The parish of Prestwich with Oldham: Prestwich

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.

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'The parish of Prestwich with Oldham: Prestwich', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, (London, 1911) pp. 76-80. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp76-80 [accessed 17 March 2024]

In this section

PRESTWICH

Prestwich, 1194; Prestwic, 1202; Prestewic, 1203.

The township of Prestwich extends about 2 miles in a north-east direction from the Irwell, which forms one boundary, to the border of Heaton near Poppythorn. The area is 1,917½ acres. (fn. 1) The old village is situated on the north-west side of the township, with the parish church to the south, and the old hall to the north. Two picturesque cloughs distinguish the western half. One of these—the Mere clough— begins near the old hall and goes south-west to the Irwell, forming, as might be gathered from the name, a boundary between Prestwich and Outwood in Pilkington. The other begins to the south of the church and winds along, first west and then south, to the Irwell. Near Mere clough, and about half a mile .apart, are the two great buildings of one of the county lunatic asylums. (fn. 2) In the southern corner is Rainsough, and to the east lie the residential districts of Hilton Park and Sedgeley Park, suburbs of Manchester. Near the boundary is Castle Hill, and Singleton's lies to the north of it. Singleton Brook divides this township from Broughton. On the eastern side, on the border of Heaton Park, is the hamlet of Rooden Lane, and to the north, on the highest land within the boundaries, is Polefield. The population numbered 12,839 in 1901. (fn. 3)

The principal roads are those from Manchester to Bury, the Old Road to the east, near the border, the New Road, formed in 1827, through the centre. There are numerous cross roads; one runs north-east from Agecroft Bridge to Heaton. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway has its Manchester and Bury line through the township, with stations called Heaton Park and Prestwich. A tramway, connected with the Salford system, runs along the Bury New Road.

A botanist of note, Richard Broxton, was born at Sedgeley Hall Farm in 1786. He died in 1865. (fn. 4)

In 1867 a local board of twelve members was elected; (fn. 5) replaced in 1894 by an urban district council, of fifteen members, from five wards.

At Diggle Hill, near the centre of the township, are reservoirs of the Manchester Water Works.

There are several bleach works in the township, and two small-ware manufactories. Rooden Lane was formerly a great centre of the hand-loom weaving, which died out about 1882. (fn. 6)

The wakes were formerly held in August. (fn. 7)

The stocks have disappeared, but were in use in 1800. (fn. 8)

The hearth tax return of 1666 records ninety-seven hearths in the township, the largest houses being the rector's with ten hearths, James Wilson's with seven, and John Glover's with six. (fn. 9)

Manor

From the survey of 1212 it appears that PRESTWICH was held of the king in thegnage, and was assessed as four oxgangs of land; the service was a rent of 10s. (fn. 10) Robert de Prestwich occurs in 1193, (fn. 11) and his son Adam agreed to pay 5 marks as relief on succeeding in or before 1206. (fn. 12) Adam de Prestwich was in possession in 1212, holding Prestwich, Great Heaton, and Fails worth. (fn. 13) For over sixty years there is scarcely any mention of the manor, another Adam de Prestwich appearing in 1278. (fn. 14) He was probably the same Adam who was plaintiff in 1292, (fn. 15) and who in 1297 settled his manors of Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury on John his son and heir and Emmota his wife. (fn. 16) This arrangement was not permanent, for he appears to have married about the same time one Alice de Wolveley, whose children became his heirs. (fn. 17) In 1311 he gave the manor of Pendlebury to her son Robert, (fn. 18) and in 1313 settled the manors of Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury, and the advowson of the church of the manor of Prestwich upon Thomas his son by Alice, with remainders to her other children. (fn. 19)

In virtue of this Alice his widow succeeded him, (fn. 20) and was in turn followed by her son, Thomas de Prestwich. He very quickly granted his manors to Richard son of William de Radcliffe for life, and then in fee. (fn. 21) In 1346, therefore, Richard de Radcliffe was returned as holding the manor of Prestwich with the advowson of the church. (fn. 22) Two years afterwards he made a feoffment of the manor and advowson, probably on his marriage with one Isabel. (fn. 23) Whatever may have been the meaning of this transfer to the Radcliffes, it appears that in 1362 new feoffments were made, (fn. 24) and the trustees regranted the manor of Prestwich and the advowson of the church for the lives of Richard and Isabel, and for a year and a day after their decease, paying to Richard de Langley 50 marks a year, and also performing the services due to the chief lords, the manor to revert to Richard de Langley or his heirs. (fn. 25) The right of the Langleys under the settlement of 1313 was thus fully acknowledged.

What became of Thomas de Prestwich is unknown. (fn. 26) He had two daughters and co-heirs—Margaret and Agnes. (fn. 27) The former took the veil at Seaton in Cumberland in 1360, but afterwards left the convent and married Robert de Holland; and Agnes, who had married John son of William de Radcliffe, and who was considered the heir after her sister's veiling, died without issue about 1362. (fn. 28) In 1367 a further agreement was made between the Radcliffes and Langleys for securing the succession of Richard de Langley and Joan his wife and the heirs of Joan. (fn. 29) About the same time Robert de Holland put forward his claims to the manor as the right of Margaret, and in 1371 Richard de Radcliffe the elder and Isabel his wife released to Robert and Margaret all their claim to the manor and advowson, (fn. 30) while in 1374 Robert de Holland and Margaret his wife made a feoffment of their manor of Prestwich, (fn. 31) and two years later granted to Peter their son all their lands and tenements in Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury, together with the advowson of Prestwich. (fn. 32)

Langley. Argent a cockatrice sable, crested, beaked and membered gules.

Roger de Langley the son and heir was a minor in 1372, and in ward to the Duke of Lancaster, (fn. 33) when Robert de Holland assembled a troop of armed men, and by force took possession of the manor, holding it till 1389. (fn. 34) The Langleys, however, had not been neglectful of their claim. As early as 1371 a certificate had been procured stating that Margaret de Prestwich had been duly professed, (fn. 35) and Roger as son and heir of Richard and Joan appears to have put forward his claim in due form, (fn. 36) but it was not till 1394, after his death, that a final decision was made. (fn. 37) The heir, his son Robert, being a minor, the manor of Prestwich, with a parcel of Alkrington and the advowson of the church, were taken into the duke's hands, livery being granted in 1403. (fn. 38)

The manor then descended peaceably in the same way as Pendlebury, (fn. 39) the most notable feature of the family's tenure being the succession of Langleys to the rectory for 200 years.

On the death of Sir Robert Langley in 1561 and the consequent partition, the manor of Prestwich became the share of his daughter Margaret, who married John Reddish of Reddish, (fn. 40) and afterwards Richard Holland, of Denton. (fn. 41) Her son, Alexander Reddish, left two daughters as co-heirs, Sarah and Grace (fn. 42) The former, who married Clement, a younger son of Sir Edward Coke, the famous lawyer and chief justice, had the manor of Prestwich. It descended in the Coke family, though Sarah's issue died out, until 1777, when Thomas William Coke, the famous 'Mr. Coke of Holkham,' in Norfolk, a leader in the agricultural revolution which took place in the latter part of the 18th century, wishing to increase his Norfolk estates, began to sell Prestwich in parcels. (fn. 43) T. W. Coke in 1779 paid 9s. 4d. to the duchy for Prestwich. (fn. 44) The manor was, in 1794, acquired by Peter Drinkwater, who resided at Irwell House in Prestwich, and it descended to his son Thomas. Thomas died in 1861, leaving two daughters; and Irwell House, with land called Drinkwater Park, has been sold to the Corporation of Salford on a ground rent, and a further part of the land to the Prestwich District Council. (fn. 45)

The manor of Prestwich—i.e. a mesne lordship between the Earl of Lancaster and the local family— seems to have been granted to Sir Robert de Holland early in the 14th century, but the claim to it failed. (fn. 46)

The other daughters of Sir Robert Langley also had lands in Prestwich, on a division of the estate. Thus William Dauntesey of Agecroft held 16 acres as appurtenant to his manor-house. (fn. 47) James Ashton, of Chadderton, in right of his wife Dorothy had a much larger estate. (fn. 48) Part of it was the Polefield estate, since divided into three portions, one of which—Polefield Hall and lands—is now owned by the Earl of Wilton. (fn. 49)

Poppythorn is an ancient part of the glebe land. (fn. 50)

Sedgeley was, in 1788, purchased from T. W. Coke by Thomas Philips, a Manchester merchant. His son George was created a baronet in 1826. The house, called Sedgeley Hall, was from 1848 to 1854 the residence of Dr. Prince Lee, the first bishop of Manchester. The estate has been utilized for building purposes. (fn. 51)

Rooden was, in the 14th century, owned by the Hollands. (fn. 52) It has been included in the Heaton Park estate, purchased by the Corporation of Manchester. (fn. 53)

Henry de Trafford of Prestwich occurs in 1348 and later years. (fn. 54) No landowners were assessed to the subsidy in 1541, but in 1622 Edward Holland, Robert Leigh, and Richard Tonge contributed. (fn. 55) The land tax returns of 1787 show the effect of the Coke sale; the largest contributor was James Chapman, who paid about a ninth of the sum collected. (fn. 56)

Sir John Prestwich, some of whose antiquarian collections are in the Chetham Library, claimed to represent the old Prestwich family; he died in Dublin, 15 August 1796. (fn. 57) He had no territorial connexion with the township.

The parish church has already been described. St. Margaret's, Holyrood, was opened in 1851 and consecrated the following year; it has had several additions. A separate district was assigned to it in 1885. (fn. 58) St. Hilda's, a chapel of ease at Rooden Lane, was consecrated in 1904, but services had been conducted there for some years previously.

Wesleyan Methodism was introduced as early as 1805, a cottage in Rooden Lane being used for Sunday meetings. A small chapel was built in 1820, which was replaced by the existing building in 1865. (fn. 59) In Prestwich village services began in 1812, but the Rooden Lane chapel accommodated this congregation also for a time. In 1830 a new start was made; a school-chapel was built in 1835, and a chapel in the main street followed in 1840. The present church was built in 1877. (fn. 60) There is a small chapel at Rainsough. The Primitive Methodists began services in a cottage at Kirkhams, and have since erected an iron chapel; the first minister was appointed in 1897. (fn. 61)

The Congregational Church, Rooden Lanc, originated in a night school begun in 1862. The Chetham Hill church took the work up; a school-chapel was opened in 1865, and the present church in 1881. (fn. 62)

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Grace was opened in 1891. Mass had been said for two years previously in the Co-operative Hall. (fn. 63)

There is a Jewish cemetery, opened in 1840. (fn. 64)

Footnotes

  • 1. The census report of 1901 gives 3,167 acres, including 57 of inland water; but in 1894 the boundaries of Prestwich proper were extended to include the rural portions of the adjacent townships of Great and Little Heaton; Local Govt. Bd. Order 32103. A small part of the township lies to the south of the Irwell.
  • 2. The asylum in Prestwich Wood was opened in 1851, being built to accommodate 500 patients. It has been several times enlarged, and the annexe, for 1,100 patients, was built in 1884. There is now accommodation for 2,600. There is a church attached; see W. Nicholls, Prestwich, 116–20.
  • 3. This is for the extended area, but the addition made in 1894 had only 461 inhabitants.
  • 4. Dict. Nat. Biog.
  • 5. Lond. Gaz. 21 Dec. 1866.
  • 6. W. Nicholls, Prestwich, 55.
  • 7. Ibid. 67. A programme of the sports in 1832 is reprinted.
  • 8. Ibid. 78.
  • 9. Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9, Lancs.
  • 10. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 67. In later times the tenure was by knight's service and a rent.
  • 11. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 77. He paid 4 marks for having the king's good will, as one of the men of the rebellious John, Count of Mortain. He occurs again in 1201 and 1205 as a contributor to the tallage and scutage; ibid, 151, 205.
  • 12. Ibid. 203. This entry is in the same roll as the last-mentioned payment by Robert de Prestwich, showing that the father died in the year 1205–6. The Robert de Prestwich recorded in the farm of the county in 1226 is probably the same man, the name being taken from an old roll—like Augustine de Barton—but it may be the successor of Adam; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 137.
  • 13. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, 67. Heaton and Failsworth were held by under-tenants.
  • 14. Thomas, lord of Prestwich, made a grant in Heaton about 1260; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 148/184. A John de Prestwich, rector of Whitwell, occurs about the same time; ibid. fol. 145b/181b. Robert son of Robert de Nettleham was non-suited in a claim for a tenement in Prestwich made against Adam de Prestwich in 1278; Assize R. 1238, m. 33 d.
  • 15. Assize R. 408, m. 25; Adam de Prestwich claimed arrears of customs and services for a tenement in Prestwich held by John Byron, but was non-suited. This probably refers to Failsworth.
  • 16. Agecroft D. 4.
  • 17. A fuller account of Adam de Prestwich and his descendants is given under Pendlebury, Agecroft in that township having become the principal seat of his heirs. Other descendants of his are named in the account of Whittleswick in Barton.
  • 18. Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), ii, 12; the grant included 40 acres in Prestwich also. Alice, the sister of Robert, succeeded; she married Jordan de Tetlow, and her heir was her daughter Joan, who married Richard de Langley; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 53.
  • 19. Final Conc, ii, 16; Agecroft D. 11. After the children of Alice the remainder was to Roger de Prestwich. Claims were put in by Alice, sister of John de Byron; John son of John de Prestwich, Adam de Worley, and Emma his wife, and John and Thomas sons of Emma—possibly the Emmota of 1297. At the beginning of 1319 Adam de Prestwich claimed a messuage, etc., in Prestwich held by Roger de Prestwich and Thomas his son; De Banco R. 226, m. 24. Adam and Alexander de Prestwich were also plaintiffs as executors of the will of John, rector of Whitwell; ibid. m. 65. At Easter in the same year Adam complained that certain persons had cut down and carried off some of his trees at Oldham, to the value of £10; ibid. R. 229, m. 70 d. Soon afterwards he died, for in July 1319, Thomas son of John de Prestwich released to Alice, widow of Adam de Prestwich, all his claim on the family manors; Agecroft D. 13 (dated at Pontefract).
  • 20. She held Prestwich, Heaton, and Alkrington in 1324. Her holding was called one plough-land, and the service due was 20s.; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, ii, 104, 135, 204. She appears to have died about 1330.
  • 21. Thomas son of Adam de Prestwich and Alice de Wolveley in 1331 granted his manors of Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury, and the land he had acquired from John son of Alexander de Prestwich, to Richard son of William de Radcliffe for his life, at a yearly rent of £26 and 19d. in silver for the first three years, and 100 marks of silver for the rest of the term; Agecroft D. 14. The rents seem to show that this was a grant in trust. A little later he gave the same Richard all his right in the manor of Prestwich and the demesne, including the park, and a pasture called the Denehead; ibid. 15. The grantee was the lord of Radcliffe. In 1333 he granted to Richard and his heirs his manor of Prestwich, with the park and the Denehead, at a yearly rent of a rose for the first twenty years and of 10 marks afterwards; ibid. 17, 18. This was soon followed by a release of all actions touching his fermes of Prestwich, Pendlebury, and Alkrington; ibid. 19. He presented to the rectory in 1334, but soon afterwards made over the advowson to Richard de Radcliffe (ibid. 6, 20, 21), who presented from 1347 to 1365. Thomas gave a release to his brother Robert in 1345; ibid. 22.
  • 22. Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146; Dods. MSS. lxxxvii, fol. 59b.
  • 23. Agecroft D. 23, 24. The trustees regranted to Richard de Radcliffe and Isabel his wife and their issue; ibid. 25, 26.
  • 24. Ibid. 28–30. In one grant a place called the 'Fohcastel' was reserved. In 1479 it was attested that 'Foyecastell' moor belonged to the lordship of Prestwich, and not to that of Crumpsall; ibid. 83. Castle Hill lies in the south-east corner of the township, in the borders of Broughton and Crumpsall.
  • 25. Ibid. 31,32, dated 9 Dec. 1362. The feoffees made a final release in 1364; ibid. 33.
  • 26. He had an illegitimate son who received land in Tonge and took the local name, as will be seen in the account of that township. Thomas was living in 1348, when he claimed certain lands in Prestwich against his sister Alice and against Robert and Thurstan sons of Jordan de Tetlow; De Banco R. 356, m 384 d. Alice, widow of Thomas de Prestwich, was a defendant in 1356, respecting lands in the township; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 5, m. 4.
  • 27. Margaret de Prestwich and Agnes her sister were in 1357 plaintiffs respecting a tenement in Prestwich, Richard, son of John de Radcliffe being defendant; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 6, m. 2 d.
  • 28. The story is told in Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 50–3, and in a more complete record in the Agecroft D. 66. See also Pal. of Lanc. Misc. bdle. 1, no 8, m. 25, 26. The dates of Margaret's entrance into religion and her sister's death seem to be marked by the feoffments above related.
  • 29. Agecroft D. 44; in this the rent payable by Richard de Radcliffe is stated as S (not 50) marks. It was confirmed by a fine in 1369; Final Conc, ii, 176. Sir John de Radcliffe, of Ordsall, in 1412 quitclaimed to Robert de Langley all his right to the Prestwich manors; Agecroft D. 59.
  • 30. Ibid. 34. Thurstan son of John de Prestwich in 1375 released to Robert de Holland all his claim on the manors of Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury and the advowson of Prestwich; ibid. 37. In 1416 he gave a similar release to Robert de Langley; ibid. 72.
  • 31. Agecroft D. 36.
  • 32. Ibid. 38. In 1375 Robert de Holland appeared as plaintiff, certain persons having cut down his trees at Prestwich; De Banco R. 459, m. 10.
  • 33. On 13 Nov. 1372 John Duke of Lancaster directed the sheriff to take into the duke's hands the manor of Prestwich, because of the minority of Roger de Langley, the heir, the tenure being stated to be by knight's service; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xiii, 163. In a plea of 1390 the date of the sheriffs entry is given as 15 May, 1374; possibly the father died in one year and the mother in the other; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 52.
  • 34. Ibid., and more fully in an exemplification of the pleas of 1390 made in 1414; Agecroft D. 66. Robert de Holland denied that Margaret was a nun or professed. The suit quoted was in form a claim by the duke for the profits which should have accrued to him from the wardship of Roger de Langley, but lost through the forcible occupation by the Hollands.
  • 35. Agecroft D. 35. 'Dame Margaret de Prestwich, one of the nuns of Seaton, of the age of fifteen years and more, was professed on the morrow of St. Katherine the Virgin and Martyr, a.d. 1360, in the presence of Sir John Cragge, prior of the Abbey of Furness, Sir John de Huddleston, knight and lord of Millom, Richard de Coupland of Furness, Richard de Huddleston and others . . . and the said Margaret on the said day confessed before the said persons that she was not coerced or compelled, but voluntarily entered the order of St. Benedict in the said house and was professed.' A similar certificate was procured in 1388; ibid. 39,40.
  • 36. See the statements in the inquisition and plea above cited.
  • 37. Agecroft D. 66. When the Duke of Lancaster called upon the Archbishop of York to make inquiry as to Margaret's profession, he gave no reply, Seaton being outside the duke's regality; so that application had to be made to the king, in reply to whom the archbishop in June 1394 duly certified that 'Margaret, daughter of Thomas, son of Alice de Wolveley . . . was a nun and professed in the house of the nuns of Seaton.' On this judgement was given for the duke in his claim against Robert de Holland. Dower was in the same year (1394) granted to Margaret widow of Roger de Langley, from the manor of Prestwich together with the hamlet of Alkrington appertaining to the manor; it included the Hallrield and Denehead, part of the demesne, and the chapel chamber with the chapel at Prestwich, a stable and haybarn; ibid. 56. The Hollands did not immediately resign their claims. In 1395 the feoffees of Robert and Margaret granted to Edmund their son the manor and advowson of Prestwich for the life of Robert de Holland, on whose death it was to go to Peter the son of Robert and his issue, with successive remainders to Peter's brothers and sisters, Nicholas, John, Edmund, Marion, Katherine, and Alice; ibid. 42. At the end of 1401 Robert de Holland released to Robert de Langley all his claim upon the manors of Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury, and his sons were to do the same when they should come of age; an annuity of 5 marks a year was granted in return for this; the parties were sworn upon the sacrament of the altar to hold to this agreement; ibid. 57*. In 1416 Peter de Holland agreed to give up all his deeds relating to the Prestwich manors, and formally gave 'his manors' up to trustees (for the Langleys) in 1418; ibid. 69, 73. The settlement was not arrived at without violence. In May 1402 the king granted his pardon to Robert de Langley for capturing and detaining Robert de Holland. The latter had, it seems, at various times invaded the manor of Prestwich and carried away the cattle and goods of Langley and his tenants into Cheshire, not restoring them without payment. He had also come by night and carried some of Langley's cattle as far as Glossop; being pursued, he entered the house of Master Wagstaffe and defied Robert de Langley, wounding one of his servants with an arrow. The brother of the wounded man threw fire into the house, so that it was burnt down and Holland had to surrender, and was taken into Lancashire. He had already been outlawed for treason; ibid. 58.
  • 38. Inq. p.m. above cited, and Towneley MS. DD, no. 1466. In 1398 the Duke of Lancaster released to his ward Robert de Langley a rent of 11 marks due as the farm of his lands in Prestwich and Alkrington, and this because of Robert's 'good and agreeable service,' rendered to the duke, who had retained him in his service for life; Agecroft D. 57.
  • 39. But little is known of the manor during this period. In 1410 it appears that Edmund de Prestwich and Margaret his wife had received from Robert de Langley certain lands in Prestwich as Margaret's portion; ibid. 34. In 1468 there was a dispute between the Langleys and the Radcliffes of Ordsall; ibid. 79; and in 1484 between them and the Radcliffes of Radcliffe, as to the bounds of Crumpsall and Prestwich; ibid. 86, 87. In 1472 it was found that Thomas Langley, deceased, had held the manor of Prestwich of the king as Duke of Lancaster, by the sixteenth part of a knight's fee and a rent of 12s. a year; its clear annual value was £10; Agecroft D. 80. At the death of Sir Robert Langley in 1561 the tenure was called socage, by a rent of 13s. 4d. ; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, 16.
  • 40. Land in Prestwich is named in a settlement of the lands of John Reddish and Margaret his wife in 1569; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 31, m. 164.
  • 41. In a list of chief rents paid to Queen Elizabeth occurs 'Richard Holland for another fourth part [of Sir R. Langley's lands], 9s.4d.'; Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), i. 447.
  • 42. Margaret Holland died in September 1625, and was buried at Prestwich; thus surviving her son Alexander Reddish, who died in 1613 when his daughter Grace was aged twenty-five, and wife of Sir Robert Darcy, while Sarah was only twelve; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 254. Sarah Coke died in 1623–4 and Clement her husband in 1630, leaving a son and heir Edward, aged twelve, on 17 Feb. 1630; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxvi, 53. See further in the account of Reddish.
  • 43. W. Nicholls, Prestwich, 33–6. 'No trace can be found of a [manor] court being held here'; ibid. 37.
  • 44. Duchy of Lanc. Rentals, bdle. 14, no. 25 m.
  • 45. Nicholls, op. cit. 34, 39; and Burke, Commoners, iii, 669.
  • 46. Maud, widow of Sir Robert de Holland, in 1346 claimed dower in the manor of Prestwich against Richard de Radcliffe; the defence was that Robert was never in seisin, and no more is heard of the claim; De Banco R. 347, m. 158; 350, m. 250.
  • 47. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 349. Among the Agecroft deeds are leases of land in Prestwich to Hopwood and to Astley in the 18th century.
  • 48. Ibid, i, 225. In 1587 James Ashton and Dorothy his wife granted to William Dauntesey an annuity of £10 from lands in Prestwich called Over Fleams, Lower Fleams, Showebrode, and the Rodes; ibid. 229.
  • 49. W. Nicholls, Prestwich, 37, 38; the other portions are known as Polefield House and Pippintree (or Polefield). The pole from which it took its name was used for signals, standing on the highest ground in the parish; ibid. 93.
  • 50. In the early years of Elizabeth's reign William Langley, then rector, being seised of a messuage and lands called 'Popethorne,' demised to Robert Holt of Prestwich a messuage lately built there and called the New Chamber, together with 4 acres of land and meadow and housing for his corn, hay, turves, and cattle. The rector afterwards refused to carry out the agreement, and Robert Holt appealed to the Chancellor, Sir Ambrose Carr; Duchy of Lanc. Plead, cxi, H. 11; see also Nicholls, Prestwich, 31. It was the residence of a family named Wilson, one of whom was summoned to attend the Visitation of 1664; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), v. A pedigree is given in Booker, Prestwich, 216.
  • 51. Nicholls, Prestwich, 34, 94–7; it is related that Sydney Smith frequently visited Sir George Philips at Sedgeley, preaching at the parish church. Lawrence Fort, calico printer, of Blackburn, the next owner, is said to have committed suicide in one of the rooms of Sedgeley Hall in 1837, and 'curious lights are sometimes observed in the window of that room.' The house was ruined by a fire in 1902.
  • 52. The following deeds of the year 1341 in Lord Wilton's possession show something of the origin of the Holland estate:— Grant by John de Prestwich the younger to Thurstan de Holland of a piece of land called Broadclough (Bradeclache) in Prestwich, as inclosed by hedges and ditches in the time of its former owner, the grantor's grandfather, John son of Adam de Prestwich, a rent of 3s. 4d. to be paid. Release by Richard de Radcliffe to Thurstan son of Sir William de Holland of land in Prestwich. Release by John de Prestwich the younger of all his right in his grandfather's land called Rodoun, granted to Thurstan by Richard de Radcliffe. Grant of a rent-charge of 3s. 4d. on Rodoun by Thurstan de Holland to John de Prestwich. This John de Prestwich appears to be a descendant of the 'son and heir' of Adam in 1297. Ralph, son of John son of John de Prestwich, occurs in 1353; Assize R. 435, m. 18 d.; he and his wife Ellen claimed lands at Walton on the Hill; ibid. m. 33. Thurstan de Holland acquired further lands in Prestwich in 1360, the vendors being William de Blakelow and Margery his wife; William de Beswick and Cecily his wife, and Alice widow of Henry the Falconer; Final Conc, ii, 165. By an arbitration made in 1520 between Robert Langley of Agecroft and Richard Holland of Denton, it was decided that the former should enjoy all the messuages, lands, &c., which he or his ancestors had built and inclosed on the waste of Prestwich, and might also approve 4 acres of the moor adjoining the Fohcastle, but no more. The Hollands and their tenants of Heaton Hall, the ground called Rooden, and tenements near Heaton Gate lying on the north and south side of Terrebrook, were to enjoy common of pasture on the wastes in Prestwich, and to drive their cattle to the high moor of Prestwich to common there. Robert Langley was to take down the gate he had erected in Rooden Lane end; Agecroft D. 100.
  • 53. Nicholls, Prestwich, 93.
  • 54. Assize R. 1444, m. 4; he was son of Alan. In 1356 Gilbert de Urmston complained that Henry de Trafford of Prestwich, Richard and Nicholas his brothers, and John de Trafford, bastard, had assaulted him at Wigan, so that his life was despaired of; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 5, m. 8.
  • 55. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 143, 155. Thomas Leigh of Alkrington and Katherine his wife made a settlement of their estate, including lands in Prestwich, in 1571; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 33, m. 184. Christopher Tonge made a settlement respecting his twelve messuages and lands in Prestwich in 1585; ibid. bdle. 47, m. 17. In 1586 Geoffrey Hardman acquired lands in Denton, Heaton, and Prestwich from Robert Holt; ibid. bdle. 48, m. 227. Thomas Hardman contributed to the subsidy in 1622 for 'goods'; Misc. ut sup. Hardman's Green and Hardman's Fold exist in the northern part of the township. Adjacent is Kirkhams, commemorating Thomas Kirkham, who built the house in 1733; he was buried in the church in 1788; Booker, Prestwich, 38.
  • 56. Returns at Preston.
  • 57. Pal. Note Bk. ii, 249. For his assumption of the Prestwich baronetcy see G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 222.
  • 58. Holyrood is a fancy name, derived from Rooden Lane. For the church and a strange story as to the laying of the foundation stone see Nicholls, Prestwich, 142–4.
  • 59. Nicholls, Prestwick, 121. The rector (Lyon) was asked to interfere to stop the meetings, but said, 'Let them do good amongst us if they can,' and subscribed to the school.
  • 60. Nicholls, Prestwich, 122.
  • 61. Ibid. 124.
  • 62. Ibid. 125; Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. v, 26–7.
  • 63. Nicholls, op. cit. 128; Kelly, Engl. Cath. Missions, 323.
  • 64. Nicholls, loc. cit.