A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
'Townships: Heaton', 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/pp9-12 [accessed 7 October 2024].
'Townships: Heaton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed October 7, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp9-12.
"Townships: Heaton". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 7 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp9-12.
In this section
HEATON
Heton, 1302; Heyton, xvi cent.
This township is usually known as Heaton-underHorwich to distinguish it from the other Heatons in the neighbourhood. It has an area of 1,743½ acres. The highest point, just over 1,000 ft., is in the north-west corner. The River Croal forms the southern boundary.
Two roads between Bolton and Horwich cross Heaton from east to west. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway from Bolton passes along the southern boundary, and has a station called Lostock Junction at the western end, where there is a junction of the Preston and Wigan branches.
The most thickly populated part of the township is the eastern end, it being a suburb of Bolton. In 1901 the population was returned with Halliwell.
Coal and slate-flags are found, but not in great abundance.
A School Board was formed in 1883. (fn. 1)
The township was incorporated with the borough of Bolton in 1898.
Fifty-six hearths were liable to the tax in 1666; the largest house was that of Thomas Lomax, with five hearths. (fn. 2)
Manor
In the 12th century HEATON, assessed as one plough-land, appears to have been held in moieties by knight's service of the barons of Manchester. One moiety was included in the Barton fee, (fn. 3) the Hulton family being the under-tenants; (fn. 4) while the other half was held with Worthington, (fn. 5) but afterwards severed, and held as the tenth part of a knight's fee by a family which assumed the local name.
The earliest known is a Randle de Heaton, (fn. 6) followed in hereditary succession by Ellis, John, and John. (fn. 7) The younger John made a settlement in 1332, from which it appears that he had sons John, Adam, and others. (fn. 8) He or his son John was living in 1355. (fn. 9) The son is said to have married a daughter and co-heir of Robert de Huyton of Billinge, and thus acquired the Birchley estate. (fn. 10) Richard de Heaton was in 1385 appointed a keeper of the peace in Salford Hundred. (fn. 11) Richard's son and heir William married Joan daughter and heir of Gilbert de Billinge, (fn. 12) and thus increased the family estate in Billinge. William and Joan were living in 1422, (fn. 13) but for the succeeding century little is known of the family. (fn. 14) William Heaton was holding the manor in 1473 by the ancient service. (fn. 15)
The next to occur is Richard Heaton who recorded a pedigree in 1533, from which it appears that he had been twice married. (fn. 16) William, his eldest son, left two daughters, Jane and Alice; and by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter and eventual co-heir of Sir Richard Aughton of North Meols, he had no issue. (fn. 17) He died in 1542, when family disputes, which had already begun, were continued with energy. Miles Gerard of Ince, who had married William's daughter Jane, claimed the manors of Heaton and Birchley, Alice, the other daughter, having died without issue. (fn. 18) The manors, however, passed to the heir male, William Heaton son of Ralph, half-brother of the William named above. A settlement was made in 1552, (fn. 19) but the new owner appears very soon to have fallen into difficulties and mortgaged his possessions. (fn. 20)
Christopher Anderton, said to be descended from the lords of Anderton, obtained an interest in the matter. In 1562 he purchased the adjoining manor of Lostock, with lands in Rumworth and Heaton, (fn. 21) but it was not till 1572 that he actually obtained the manor of Heaton, and many years more elapsed before his estate was secure. (fn. 22) It is stated that the mortgage money was offered to him by the Heatons just after the expiry of the term, and, to the great scandal of the neighbours, he refused it and kept the manors. (fn. 23) Heaton descended in the same way as Lostock to the Blundells of Ince. Henry Blundell, who died in 1810, annoyed that his only son refused to marry, bequeathed the Anderton properties to his two daughters. A division took place, and the manor of Heaton, with lands in Heaton and Rumworth, fell to the share of Elizabeth wife of Stephen Tempest of Broughton near Skipton. By a family arrangement Henry Tempest, a younger son, received this moiety, and his son Charles Robert, on being created a baronet in 1866, gave Heaton as his seat. (fn. 24) Sir Charles died in 1894, leaving a daughter, Mary Ethel, as heir; she married Miles Stapleton, tenth Lord Beaumont, who was accidentally killed in 1895, and has two daughters.
In 1789 the lands of Henry Blundell paid fivesixths of the land tax. Mr. Starkie had a small estate. (fn. 25)
From the old Heaton family descended Martin Heaton, Bishop of Ely from 1599 to 1609. (fn. 26)
In the Subsidy Rolls of 1541 and 1622 Heaton is joined with Halliwell.
The estate called ROGERSTEAD can be traced back to the time of Edward III. (fn. 27) It was held early in the 15 th century by Roger de 'Walmersley,' (fn. 28) and descended by 1591 to Roger 'Walmesley. (fn. 29) In 1726 it was sold by Roger Walmsley of Bolton to Pierce Starkie of Huntroyde. (fn. 30) It has now become a cemetery belonging to the Bolton Corporation.
For the worship of the Established Church Christ Church was consecrated in 1896; the vicar of Deane is the patron.