Townships: Elton

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

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'Townships: Elton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp133-136 [accessed 8 October 2024].

'Townships: Elton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed October 8, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp133-136.

"Townships: Elton". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 8 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp133-136.

In this section

ELTON

Elton, 1275.

This L-shaped township stretches westward from Bury for about 3 miles, and northward for 2½ miles, and has an area of 2,553 acres. (fn. 1) The part near Bury has long been urban, and indistinguishable from Bury proper except by the Irwell's course. The surface in the western limb rises gradually till 800 ft. is attained in the north-west corner at Bowstone Hill; in this portion are Elton proper and Walshaw Lane. The northern limb, bounded on the east by the Irwell, also rises to the west, over 400 ft. being attained; this portion contains Brandlesholme in the centre, with Woodhill to the south and Summerseat to the north. The population of the registration district was 13,997 in 1901.

From Bury Bridge the roads spread out to the north, north-west, west, and south-west, to Haslingden, Blackburn, and Bolton. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's Bolton and Bury line crosses the south-eastern corner. The Bury and Bolton Canal, opened in 1796, starts in this township near Bury Bridge, and proceeds along the western bank of the Irwell; there is a large reservoir for it on the border of Elton and Radcliffe.

In 1666 there were seventy-five hearths to contribute to the tax, including Thomas Greenhalgh's house with twelve, Thomas Symonds's, six, and Roger Kay's of Woodhill, six. (fn. 2)

The cotton manufacture is the chief industry, with bleaching and dyeing; there are iron-foundries and paper-works.

The Wellington Barracks are the dépôt of the 20th Regimental District Lancashire Fusiliers.

The recreation ground was the gift of Mr. Henry Whitehead of Haslem Hey.

Elton has now disappeared as a township, the greater part having been added to the borough of Bury, but part to Ainsworth and other townships. (fn. 3)

Manors

There does not appear to have been any manor of ELTON, although in the 13th century a family occurs bearing the local surname. (fn. 4) Elton was considered a hamlet of Bury, and its manorial history is involved in the latter's. (fn. 5)

The estate of BRANDLESHOLME in Elton, however, was called a manor. Its early possessors (fn. 6) gave way to the Greenhalghs, who retained it till the beginning of the 18th century. But little is known of this family, who are said to have sprung up in Tottington, (fn. 7) until the 16th century. Henry de Greenhalgh and Alice his wife made settlements of their estate in Bury and Tottington in 1397 and 1398. (fn. 8) Thomas Greenhalgh died at Brandlesholme on 18 July 1576, holding the manor, with various messuages and lands, of Henry, Earl of Derby, as lord of Bury, in socage by a rent of 2s. a year. John his son and heir was about twenty-six years of age. (fn. 9) John Greenhalgh was buried on 21 January 1614–15; (fn. 10) but his son Thomas had died in 1591, (fn. 11) leaving an infant son John to succeed his grandfather. The family were in the service of the Earls of Derby, (fn. 12) and John Greenhalgh was in 1640 appointed Governor of the Isle of Man; (fn. 13) and holding this office at the time of the Civil War, his estates in Lancashire were seized by the Parliamentary authorities. He died in the island 16 September 1651, (fn. 14) and was succeeded by his grandson Thomas, son of Richard Greenhalgh, born in 1633. (fn. 15)

Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme. Argent on a bend sable three hunting borns stringed of the field.

Thomas Greenhalgh recorded a pedigree in 1664, (fn. 16) and married Elizabeth elder child of Dr. Henry Bridgeman, Dean of Chester and Bishop of Man, by whom he had a large family. (fn. 17) He was sheriff of the county in 1667–8. (fn. 18) In his will, dated 1692, John his son is named as the heir, (fn. 19) but appears to have died without issue, as Henry, another son, is described as. of Brandlesholme in 1728. On his dying intestate, administration was in that year granted to his daughters Fanny and Anne. (fn. 20) The manor descended to Elizabeth wife of Samuel Matthews, who in 1732, and again in 1742, made settlements of it. (fn. 21) In 1770 Joseph Matthews and Elizabeth Matthews, widow, were two of the vouchees in a recovery of Brandlesholme and the other estates. (fn. 22) About that time it was sold to Richard Powell of Heaton Norris, a merchant. In 1849 Brandlesholme belonged to his grandson, Captain Henry Folliott Powell. (fn. 23)

BRANDLESHOLME HALL stands on high ground a mile and a half north of Elton, to the west of the road to Holcombe Brook, and is now a house of little or no interest, modern rebuilding and repairs having deprived it of all its architectural features. It was formerly a good specimen of the half-timber gabled houses of the district, built on a low stone base, and erected probably in the 16th century with a later stone wing with mullioned windows at the north end. The greater part of the external timber-work, however, appears to have perished or have been otherwise destroyed before the middle of the last century, when the house seems to have been in a more or less dilapidated state, the principal front, which faces the east, being then patched with plaster and modern sash windows introduced. (fn. 24) In 1852 the south end was taken down and rebuilt in brick and stucco, no attempt being made to reproduce the former style, and the rest of the building being very much dilapidated was repaired in 1908 in a manner more resembling in style the work of 1852 than that of the original building. Externally, therefore, the house, which has long been divided into two, preserves nothing of its ancient appearance, a portion of stone walling on the north, some brickwork at the back (west), and a few stone slabs on the roofs, which have been renewed with blue slates, being all the old work now left. The interior, however, exhibits a good deal of the timber construction, and the hall preserves its wide open fireplace and original oak ceiling beams. In another room is a portion of a ceiling with well-moulded oak beams, and other portions of old timber-work still remain. But the general aspect of the house, inside as well as out, is wholly modernized, and new rooms have been added. On the north-east is a stone barn, and in a corner of the grounds on the south-west side at the end of a terrace approached by eight stone steps are the remains of a small stone building, locally said to have been a chapel, but more probably a summer-house, with the initials H.G. (Henry Greenhalgh) and the date 1709 on the door-head.

Powell of Brandlesholme. Gules a lion rampant within a bordure engrailed or.

The Hospitallers owned Haslem Hey, which about 1540 was tenanted by Edward Earl of Derby, at a rent of 12d. (fn. 25) The Holts of Stubley held it of the earl. (fn. 26)

CHAMBER HALL, on the border of Bury, appears to have been at one time the residence of a Greenhalgh family, (fn. 27) and then of the Kays. (fn. 28) The place was leased to Robert Peel, who there established his great cotton-printing works. His son, the celebrated statesman, was born in the house or in an adjacent cottage. (fn. 29) It is a question debated locally whether Sir Robert or his younger brother was born in this cottage during some repairs or additions at the hall; these additions, which were probably the new brick front, may not have been begun till after Sir Robert's birth. (fn. 30) The hall was used as a Baptist college from 1866 to 1874. (fn. 31)

It was situated about 400 yds. directly north of Bury market-place, on low ground at the foot of the plateau on which the old town of Bury was built, and not far from the left bank of the Irwell. The railway, going north from Bury, passed close to it on the east, and its surroundings, which had been growing less attractive for the last thirty years, were somewhat squalid. In 1825, however, the house is described as standing 'amid fertile fields,' (fn. 32) and the position was no doubt originally a pleasant one. Of the 17th-century house only a small portion remained, at the back or north side; the front part, which was built of brick and dated from the latter part of the 18th century, forming the larger and principal portion of the building. The old house was of three stories, was built of thin rough coursed stones with dressed angle quoins, and retained its old mullioned and transomed windows with label mouldings, one at the east end on the third floor having eight lights. The roof was covered with stone slates, and in the north wall was a stone with an inscription very much worn, dated 1611. The later addition was of the same height but of two stories, breaking the west gable of the old building, and had a very plain brick elevation, with a central doorway and two sash windows on each side on the ground floor, and five similar windows above. (fn. 33) The house was pulled down in February 1909, the inscribed stone above referred to being placed in the Bury Museum.

Somerset, now Summerseat, was held by the Rawstornes under the lord of Brandlesholme. (fn. 34)

Woodhill was long the residence of a family named Kay. (fn. 35) Roger Kay, the refounder of the grammar school, was of this family. (fn. 36)

The principal landowners in 1789 were: Powell for Brandlesholme, Peel for Chamber Hall, Richard Bridge, Mrs. Nuttall for Woodhill, and Mrs. Johnson for Seddon's. (fn. 37)

In connexion with the Established Church, All Saints' was built in 1843, and had a separate district assigned to it in 1844. (fn. 38) St. Stephen's, built in 1881, had a district assigned to it three years later. (fn. 39) The patronage of these churches is vested in the rector of Bury and the vicar of All Saints' respectively. Christ Church, Walshaw Lane, was built in 1892 as a memorial to Jesse Haworth of Walshaw Mill, who died in 1897, by his sister Miss Nancy Haworth and his nephew the Rev. John Gorell Haworth.

The Wesleyan Methodists have two churches in Elton; the United Methodist Church one; and the Primitive Methodists also one, built in 1868. (fn. 40)

For Roman Catholics the school-chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel and the Guardian Angels was built in 1886, and a church in 1892.

Footnotes

  • 1. 2,079, including 77 of inland water; Census Rep. 1901.
  • 2. Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9, Lancs.
  • 3. The final change was made in 1894; Local Govt. Bd. Order 31671.
  • 4. Alexander de Elton and Richard his son were defendants to a claim made by Adam de Bury in 1278; it was shown that Adam was never in seisin of the tenement in dispute; Assize R. 1238, m. 32.
  • 5. Elton Carr is named in a Pilkington feoffment of 1435; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, fol. 9.
  • 6. The name appears to be Brandulf's holme. Gilbert son of Brandulf and Matthew his brother were in 1253–4 among a number of Bury people who had evaded the suits of mill claimed by Adam de Bury; Curia Regis R. 154, m. 16 d., 17. John son of Richard de Brandlesholme (?) had a grant of fruits at the Rhodes in 1281; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 155/191. Henry de Hull and Margaret his wife claimed messuages and lands in 'Brandolfestone' in 1305 against Richard, son of Juliana, daughter of Richard de Brandlesholme; De Banco R. 154, m. 146 d. Richard son of Henry del Hill in 1343 gave all his land in Cecilyhalgh and Woodridding in the hamlet of Brandlesholme in the vill of Bury to Henry de Bury; Towneley MS. DD, no. 847.
  • 7. They were the hereditary bailiffs; Whitaker, Whalley, i, 327. Maud de Greenhalgh contributed to the subsidy in Tottington in 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 37. John de Greenhalgh, Serjeant of Tottington, occurs in 1351 and later in the disputes concerning the succession to Sir Henry de Bury's manor and lands; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 1, m. 7 d.; R. 4, m. 28 d. John de Greenhalgh was wounded at Bury in 1343 by John de Buckden; Assize R. 430, m. 16. The surname has a great variety of spellings—Grenehalgh, Greneholl, Grenoll, Greenall, Greenhaugh, Greenhough, Greenough, &c. It is probably derived from some place in Tottington, as stated in the pedigree recorded in 1664. Another branch of the family had lands in Tottington, as will appear later.
  • 8. Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), iii, 50, 52. The estate consisted of three messuages, 48 acres of (arable) land, &c., in Bury and Tottington; the remainders were to John and to Geoffrey, sons of Henry and Alice; to Alice and Margery, daughters of Thomas son of Thomas de Barlow (in moieties), and to John son of William de Elton; and to the right heirs of Alice the wife of Henry. Henry de Greenhalgh and Alice his wife in 1401 unsuccessfully claimed the guardianship of the heir of Robert del Holt, Robert's wife having been Alice daughter of Alice by a former husband, Thomas de Barlow. John, the son of Henry and Alice, is named; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 1, m. 24b. Henry was a juror in 1387 and 1394; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 27, 49. Robert de Greenhalgh occurs similarly in 1406; ibid, i, 88. Geoffrey de Greenhalgh, aged forty, was a witness to the age of John de Radcliffe of Chadderton in 1415; Lancs. Rec. Inq. p.m. no. 19, 20. James son of Geoffrey de Greenhalgh the elder was interested in the succession to lands in Moston in 1427; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.) ii, 18; while in 1419 James the son and heir of Geoffrey de Greenhalgh— no doubt the same person—had claimed lands in Bury, with appurtenances at Blackburn (perhaps in Tottington), and obtained an Inspeximus of the record in 1444–5 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 538. In 1425 the trustees of James sons of Geoffrey Greenhalgh granted him lands in Horwich with successive remainders as follows: To John son of Henry Greenhalgh; Henry son of the said John; Rayner Greenhalgh and Thurstan his brother; Robert and Thomas, sons of William Greenhalgh; Geoffrey son of John Greenhalgh; Thomas and Ralph, sons of Roger Greenhalgh; and Robert son of Thomas Greenhalgh; Anderton Evidences (Mr. Stonor), no. I. Edmund Greenhalgh attested a charter in 1462; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 164b, no. 18. He in 1479, being described as of Brandlesholme, obtained a general pardon; Add. MS. 32108, no. 1443. He seems to have been charged with a share in the death of Thurstan Kay; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 32, m. 7 d. In 1500 he was relieved from attendance on juries; Towneley MS. CC, no. 690. In the same year Thomas Greenhalgh, son and heir apparent of Edmund, became bound in, £200 to Robert Langley of Agecroft, probably in connexion with the marriage between his son John and Anne Langley recorded in the pedigree; Agecroft D. 93. In 1519 John Greenhalgh, as bailiff of Tottington, made a complaint of various trespasses and offences against the customs of the fee; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 84; see also ii, 108. In 1525 he complained that Thomas Buckley, who had a lease of lands from him in Tottington, had made waste therein; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 145, m. 4 d. He was the leader in disturbances in Bury Church in 1526; Duchy Plead. i, 151. He died in 1555 or 1556, leaving a son and heir Thomas of lawful age; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 29. John's widow Anne died at the beginning of 1567; her will contains a number of family bequests, including some to her son Thomas. To John Greenhalgh (probably her grandson) and his wife she left, among other things, a chalice with a paten and all things belonging unto the chapel, which were to descend as heirlooms with Brandlesholme; Hugh Hardman (not named in the Visitation Lists) seems to have been the resident priest; Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc), ii, 136–8. A settlement of the manor of Brandlesholme, with lands in Bury, Moston, Newton, Collyhurst, Horwich, and Spotland, was made by Thomas Greenhalgh in 1556; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 17, m. 137.
  • 9. Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 10; it is recited that the recovery of 1556 was in consideration of a marriage between John son and heir of the said Thomas Greenhalgh, and Alice daughter of Robert Holt of Stubley, the remainder being to John and Alice and their heirs. See Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 180, where there is a note of Thomas's will. John Greenhalgh, the heir, did not attend the Manchester court to do his service until 1585; ibid, i, 184, 235, 253, A settlement of the Brandlesholme estate, including three fulling mills, was made in 1591 by John Greenhalgh, Alice his wife, and Thomas the son and heir apparent; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 53, m. 295.
  • 10. Bury Reg.
  • 11. He was buried 17 Sept.; ibid. An inquisition was made in 1599, when it was found that John the father was seised of the manor of Brandlesholme and other estates, and had in 1585 made a settlement on the marriage of his son Thomas with Mary daughter of Robert Holt. Thomas died 16 Sept. 1591, leaving a son John, two years of age; John the father and Alice his wife were in 1599 living at Brandlesholme, and Mary the widow of Thomas was living at Middleton; Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. xvii, no. 61.
  • 12. The seventh earl, in his praise of Captain John Greenhalgh, says: 'His ancestors have formerly dwelt in my house. . . . This certainly might breed a desire in the man that the house where his predecessors have served might still flourish'; Stanley Papers (Chet. Soc), iii (B), 12.
  • 13. Ibid, 11, 12; the earl praises him for his government of the island, stating that he was 'a gentleman well born,' having 'a good estate of his own,' which he had managed well; also that he had done 'his king and country good service' and been 'approved valiant.' He concludes: 'He is such that I thank God for him.' See further accounts by Canon Raines, ibid. pp. exxxii-cxxxiv, and Assheton's Journ. (Chet. Soc.), 6. He paid £25 in 1631 on refusing knighthood; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 216.
  • 14. He is traditionally supposed to have fought at Worcester, distinguishing himself by his bravery; see Dict. Nat. Biog.
  • 15. Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), iii, 107–15 (John Greenhalgh), 115–27 (Thomas Greenhalgh). Alice Greenhalgh, widow of John, had been the wife of Richard Burgh of Larbreck, and was sister of Thomas Chaderton of Lees; she petitioned for her lands. Nothing is said about her husband having fought at Worcester. The agreement for the marriage of Richard son of John Greenhalgh with Alice daughter of Edward Rawstorne was made in 1631, and is printed at length. Richard died in Jan. 1635–6, being buried at the parish church on the 19th. Thomas Greenhalgh, the son and heir, petitioned for a declaration of his title to the manor, his grandfather's name having been included in the third of the Acts of Sale, 1652; Peacock, Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 41.
  • 16. Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 124–6.
  • 17. Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 267. In 1682 Thomas Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme and his sons John, Henry, Orlando, and Richard, were made burgesses at the Preston Gild; Pres. Guild Rolls (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 186. Adam Martindale relates that having about 1670 kept 'a day of preaching and prayer' in 'a dark corner' of the parish, Dean Bridgeman being at his son-in-law's house, and hearing of it, caused an arrest to be made. 'I was carried before the reverend Dean,who, knowing me well, said he wondered that I would expose myself to the lash of the law for conventicling, and that under his nose.' However, 'after some other discourse in a loving and familiar way he dismissed me, pretending kindness to me for my Lord Delamere's sake.' On a trial the charge was dismissed; Adam Martindale (Chet. Soc.), 104–5. Oliver Heywood also has allusions to Thomas Greenhalgh's relations with the Nonconformists; Diaries, i, 253; ii, 223.
  • 18. P.R.O. List, 73.
  • 19. Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xvi, fol. 389; in 1705 Henry and Orlando were the sole surviving executors. Henry Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme acquired Dauntesey Warth in 1704; ibid, xxii, 453. Thomas Greenhalgh died 15 Jan. 1691–2; Bury Reg.
  • 20. Raines MSS. xvi, 391.
  • 21. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 307, m. 153; 329, m. 111.
  • 22. Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 612, m. 6; Robert Nuttall, merchant, was the other vouchee. The estate is described as the manor or lordship of Brandlesholme and lands, &c., in Elton, Tottington, Walmersley, Kersal, Pendlebury, Preesall, Stalmine, Hackinsall, and Stainall.
  • 23. There are rival accounts in the notes in Assheton's Fourn. 5, 6; see also Notitia Cestr. ii, 29. Francis Mathew, created Earl of Llandaff in 1797, who is stated to have sold Brandlesholme, was the son of Thomas Mathew (who died in 1777) by a daughter of Richard Mathews of Dublin; G.E.C.Complete Peerage, v, 126.
  • 24. a Pictorial Hist, of Lancs. 1844, p. 247, where there is an illustration of the building at that date. The writer says: 'The gables seem to have formerly been adorned with tracery, some vestige of which still remains. The chimneys are both very ancient and very ample. Modern repairs detract from the uniformity and beauty of the edifice.'
  • 25. Kuerden MSS., v, fol. 84.
  • 26. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 336.
  • 27. Thomas and James Greenhalgh of Chamber occur in the early part of the 17th century; Bury Reg. A Bury family also lived there; ibid.
  • 28. James Kay of Chamber Hall in Elton in 1711 sold land in Castlecroft to Robert Nuttall; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxi, fol. 350.
  • 29. The history of the Peel family belongs to Blackburn. A description of the works in 1795 is given in Aikin, Country round Manchester, 268–9. Robert Peel was selected by Messrs. Haworth (his uncle) and Yates as their junior partner and manager of the works established at Bury about 1770. He acquired a large fortune. He was made a baronet in 1800, and died in 1830; Abram, Blackburn, 220; Barton, Bury, 49–96; Lancs, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 130; Local Gleanings Lancs. and Ches. i, 205; Dict. Nat. Biog. Sir Robert Peel, the statesman, was his eldest son, and was born in 1788. His public career, which was not directly connected with Lancashire, began when he was twenty-one, his father having bought for him the representation of Cashel, for which he sat as a Tory. In 1817 he was elected for the University of Oxford, and afterwards represented other constituencies. In 1810 he was under-secretary for war and the colonies, and was in office almost continuously for twenty years; prime minister, 1834–5; built up the Conservative party; prime minister, 1841–6, when he pursued the policy of repealing duties; continued in his great work of the repeal of the corn laws, 1846. He refused the Garter. He died 29 June 1850, having been thrown from his horse; Dict. Nat. Biog.
  • 30. See letter by Viscount Peel in a Bury newspaper, June 1899, quoted by Manch. Guardian, I Feb. 1908.
  • 31. Barton, Bury, 95. The college is now at Rusholme.
  • 32. Corry, Hist, of Lancs. ii, 658.
  • 33. There is an illustration of the old part of Chamber Hall in The Pictorial Hist, of Lancs. 1844, p. 250.
  • 34. Thurstan Rawstorne in 1583 had two messuages and land in Elton, which he sold or mortgaged to Thomas Warburton; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 4.5, m. 58. He was a juror in 1604; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 28. Children of William Rawstorne of Summerseat occur in the Bury Registers, 1610 to 1616, and he was buried 8 Dec. 1618. He also occurs as a juror. Lawrence Rawsthorne of Summerseat died early in 1630; administration of his effects was granted to his widow Ellen; Wills (Chet. Soc. new ser.), i, 239. Thurstan Rawstorne, gentleman, died at Summerseat 1 Dec. 1634, holding three messuages, &c., in Elton of John Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme by the twentieth part of a knight's fee and a yearly rent of 4d. Ellen his daughter and heir was seven years of age. Ellen his widow lived at Bolton; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxviii, no. 38. A right of way over Summerseat was claimed by Thomas Greenhalgh in 1576 against Thurstan Rawstorne and Lawrence Bury; Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), iii, 43. The Old Hall, Summerseat, was about a century ago the residence of Christopher Roberts, an inventor and mathematician; 'in his disposition calm and philosophical he kept aloof from the pursuit of wealth, and died, as he had lived, blameless.' He was a Swedenborgian; Barton, Bury, 245.
  • 35. The name occurs constantly in the Bury Registers. The will of Roger Kay of 'Wyddall,' dated 1563, mentions his son Arthur; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xvi, fol. 383. Susan daughter of Richard Kay of 'Widdell ' in 1724 married Robert Unsworth of Elton; ibid, xxxi, 290.
  • 36. a Roger was the son of Roger Kay, husbandman, of Bury, and entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1684, as sizar attending on John the son of Thomas Greenhalgh, who was at the same time admitted as a fellow-commoner; Admissions St. John's Col. ii, 97. He became fellow of the college (1689–92), rector of Fittleton and prebendary of Sarum, and died in 1731; Baker, Hist. St. John's Col. (ed. Mayor), i, 300, 301; Le Neve, Fasti, iii, 666, 669. In 1726 he endowed the grammar school of Bury with Chadwick Hall and other estates in Spotland, a rent-charge on Ewood Hall in Haslingden, &c.; and by his will of 1729 left Ewood and other lands to his nephew Roger Kay; the Warth in Radcliffe to his niece Rachel, wife of Richard Allen, surgeon; his other nieces were Dorothy Sudell, widow, and Susan wife of Roger Kay of Widdall; Char. Rep. of 1828, xix, 217, 221. From the Bury Registers it appears that Roger Kay of Widdall had sons Richard and Roger, born in 1650 and 1663 respectively; the latter is the benefactor. Richard Kay of Widdall had a son Roger, born in 1692, who is the nephew referred to.
  • 37. Land tax returns at Preston.
  • 38. Lond. Gaz. 23 Feb. 1844; for endowments, ibid. 3 May 1844 and 10 Aug. 1866. The site was known as Goose Hill Bank.
  • 39. The schools were erected in 1870.
  • 40. Barton, Bury, 204.