed at the Court Leet for the 
 Macclesfield Hundred, and partly to a constable appointed 
 by the Magistrates of the Hyde division. The magisterial 
 constable receives a salary of £50 per annum from Dukin- 
 field, and he acts for Dukinfield and Newton. He is 
 appointed pursuant to the Cheshire Constabulary Act, 
 whicli took effect in 1831. The expenditure for police 
 purposes during 1840-1 w^as £68. About four years ago, 
 efforts were made to introduce here the provisions of the 
 general lighting and watching act ; but these attempts 
 
DXTKINFIELD. 171 
 
 failed. The shops and mills are partially lighted by the 
 Ashton and Stalybridge Gas Companies ; and water is 
 supplied by the Dukinfield and Stalybridge Water Works 
 Company. (See Stalybridge.) 
 
 The transition of Dukinfield from a retired woody 
 acrricultural district to a populous town-like manufacturing 
 village, has been wrought in the course of sixty years, 
 owing, in a great measure, to the establishment of cotton- 
 manufactories. The ample supply of fuel and the abun- 
 dance of water, combined with the improvements effected 
 by John Astley, Esq., in the erection of a large Iron 
 Foundry, and of the houses called the Circus ; in building 
 two bridges over the Tame, one at Stalybridge, and the 
 I . other near the Lodge ; repairing the roads, rearing an 
 I " Inn, and forming a reservoir, rendered the place a pros- 
 perous village in the latter part of the last century. Two 
 cotton-mills were erected a short time prior to 1794. 
 There were four of these manufactories in 1814 ; six in 
 1818; and seven in 1825; at present there are eleven 
 cotton-mills, possessed by seven firms ; these estimates 
 relate to Dukinfield proper, considered apart from Staly- 
 bridge. Two of these manufactories employ about 2700 
 hands, the total number of cotton-mill hands in Dukinfield 
 is about 5000. The early cotton-mills of this place 
 appear to have been ill-regulated, and disagreeable work- 
 shops, for Dr. Aikin remarks in 1794, that the pernicious 
 t practice of working the mills night and day prevailed, so 
 that the constitutions of the workers were debilitated, 
 the growth of many retarded, and the rate of mortality 
 alarmingly increased. Happily for the present genera- 
 
 Q 
 
I i'Z HISTOKY OF 
 
 tiou the factoiT system has been materially improved of 
 lato years, as regards due consideration for the health of 
 the workers, but unhappily their pecuniary means are not 
 often judiciously used. 
 
 The district is much benefitted by the Peak Forest 
 and Huddersfield Canals ; and further improved by the 
 Manchester and Sheffield Railway, which passes near 
 Dukinfield Hall, a distance of three quarters of a mile 
 from the centre of the village. The increase of inhabited 
 houses in Dukinfield from 1821 to 1831, was 1688; 
 the increase from 1831 to 1841 was 1517. These estimates 
 include Stalybridge. 
 
 The Lakes is a retired agreeable abode of Mr. Taylor, 
 Tlie mansions of the Lees and (late) Davis families, border- 
 ing Hall Green^ are neat residences. The house erected 
 by Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P., in the vale of the Tame, 
 is now occupied by the Rev. Joseph Taylor, A. M. 
 Early Banks Wood is a singular and solitary dwelling 
 on the side of Hough Hill. 
 
 The number of families in Dukinfield, inclusive of part 
 of Stalybridge, in 1794, was 252, and of persons, about 
 1134. In 1801, the population was 1737. In 1811, 
 the inliabited houses were 497 ; families, 502 ; houses 
 building, 1 ; uninhabited, 25 : families in agriculture, 
 IG; in trade, 405: males, 1476; females, 1577; persons, 
 3053. In 1821, the inhabited houses were 777 ; families, 
 '^73 , houses building, 42 ; houses uninhabited 16 : 
 families in agriculture, 85 (this is obviously inconsistent 
 
 
DITKIXFIELD. 173 
 
 \vith fact); families in trade, 369 (this is clearly erroneous 
 as compared with 1811) : males, 2517 ; females, 2579 ; 
 persons, 5096. In 1831, the inhabited honses were 2465 > 
 families, 2690 ; houses building, 68 ; f\\milies in agriculture, 
 88 (this is too high a number) ; families in trade, 1446 (this 
 is about 1000 deficient in accuracy) : males, 6939 ; females, 
 7742 ; persons, 14,681 : forming an increase of 9585 in ten 
 years. In 1836, the state of Dukinfield was statistically 
 investigated. The population of the place, considered 
 separately from Stalybridge, was estimated in that year 
 at 8600 ; the number of dwellings examined was 1690, 
 of which 1434 were houses, 224 sitting rooms, 32 cellars ; 
 the proportion who could read and write was 2380, read 
 only 2112. The heads of families belonging to the 
 Church of England, were 415, lodgers of the same opinions 
 94 ; heads of families of Dissenters 545, lodgers of same 
 opinions 99 ; heads of families of Catholics 50, lodgers 
 of same opinions 46 : heads of families without any 
 religious professions 680, lodgers of same opinions 269. 
 In 1841 the inhabited houses in the entire township, 
 amounted to 3982 ; uninhabited houses, 431 ; houses 
 building, 26, The average number of inmates to each 
 house is 55; the total of persons is 22,385, indicating 
 an increase of 7704, during the last ten years. The 
 present population of Dukinfield exclusi^ e of the portion 
 included in Stalybridge is upwards of 10,000. The 
 value of all the property in the township, was assessed in 
 1815, at £9859 per annum; in 1840-1, £48,300. 
 
 ^* The length of life must formerly have been remarkable 
 here, if we may judge by the following complaint of 
 
 Q 2 
 
174 KISTOHY OV 
 
 shortness of days, in an epitaph on a person aged seventy- 
 one, buried in the Old Chapel yard : 
 
 All ye that do behold this stone, 
 Pray think how quickly I was gone ; 
 Make haste, repent, no time delay, 
 Lest Death as soon snatch you away/' 
 
 In the latter part of the seventeenth century a well 
 conducted school existed here, under the superintendence 
 of a Mr. Barlow ; a few years subsequently a school was 
 erected near the Old Chapel, this institution flourished 
 very much, particularly during the mastership of Domini 
 Gee, whose son's widow was living in the village in 1823, 
 at the age of 101 ; about seventy years ago, the school 
 was taken down, to give the chapel all the advantages of 
 its peculiarly fine situation. In 1810 a spacious and well- 
 built Sunday School^ named Dukinfield School, was 
 erected by subscription, in connection with the Old 
 Chapel, and this still remains the principal Sunday School 
 in the township, it is decorated by a portrait of the Rev. 
 Thomas Barnes, D. D. Sunday Schools are also attached 
 to the other places of worship ; that of the Independents 
 at Furnace-hill was built in 1825. The Dissenters 
 educate about 1700 Sunday scholars, and the Catholics 
 300. Dukinfield is in the Ashton-under-Lyne poor-law 
 Union; the gross amount of Poor's Rate levied in 1839, 
 was £1103 17s. 3d. 1840, £1549 Os. lOd. In 1702, 
 Dr. Daniel Wilde, devised £50, far the relief of poor 
 aged persons, the interest is applied by the feoffees in 
 gifls of small sums to the aged poor. In 1708, an un- 
 known person left £5 for the same purpose. The Inde- 
 pendents and Moravians have Bible Societies, 
 
DUKINFIELD. 
 
 175 
 
 The Village Library is a most excellent institution, 
 established in 1833, and consisting of a Library of about 
 11 00 volumes, which are supplied to members for the 
 low charge of one penny per week, the number of con- 
 tributors is 158, chiefly of the operative class; it is mucii 
 to be wished that its advantages were fully appreciated. 
 
 The Land is principally good pasture and meadow, 
 the manure is chiefly lime, with marl on the lighter 
 grounds; the average rent of farm land is about £3 10s. 
 per acre. Dukinfield is rich in mineral treasures, that 
 yield a considerable revenue. Iron ore has been found 
 rather plentifully, and seems to have been smelted at a 
 remote period. Coal is abundant, for there are fifty 
 separate beds or veins, the greatest portion of them 
 workable. Aikin says the coal-pits are from 60 to 105 
 yards in depth, according to the bearing of the strata. 
 One of the present pits is 350 yards in depth : there are 
 now seven collieries, employing about 150 men and boys. 
 The stone of Harrop Edge quarry is tolerably excellent. 
 A superior clay convertible into fire-bricks has been met 
 with. A petrified tree has been discovered in Newton 
 Brook. 
 
 q3 
 
176 GENERAL SUMMARY. 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY. 
 
 The towns of Asliton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and 
 Dukinfield, appear to extend over a space of about 
 1400 statute acres. They contain the following places 
 of Avorship : — 
 
 Episcopal . . 
 
 Ashton. 
 2 
 
 Stalybridge. 
 2 
 
 Dukinfield. 
 1 
 
 Total 
 
 5 
 
 Dissenters. . 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 22 
 
 Catholic .. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 10 10 9 29 
 
 The parish of Ashton contains Episcopal Churches and 
 Chapels 5, Dissenters 18. 
 
 The number of Cotton-mills is as follows : — 
 Ashton. Stalybridge. Dukinfield. Total. 
 
 33 32 11 76 
 
 The parish of Ashton contains 82 Cotton-manufactories. 
 The number of Cotton-mill workers is : — 
 
 Ashton. Stalybridge. Dukinfield. Total. 
 
 7000 9000 5000 21,000 
 
 In the parish of Ashton 12,000. — The population of the 
 three towns may be thus compared : — 
 
 Ashton. Stalybridge. Dukinfield. Total. 
 
 1831.. 14,670 .. 14,216 .. 7,000 .. 28,886 
 1841.. 22,686'^.. 20,000 .. 10,000 .. 52,686 
 
 • The population of Ashton })arisl], of Dukinfield, and part of 
 Stuley, is 71,728. 
 
GENERAL SUMMARY. 177 
 
 A highly interesting statistical inquiry into the popu- 
 lation of Ashton, Stalybridge, and Dukinfield, was made 
 in 1835-6, when the aggregate population was estimated 
 at 47,800 ; the number of dwellings examined was 8838, 
 of which 6170 were houses, 1521 sitting-rooms, 147 
 cellars, 105 public-houses, 124 beer-houses: the number 
 of persons inhabiting houses was 33,845 ; rooms, 1521 ; 
 cellars, 147 : the number of persons able to read and 
 write, was 1 1.587 ; only able to read, 10,634. The heads 
 of families who professed to belong to the Church of 
 England, were 2701, and lodgers of similar opinions, 
 212: heads of families professing to be Dissenters, 2086, 
 and lodgers of similar opinions, 407 : heads of families 
 professing to be Catholics, 904, and lodgers of similar 
 opinions 772 : heads of families not making any religious 
 profession, 3147, and lodgers of similar opinions, 1441. 
 
 The state of the Sunday Schools in 1841, will appear 
 from the following tables : — 
 
 
 Ashton. ^ 
 
 >taly bridge. ] 
 
 Dukinfield 
 
 Total 
 
 Episcopal . . 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 Dissenters. . 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 Catholic . . . 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 11 9 28 
 
 Episcopal Scholars 2400 
 
 600 
 
 100 
 
 3100 
 
 Dissenters" ., 2"27o 
 
 2200 
 
 1700 
 
 G175 
 
 Catholic 
 
 550 
 
 300 
 
 850 
 
 4675 3350 2100 10,125 
 
 The number of Sunday-Schools in Ashton parish, is 29 : 
 
 total of Scholars, 10,031. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abbey 153 
 
 Accitlent, awfiil 56 
 
 Acres, number of. .4, 159, ]76 
 Advantages of Locality . . 93 
 
 Agriculture 114, 175 
 
 .\lt 129 
 
 ,\lt-Edge 61, 129 
 
 - HiU 128 
 
 Higher 129 
 
 Andrews's 125 
 
 Angier, Rev. S 167 
 
 Antiquities, Druidical .... 9 
 
 ■ other, 123, 128, 139, 160 
 
 Antique Cottage 132 
 
 Atty Cape, Rev. J 155 
 
 Arms of Ash tons, &o 7 
 
 Assheton, Orme de 12 
 
 Sir John 14 
 
 Su- Robert 15 
 
 SirT.,alchymist 19 
 
 Sir R., Blk. Knight 48 
 
 of Shepley 122 
 
 of Luzley" 134 
 
 Ash ton rendered a Borough 74 
 
 Canal 89 
 
 Railway 92 
 
 and Stalybdg. Bank 114 
 
 Moss 120 
 
 Astley, J., Esq. 161-2, 165, 171 
 
 F. D., Esq. . 162-3, 167-8, 
 
 Atmosphere 121 
 
 Audenshaw 122, 125 
 
 Lodge 124 
 
 Baptists 68, 151 
 
 Baptisms 99 
 
 Banks, sketch of 111, 157 
 
 Barham, Mr 169 
 
 Barlow, Mr 174 
 
 Bardsley-House 9, 127 
 
 Beckett, Rev. J 130 
 
 Bible Societies 107, 155 
 
 Births, registered 100 
 
 Blaok Lad, riding the . .45, 49 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Boardman-Edge 119 
 
 Booth, Sir William 22 
 
 Sir George 23 
 
 Lord Delamere . . ib. 
 
 Dame 106 
 
 House 125 
 
 Borough 6 
 
 Bomidaries .... 75 
 
 Electioneering . . ib. 
 
 Bottoms 137 
 
 Boundaries 3 
 
 Bradford, the Martyr 51 
 
 Bravery of Sir T. Ash ton 46 
 Bridge at Stalybr. 137, 139, 140 
 
 Brown, Lieutenant ...... 64 
 
 Brown-Edge Quarry 116 
 
 Buckley, Rev. W., sen, &jun. 168 
 
 Buckley-Hill 124 
 
 Bull-foot-lane End 131 
 
 Burials 99 
 
 Butterworth, James 131 
 
 Byron's 124 
 
 Calvinists 169 
 
 Canals 89,91,125,130,136,171 
 
 Canute 11 
 
 CasUe-HiU 140 
 
 Catholics 67, 148, 150, 154, 170 
 
 Chadwick's 128 
 
 Chalybeate Spring 121 
 
 Chapel, Old 167 
 
 Charities 106, 155, 174 
 
 Chetwode, Rev. G 62 
 
 Church, Parish 57 
 
 Fires 57-8 
 
 Rectors 59 
 
 Civil Wars 60 
 
 Registers 62, 99 
 
 general state .... 63 
 
 Claydon's 128 
 
 Cinderland-Hall 124 
 
 Condition of Working Class 87 
 C'orn-niill of the Manor . . 43 
 Cotton Manufiicture. . . .80, 84, 
 
 142, 171 
 
INDEX. 
 
 11. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Coimty Rates 105 
 
 Courts, Manor r)0, 00 
 
 Court-Hoiise 108 
 
 Craddock, Rev. J 02 
 
 Crime Reservoir 90 
 
 Cross-Bank 131 
 
 House 153 
 
 Currier-lane 50 
 
 Curious anecdote 1()3 
 
 Custom Roll and Rental.. 33 
 
 sin^ilar 134 
 
 Deaths, Rei^istered 100 
 
 Causes of 101 
 
 Deanshut 1*^9 
 
 Deeds, ancient 128 
 
 Dissenters' Chapels 17(5 
 
 Dissent, its origin, &c. . . . 100 
 
 District Bauk 113 
 
 Divisions 4 
 
 Division, Map^isterial .... 72 
 
 Dimt^eous, Old Hall 28 
 
 Druids 
 
 Dukinfield 159 
 
 Family 141 
 
 Old Ciiapel . . 105-7 
 
 New Church 150, 100 
 
 Old Hall . . 100, 104 
 
 Colonel 101, 100 
 
 Sir R 103 
 
 Lodge 104 
 
 Police Affairs . . 170 
 
 P^ARLYBANKS WoOD .... 172 
 
 Earthquake 52 
 
 Eaton, Rev. S 100 
 
 Education, state of 103 
 
 Statistics 104 
 
 Engines, Steam. . . .82, 84, 135 
 Episcopal Chapels . . 130, 135, 
 
 148-9, 1G5-G, 176 
 
 Epitaph, singular 173 
 
 Etymologies . . 7, 11, 122, 127, 
 133, 159 
 
 Factory System .... 88, 145 
 
 Fairfax, Henr}-, D.D 60 
 
 Fairboitom 131 
 
 Fairs 79, 131, 130, 152 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Families in Trade 82-3 
 
 Female Benevolent Institute 107 
 Feudalism, Characteristics 35 
 
 and Factoi^ism 39 
 
 Fire Engines 150 
 
 BHcks 158 
 
 Foresters'- Hidl 150 
 
 Fossils 117 
 
 Fox, George 100 
 
 Frankpledge, grant of ... . 30 
 Friendly Societies .... 101, 153 
 
 Gallows Field 29, 44 
 
 Gamerog-Bank 134 
 
 Gas introduced 56 
 
 - Works 110, 157, 171 
 
 - Buildings 108 
 
 Gee, Domini 174 
 
 Geology 115, 158 
 
 Gorse-Hall 141, 153 
 
 Grey, Henry Earl of Stam- 
 ford and Warrington . . 25 
 
 George, „ „ 26 
 
 Earl of, visit of ... . ib. 
 
 Guld Riding 47 
 
 Guising Festivals 37-8 
 
 Hadfield's 124 
 
 Hall, the, its design .... 36 
 
 Green 172 
 
 Rev. S 134 
 
 Hamlets 5 
 
 HaiTison, John 00 
 
 Thomas, Esq. . . 108 
 
 Hampson, Wm., Esq. . 104, 108 
 Hartshead 133, 137 
 
 Pike 119, 133 
 
 Harrop's 127 
 
 Hazlehurst 137 
 
 Hay, Rev. W. R 102, 167 
 
 Heriots, lav and clerical . . 39 
 
 Helps, T. W., Esq 75-6 
 
 Hey Chapel 130 
 
 Heyrod-Hall, (fee 134, 137 
 
 House 135 
 
 Health, Board of 107 
 
 Hibhert, Dr 33 
 
 High Ash 123 
 
 Knowls 131 
 
111. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hicfginbottom's 129 
 
 Hiils 110 
 
 HincUey, C, Esq., M.P. 75-0, 105 
 
 History 
 
 lloghtoii's 124 
 
 Hooley-Hill 125 
 
 Huddersfield Canal 90, 148 
 
 Ilulme, W., Esq 129 
 
 Hunters' Tower 102 
 
 Huntington, John, B.D. . . 59 
 
 Hurst-Brook 130 
 
 Family .... ib. 
 
 Hurst, Higher ib. 
 
 Nook . . , 137 
 
 Cross ib. 
 
 Hydes 134 
 
 Improvements 153 
 
 Increase of Towns 93 
 
 Independents 07, 151, 109 
 
 Independent Methodists. . 08 
 
 Infant School 154 
 
 Intelligence of Operatives 88 
 
 Iron-ore, Dukinfield. . 100, 175 
 
 Iron Bridge 158 
 
 Israelites 08 
 
 Jailer's Chapel 29 
 
 Johannites 08 
 
 Jurisdictions 3 
 
 KenwortJiy, Bev. J 149 
 
 Knott-Lanes 127 
 
 Knowls-Lane 131 
 
 Lakes 171 
 
 Leach, John 04 
 
 Lees 130 
 
 House ib. 
 
 Lees's 128 
 
 John, Esq 108 
 
 Tjcngth and Breadth .... 4 
 
 Library, Village 175 
 
 Linie 8 
 
 liime-Hnrst Springs .... 117 
 
 Lime-Spring House .... 130 
 
 Little Moss 120 
 
 Local Government. .09, 70, 151, 
 
 170 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lock-up, Staly bridge .... 151 
 
 Lowe, John, Esq 122 
 
 Lusley 137 
 
 Lusley-End 134 
 
 Machinery, opposition to . 81, 
 
 142-3 
 
 Magistrates, present .... 71 
 
 Manners 102 
 
 Manor Tenures ........ 20 
 
 Manorial Rights, &c 29, 45 
 
 Laws, &c 43-4 
 
 Mannow's, of Shepley. . . . 122 
 Manufacturing Population 80, 
 
 144 
 
 Marriages 99, 100 
 
 by Magistrates . . 02 
 
 Markets 78, 152, 155 
 
 House 97 
 
 MayaU's 131 
 
 Mayors, List of 78 
 
 Election of 09, 70 
 
 Medlock Rivulet 118 
 
 Vale 125 
 
 Meeting for Representation 73 
 Mechanics' Institutions . . 108, 
 
 131, 130, 150, 175 
 
 Mills, Cotton, progress of 82, 
 
 143-4, 171 
 
 number of 170 
 
 Missionaiy Societies .... 109 
 
 Modern Mansions 95 
 
 Moravians, Dukinfield. . . . 109 
 
 Mortality, rate of 100 
 
 Mosdelee 134 
 
 Mossley 136 
 
 Chapel 135 
 
 New Connexion Methodists', 
 08, 125, 130, 135, 150, 154, 170 
 
 News Room 157 
 
 Norman Lords 12 
 
 North-street 120 
 
 Old Chapel, Dukinfield 105-7 
 
 Re-building 107 
 
 Situation.. 108 
 
 Old Hall 20-7, 30 
 
 Operatives, Cotton-mill 82-3,170 
 
INDEX. 
 
 IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 C)niie (le Assslieton l*i 
 
 Paintings, Aiuient 124^ 
 
 Parish ami Manor, size of 11 
 
 Parks, Tlu> ^7, ;U, fX) 
 
 Park Bridire ]'2<) 
 
 Parochial Affairs ll).') 
 
 Pastimes of the People . . 30-7 
 
 Peak Forest Canal J)l 
 
 Peat Moss Ur), 120 
 
 Peter's St., or New Cluirch ()() 
 
 Petritied Tree 108 
 
 PhiUips, Sir Thomas 123 
 
 Pickiords US 
 
 Plants, Rare 121 
 
 Police Act 70, 152 
 
 Commissioners 71, 152 
 
 Eural 71 
 
 Office 100 
 
 Poors' Rates lOo 
 
 Population Retns. 03, i)G, 08, 120 
 132, 137, 138, U2, U7, 172, 170 
 
 Posletlnvaite, J 05 
 
 Presbyterians, Dukintield l(iO-8 
 
 Endo^^•ment 107 
 
 C ougi-egution 
 
 classified 108 
 
 Primitive Methodists' 08, 130, 
 151, 170 
 
 Prio^^• 153 
 
 Pr(»perty, value of 105 
 
 Providence Chapel. . . . 100, 07 
 
 Quakers at Dukinfield . . 100 
 Quarries 110, 175 
 
 Radcliffe, Sir J 12s 
 
 Railways 01, Us, 172 
 
 Rebellion, 1745 52, 123 
 
 Rectory- its value, &c 58 
 
 Red Hall 124 
 
 lient Days, Customs on . . .*J4 
 
 Rents, Average, &c 42 
 
 liepresentatives granted 50, 72 
 
 Re«piests, Court of 72 
 
 Ridge-hill Lane 137 
 
 Rhodes-hill 130 
 
 Hey ih. 
 
 Ringers of Ashton 05 
 
 page 
 
 Rivers 117 
 
 RocherVale 10, 131 
 
 Rocks, Stratified 115 
 
 Roman Roads 8, 10, 130 
 
 Rosshottom 105, 141 
 
 Ryecroft 50 
 
 Saddleworth Bank .... 112 
 
 Sand Deposit 117 
 
 Sandiford's or Sandersons 123 
 120 
 
 Saving's Banks 107, 155 
 
 Saxon Lords 12 
 
 Scenery Romantic. .120-7, 131, 
 
 135, 140 
 Schools 102, 120, 132, 137, 
 
 154, 174 
 
 Scout MiU 135 
 
 Services of Tenants .... 35, 43 
 
 Sessions, Petit 71 
 
 Setantii, The 
 
 Sheffiehl Railway 01 
 
 Shelmerdine's 134 
 
 Shepley-hall 122 
 
 Singular Names 33 
 
 Bequest 100 
 
 Situation of Parish 3 
 
 Towai () 
 
 Stalvbridge . . 138 
 
 Dukinfield . . . 150 
 
 Smallshaw 137 
 
 Stalvbridge, To>yn of .... 138 
 
 Localities 130, 143 
 
 Eai-lv State 140-41 
 
 142 
 
 Increase 143-44 43 
 
 Intnd. Borough 
 
 73, 15*<! 
 Churches, Cha- 
 pels, 148-40-50 
 
 Stayley-hall 13JJ 
 
 Family ib. 
 
 Staley-bank .' 135 
 
 ' Mr,uiit 153 
 
 Stanrake-hill 110 
 
 Statistical Survpvs 05, 147, 173, 
 170 
 
 Stephenites OH, 151 
 
 Stopford's 123 
 
INDKX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Storms, Awful 54, 55 
 
 Summarv, General 17G 
 
 Sundav Schools 54, 103, 126, 
 132, 137, 154-5, 174, 170 
 
 Tame, River 8, 11, 117 
 
 Taunton and its Hall 128, 131 
 
 Temperance Hall 150 
 
 Tenants Manor 41 
 
 Thompson Cross 141 
 
 Thornlee 131 
 
 Throstle Nest 50 
 
 ToUs of Market, &c 80 
 
 Top of the Bank 131 
 
 Town of Ashton 
 
 Ancient State 50-2 
 
 Modem State 53-0 
 
 elegance of 54 
 
 Town-Halls 109, 155 
 
 Tract Societies 155 
 
 Trade Tokens 52 
 
 Traffic to Manchester 91 
 
 Trees in Mosses 120 
 
 Tree-House-Bank 129 
 
 Trohe, La, Eev. Benjamin 109 
 Twarl-HiU Tythe-Stone . . 134 
 Tum-out, gi^eat 50 
 
 Union, Poor Law 105 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Valley 129 
 
 Value of Cotton Trade . . 89 
 
 ■ Property 105 
 
 Villages 5 
 
 Volunteers, Ashton 55 
 
 Wakes 51, 153 
 
 Walker, James 106 
 
 John 102 
 
 . William 169 
 
 Walker's 128 
 
 Water-houses 124-6 
 
 Water Works Ill, 157 
 
 Wheels 83-4 
 
 Waterloo 131 
 
 Weavers, Hand-loom .... 89 
 Weslevan Methodists. .67, 125, 
 
 130, 150, 154, 170 
 
 Westwood-House 153 
 
 Wliittaker, John, Esq, . . . 137 
 
 Wilshaw-Dale Grove 135 
 
 WiUiams, Geo., Esq 75-6 
 
 Wood-houses 124-6 
 
 Park .. 131 
 
 Workhouse 106 
 
 WooUen Trade .« . . . i41 
 
 Worsted „ ib. 
 
 Worthington, Mr. Hugo , . 27 
 Yule Feast 35 
 
 ADDITIONS. 
 Page 72. — John Buckley, Esq., qualified as a Magistrate July 5, 1841. 
 
 „ 78. — Nicholas Earle, Esq., is Mayor of Ashton, for 1841-2. 
 
 „ 92. — Tlie Manchester, Ashton-nnder-Lyne, and Sheffield Rail- 
 way was opened from Manchester to the vicinitj^ of Ashton-under- 
 Lyne, Dukinfield, and Hyde, November 17th, 1841. 
 
 ,, 95. — According to a recent investigation of Ashton town, by 
 tliat active agent of the Temperance Society, Mr. W. H. Buchanan, 
 of Ashton, there were in September, 1841, in Ashton, 13 liquor- 
 vaults, 07 public-liouses, and 90 beer-shops. 
 
 ^^ lOr).— County Rate for 1841, £'3702 17s. lOd. 
 
 „ 107. — Old Chapel damaged by stomi, January 7th, 1839. 
 
 CORRECTIONS. 
 I'age 05, line 12, — for Posethwaite read Poslethwaite. 
 „ 89, „ 8,— „ 400,000 „ 700,000. 
 
 „ 167, „ 21,— „ 20th Jime „ 0th June. 
 
 T. A. Phillips, Printer, Ashton. 
 

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