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)