Townships: Chorlton-with-Hardy

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.

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'Townships: Chorlton-with-Hardy', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4, (London, 1911) pp. 297-302. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp297-302 [accessed 17 March 2024]

In this section

CHORLTON-WITH-HARDY

Chollirton, 1250; Chollerton, 1292 and usually; Chourton, 1572. Barlowe, 1253.

This township is divided into two portions by a brook running across it westwardly to join the Mersey; the northern portion, nearly square in shape, is Chorlton proper, now urban; while the southern portion, still agricultural, stretches for about 2 miles along the north bank of the Mersey, and contains Hardy and Barlow, to the north and south respectively. The surface is level and lies low, the highest ground being near the south-east end, a little over 100 ft. above the ordnance datum. The lands by the river side are known as Eeas. The total area is 1,280 acres. (fn. 1) In 1901 the population numbered 9,026.

The principal roads are those from Manchester south through Chorlton to Withington and west from Withington and Fallowfield to Stretford. The Midland Company's railway from Manchester to Stockport crosses the northern part of the township and has a station at Chorlton named Chorlton-cum-Hardy. There is a footbridge over the Mersey for the road to Sale.

There is some market gardening.

The township was included in the Withington Local Board district in 1876, and was with it incorporated with Manchester in 1904.

MANOR

It does not appear that there was ever a separate manor of CHORLTON, which was held as part of Withington, (fn. 2) but it may have been held in moieties by Trafford and Barlow. (fn. 3) A family bearing the local name is mentioned from time to time, (fn. 4) but nothing is known as to its position. The principal family, apart from the lords of Withington and the Barlows, was that of Trafford, but there is nothing to show how the Trafford lands were acquired, apart from the grants quoted in the account of Withington. (fn. 5) The lands appear to have been sold about 1590 to Gregory Lovel and others, (fn. 6) from whose heirs probably they passed to the Mosleys, (fn. 7) and later to the Egertons of Tatton.

HARDY does not occur separately.

The manor of BARLOW was long held by a family who adopted that surname. (fn. 8) The earliest known member was a Thomas de Barlow to whom about 1200 Sibyl daughter of Uctred and Margaret granted all her lands in Barlow. (fn. 9) A later Thomas in 1253 complained that Robert de Reddish and a number of his neighbours had interfered with his stream at Barlow and taken his fish; it was stated in defence that the fish were caught in Matthew de Haversage's free fishery and Thomas was fined, but excused because he was poor. (fn. 10) Alexander son of Albin de Sale gave to Thomas de Barlow all his land and right in the vill of Barlow. (fn. 11) Thomas was succeeded by several Rogers. (fn. 12) In 1336 Roger de Barlow the elder made a settlement of his manor of Barlow, together with five messuages, 50 acres of land, &c., in Chorlton, and a moiety of the manor in Chorlton. (fn. 13) John son of Roger de Barlow was in possession in 1389, and a year or two later a settlement of his lards in Barlow, Chorlton, Hardy, and Withington, was made, with remainders to his son John, Joan is wife, daughter of Richard de Holland, and their issue. (fn. 14) The younger John was succeeded by his son Nicholas and his grandson Alexander; (fn. 15) the last named heads the pedigree recorded in 1567, (fn. 16) at which time the lord of the manor was another Alexander Barlow, who was conspicuous among the people of the Manchester district by his steady resistance to the religious changes made by Elizabeth. (fn. 17) For this cause he was at last committed to prison, and died in custody on 24 August 1584 leaving a son and heir of the same name, then twenty-six years of age. (fn. 18) The son, described in the Douay Records as a 'constant confessor of Christ,' (fn. 19) was made a knight on the accession of James I, (fn. 20) who at that time showed his inclination towards religious toleration. Sir Alexander died in 1620, holding the manor of Barlow and various lands of Edward Mosley, and other lands in Denton and Haughton; his son and heir Sir Alexander Barlow was over thirty years of age. (fn. 21) Two other sons entered the Benedictine Order, one of them being the Ven. Ambrose Barlow, who for twenty years laboured as a missionary in South Lancashire, and after being several times imprisoned, was at last executed for his priesthood on 10 September 1641 (fn. 22) at Lancaster. His death was supposed to have been due to instructions from the Parliament.

Barlow of Barlow. Sable a double - headed eagle displayed argent, membered or, standing on the limb of a tree raguled and trunked of the second.

Of the second Sir Alexander but little is known. (fn. 23) He died in 1642 and was succeeded by his son Alexander, (fn. 24) who in 1654 was followed by his brother Thomas. (fn. 25) A pedigree was recorded ten years later. (fn. 26) Thomas died in 1684, his surviving son Anthony being the heir. (fn. 27) In 1717 Anthony Barlow, as a 'Papist,' registered his estate. (fn. 28) His two elder sons, Thomas and Anthony, were charged with treason in connexion with the Jacobite rising of 1715, (fn. 29) but appear to have escaped, as Thomas succeeded his father in 1723. Quarrels between Thomas and his wife ended in an attempt on her life, and he died a prisoner in Lancaster in 1729, having fallen a victim to gaol fever. (fn. 30) His eldest son Thomas succeeded, and soon after his death in 1773 (fn. 31) the estates were sold. (fn. 32) Barlow Hall has ever since been the property of the Egertons of Tatton. It was for some years the residence of the late Sir William Cunliffe Brooks.

A house appears to have existed on or near the site of the hall as far back as the reign of Henry VI, but the oldest parts of the present building do not date back further than the first half of the 16th century, and of this original house little or nothing can now be seen, the black and white work now remaining on the outside belonging to a later rebuilding in the same century.

The house stands about a quarter of a mile to the south of Barlow Moor Road between Chorlton-with-Hardy and Withington, on slightly rising ground on the north bank of the River Mersey, the position being originally in a large measure one of natural defence. The building is of two stories, quadrangular in plan, but almost wholly modernized and preserving few features of architectural interest. The entrance is by a doorway on the east side of the quadrangle, but it is said to have been formerly on the north side, part of which is described as a porch with gable over, still remaining. The quadrangle is irregular in shape but measures about 40 ft. from north to south, the width varying from 32 ft. on the south end to 38 ft. on the north. The plan of the buildings now surrounding the courtyard preserves very little of the ancient arrangement of the house, which may originally have consisted of the north and west wings, the quadrangle being completed later; but the great hall occupied the west wing, and a bay window in the north-west corner of the courtyard belonged to it. This bay, together with the restored half-timber work on the north side of the quadrangle, is the only picturesque bit of old work now left on the exterior of Barlow Hall, if we except a carved beam and some quatrefoil panels in the former porch to the north. The bay window is continued up to the second story in a timber gable, the barge boards of which have been renewed. On the north wall of the quadrangle is a sundial with the date 1574, and the motto Lumen me regit vos umbra, marking the work of Alexander Barlow who renovated the Hall in that year. The bay window contains in its six upper lights some good heraldic glass. On one are the heads of a doubleheaded eagle (the crest of the Barlows), with the motto Prist en foyt. Another contains the arms of Holland, and a third those of the third Earl of Derby encircled by a garter, with the date 1574 and initials A.B. below. This appears to have been placed here by Alexander Barlow (whose sister Margaret was the Earl of Derby's second wife) two years after his brother-in-law's death.

Barlow Hall

Booker (fn. 33) gives two more shields, which have now disappeared.

1. Argent a lion rampant gules, collared or, which is the coat of Reddish.

2. A shield of Kendall of seven quarterings: (1) Gules a fesse checky or and azure between three eagles displayed of the second; (2) Ermine a fesse azure; (3) Azure a cross or; (4) Argent three garbs gules; (5) Argent on a cross azure five fleurs de lys or; (6) Or a lion rampant guardant azure; (7) Argent three martlets gules.

A corridor runs all round the house on the inner side next to the courtyard, but in the old west wing it is a modern arrangement, the bay window now lighting its northern end. There is a staircase bay in the north-east angle of the courtyard, and two other staircases in the north-west and south-west interior angles of the building. The kitchen and offices are in the north, and the chief living rooms in the west and south. The internal corridor arrangement is preserved on three sides of the first floor.

By a fire which took place at Barlow Hall in March 1879 the west wing was almost entirely destroyed, and all traces of the original great hall lost. Much damage was also done to other parts of the building. The older part of the house had, however, been greatly modernized before this, and its exterior now presents the appearance of a quite ordinary brickbuilt house of the middle of the 19th century relieved from absolute dulness by a covering of ivy on its principal elevation. The roofs are of flat pitch and covered with blue slates, but some later additions on the south-east of the building have higher pitched roofs with gables and are less plain in detail. On the south of the house at the bottom of the terrace is a pond extending the full length of the building, probably a portion of an ancient moat. The fire of 1879 revealed a good deal of the ancient construction. In places where the stucco and lath and plaster had been destroyed the ancient timber framing was exposed, with fillings of 'wattle and daub' and of brick. Much of this work, including the roof of the west wing, which is said to have been built on crucks, probably belonged to the original 16th-century house, but since the rebuilding it is no longer to be seen. (fn. 34)

Barlow Hall was in 1784 the birthplace of Thomas Walker, author of 'The Original,' and is now the head quarters of the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Golf Club.

In 1787 the principal landowners in the township were the assigns of Thomas Barlow and William Egerton, each contributing about a third of the land tax; George Lloyd paid nearly a fifth. (fn. 35) There were twenty-three owners in 1845, the chief being Wilbraham Egerton, owning nearly three-quarters of the land, and George Lloyd owning nearly a fifth. (fn. 36)

CHURCH

The old chapel of Chorlton is believed to have been built about the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII; (fn. 37) it was taken down in 1779 and another erected, called St. Clement's. (fn. 38) A second church of St. Clement was consecrated in 1896, technically as a chapel of ease to the old one, which is still used. A fund of £69 belonged in 1650 to the chapel and school; (fn. 39) but part was lost, and in 1704 the income from endowments was only £1 15s. (fn. 40) This has been largely increased since that time. (fn. 41) The dean and canons of Manchester present to the rectory. A separate chapelry was assigned to it in 1839. (fn. 42) After the religious changes made by Elizabeth this chapel, if served at all, was left to a lay 'reader,' (fn. 43) with occasional visits from one of the fellows of the collegiate church. Ordained curates are named in 1619 and later, (fn. 44) but the lack of maintenance appears to have prevented any settled ministry until about 1750, (fn. 45) from which date the following have officiated:— (fn. 46)

oc. 1754 Robert Oldfield, M.A. (fn. 47)
1766 Richard Assheton, M.A. (fn. 48) (Brasenose Coll. Oxf.)
1771 John Salter
1789 Joshua Brookes, M.A. (fn. 49) (Brasenose Coll. Oxf.)
1791 Nicholas Mosley Cheek
1805 George Hutchinson, M.A.
1816 Richard Hutchins Whitelock, M.A. (fn. 50)
1833 Peter Hordern, M.A. (fn. 51) (Brasenose Coll. Oxf.)
1836 John Morton, B.D.
1843 William Birlcy, M.A.
1859 John Edmund Booth, M.A. (fn. 52) (Brasenose Coll. Oxf.)
1893 Francis Edward Thomas, M.A. (fn. 53) (Magdalene Coll. Camb.)

A new church, St. Werburgh's, was consecrated in 1902; the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester have the patronage alternately.

Methodism was introduced in 1770. The Wesleyan Methodists opened a chapel in 1805, rebuilt and enlarged it in 1827, and replaced it by another in 1872. (fn. 54) They have now two churches in the township, and the Primitive Methodists also have one.

The Baptists, the Congregationalists, (fn. 55) and the Presbyterian Church of England (fn. 56) each have a place of worship. The Unitarians also have a church, built in 1901. (fn. 57)

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine was opened in 1892. It was first known as St. Peter's Priory, of the Gregorian Order, but in 1896 was handed over to the secular clergy. (fn. 58)

Footnotes

  • 1. 1,294 acres, including 15 of inland water; Census Rep. 1901.
  • 2. Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 373, 377. The township is usually distinguishable from Chorlton-upon-Medlock by the spelling of its name—Chollerton instead of Chorleton.
  • 3. a In 1562 the two principal landowners, Sir Edmund Trafford and Alexander Barlow, claimed to hold the 'manor of Chorlton in Withington,' and made complaint of an encroachment upon the waste; Pal. Note Bk. iv, 210.
  • 4. Richard and Robert de Cholreton were jurors in 1242; Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 153. Richard de Cholreton, clerk, appears in 1314; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 15. Richard Enotson of Chollerton was defendant in 1347; De Banco R. 350, m. 201. Robert 'Chorleton' of 'Chollerton' and Joan his wife were defendants in 1448; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 11, m. 10.
  • 5. See above in the account of Withington. Henry de Trafford and his men of Chorlton were freed from suit to the mill at Didsbury about 1260; De Trafford D. no. 133. Henry Trafford in 1422 was found to have held part of eight messuages, 100 acres of land, and 20 acres of meadow in Chorlton of Ralph de Longford in socage; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1505. In later inquisitions the whole of the Trafford holding in Withington, including Yeldhouse, Rusholme, Fallowfield, Moss Side, and Chorlton, was regarded as a single tenement; e.g. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, 11.
  • 6. In 1594 Gregory Lovel claimed rights in Chorlton Moor by conveyance from Sir Edmund Trafford; Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), iii, 306. See also Booker, Didsbury, 248, 6.
  • 7. A capital messuage called Turf Moss, with lands in Stretford and Chorlton, appears in the inquisitions after the death of Rowland Mosley in 1617; they were held partly of the heirs of Hamond Mascy, and partly of the king as of his duchy; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 66, 69. It does not appear from whom they were purchased; they may have been acquired directly from the Traffords.
  • 8. Abstracts of their charters, made in 1653, are in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 172/208, &c.; some are printed in Booker's Didsbury, 251, 252, and all in Pal. Note Bk. iv, 206–9.
  • 9. Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 172/208. The grantor may have been the daughter of the Hutred de Withington mentioned in the Cockersand charters quoted above. A Roger son of Roger de Barlow attested a Withington deed in the early part of the reign of Henry III; Booker, op. cit. 319.
  • 10. Curia Regis R. 151, m. 29 d., 45 d.; 152, m. 5 d.; 155, m. 6. The other defendants were Adam de Eccles, Matthew de Birches, Thomas son of Richard de Hyde, Thomas son of Geoffrey and Jordan his brother. The plaintiff seems to be the Thomas son of Robert de Barlow who, according to a Lichfield document drawn up in 1397, was sole lord of Barlow, and had sons Roger and Thomas, of whom the former had a son Roger; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 173/209.
  • 11. Ibid. fol. 172/208; a pair of white gloves was to be the rent. Richard son of Henry de Solirton also granted land to Thomas de Barlow; ibid. Amice daughter of Roger de Barlow and widow of Hamond de Barlow released to Thomas all her right in the vill of Barlow; she also gave to Roger son of Thomas that half oxgang of land in Barlow which her father had given her in free marriage; ibid.
  • 12. To Roger son of Thomas de Barlow was granted an oxgang of land in Ainsworth by William son of Robert de Ainsworth, and a release was subsequently given by Maud sister of the grantor; ibid. fol. 172/208. As Geoffrey de Chetham was a witness, these charters cannot be dated much after 1270, if they are so late. In 1292 Roger de Barlow, a minor, complained of various trespasses in Withington by Henry son of Henry de Trafford, Simon de Chorlton, and others; Assize R. 408, m. 4 d. It was perhaps to this Roger, called the elder, that Alexander the chaplain of Didsbury (as trustee) granted lands and water-mill in Barlow, Chorlton, and Hardy in the vill of Withington, with remainder to Thomas son of Roger de Barlow and Margery his wife; ibid. fol. 172b/208b. In 1320–1 an agreement was made at Withington between Sir Nicholas de Longford, as lord, of the one part, and Henry de Trafford and Roger de Barlow of the other; ibid. In 1334 Roger de Barlow alleged that Robert de Barlow had disseised him of five messuages and 30 acres in Withington, and the defence (which failed) was that Roger had given them to his son Thomas, who died without issue male, with remainders to Robert (defendant) and John brothers of Thomas; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 115.
  • 13. Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 99; the manors and lands were to remain to Roger's son Roger and Agnes his wife, and then successively to Roger, Henry, and Thurstan, sons of Roger the younger and Agnes. The 'moiety of the manor of Chorlton' was probably the same as the manor of Barlow. The deed of feoffment in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 172d./208d., bears a seal with an eagle displayed; there was a further remainder to Thomas son of Roger the elder. Margaret daughter of Thomas son of Roger de Barlow in 1343 released to her uncle Roger all her claim in the manor of Barlow, Chorlton, and Hardy; ibid. fol. 173/209.
  • 14. Ibid. The earlier deed referred to was a licence by Robert de Tatton of Kenworthy to John de Barlow to make a mill attachment and weir on the Northenden side of the Mersey. The Bishop of Lichfield in 1393 licensed the oratory within John de Barlow's manorhouse; Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, vi, 130b. John son of Roger de Barlow in 1396–7 made a settlement of his manor of Barlow and lands in Barlow, Chorlton, and Hardy in Withington; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 173d./209d. In 1401 Hugh de Barlow granted to William his son all his lands in Haughton and Withington, with remainder to John son of Roger de Barlow; and in 1408 the same Hugh gave all his lands in Withington to John de Barlow the elder; ibid. John, lord of Barlow, in 1401 leased his water-mill of Barlow to John the miller of Urmston at a rent of £4 a year; ibid. fol. 174/210.
  • 15. A number of deeds of these three generations will be found in the MS. referred to. In 1458 John son of John Barlow the elder gave to feoffees the lands he had had from his father in Haughton; ibid. By a deed of about the same time Nicholas son of John Barlow agreed with Richard Ashton of Mersey Bank concerning the wardship and marriage of Alexander the son and heir apparent of Nicholas; Elizabeth daughter of Richard was the wife chosen; ibid. George and Richard Barlow are named in 1460 and 1461; ibid. Alexander son and heir of Nicholas Barlow made a feoffment of his manor of Barlow, &c., in 1478; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 174 d./210 d. William Barlow, a son of Nicholas, claimed certain lands in Withington against Alexander Barlow in 1479; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 51, m. 3 d.
  • 16. Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 5. The descent is thus given: Alexander -s. Roger -s. Ellis -s. Alexander (living 1567) -s. Alexander. Writs were issued in 1525 touching Anne Barlow, widow, custodian of the land and heir of Ellis Barlow, and Katherine who was the wife of Roger Barlow; Pal. of Lanc. Writs Proton. Lent, 16 Hen. VIII. Two years later Edmund Barlow of Hardy, and Katherine Barlow, widow, were executors of the will of Roger son and heir of Alexander Barlow; ibid. Lent, 18 Hen. VIII; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 142, m. 4. A settlement of his estates was made by Alexander Barlow in 1555; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 43.
  • 17. Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of Engl. Cath. i, 130. It was to him that Lawrence Vaux, warden of Manchester, entrusted some of the college charters; see Pal. Note Bk. iv, 211. He represented Wigan in Parliament from 1547 to 1557; Pink and Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lancs. 218–20.
  • 18. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xiv, 7. The manor of Barlow and lands in Barlow, Hardy, Chorlton, and Marshiche were held of Nicholas Longford in socage by a rent of 20d.
  • 19. As quoted by Challoner. In his will he described himself as 'a true and perfect recusant Catholic.' See also Manch. Sessions (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 82.
  • 20. Metcalfe, Knights, 149. His son Alexander was made a knight at the same time.
  • 21. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 206. The estate comprised the capital messuage called Barlow Hall, a water-mill, and various messuages and lands. The clear value of the whole was declared to be £50. The rent of 20d. for Barlow was unchanged. An account of the life of this Sir Alexander will be found in Pal. Note Bk. iv, 212–14, where also his portrait is engraved, and in Gillow, op. cit. i, 132; Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc.). His will is printed in Booker's Didsbury, 264–7. He was buried in Manchester Church by torchlight.
  • 22. His baptismal name was Edward. There are accounts of him in Challoner's Missionary Priests, no. 161; Gillow, op. cit. i, 134, and Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiii, 129 (with portrait). He was educated at Douay, where he entered the Benedictine Order in 1615, and was sent on the English mission, where he made himself beloved by 'his great zeal in the conversion of souls and the exemplary piety of his life and conversation.' It is related, as illustrating the devotions of the persecuted recusants, that on the eves of chief festivals 'the Catholics resorted to him from distant places and passed the night after the manner of the primitive Church, in watching, prayer, and spiritual colloquies; whilst for his part he was employed almost all the night in hearing confessions. On the next day he treated them all to a dinner, where he and some of the more honourable sort of his flock served them that were poor and waited upon them, and then dined off their leavings. When he sent them home he gave each a groat in alms; and when all had dined he distributed what remained to the poor of the parish.' His name was among those allowed by Leo XIII in 1886 to proceed in the cause of beatification. It has recently been suggested that his is the mysterious skull preserved at Wardley Hall in Worsley. His brother William took the religious name of Rudesind, and became superior of St. Gregory's, Douay. There are notices of both in Dict. Nat. Biog. William Barlow, an Elizabethan divine who became Bishop of Lincoln (1608–13), is said to have been of Lancashire origin, though probably a Londoner by birth; Baker, St. John's College, Camb. i, 256–7; Booker, Didsbury, 254–64; Dict. Nat. Biog. There are no Lancashire bequests in his will.
  • 23. Booker, op. cit. 268–70; where his will is printed. He seems to have sold or mortgaged his estate to Edmund Prestwich in 1621; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 99, no. 15.
  • 24. He was high sheriff in 1651, so that he must have professed Protestantism; P.R.O. List, 73. The estates were untouched by the Parliamentarian sequestrations of the time.
  • 25. Booker, op. cit. 281. A settlement of the manor of Barlow was made by Alexander and Thomas Barlow in 1654; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 156, m. 162. Thomas Barlow and his trustees made a further settlement in 1656; ibid. bdle. 159, m. 89, and again in 1683; ibid. bdle. 210, m. 62.
  • 26. Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 28.
  • 27. Booker, loc. cit.
  • 28. Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 20, 153; the yearly value was returned as £171 9s. for the Barlow Estate, and £7 for one at Northenden. Anthony's will is printed by Booker, op. cit. 282–84. By it the manor of Barlow was given to trustees for the benefit of his sons.
  • 29. The charge is mentioned in their father's will.
  • 30. Some depositions are printed by Booker, op. cit. 285–8. A servant deposed that 'she understood that he, Mr. Barlow, was much in debt, in so much that he never or seldom appeared out of doors but on Sundays, and there was but poor housekeeping.' Particulars of the sacred vestments, &c., at the hall are given; they were 'consecrated goods or ornaments belonging to the Popish chapel at Barlow … kept together in a great trunk.'
  • 31. Indentures of 1760 by Thomas Barlow respecting the manor of Barlow were enrolled in the Common Pleas; Mich. 1 Geo. III, R. 86, 88. Thomas Barlow's will (printed by Booker, op. cit. 288–91), devised Barlow Hall, &c., to trustees for the discharge of his debts, the payment of his wife's jointure, and various annuities, with remainder to the sons of his brother Humphrey, &c.
  • 32. The estate was offered for sale by auction on 2 Aug. 1785; ibid. 291. A private Act, a copy of which is in the possession of W. Farrer, had been obtained for vesting the estates in trustees.
  • 33. a Chorlton Chapel, 293.
  • 34. For the three ghosts of Barlow Hall, see Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vii, 305.
  • 35. Land tax returns at Preston.
  • 36. Booker, op. cit. 296.
  • 37. Ibid. 298; a view is given. There was a sundial over the south door on the wall. On the confiscation by Edward VI the 'ornaments' were sold for 2s. 8d.; Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), 277.
  • 38. Booker, loc. cit. A brief for a collection in aid was issued in 1774. In the Manch. Dioc. Cal. the date of consecration is given as 1782. It was enlarged in 1837.
  • 39. Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 13. Sir Nicholas Mosley in 1612 directed that £5 a year for twenty years should be given to a schoolmaster to teach school at Chorlton Chapel, the Mosleys to nominate and discharge the master, who was not to charge any scholar more than 6d. a quarter; he desired further that the master should read service three times a week in the chapel; Booker, op. cit. 132. An addition of £40, afterwards reduced to £35 10s., was made by the Commonwealth authorities from sequestrations and from the Manchester tithes, but this allowance of course ceased at the Restoration; Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 264; ii, 77.
  • 40. Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 83; £80 was lost by a tradesman in Manchester.' Two wardens were chosen— from Chorlton and from Hardy.
  • 41. Some details are given by Booker, op. cit. 301.
  • 42. Lond. Gaz. 29 Mar. 1839; 16 June 1854.
  • 43. One Thomas Harnes was curate of Chorlton in 1563; Visitation List at Chester. In 1575 Robert Chorlton, 'literate,' was licensed as reader to Chorlton Chapel; Pennant's Acct. Bk. Chester. In 1592 the chapel yard was ill kept, and the reader, Roger Worthington, was unlicensed; he was ordered to obtain a licence, and 'to procure communions to be ministered four times annually according to the queen's injunctions, orderly and well'; Lancs, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xiii, 59. In 1598 the 'reader' kept a school, and six years later, Ralph Worthington, still the reader, was presented for lending money on usury; Booker, op. cit. 302. In a list drawn up about 1610 Chorlton is entered as one of the chapels 'the curates and preachers whereof are only maintained by the several inhabitants'; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 11. From the extract from Sir N. Mosley's will already given it appears that there was in 1612 no curate, but only a reader-schoolmaster.
  • 44. John Dickinson was curate in 1619, but was 'no preacher'; Visit. P. at Chester. John Bradshaw was curate in 1634–6; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 95. He was in 1639 followed by a John Pollett, who, refusing to renounce episcopacy and the Prayer Book, was ejected about 1645; Booker, op. cit. 302. He was followed by Richard Benson, 1647; John Odcroft (unordained), 1651; and James Jackson, 1654; for these see ibid. 203, 204; Manch. Classis (Chet. Soc.), 26, 164, 215, &c.; Plund. Mins. Accts, i, 264; ii, 77, 289 (John J.). Jackson appears to have retained the curacy after the Restoration, but it is not certain that he conformed; his supposed successor, one Richardson, was not a conformist; Booker, op. cit. 304–6. James Lees was there in 1671; Visit. Lists. Joshua Hyde was curate in 1689 and 'conformable' to the government; Hist. MSS. Com .Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229.
  • 45. In 1706 there was 'no settled curate'; Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 83. John Thomas, B.A., of Brasenose Coll. Oxf. appears in 1716, and Joseph Dale in the following year; Booker, op. cit. 306. The latter was also curate of Birch, and stated that the people of Chorlton contributed only £10 a year to his maintenance; Raines in Notitia, ii, 83. The name of Thomas Beely occurs. The extant registers begin in 1737. The gravestone inscriptions are in the Owens MSS.
  • 46. The list is taken chiefly from Booker's work, 307–10.
  • 47. Afterwards of Salford.
  • 48. Raines, Fellows of Mancb. (Chet. Soc.), 274–6.
  • 49. He was afterwards chaplain of Manchester Collegiate Church, 1790–1821, and was noted for his eccentricities, of which many stories were told; see Booker, op. cit. 307–9.
  • 50. Also vicar of Skillington, Lincs., curate of St. Mark's, Cheetham, and postmaster of Manchester; ibid. 310.
  • 51. Also Chetham Librarian.
  • 52. Previously incumbent of St. Stephen's, Salford.
  • 53. Previously vicar of Tonge Moor.
  • 54. Booker, op. cit. 301, 302.
  • 55. It is called the Macfadyen Memorial Church.
  • 56. Founded 1904.
  • 57. The congregation dates from 1891, and therefore has no connexion with 17thcentury Nonconformity. In 1689 William Broome's barn in Chorlton was licensed for a dissenting minister, Thomas Kynaston; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232. Kynaston was from about that time minister at Knutsford. In 1718 a quarter of the small population was Presbyterian; Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 83.
  • 58. Kelly, Engl. Cath. Missions.