Heywood Notes & Queries

Home , Bowlee, Edwin Butterworth, High Crompton, Oliver Heywood, Partington, Salford Hundred

HEYWOOD NOTES & QUERIES.

Reprinted fione the "Heywood Advertiser ."

CONDUCTED BY J . A. GREEN.

VOL. III . No. 25.

,,jFriba1, 3aiuuarp 11th, 1902 .

[242.] JOHN KAY TAYLOR . (See Note No. 152 .) Since the publication of the particulars given at No. 152, I have been favoured with the loan of a little book which contains addi- tional information . It is entitled : A New selection of Hymns, compiled for the use of the Chartists, of Great Britain and Ireland . Selected, arranged, and published under the superintendence of a committee appointed by the Chartist Delegates of South Lancashire . Manchester : J . Leach, printer, 40, Oak-street, Swan-street . [ ] 32 me. pp . 1- At this time of day it is difficult to believe that groups of men would unite in singing some of the "hymns" collected in this book . Ii a man is known by the company he keeps then Taylor is found here in very good company indeed . The best hymns are by Burns, Campbell, Ebenez .r Elliott, Thomas Cooper, 2 and Robert Nicoll . The contributions of J. K. Taylor are not the worst in the book, but the following samples of his quality will suffice : - Hymn, 3-page 5 . Chartist Hymn (S.M.). 1 What can withstand the power, When Britain's sons unite, Throughout this empire in one hour, For to assert their right. (4 stanzas, signed J. K. Taylor, Heywood.)

Hymn, 14-page 18. Chartists' Hymn (P.M.). 1 Come join the patriot's host, The contest now begun, Let each and all maintain his post And labour's battle's won. (20 more lines, signed J . K . Taylor.)

Hymn, 19-page 24. Why are we distressed (C.M.). 1 Upon a soil that God design'd, For each an equal share ; For every son of human-kind, Enough and much to spare. (5 stanzas, signed J. K . Taylor.) Hymn, 20-page 25 . Chartist Hymn (L.M.). 1 See Phoebus gilds the orient sky, While birds rejoice in nature's joy ; While freedom waits on all around, On all, save man, in fetters bound . (5 stanzas, signed J. K. Taylor.) J. A. GREEN.

[243 .] IN MEMORY OF SAM. BAMFORD. Samuel Bamford's life has been so well told by himself in his books that little else can be said of him. When a memorial tablet was erected on hits house in Cheapside, Middleton, a short time ago (December 1st, 1906), some very interesting addresses were delivered. The tablet bears the inscription : SAMUEL BAMFORD, Reformer, Resided and was arrested in this house, August 26, 1819 . 8: The Mayor of Middleton (Councillor W . G . Townend) presided over a representative assembly . He said they were met that day to do honour to the memory of one of Middle- ton's worthy sons . Though all were far from satisfied with things as they are to-day, and were going on being dissatisfied until evils were remedied, yet they did desire to remember and pay a tribute of respect to one who, in John Bright's words, was a reformer when it was unsafe to be one, and who suffered for hiii faith . Mrs. Thorpe, the owner of the cottage, then unveiled the tablet. An adjournment was made to St. Stephen's schoolroom . The Mayor again presided, and Mr. Philip Ashworth, J .P., gave an interest ing address on the life and character of Bam- ford . He explained that the ceremony in which they had been engaged was the out- come of a suggestion made by the Rev . W. H. Eothergill that it was a fitting time to make some lasting record of the fact that Samuel Bamford lived in Cheapside and was arrested in the house there . Proceeding, he said "We know that a monument stands in the cemetery to the Reformer's memory, but I sometimes think that the less pretentious tablet has a meaning of its own, because it brings more forcibly to mind that Bamford not only existed for the nation, but actually lived and worked and fought in Middleton . I look upon Bamford as Middleton's great son, and whilst we raise to his memory monument and tablet yet at the same time his most enduring monument is the works that he left and the advancement of the cause in which he fought . We honour him not only for hia fight for freedom, but also for his contribution to the literature of the country ." Bamford's "Early Days," said Mr. Ash- worth, were delightful reading, and especially so to those who, like themselves, were in- terested in anything which concerned the history and the welfare of Middleton . To him the record of the events and conditions of a hundred years ago came as a breeze across the centuries, from the moors and the dingles 4 and the fields which Bamford knew and loved so well . Bamford was of an ardent and poetic temperament. He was a keen observer, and was blessed with a most retentive memory ; and throughout that volume they would find that be was brimful also of Lancashire wit and humour under all conditions and circumstances . He was to a certain extent another Mark Tapley, for he could be jolly under all circumstances . Mr. Ashworth went on to describe Bamford's "Early Days," and re= marked that what he valued the book for more particularly was for its author's own early impressions . Bamford's father was a God-fearing man. He came of a religious stock, and that fact influenced the son throughout his life . Of the advice which his father gave, three points stuck in his memory, and he endeavoured throughout life to abide by them . They were : Stand up for the right and fear not, be inflexibly honest, avoid all approach towards presumptous assurance, and rather endeavour to be marked for solid worth . They could well say that Samuel Bam- ford was fully justified in laying to himself humble credit for having followed those admirable precepts . ~s ith a nature such as that, a temperament such as his, brought from a home of religious influences, could pathythey wonder that Bamford ever showed sym- for distress ago need and want , in reading through his books it was difficult to fully realise the condition of things that used to exist . They thought sometimes that they were but a portion of the way towards the ultimate goal of full liberty, yet they were very much further than Bamford 'or any of his associates ever was . But they remembered it was to him and to others like him that they were indebted for the advance which had been made. The time to which he was referring, Mr . Ashworth continued, was near the close of a very long and disastrous war Trade was languishing, factories were substi- tuting machinery for the old handloom, and consequently displacing labour. Food was dear s and there were very few means of getting 5 it. Could it be wondered at that people were dissatisfied and discontented, and naturally blamed Parliament and those in authority for the ills from which they were suffering? Feeling that they had no voice in the direction of affairs they sent up those petitions, which were so foolishly and culpably dis- regarded. This, of course, led to the holding of meetings, secret and otherwise. The Government got alarmed, spies were sent out, and sometimes instigated the very things they were t~o detect . The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended and arrests made right and left, Bamford among the rest . He war, taken to London, and Mr. Ashworth said he thought that in a certain sense that arrest was providential. He believed that when Bamford came before the Privy Council they were impressed by him, and could consequently imagine a very different type of people to what they thought existed in the North of England . He believed also that this contact had a good influence on Bamford . It was always so. _such of the misunder- standing and bitterness of the present day was owing to the simple fact that people did not understand each other through keeping apart. Nothing of an incriminating character was found against Bamford, and he was allowed to go home again . This did not stop the agitation . It was continued, but in a more open manner . Bamford was a poet. Though they could not rate him perhaps quite so highly as he sometimes hoped to be, he undoubtedly had a talent in that direction, and it often seemed that he was desirous of copying Burns-Burns, the son of the soil. \1 by could not he follow as a lad from the mill? To a certain extent he was successful . He bad a vogue in those days at all events, and it helped him in his character of being a leader . He was as open as the daylight, he was honest, straightforward ; so he treated other people, and so he expected to be treated in return . It was decided that the Peterloo meeting should be held. A little misapprehension was caused, perhaps by the fact that they were 6 drilling, and it was felt that this meant revolutionary methods. It was nothing of the kind. It was simply this, that the press way against the Radicals at the time, and that, having been described as a mob, they would, at all events, remove that stigma and show that they could march and conduct themselves in as orderly a manner as anybody else. Bamford went at the head of his contingent ; and all present knew what happened on that dreadful day . Ten days afterwards, in the house they had just visited, Samuel Bamford was arrested . The authorities sent a tremen- dous lot of troops, considering that only one poor weaver was to be arrested . He was marched away, to the great distress of his wife. He was lodged in the New Bailey, and taken on to Lancaster Castle, from whence he was released in a day or two as bail was forthcoming. The trial evenutally took place at York. Sir John Bailey summed up most strongly in Bamford's favour, and, without doubt, Bamford was most unjustly con- demned. He had done nothing to merit the punishment meted out to him . He had always striven against violent and unconsti- tutional methods . His idea was that his objects could be attained in other and peace- able directions ; but they knew the state of the country, how people were prejudiced against the "dreadful reformers," though to- day we should think them very moderate indeed. Bamford and his fellow prisoners were sentenced to come up for judgment to the Court of King's Bench in London the following Easter term . Hunt tried to put off the evil day, but eventually judgment was delivered, and Bamford had to go to prison for twelve months . That was to a certain extent the turning point in his career . He seemed to think that the people he had come across in the upper ranks were not quite so bad as he had supposed them to be, and they found a little afterwards that he was not on the very best of terms with his friends. One cause of this was that after looking up to Henry Hunt and believing him to be a patriot of the finest type he became disiiia- 7 sioned. Whether his judgment of Hunt was correct or not the speaker did not know, Bamford met with the "Orator" under varied and peculiar circumstances, and had opportunities for judging him not vouch- safed to others . Therefore they took it that his judgment was correct . Then his friends seemed to have got across when they found that he was no longer a weaver but in the employ of a newspaper . A little misunder- stanuing arose. It was felt that he was not one of their own class, and for a while at all events he was misjudged . Continuing, Mr. Ashworth said he was glad to think that towards the close of the Reformer's life all that disappeared . and as in the distance they could best judge proportions, so the public and the country generally seemed to be able to appraise Bamford at his true worth, and to forget some of the weaknesses which he had-weaknesses which, to his honour be it ate, he newer himself attempted to palliate or deny . Those weaknesses were now for- gotten . They saw the true reformer, the true man, who gave up all prospects of earthly success in the cause of freedom and for the benefit of others . Anyone passing the tablet which had just been unveiled, and, being tempted to inquire who Bamford was, would, they all hoped, be led to study him closely and emulate him . Concluding, the speaker said : "I sincerely hope that as we do honour to-day to the great son of Miadle- ton we are showing a way along which others will travel, and that many more such tablets may be brought forth by the excellence of the sons of Middleton following in Bamford's footsteps, and giving, as he did, of himself most freely, sacrificing everything on behalf or civil, religious, and political freedom ." Mr. W. Ryland D. Adkins, M.P., the Mem- ber for the division, in a letter of apology for non-attendance wrote : "It would have been to me a great satisfaction to have taken part in this ceremony, all the more so because it is non-political . "For when time has passed since the strenuous life of a man like Samuel Bamford 8 I has closed, it is happily possible for men of all parties to unite in honouring a great Eng- lishman, full though his life was of contro- versy and conflict . I am, of course, in profound sympathy with his career, with his ardour for social reform, his strenuous moderation, his unflinching courage, and his love of poetry, the most humanising of the arts. And in such profound sympathy will be, I doubt not, all who are present to- morrow, however their views may diverge as to the best ways and means of realising Bam- ford's ideals . "Middleton may well be proud of him . 1 hope the example which his life shows of uniting political ardour with care for the poor and needy and with devotion `to the best that has been thought and said in the world,' may help to widen the sympathies and brace the wills of all of ue who in any way are privileged to share in the life of that Lancashire of which he was so typical and renowned a son." Councillor S . Partington replied to a vote of thanks on behalf of Mrs . Thorpe . He spoke of Bamford's aversion to violent methods, an . said that ho always resisted any attempts at making him join in the wild proposal to make a Moscow of Manchester ; nor would he be a party to assassinating Ministers . Such a course was proposed by extreme, enthusiastic, and thoughtless men . Bamford did a good thing for the Middleton "blanketeers" when he kept them at home . That showed his firmness and high character, and the persuasive way in which he exercised it amongst the Middleton men of that day . At Peterloio there were fourteen killed, and one of the killed was John Rhodes of Pitts, Hopwood . Then there was Thomas Buckley of Chadderton, Martha Partington of Eccles, possibly one of a Middleton family that had migrated there . Thomas Redford was a hatter, who lived in a cellar, and he was undoubtedly one of the party badly wounded . In 1826 Bamford again prevented an attack on the steam engines in Middleton, Hey- wood, and Rochdale. That was greatly to his 9 credit, and it helped to prove Bamford's noble impulse for justice and moderation as against violence. He was opposed to the physical force Chartists. In 1839, when the Chartists were very rampant in Middleton, he was a special constable to protect the peace. That would, they might be sure, bring him into a great deal of contumely and make him very much hated by the Chartists . Bamford lived in London seven years, drudging in a Government department, and this was considered by his fellow weavers in Middleton a high crime and misdemeanour . The fact was he went there because a Government official, a reformer himself, had taken a great interest in him. Bamford's fellow weavers said lie was an idle fellow because he did not clean his own boots and kept his coat on his back. But he was miserable in London, and finally left it, disgusted to some extent with the life he was leading. He loved Lancashire, and Blackley, and Middleton better than all . When he issued his "Passages in the Life of a Radical" he had to go hawking his literature from house to house . Sometimes he met with favour, sometimes he didn't . It was a strange mode of receiving remuneration for his services ; a strange mode of receiving reward for the sacrifices he had made -on behalf of his country . Later he received £100 from Lard Ashburton, probably a Tory . The Tories did appreciate Bamford, because they saw be was not a revolutionary, and therefore a man to be admired . Then he had £50 from the Royal Bounty Fund . Frrther help came from his literary friends throughout Lancashire and many parts of Fngland, the Manchester Literary Club, and the reformers, so he was kept in comfort for the rest of his life . If one thing more than another was admirable in Bamford's character it was his great consistency and determina- tion of character . As Dr. Johnson said of a predecessor of Bamford's, he was a good scholar, he had variety, and he had the manners of a gentleman in his own blunt fashion. There was in the room a flag which was carried at Poterloo and which was frequently 10 mentioned in Bamford's trial . It was carefully guarded for many years, until it now has a resting place in the Liberal Club . On one side are the words "Liberty and Frater- nity" and on the other "Unity and Strength ." Q.

Irhav, 1,Jirutarv 25th, 1907 .

NOTES. [244 .] HEYWOOD IN 1841 . The following account of Heywood in 1841 is extracted from "A Statistical Sketch of the County Palatine , f Lancaster, by Edwin Butr terworth, London : 1841." 8vo ., pp . xl ., 168. HEywooD, a village or town in the township of Heap, parish, polling district,, and poor law union of Bury, division of Bolton- le-moors, and hundred of Salford, 8 ,1 miles N.N.W. of Manchester. Heywood and Bam- ford Halls are ancient . There are two episcopal chapels, St. Luke's, existed 1611, a curacy, annual value £196, patron Rector of Bury ; and 'St. James's built 1837, a curacy, patrons Trustees .-There are seven dissenters chapels : Independent, Baptist, Wesleyan, Swedenborgian, Primitive, New Connexion, and Associationists . A customary market is held on Saturdays ; and fairs, first Friday in April, Friday before first Sunday in August, and Friday after October 1st . The cotton trade in spinning and weaving is largely carried on : in 1810 the place was a small village, in 1833 there were 27 cotton mills, in 1839 the mills were about 34, and the number of hands 5,190 . There is re canal to the Roch- dale canal, cut 1834, and the Manchester and Leeds railway passes within two miles . The population of Heap in 1801 was 4,283 ; 1811, 5,148 ; 1821, 6,552 ; 1831, 10,429. The schools are numerous, one is a large episcopal national school ; there are 11 Sunday schools . Gasworks were erected 1827, at a cost of £10,000, and there is a mechanics' institute, 11 date 1839 . In the vicinity are extensive coal mines. Annual valuo of property : 1815, £8,861 ; 1829, £27,820. Heywood is again referred to in the article on Bury ; Ashworth, Birch, and Hopwood are included in the article on Middleton . J . A. GREEN . [245 .] HUGH GARTSIDE . As an addition to Note 216 (1906) cn Hugh Gartside, temp Henry VIII., may be given two short references from Fishwick's "History of Rochdale ." The first occurs in his description of Gartside in the township of Butter- worth, and is as follows :- "Another part of Gartside was owned by Hugh Gartside, whose son James, on May 16th, 1545, sold a capital messuage called Gartside Hall to Sir John Byron for £28 5s . 4d. Frcm whose descendant it was sold to William Greaves of Gartside, gent ., the son of William Greaves, curate of Little- berough. It afterwards went to the T'ownleys of Belfield ." Again, in the description of Wolstenholme w•' find "Jane Wolstenholme in a bill of complaint lodged in the Duchy Court in 1526 sets forth a clear descent of six generations . The cause of complaint is tha'r one Alice Shipwalbotham . beingseised of divers lands and messuages and mills in Bury and Spotland, had given them to John Woletenholme and 1largery, his wife, and to their heirs, and that of right the same should belong to her as next akin, but that James Heyward of 'Bury, gentleman, Hugh Gartside, gentleman, and Robert Hesketh had conveyed the premises to themselves by `divers feigned estates .'" Doubtless other references to this family of Gartsido may be found which will further identify them with Heywood . QIIINCIINx,

QUERIES. [246 .] THE PEACE EGGG. Every Easter there is played in Heywood and the surrounding districts the play, "The 12 Peace Egg ." In some form or other it is found all over England, but each district has its own variations . I believe the chorus sung at the end of the play varies much, as it contains local allusions, etc . Many of your readers will be familiar with other versions of the piece and will know how that played in Heywood differs from that played in other parts of the country . I should be very pleased if I could gather any information about the local pecu iarities . Also, was it ever played at Christmas besides at Easter? FOLK LORIST . [247 .] HEYWOOD PETTY SESSIONS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . I have heard that there was a court of Petty Sessions held at Heywood about the middle of the eighteenth century, and others at Middleton and Radcliffe . Can any of your readers give particulars of their origin? Hey- wood was then only a hamlet situate in the township of Heap . If there was a leading inn at Heywood in those days the court would probably be held there ; but it is just possible that the businer,s would be conducted in the ancient Heywood Hall . INQUIRER. [248.] THOMAS JACKSON, JUNR . The Rev. Thomas Jackson was the highly respected minister at Bamford G'napel for nearly twenty years, anu it would be very interesting to have his story told in full in this colulun ; my present object, however, is to ask some of our Bamford friends for particulars of the minister's son, Thomas. I have been told that he wrote a pamphlet or two and composed some hymn tunes . Any . information of him will be welcome . GNAT BANS.

ANSWERS. [249 .] FINE ART EXHIBITION, 1884. (See Notes and Queries, Nos . 87 and 112 .) There has just come into my hands a complete catalogue of the fine art exhibition re- i ferred- to above . The exhibition was held cn 13 behalf of the Hey wood Unitarian . Reed Band, in the Assembly Room, Reform Club, Hey- wood, opened January 10th, 1884 . The official catalogue contains the very respectable total of 766 items lent by over 120 friends, chiefly of Heywood, though many exhibits were sent from Bury, Rochdale, and Man- chester. There were some, remarkable speci- r:ens of sample work done in the days of our grandmothers . Pictures were a special feature, and included many well-known local biews, such as "Simpson Clough," by Ernest Fitton ; ".A.shworth Hall," by J . Partington ; "Ashworth Fold," by S . Atkinsun ; "Ashworth Brook," by E'rnest Fitton ; "Bamford Chapel," by H. Partington ; "Hopwood Hall Mill," by S. Chadwick, and many others. It would be a good thing if another exhibition of a similar character could be shown to the present generation . J . A. GREEN.

1 .drib i , J ebrxtirp lot, 1907'.

NOTES. [250 .] GOODEN LANE . In Note 60 ,on "Some old street names," by J.C. of Castleton, which appeared on May 26th, 1905, and may be found in the reprint ."Heywood Notes and Queries," vol . I., p . 68, occurs the following :-"Gooden Lane (Ma.n- cheeter-street) took its name from its being covered over with golden looking flowers before any houses were built ." This, I am sure, is an erroneous supposition. As Man- ch:ster Load is so named because it lead, to Manchester, so Gooden Lane s the lane leading to Gooden, the part of Hopwood imme- diately adjoining Heywood to the south . That Gooden is a corruption of golden is true, and it is possible the country round about may at one time have been a brilliant gorsey expanse, but of this we have no evidence. Of the antiquity of the name, how- I ever, we have, for it occurs in the original 14 charter by which the land of Heywood was granted by Adam of Bury to one of the ancestors of the Tamil- which for many generations possessed it. This charter, a copy of which r,.ay be found among the notes to James's "Iter Lancastrense" is without date, but cannot be later than 1272, and is probably of date between 1260 and 1270 . In this charter the limitations of the grant are defined thus : "Incipiendo ad Golden et sic sequendo Golden u,sque in aquam de Ratch et sic sequendo Rache ascendendo usque ad Heedene et sic sequendo Heedene ascendendo u-;que ad metam Adae de By--y et Rogeri de Midleton ."-James's "Iter Lancastrense," p . 23. Chetham Society, vol . vii. This we may translate roughly : "Beginning at Golden (Golden) and thence following the Golden (now the Cartridge Brook) to its junction with the River Roach, and thence following the Roach, ascending as far as the Hedene (now the Miller Brook) and so following the Hedene, ascenaing as far as the boundary stone of Adam of Bury and Roger of Midle- ton." 1 Another form of the name was Gulden, and this is found of nearly equal antiquity . Among Lancashire fines, for example, we find one dated, "at Shrewsbury on the octave of St. Hilary 10 Edward I ." (20th January, 1282), between Richard, son of Hugh of 4 Gulden, and Adam, son of Hugh of Gulden and Eve, his wife, confirming a grant of land, etc ., in Bamford, from the latter to the former . ("Final Concords of County of Lan- caster." Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, vol . xxxix ., p. 157 .) It should be remembered that both Gooden and Bamford were held by Roger of Midleton as chief tenant. In the Middleton Registers the spelling varies through golden, goulden, gouden, gowden, to gooden-golden occurring at least as late as 1617 . (Registers of Parish Church of Middleton" [1541-1663 .] Lancashire Parish Register Society, vol. 12, pp. 63 .) THOMAS HUNT . Heywood, January, 1907 . 15 [251 .] AN OLD SCHOLARS' RE-UNION AT ASHWORTH . A local paper gave the following description of a re-union of old scholars which took place on Sunday, September 10th, 1893. The account includes some interesting notes on the history of the church, which will be appre- ciated by readers of this column . The reunion was the first of the kind held at Ash- worth, and was attended by old scholars from placers many miles distant . The districts from which they principally came were in the immediate neighbourhood, such as Heywood, Bury, and Rochdale, but many came from further afield, several coming from Manchester and High Crompton, and ono or two from Rawtenstall, the journey both ways being per- formed on foot . The musical part of the service was selected go as to be suitable to the old scholars . At the afternoon service the organist was Mr . txeorge Ashworth of Manchester, and in the evening Mr . Harry Clough of IN esley College, Shcffieid (organist at St . Mark's Church, Shef- field) . Both gentlemen are old attenders at the church, and in his younger days Mr. Clough many times played the organ for his father, who was the organist at Ashworth . The hymn tunes were old ones, many of them being very rarely heard in churches nowadays . Among them were "Cranbrook," "Irish," and "St. Peter," and in the singing of the hymns the utmost heartiness was man=:fested by the congreontions . Such large numbers put in an appearance at both the afternoon and evening ,services that the building would not hold them all, even though forms were put along the aisles, and the vestry was utilised . The Rev. hathbone Hartley was the preacher, and probably the fact that he is the grandson of a former incumbent the Rev . David Rath- bone-had much to do with the large attendance. Mr. Rathbone is yet remembered by many members of the congregation worship- ping at Ashworth Chapel with great and de- served esteem . He was appointed to the in- cumbency by Mr . Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton, in whose gift the living was on the A 5th November, 1832, and retained it until the 10th February, 1871, when he died . The church made great strides during his incum- bency. In 1837 he commenced the Sunday school, holding it for over a year in a loft in Ashworth Hall Fold . The present school was built by Mr . Egerton in 1838, at Mr. Rathcsne's request, and was opened on Sun- day morning, the 12th August of that yea. . Directly after he was appointed to the incum- bency Mr . Rathbone commenced a day school in the left in Hail Fold, and except when he had to go away on business he taught in the school every morning and afternoon, with the exception of Saturday, on which day the school was not held . In January, 1839, he commenced a "writing" school, which was held at night, and taught the young people, not of Ashworth alone, but of Barnford and Norden, how to write. He kept the day school cn for some 25 years, and was faithfully assisted by his wife, who woula take his place in the school on the rare occasions when he had to go away from home . The church fabric was also looked after with great care by Mr . Rath- bone. When he was ordained the building was but three windows long, but by his exertions it was enlarged and made five windows in length . The vestry was also built, and on several occasions the churchyard was added to, the last time being about 1868, when a large portion was enclosed . In the year 1850 a new pulpit and reading desk were put in the church, but these have since been removed, as the interior of the church has been altogether renovated . Since his death a stained-glass window has been put in the church to his memory, and to the memory of his wife, who died some months after him, and of his son, David, who died on November 1st, 1860, just 4 after he bad taken his degree of M .A. at Oxford . The window was put in by his daughter, Mrs . Hartley of Sr'mpson Hill, Hey- wood. Mr. Rathbone's grandson referred to the old times when the school met in the loft in the fold, and after speaking of the great changes which had taken place, he urged his hearers to remember that though everything 17 in connection with this life was hound to change, Christ was more permanent than the everlasting hills . He hoped that reunion might lead to a closer binding up of all pre sent to the eternal Christ, so that their lives might be more fully and more completely lived in union with Him- During the course of his evening sermon, Mr . Hartley, preaching from the text, "Ye are the salt of the earth," commented on the fact that a large number of old scholars at Ashworth had attained to pos tions of trust in various parts, and said that the very position they had attained to would enable them, if they were so minded, to use their opportunities so as to be really and truly the salt of the earth . The choir sang an anthem at each service, Mr . Goo . Whitworth being the conductor . The collections, which were for the Sunday school and church expenses, realised over £20 .

QUERIES. [252 .] WORKING MIEN BOTANISTS . One occasionally sees references to the school of Lancashire working men naturalists -the self-taught naturalists of the early years of the last century. In 1873 there was published a most interesting and valuable little book on the subject, entitled : "Where there's a will there's a wayl or, Science in the cottage ; an account of the labours of naturalists in bumble life," by James Cash of Manches- ter . I believe there used to be a copy in the Heywood Co-operative Library, but I do not remember whether any local men had the honour of a place in the record . Can anyone give me information about any local botanists who attended the meetings of societies in Heywood and drs~trict? What discoveries they made, and where any of their collections may be seen? . LEMUEL. [253 .] HAND-LOOM WEAVING . We have had in this column some references to extinct local industries, but handloom weaving has not yet had a turn . It was a considerable industry for a long time VOL. 3.-Part 26 . 18 after the introduction of the power-loom . Sometime about 1840 an inventor had the courage to place an improved hand-loom on the market, but the power-loom rapidly dis- placed it. Hand-loom weaving lingers even yet in some Lancashire districts, but as a local industry it vanished many years ago . It would be interesting to have accounts of some of the best weavers and descriptions of their looms . Among the weavers there must have been men of some character who would be well known to an earlier generation, and one would like to know something of them . We have still amongst us many who either worked some of these looms or saw them worked by others . Will someone kindly give particulars of this local industry . FUSTIAN .

lxihnp, ,Jfiebruar 8th, 1907 .

NOTES. [254 .] GENTLEMEN OF THE BEST CALLING. In the early days of this column there appeared a communication giving a 'list of lay inhabitants of this district in 1322 . Trnfor- tunately, perhaps, we do not possess many such documents, and what few remain con, taro mostly the names of members of various county families . Such a list was published by the Chetham Society in 1862 (Chetham Miscellanies, vol . iii .), with an introduction by Canon Raines . It may be interesting to give some account of it . The title of the manuscript is "The Names of all the Gentlemen of the Best Calling Wthin the Countye of Lancas- ter, Whereof Choyse ys to be made of a c'ten number to lend vnto her Ma'tye moneye vpon Privie Seals in Janvarye:, 1588." The money raised at this time by the (Town was to defray expenses connected with the resistance of the Spanish Armada, . "The

19 Privy Seals (says Cannon Raines in his introduction) were always exceedingly unpopular as the recognisance was not invariably dis- charged nor repudiated, but considered as dor- mant, and the men of `great worship' who advanced the voluntary loans as they were firmed, were ranked in each county chiefly according to the amount of their contributions and not as they were regarded by the Heralds ." Froude's account of the raising of a loan in a previous reign shows the general character of this arbitrary imposition, which must have been most oppressive to those on wham it was imposed. - "Money," says the historian, "had to be found somewhere . The harvest happily had been at last abundant : and wheat had fallen from fifty shillings a quarter to four or five. The country was in a condition to lend, and a commission was sent out for a forced loan cal- culated on the assessment of the last subsidy . Lists of owners of property in each county were drawn out with sums of money opposite to their names, and the collectors were directed 'to travail by all the best ways they might for obtaining the sums noted .' Persons found con- formable were to receive acknowledgments . Should any be 'too froward' they were to find securities to appear when called on before the Privy Council, or be arrested on the spot and sent to London . Many thousands of pounds were collected in this way in spite of outcry and resistance." Canon Raines further says :- "We have here a list of the principal old and wealthy families of Lancashire in the time of Queen Elizabeth, many of whom did not bear Coat Armour, and were not ranked amongst `Gentlemen' by the courtly but in- exorable officers of they Earl Marshall . The `fountain of all honour,' however, deemed it politic, at this critical juncture, to address individuals of various degrees of local I honour and dignity as `Gentlemen of the best callinge,' and it will be readily admitted that the names now presented indi- cate men in whom there was a concurrence of `birth, eduoatien, and continual affecta-

20 tdon of good manners,' which, Selden says, completed the character and obtained the title 4 a gentleman . , (Preface to Titles of Honour .') The higher Clergy are omitted here as they taxed themselves and granted Royal Aids in Convocation ." A very interesting calculation is also give,, in the introduction :-"Of the two hundred and twenty-six individuals named, not thirty have left descendants in the male line living on their ancestral property, and the estates of the great majority, have passed, from time to time, into other families, either by marriage, purchase, or settlement ." If this was the case in 1860 there must now be far less than thirty . The list is divided into six seoti~ons := Derbye Hundreth ; Leyland Hundreth ; Lonsdall Hundreth ; Salford Hundreth ; Blackburne Hundreth ; and Amounderness Hundreth--and contains altogether 226 names . The Hundred of West Derby with 55 names includes Mr . Ashton of Penket . Sr John Holceoft. John Ashton . Lawrence Ireland . Mr. Ashton of Penketh was probably the John Aishton, father of Margaret, wife of Robert Heywood, the poet, and who married Ciceley, daughter of Gilbert Ashton . (See Corser's Notes to James's "Iter Lane-as, tren!se .") Richard James mentions the family in his "Iter" as follows:- "To Roman Nowell, Ashton of Penkith, Ireland of Hale, to all my Heywoods, with Brock, Holcroft, Holt, this journall poeme sends Greeting and faire observance ." Mr . Corser's note on "Ashton of Penkith" is :- "Thomas Asheton of Penketh, son and heir of Hamlet Asheton, of Blakebrook, by his wife Christiana, eldest daughter and co-heiress of John Asheton, of Peuketh, gent., which estate her son Thomas inherited in her right . He 21 married Catherine, daughter of Robert Brooke of Upton, Cheshire, and was nephew of Robert H,,3-wood, of Hey-wood, the elder, who had married Margaret, the younger daughter and co-heire€ts of John Asheton of Penketh, gent. . The Manor or Lordship of Penketh is situated in the parish of Prescot, and came into the possession of the Ashetons by the marriage of Richard Ashton with Margaret, sole daughter and heiress of Riciarh Penketh, of Penketh." The Leyland Hundred contains 26 names, which include the Heskeths, Banastres, Stan- dishes, etc. The next is the Lonsdate Hun- dred with 28 names, one of whioh is George Midleton . However, the most interesting part of the list 'is that relating to Salford Hundred, including, as it does, Heywood, Rochdale, Bury, and LAiddleton . The section is also the largest, with 63 names . Three knights head the list, viz . :- Sr Edmund Trafford. Sr John Radchffe. Sr John Birron. Then follow : Mr. Ashton of Midleton . Rauphe Barton . Mr. S'geant Shuttieworth. Rychard Holland . Frauncs Holt . Edmund Trafford. Among the other names are : Charles Holt. Edmund Ashton. Willm Hilton . James Browne . k John Grynehaghe. Edmund Hopwood. a Gilbt Sherington. Mr. Radclyffe of Foxdenton . John Bradshawe. Edmund Heywood. Richard Leyver. Robert Holt . Charles Rad'olyffe . Edward Butterworth . Cuthbert Soowfield . 22 Arthur Asht,on . Ellis Ainsworth . James Asht•on. Thomas Ctompton . Rychard Radclyffe . Thomas Chaderton. Starkye . Thomas Ainsworth . Willm Bamforth. 4 John Radelyffe . George Birohe. George Proudlowe. Hvmfrey Hoght-on. George Holland. Lawrence Robinson . Nycholas Mossley. It will be peen that all the names given above belong to old and well-known families, and for the purposes of a local column such as this a few remarks on some of the local names will suffice . "Fraunes Holt" will be the Franci;y Holt of Gristlehurst, who has been so frequently nen- tiened in these columns . The Halts were connected with the Heywoods, the Asshetons, and other old families . "John Grynehaghe" is probably John Green- halgh of Brandlesome . In the Manchester Court Leet Records, at the court held Octo- ber 2nd, 1576, the death of Thonas Grene- ha'lghe of Brandlsame is recorded, and his heir is his son, John . [Mr. Harland says "Through- out the old MS . volumes of Court Lent records are scattered entries of the deaths of the tenants of the lord of the manor . . also stating who is the heir or next of kin of such deceased tenant, and whether such heir be under age or at full age, i.e., 21 years ."] At the Rochdale Manor Court held 37 Eliz ., 30th April [1595] John Greenalgh of Braardl- some, Es q ., along with Cuthbert Scolfild of Scolfild (see below) is a plaintiff in a dispute over land . The name John Greenhalgh do Brandlesome, armiger, appears in a list of freeholders (Libere Tenentea) in the Hundred of Salford in 1600 . 23

Edmund Hopwood, of course, is one of the Hepwoods of Hopwood . In the Rochdale Parish Register he is mentioned as married 16th May, 1585, and at the Rochdale Court 11 Leet, 20th February, 1567, ffrancis Belfeld per Roger Hasselton, his attorney, had a case against Edmund Hopwood, armiger . The Heywoods of Heywood are represented by Edmund Heywood . He would appear to b•a a younger son of James Heywood . A full account of the Heywood family will shortly be published in Notes and Queries, when further particulars will be given of Edmund and Junes Heywood . Robert Holt would probably be identical with the Robert Holt of Ashworth, who is mentioned in the will of William Asbton of Clegg Hall, dated 11th January, 1582 . In the Roch- dale Parish Registers, under the heading "Burialls" is March 6th, 1600, "Wilhn Asshe- ten, esquire ." The will was proved 7th, Octo- ber, 1602, "before Mr . Thomas Richardson, Clarke, Deane of Manchester ." Testator recites a deed of settlement made between his father, Arthur Ashton, himself, and brothers, Edmund and Charles, on the one part, and Robert Holte of Ashworth and Peter Heywood of Heywood, Gents ., on the other part, and appointed his brothers, Ed- ward and Charles Asihton, overseers and super- visors -of his will . Under the will of Arthur Assheton, the father, dated 15th May, 33rd Elliz ., and proved in 1593, testator "desires his son Edward Assheton, Clarke, Rector of Middleton, and my very deare friend, Robarte Holte of Ashworth, gent ., and Robarte Holt,, his sonn and heire app'ent, to bee overseers, Y and I give either of them, 1 0s . i n gold . for a remembrance of my good will ." i' There appear to be two persons of the name of Cuthbert Schofield about this time . T'ho one mentioned is probably the individual whose decease is recorded at Rochdale as "Mr. Cuthbert Scolfelde," buried June, 1605 . The baptisms of two illegitimate children of the above are also registered at Rochdale as 24 1588, December 29, b Alexander, filius Mr . Cudbenrde Scol- feld et Joney Langley . 1590, Julie 26 . b Johis, fil'ius Chuthbeard Scolfelde, gent., and Joney Langley. At the manor court, held at Rochdale, 37 Eliz ., 30 April [1595] there appeared John Greenalgh of Brandlsome, E-o ., Edward Ros- lot theame of Newall, Esq ., Cuthbert Scolfild of Scoifi'ld, gentleman, John Chadwic'ke of Ellen- roade, and James Belfeld,' plaintiffs', ; Edmund Greave of Fernhill, defendant, respecting a right of footway from Kitrboth-yate-end to Bridhiil. (See Fishwick's History of Rooh- dale .) Colonel Fishwick also remarks that Cuthbert Schofield seemed to have had a great liking for law suits, and the History of Roch- dale records many . He is described in a suit ait the Duchy Court, respecting the occupa- tion of Milnrow Church, as "being a very ovill disposed"? person . He had a grant made to him of a crest, 6 March, 1582 (see Palatine Note Book.) Willus Bamford de Bamford, gent., was a freeholder in the Hundred of Salford in loiO, and will probably be the same individual as "Willm Bamforth." He is also mentioned in the inquisition post-mortem. of Edward Sid- dall of Slade as William Bamforde, gent ., a member of the jury . The date is September 23rd, 30 Elizabeth {1588] . The two remaining Hundreds are those -of Blackburne ana Amoundernecs . Blackburne contains 32 names, including John Towneley. Roger Nowell. Rychard Ashton. Mr. Shutlewovth of Gawthorpe. Henry Towneley of Barneshyde . 40, My Ladye Hesketh . Mr. Towneley of Royle. The '1'owlne.eys would be members of the Towneleyc of Burnley or some other branch of that well-known family. The Towneleys of Rovle are said to he the ancestors of the Richard Townley of Rochdale who, on the 25 decease of Alexander Butterworth of Belfield Hall, Esq ., High Sheriff of Lancashire, in 1675, succeeded to the latter's estates . The family of Nowell were mentioned in the notes on James's "Iber Lancastrense" given in this column some few months ago . Amounderness, the last Hundred, has only 22 names, and none 4 much local interest . Much information could be given of the names in the foregoing list, and the writer hopes that his slight treatment -of the subject may lead others to amplify his notes . QUINCTTNX.

., frihag, iebruarp 15th, 1907 .

NOTES . [255 .] DATE OF THE ORIGINAL HE, YWOOD CHARTER . In Note 250 on "Gooden Lane" I ventured to propose the seventh decade of the 13th century as the most probable date of the grant by Adam of Bury to Peter of Heywood . As I do not wish this to be taken as a mere ex- cathedra statement I propose in this note to give my reasons for coming to the above con- clusion . Of the early generations of the Heywood family we seem to have little if any reliable information . In the "Iter Lancastrense" the Rev . Mr . James, with the generous flattery of an intimate friend, assigns them a beginning "About ye date When second Harrie mighty was of state," -that is sometime between 1154 and 1189 . The Rev. Thomas Corser, however, in his notes (for the genealogical information con- tained wherein he probably relied entirely on the Rev . Canon Raines) think, that Mr . Hunter in his "Life of Oliver Heywood" is probably more correct when he states that the charter "cannot be referred to a period later 26 than the first fifteen years of Edward the first''-(1272-1287 .) It will be noted, of course, that these two statements are not mutually destructive-Peter of Heywood's ancestors may have been residing at Heywood in the reign of Henry II., although we have no evidence of it : on the oi{her hand, Mr Hunter does not say the charter may not have been granted earlier than 1272 . In the chart pedigree inserted in the "Iter Lanoastrense" the first name is that of "Peter de Heywood," said to be the grantee from Adam of Bury, and to have died in 15 Ed. (1286-7) . On what evidence the date is fixed I do not know . In an anonymous article entitled "Heywo •od Hall," which appeared in the "Bury Times," May 20th, 1893, it is implicit that the grant was made between 1272 and 1287 . The source is evidently the same as that of Mr . Corser's rote . Again, in the "Heywood News" on successive dates in January, 1894, there appeared an anonymous series of articles entitled "The Earliest Records of Heywood and the Hey- wcod Family." Here we have the first fifteen years of Edward I. again cited, this time on the direct authority of Canon Raines without reference either to Mr . Oorser or Mr. Hunter . Some fresh speculation in the matter is here introduced, however, as we read that "To a paper read not long since before the Lanca- shire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, Mr . Nathan Heywood appended a pedigree in which he gives 1164, ten years after Henry II. ascended the throne, and scarcely a hundred years after the conquest, as the date of the grant to Peter de Heywood ." Here wG hark back to "Ye date, M When second Harrie mighty was of state," we have a definite date this time, it is true, but again we have no evidence to support it . But is it impossible to get at some idea of the period at which the charter was given, from internal evidence? I do not think so . It is usual in dealing with undated charters 27 to find, if possible, among the witnesses, who were generally numerous, some two or three of whose contemporary existence there is some indisputable evidence, and so fix the date within the period at which these were contemporary . In the case of the Heywood charter this seems to me comparatively easy, for the very first two witnesses are territorial magnates who have left definite records ~of their existence both in dated charters and in dated legal processes in connection with their tenures : Sir Geoffrey of Chetham and Alex- ander of Pilkington-uncle and nephew. It is impossible to identify prima facie the Adam of Bury and Roger of Midleton named in the charter, as an Adam and a Roger held '.r these estates -respectiveiv both at the begin- ring and towards the end of the 13th century : the same remark applies to Alexander of Pilkington . We have no record of more than one Sir Geoffrey of Chetham, however, so he must be our fixed point . In the great Inquest of Service taken in the reign of King John (1212) we find that Chetham was held by Roger of Midleton, of the King, and that Henry of Chetham was his sub-tenant. ("Lancashire Inquests, Extents, and Feudal Aids, 12!15-1307," p. 66., Lanca- shire and Cheshire Record Society, vol. xlviii .) Henry's successor in Chethaan was Geoffrey (presumably his son and heir) whose tenure began some time about 1235, and lasted nearly forty years . Contemporary with Henry of Chetham was an Alexander of Pilkington, whose name also occurs in the great Inquest of 1212 . He was probably the son of a pre- vicus Alexander of Pilkington (temp . Henry II..), who must have been deemed by Mr . Nathan Heywood to be the witness of the Heywood Charter when he fixed the date thereof as 1161 . To the Alexander of Pillcinb ton of 1212 succeeded Roger, who appears as tenant in 1245 when the inquest known as the "Scutage of Gascony" was taken . (Lancashire Inquests, etc ., p . 154) . He married Ellen, sister of Sir Geoffrey of Chetham, by which marriage "the manors of Chetham and Cromp- ton descended to his son, Alexander de Pil- 28 kington, after the death of Sir Geoffrey shortly after 1271 ." (William Farrer, note p . 35, et seq, "Final concords of the County A Lancaster" [1307-1377], Lancashire and Che- shire Record Society, vol . xlvi .) This Alex- ander of Pilkington is found as witness of various charters between 1260 and 1280, and` was dead before 1292, as in that year his son Roger proved his claim to the lands . There can be no doubt, I think, that this is the Alexander of Pilkington who witnessed the Heywood Charter, and not the Alexander of Henry the Second's reign . We have thus two ,of important date, 1260, after which Alexander of Pilkington's name begins to appear on dated charters, and 1271, "shortly after" s. which he succeeded his uncle, Sir Geoffrey, in the Chetham Estates . In that decade, therefore, I say, should probably be placed any document attested by both these personages . THOMAS HUNT . Heywood, February, 1907 .

,9friba , Iebrunrg 22nb, 1907.

NOTES. [256 .] EARLY MENTION OF HEP . A 13TH CENTURY CHARTER. The earliest mention I have found of the township known in modern times as Heap occurs in one of the Lansdowne Manuscripts (British Museum,, 485 f . 49 .) It is in Latin, and a rough translation is appended :- To all the children of Holy Mother Church, be it known and made manifest that I, Adam de Biry, have given, conceded, and by this present charter have confirmed to God and St . Mary Magdalene of Bretton and to the monks serving there -and to the work of her church, one piece of land in Hop which is called Lummehalenges, divided as follows :-Tat is to say, from the rivulet which falls into Black- well, through the centre of the moss as far as Meresache -as the land divides itself as far as Guledene, and from Guledene to the water of the Rached, together with all rights per- 29 taming thereto in wood, in plain, in meadows, in pastures, and in waters, and with all common rights of communication, with their livestock with the same ville, wheresoever the livestock of my men communicate with the same ville of Hep . This gift and confirmation I have made to the aforesaid monks, and to whoever they may assign them, for the health of my soul -and that of my wife, and for the souls of my father and mother and of my ancestors and my heirs, in free and perpetual gift, holding of me and my heirs, freely, quietly, and freed 61 from all lay interference, as a free gift . These being witnesses, ROGER DE -INIONTBEGON . WILLIAM, THE SON OF ADAM . -r GILBERT DE NOTTON . "Guledene," I take it, is now represented by "Gooden" or "Goolden," and "Rached" by "Roach" or "Roche ." Perhaps, some reader of Notes and Queries can throw light oon the several place-names that occur in the document. "Adam do Biry" (Bury) held a considerable portion of land in this district, -under Roger do Montbegon, who had large estates in the Hundred of Salford ; and the said Adam claimed descent from Roger's sister Alice, wife cf Esward, or Efward, de Bury. Roger was the son of Adam de Montbegon, "a mili- tary tenant of the Honour of Lancaster, in the counties of Lincoln, Lancaster, and Suf- f-;;lk," whose wife, Matilda, was a younger daughter of Adam fitz Swain, founder of Monk Bretton Priory, near Barnsley, York- shire . The ruins of this Priory-about two miles eastward of Barnsley-are well worth seeing . Roger do Montbegon held eight knight's fees in the Honour of Lancaster, and was a great friend of the Priory founded by his maternal grandfather . He made an extensive grant of lands in the Holeombe and Tottington districts to the Priory. He :s 1 said to have been "a stout adherent to the cause of his chief lord, John, Count of '_Vlor- tain, for whom he defended Not'ingnam Castle against the forces acting on behalf of r King Richard in 1194 ." He died in March, 30 1226, leaving no issue . One of the other witnesses to the charter relating to Adam de Bury's grant of lana in Heap to Monk Bret- ton Priory appears to be identical with the Gilbert de Notton, or Nocton, who was the second husband of Edith do Barton (his second wife), and held various estates in Lan- cashire, chiefly in Roger de Montbe,on's fee of Tottington, a manor of considerable extent. In his "Court Rolls of the Honor of Clitheroe," Mr . W. Farrer shoivs that the 4 Honor of Olitheroe was than part of the great, Lancashire fief of the family of De Lacy which lay around the town and castle of Clitheroe, originally embraoing the Hundred of Blackburn alone, but afterwards including Bowland and the Manors of Slaidburn, Tot, tington, and Bury . Within that, Honour fourteen Civil Courts formerly existed, one of them "the Haimote of the Manor of Tot, tington, held at Holcombe, and a Court Loot for the Fey of Tottington," at which last the following owed suit and service in the year 1526 :-Edward, Earl of Derby, as hereditary judge of Bury ; Richard Aasheton of Middle- ton, as hereditary judge of Middleton ; Ed- ward Assheton of Great Lever, as hereditary judge of Chadderton and Foxdenton ; and Robert Longley of Agecroft, as hereditary judge of Alkrington, together with the con-

31 meaner men, the collectors . (Page 54, Four- teenth Report, appendix, part iv ., Historical Manuscripts Commission .) Bolton. S. PARTINGTON . QUERIES. [258 .] ORIGIN OF "CAPTAIN FOLD ." What is the origin of the local place-name "Captain Fold?" I have never seen it noticed in print . The "Captain Fold" (Hew wood) is, in the "Rochdale Parish Church Registers," often spoken of as "Captain Hard- man's Fold ." Wigan . H .B . [259 .] LECTURER AT HI:YWOOD. In their recent book, "English Local Gov- ti ernment from the Revolution to the Muni- cipal Corporations Act .-The Parish and the County," Mr . and Mrs . Sidney Webb, enumerating the servants of the parish, speak of "the Lecturer or Afternoon Preacher whom the seventeenth and eighteenth century Vestries in metropolitan parishes delighted to appoint in order to supplement-it may sometimes have been to counteract--the ministrations of the Incum- bent over whose appointment the inhabitants had, as a rule, no control ." I once before drew attention in these columns to the occur- rence in the list of those who paid the "First Loan of the Clergy of the Diocese of Chester" 0 in 1620 the name I'Lect . at Heywood, Mr . Buckley, £1 Os . Od ." Mention is also made of Lecturers at Middleton and at Birch . Was this lecturer identical with the "Afternoon Preacher" of Mr . and Mrs . Webb, or was it sane other office ? QUINCUNX . [260 .] BY-ROAD BETWEEN HEYWOOD A--\- D MIDDLETON . At No . 228 your contributor, "Quincunx," continues his very useful notes on James's p "Iter Lancastrense," and refers to an old by- road from Heywood Hall to Middleton . What direction would this old road take, and can anyone say whether it is shown on any old map or not? LEMUEL . 32 ,*shag, arrih 1st, 1907.

NOTES. [261 .] - JAMES LANCASHIRE OF LANGLEY . (See Notes 225 and 237.) In his `History of the Parish of Rochdale," Colonel. Fishwick, referring to "Marled Earth," in Wardle, states that near the close ,of the seventeenth century the estate was sold 'by James Holt of Castleton Hall to James Lancashire of Langley, ehapman-no doubt the same James Lancashire who by his will, dated July 30th, 1737, made certain +I` charitable bequests to Hopwood, Heywood, Vnsworih, and Walmerslev, as detailed in a previous Note . Colonel Fishwick, who gives the date of the will as July 20th, says that t the said James Lancashire deft the Wardle portion alf his estates to his nephew, James Lancashire of Heaton, son of his late brother Josiah ; who, in his turn, in 1756, left the rent arising out of it to his wife, in satisfaction of her dower, with remainder to his son, James Lancashire, then a minor . The last-named will be identical with the James Lancashire, whose gravestone, in 'St . John's churchyard, Bury, is inscribed as `1 follows Here resteth the body -of James Lancashire o° Whitewall, gentleman, who departed this life January 22nd . 1815, aged 67 ream . AI's) Rachel, his wife, who departed this life January 23rd, 1829, aged 82 years. Also of Betty Jackson, daughter of John sand Margaret Jackson, and granddaughter of the above, who departed this life May 8th, 4 1854, aged 60 years. An adjoining gravestone is inscribed :- In remembrance of Robert, son of John and Margaret Jackson of Whitewall, who, died April 6th, 1835, in his 40th year . Also Joseph . their son, died February 26th, 1843, aged 41 . Also John, their son, died October 22nd, 1846, aged 54. 33 Also of Margaret, wife of the above-name John Jackson of Whitewall, died July 11th, 1850, aged 80 years. The "messuage and tenement with the appurtenances, called White Wall, situate in Walmereley," were left (in addition -to the Wardle property) by James Lancashire of Langley to his nephew, James of Heaton, whose son I assume to be identical with the James Lancashire of Whitewall, who died, as shown above, in 1815 . Whitewall Farm is situated scone 'three hundred yards down a lane from the highway between Baldingstone and Nangreaves (in olden time the road on which the coaches ran from Manchester to -r Haslingden, etc.), at a corner of which lane there stood until ten or a dozen years ago a house or small farm tenement known by the I curious name of "Doldrums." The doorhead stone of the shippoa at Whitewall is inscribed : - L J : M 1748. The same initials, with the date 1747, appear on the gable-end of the substantial house at Imngcroft, on the south side of the road between Baldingstone and the lane leading to Whitewall. The initials may be taken as relating to James Lancashire and his wife- the James, son of Josiah, to whom James Lancashire of Langley devised his Walmers- ley property . In Baldingstone, a few hun- dre,d yards from Whitewall, stood one of the schools to which the last-named James Lang- lely mace a bequest, of which school nothing remains except a stone, inscribed "1716," built into the wall of premises which occupy the same site . The James Lancashire to whom he devised the property, will be identical with either the "James Lancashire of Little Heaton, gentleman," whose will was proved in 1757, or the "James Lancashire of Little Heaton, in Prestwich, yeoman," whose will was proved in 1759. From a gravestone inscription given above, it will be seen that. the James Lancashire (grandson of Josiah, VOL. 3 .-Part 27. 34 brother of James of Langley), who died at Whitewall in 1815, had a granddaughter, Margaret, who married John Jackson, sometime of Whitewall. Probably John Jackson e was a descendant of James Jackson, whose wife, Mary, was a sister -of James Lancashire of Langley, and received £400 under his will . l James Lancashire, the benefactor, had several brothers, including Josiah, Joseph, Y Jonah, Joshua, and John, four of whom had among them twelve or thirteen sons . To one of these nephews, John, son of Joseph, be left a "m,essuage and tenement, with the appurtenances, called Little Bridge, within the parish of Bury." Little Bridge was the name given to some property on the south side of Rochdale Road, opposite the Seven Stars Inn, a few hundred yards on the Bury side of Heap Bridge; and James's brother Jonah (sometimes called Jonas) was living there in 1696, his daughter Alice being born at Little Bridge on November 1st in that year . Afterwards Jonah Lancashire resided at. Siddall, Hopwo~od, where most of his children were born . His wife, Susan, died at Siddall in April, 1723, and be died at the same place in September, 1727 . His brother Josiah is described as of Middleton parish in 1706, of Hebers in 1713, and of Bowlee in 1716 ; and he may be identical with the Josiah Lancashire, felt maker, of Salford, who died about 1721 . His son Jeffrey, born W1 4 at'Siddall in July, 1710, died at Bowlee about 1778. Jeffreys cousin Joseph, a yeoman, son of Jasia+h Lancashire, died at Little Heaton about 176.3 ; it was another cousin, if not brother, James Lancashire, yeoman, of Stock Road, within Hundersfield, who died about 1775 ; and Jeffrey's brother James, a weaver, died at Little Heaton about 1777 . The benefactor's brother Joshua died at Alkrington about 1731 . Perhaps another brother was Daniel Lancashire of Hopwood, who died in the first week of January, 1728 . The 'benefactor's brother Joseph was a but- cher or "slaughterer," in Middleton, and died about 1752 . 35 Reverting to the Rochdale district associa- +ions of members of the Lancashire family, I find it stated in Colonel Fis'hwick's "His, tory" that "In 1717 James Lancashire of Wardle leased Marled Earth and about 24 F acres of land in Wardle, for 999 years, to I Robert and John Royds, clothmakers, sons of John Roods of Wardle ." Mention is also made of Josiah Lancashire, a bookseller, who had his shop near The Butts, and whose diary contains a short, account of the Volunteer Corps raised in 1794 . Shortly before her death, in 1804, Alice Schofield disposed of the bookselling business which had been car ried on by her father, John, as successor to his father, Robert, to Mary Scholfield Lan- cashire, described by Colonel Fishwick as "the granddaughter of Josiah Lancashire of Sal- ford, who (lied 24th December, 1741. He married, at Manchester, Ann, the daughter of --- Schofield, who was doubtless in some way related to the Rochdale family . Josiah Lancashire, brother of Mary Scholfield Lan- cashire, was the father of Josiah Scholfield Lancashire of Rochdale, who died in 1850 ." Touching a reference in the preceding Note to John Starky (one of the witnesses to James Lancashire's will), a valued correspondent writes : - John Starky, attorney, was born in 1675, and died in 1749 . I believe he married a Miss Mary Stead, then Mary Hindley, widow. Their eldest son, John, was born in 1715-6, and died 11th March, 1780 . He married Esther Whalley . Their eon James (the grand son of John Starky) married Elizabeth Gregge- Hopwood, and died without issue on the 17th November, 1846 . The witness to James Lancashire's will would, I believe, 'be John Starky the elder, and he would be living at Heywood Hall at that time, or rather soon afterwards, for it is not until the 20th January, 1741, I find any description of him as "of Heywood ." It is, however, possible that John Starky, the son, was living at Heywood in 1737, during the lifetime of his father . The Oxford University Register gives the names of Samuel Starky as matriculating on 2nd May, 1743, at Brazen- nose College ; James iStarky at Magdalen, 24th 36 October, 1778 ; besides Joseph S-tarky (eon of Joseph Starky, a son of John the elder) in 1785. Samuel Starky (born March 6th, 1722) was, S I believe, the youngest son of the afore- mentioned John Starky the elder . James- nephew of Samuel and first cousin of Joseph (son of Joseph)-was born on September 8th, 1760 ; married Elizabeth tegge-Hopwool A (born November 1st, 1767 on September ' rd, 1785 ; was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1791, when he was living at Heywood ; and died 4 in his 87th year . His cousin Joseph (born February 2nd, 1767, died July 8th, 1803) was sometime a captain in the 16th Light Dragoons, and sold out in 1796 ; on October 23rd, 1796, he married Mary Fickford, daughter of Joseph (Fickford) Radctiffe of Royton, Lancashire, and Milnsbridge, York- shire, and in 1799 he was High Sheriff of Lancashire . Joseph's father, Joseph Starky, M.D. (born August 15th, 1719), was twice married . Through his first wife, Jane Hamp- son, he became, possessed of property at Red- vales, Bury, where 'he went to live, but there was no issue of the marriage . His second wife, Elizabeth, was a daughter of John

Stoko, a naval officer, whose wife was Janet, 4 daughter of John Sudell, merchant, of Black- burn . Another daughter (Alice) of John Sudell married Joseph Hankinson of Kirk- ham, whose daughter Margaret married Hrgh Hornby of Kirkham-father of the Rev. Hugh Horniby, vicar of St . Michael's-on-Wyre, who married Ann Starky, a daughter of Dr . Joseph S'tarky, then of Redvales, Bury . Dr . Starky's other aaughter, Mary, married William Langton of Kirkham, whose brother Thomas married a daughter (Ellen) of the Rev. William Currer, vicar of Clapham, Yorkshire, by his wife Ann Stoko, sister of Dr . Starky's second wife . Another daughter (Jane) of John Sudell married John Whalley of Blackburn-of the same family, I assume, as the Esther Whalley, who married John, the eldest son of John Starky of Heywood Hall . One of John Sudell's sons, Thomas, married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Kay,

37 of Woodhill, Elton, Bury, and niece of the Rev. Roger Kay, re-founder of Bury Gram- mar School . In St. Luke's Church, Heywood, there are tablets to the memory of some members of the Starky family. LECTOR. [262.] MAGISTERIAL DIVISION OF MIDDLETON. Under Note No. 174 I notice that Sam Bamford, the Radical, is quoted as having said : "Heywood is a large and modern village in the township of Heap, the parish of Bury, the magisterial division of Middleton ." "rieywoodAt No. 178is aEdwin town inButterworth the township states of Heap,:- i the parish and manor of Bury, the magisterial division of Bolton-le-Moors," etc . Butter- worth is right and Bamford wrong. R I take the following from Baines's Lanca- shire (Harland's edition, 1868) :-"The Hun- dred of Salford consists of ten entire parishes and parts of two others ; comprehending one hundred and thirteen townships, which are formed for parochial and police purposes, into r three divisions . Bolton division : Bolton Parish (18 townships) ; Bury Parish, including Heap (Heywood), Dean Parish, Radcliffe Parish, and Wigan Parish . The Middleton Division consisted of Middleton Parish, viz., Ainsworth, Ashworth, Birtle-with-Bamford, Hopwood, Great Lever, Middleton, Pilsworth, and Thornham ; and Ashton-under-Lyne, Prestwich-cum-Oldham, and Rochdale Parishes. The third was the Manchester Division. Bolton. S. PARTINGTON.

QUERIES. [263.] HEYWOOD CHARIIIFIS . Will someone kindly give me a list of the Hevwood charities with details of their amounts, and how they are now adminis- tered? About 1899 there was a Charity Corm . nlissioners' enquiry at Middleton . Did this

38 enquiry include Heywood in any way? It would be a good thin- W have the history of these charities recorded. ANTIqUARI. [264 .] VIEWS OF OLD ST . LUKE'S CHAPEL . During the recent Ernest Fitton exhibition several drawings of the Old Chapel were shown . These early studies of Mr . Fitton would, no doubt, 'be copied from originals in the possession of members of St . Luke's congregation . The examples referred to included a view of a rather tumble-down struc- ture, and another view a fairly respectable building with the corners repaired and pointed . An engraving of the first was given in the supplement of the Jubilee number of the "Heywood Advertiser," and will be fairly well known, but I should be glad to know who painted or photographed these early views, and which would be the correct view of the old building taken down in 1859? There must be many old Heywoodites who can decide these questions . HIND HILL. t

,j)friha , irrh 8th, 1907. 4

NOTES . [265 .] HEYWOOD HALL . Nothing is really known of the first Hey- wood Hall . It is certain that there would be an ancestral home of the important family of the Heywoods, and we are told that Robert Heywood "the poet" rebuilt HeywA,)od"" Hall in 1611 . From this it may be presumed that the old hall was in pre Jacobean style, and the additions made to bring it more com- fortable and modern than the halls erected previous to Elizabeth's time . It has even now a pleasant situation, but in the old times, with no mill chimneys de- filing the air with their black smoke, no dirty river running by, it must have almost 39

warranted the fanciful and poetic description of "Christ's croft," given it by the poet, Richard James, in his "Iter Lancastrense ." "Its grounds extended to the Roach, where the Queen's Park now is, and backed by the wooded slope rising from Hooley Clough on the Bamford side of the river up to where is now built Plumpton [then] the residence of [the late] Mr . J . Por- L ritt, it must have been eminently appropriate as the residence of a gentleman." [Article on Heywood Hall in the "Bury Times," flay, 0 1893 .] But to return to surer ground . The Hey- wood family sold the Heywood estate in 1717 to John Starky of Rochdale . The Starkies lived at the shall for over a century . It is thought probable that the old building was again partly rebuilt or remodelled by John Starky . The present building, how- I. ever, is not the hall of the Starkies, and except an old gable and several outbuildings the hall has been built during the last een tury . The last of the Starkies to live at the hall was James Starky, who was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1791 . Mr . James Fenton afterwards lived in the house . "He had it 1 on a seven years' lease," says the anonymous article quoted above, "but only lived there two or three years ." Then the hall was bought by Mr . W . Holland, ironmonger, of Market-street, Heywood, for £203 . Since this the house has been the residence of various families. In his notes to the "Iter" of James, the Rev. Thomas Corser, M .A ., described the hall as follows :- "It is situated about half-a-mile to the north east ~of the populous village of the same name. It is beautifully embosomed in wood, consist- ing of lofty beech, oak, chestnut, and other trees, on a rising elevation above the valley of the river Roach, which flows not far from the grounds . The house, which is partly covered with ivy, has been entirely modern- ised ; so that with the exception of an old gable, and some portion of the offices, little remains of the more ancient edifice ." 40 In the article in Edwin Waugh's "Lancashire Sketches" on "Heywood and its Neighbour- hood" there is an interesting and picturesque description of Heywood Hall. The article was written about 1855 . "On arriving at the entrance which leads to Heywood Hall," says Waugh, " we turned in between the grey gate pillars . They had a lone and disconsolate appearance . The crest of the Starkies is gone from the top, and the dismantled shafts look conscious of their shattered fortunes . The wooden gate -now rieketty and rotten-swung to and fro with a grating sound upon its rusty hinges, as we walked up the avenue of tall trees towards the hall . 'ho old wood was a glorious sight, with the sunshine stealing through its fretted roof of many-patterned foliage, in freakish threads and bars, which played beautifully among the leaves, weaving a constant interchange of green and gold 4 within that pleasant shade, as the plumage of the wood moved with the wind . The scene reminded me of a passage in Spenser's `Faery Queene' :- And all within were paths and alleles wide, With footing worne and leading inward farre : Faire harbour that them seems : so in they entred ar. A "We went on under the trees, along the old carriage road, now tinged with creeping green, and past the old garden, with its low be-mossed wall ; and after sauntering to and from among a labyrinth of footpaths we came at last to the front of the hall . It stands tenantless and silent in the midst of its ancestral woods, upon the brow of a green eminence overlooking a little valley watered by the Roch . The landscape was shut out from us by the surrounding trees ; and the place was as still as a hermitage in the heart of an old forest. The tread of our feet upon the flagged terrace in front of the mansion r resounded upon the ear . We peeped through the windows, where the rooms were all empty ; but the state of the walls and floors, and the remaining mirrors, showed that some

41 care was still bestowed upon this deserted hall . Ivy hung thickly upon some parts of the straggling edifice, which has evidently been built at different periods, though as far as I could judge the principal part of it ap- reared to be about two hundred years old . When manufacture began greatly to change 1 the appearance of the neighbouring village and its surrounding scenery, the Starkies left the place ; one a wooded mound, in front of the hall, was thrown up and planted, by

P order of the widow of the last Starkie who resided here, in order to shut from sight the tall chimneys which were beginning in the distance . A large household must have been I kept here in the days of the Starkies ." In the foregoing remarks I have not touched at all on the family of the Hey- woods, leaving that for further discussion in theso columns . y QUINCUNX.

ANSWERS. [266 .] HEYWOOD PETTY SESSIONS . (Reply to Query No. 247 .) There is undoubted proof in the Little Bolton township records that petty sessions were habitually held at Hevwood in the middle of the eighteenth century . The accounts of the overseers of the poor were found "to be just and true" by the parish meeting, and subsequently were taken to the Hevwood court Kind there ratified by the acting magistrates, Sir Ra. Assheton of Middleton Hall and a Mr . Hamer . Sir Ralph was one of the approving justices of the Little Bolton accounts a year cr two later . Under the year 1754 : "Going to Heywood to return new overseers, 2s . ; paid for order 6s.-8.s." I am informed that the sessions system is wrapped in considerable mystery . H•.;ywood is not mentioned, I am told, as a court place in 1620 in the Lancashire and Oheshire Record Society's publications . Petty sessions used to be held anywhere, e.g., in a room at a justice's house . That was the

42 lowest grade . The next grade was a special session,, for which two were needed . Assemr blies of magistrates for county business were probably the same as the general sessions of modern times, and they were adjourned from time to time at the pleasure of the justices . I think it extremely probable that these early Heywood petty sessions were held at Hey wood Hall . Bolton . S. PARTINGTON. [267 .] OLD PLACE-NAMES IN HEAP . (Reply to part of Note No . 256 .) With regard to the place-names in the early 13th century charter in which "Hep" is mentioned, I think it will be found that "Lummehalenges" is Lomax. Meresache and Blackwell Lane have apparently disappeared . Rochdale . R. H.

Afriba , arch 15th, 1007.

NOTES. [268 .] "MR. JONATHAN SCOILEFIELD, MINISTER OF HEYWOOD . In the Commonwealth Survey of Heywood Chapel in 1650 (printed at Note No. 32) there I is : -- "Towards the mainteynoe o& the Mini- ster (Mr . Jonathan Scolefield is Minister there, and is orthodox, well qualified for lyffe and conversacon .)" This Mr . Scholfield is often mentioned in the minutes of the Bury classic . A short notice i of him occurs in Colonel Fishwick's "History of the Parish of Rochdale" under the heading Littleb-orough Church . "Mr. Scolefeld, clerk of Littleborough, had a license issued to him 23rd December, 1636, I t,) marry John Halliwell of Pyke House and Elizabeth Belfield, widow . [Bishops Reg. Chester] This was in all probability the Jonathan Scolefeld who was at Heywood in 1648 and appointed to Whalley 12th Septem, her, 1653 . [State Papers, Dom . Sen., 1653. 43 Parl . Survey, 1650 . Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, p . 41 .] He signed "The Har- monious Consent" in 1648 and "The Agree- ment of the People" in 1649, in both cases as minister of Heywood. He was afterwards at Douglas Chapel in the parish of Eccleston, whence he was ejected in 1662 . He died in 1667, aged 70 ." QUINCUNX. [269.] LOCAL FOLK-LORE. (See under Notes Nos . 191 and 199 .) To find the lost body of Nancy Wood, drowned at Crimble (1846), it was told to me that a loaf of bread way thrown in the water at the spot where it was supposed she fell in, and the loaf followed until she was found. Whether true or not I cannot say . T. K. ik

ANSWERS. [270 .] THOMAS JACKSON, Junior . (Reply to Query No. 248.) The following notes on Thomas Jackson, junior, may not fully satisfy "Gnat Bank," but they are offered in the hope that some r Bamfordian will supplement them . Thomas Jackson was the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Jackson who, as briefly stated by "Gnat Bank," was "the highly respected minister at Bamford Chapel for nearly twenty years ." He, was not a native of Bamford, and very little is known of him . The best account is given in a letter written by the late Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth, and quoted by the Rev . W. M. Arthur in his "Bamford Chapel : its origin and history," 1901, pp . 21 27 :-"Among the most prominent of my remembrances is my association with Thomas Jackson. He was the son of the minister and my most active assistant. He was then a youth learning his trade as a shoemaker . He was crippled in the foot and leg and of by no means a robust constitution ; but he had a wiry vigour of frame, singular activity 44 and energy, and considerable mental power, but only a very humble elementary education . He had then much quaint humour, was prone to be arch and sarcastic, and was full o& practical jokes . Beneath this surface there was a depth and earnestness of purpose and a sincere and fervent piety which directed his whole after life . He taught in the Sunday school very regularly and with great energy . He was the leader of the choir in the chapel, where he played the violin. He was most enthusiastic in organising choral meetings, for which he obtained the scores of oratorios 14 and anthems, and with an unwearied energy superintended the rehearsah;-both instrumental and vocal-before the final display . At, last, after great exertions at meetings for practice, held during most nights of every week, for two or three months, the whole neighbourhood was assembled, all the ner- formers were placed on a platform in the chapel, Thomas Jackson led with his violin, and there was a burst of instrumental and vocal music which astonished the audience . I was then at work on chemistry and mag- netism, and the worthy minister allowed me to establish my laboratory in a part of his house. His son, Thomas Jackson, greatly assisted me in the construction of apparatus and in experiments, and I conceive it was he that proposed that I should give to the Sunday scholars and their parents a public demonstration of the remarkable changes in volume, form, and colour which attend such operations . This, in my young and inex- perienced hands, resulted in my suddenly driving my whole audience from the school in tumult and confusion by filling the room with an irritating and noxious gas . Occasionally I took the most active and advanced scholars a long excursion on foot . I remember that once we climbed Knowl Hill I and descended Baldingstone and Brooks- bottoms. I recall that on our return, as a last feat we climbed the steep scar in Bam- ford Wood. I mention this just to show you with what strange energy of will Thomas 45 Jackson could compel his crippled and wiry frame to do him service, for he was my fore- most companion in this excursion . I had climbed the scar expecting to throw off almost all my party, but when I reached an old withered oak which overhung the top, I found Thomas close to me . I revive the recoffection also to recommend such excur- sions to you. I hope there are as many florists among you as there were in the old congregation of handloom weavers who gathered from the cottages between Bagslate, Ashworth, and Birtle. The minister was himself, perhaps, the most skilful florist, and Thomas learned the art from his father, and through life took daily pleasure in the garden attached to his cottage . Whenever I have visited him I have found it full of choice flowers, reared with the greatest skill. I do not remember that there were any flower shows nearer than Rochdale. Thomas Jackson, in after years, while he supported his family by working as a shoe- I maker, became a devoted missionary among the solitary hamlets and remote villages of our Lancashire and -Yorkshire highlands . I have often heard him preach . His dis- courses were carefully prepared. They were, characterised by much of the quaintness of the old divines, and deeply tinctured by a severe form of Calvinistic theology . But his imagination prevented his style from becom- ing harsh, and the geniality of his disposition gave a winning sweetness to his manner, so that the sternest doctrines of his creed were not repulsive from his lips . I visited him from time to time to imbibe somewhat of tha spirit of his earnest life, and give him some slight proof of my sympathy in his labours . Thus I came to know that Thomas visited a many outlying congregations of weavers, miners, and labourers, on the borders of Derbyshire and Cheshire, and along the Blackstone Edge range of hills. He walked great distances to places remote from any public conveyance . He commonly lodged on 46 the Saturday and Sunday nights in the cottage of the deacon or other prominent member of the little congregation ; and conducted the worship on the Sunday either in some small chapel or in a cottage. There must be in many secluded places a lively rememe brance of the earnest, unwearied; ' man, who spent his life in such humble but faithful imitation of Christ . I have a heartfelt pleasure in holding up to you the example of this noble-hearted good man-in pointing to his simple, cheerful, pure life ; to his struggle with natural infirmity of body, and his triumph over it, and to his self-sacrificing labours under the influence of fervent religious zeal. 4 At last he had to suffer under grievous chronic disease, which slowly wasted his strength until his life flickered out. But his hope rose as h ~, vital force failed, and he died stroirg iii faith and full of charity ." The foregoing sketch is a very interesting specimen of the writing of Sir James K . Shuttloworth ; it is full of good points and conveys almost all we want to know of Thomas Jackson . A pamphlet was issued about 1860 with the following title :- Meditations, in a season of affliction, and in the prospect of dissolution . By Thomas Jackson, Banmford . [Quotations .] Heywood : printed by G . H . Kent, 26, York-street . [No date.] 8vo. pp . 32 . In the opening pages the author relates several incidents in his life, from which we gather that he was married in 1829 ; in Sep- tember, 1832, he made his first attempt at preaching ; and in September, 1859, be spoke his last discourse at Heywood, it being a funeral sermon . Further information is still needed as to the date of death and where Thomas Jackson was buried . He left two children, one of 4 whom enjoyed more than local celebrity. Rachel Jackson resided at a small cottage called "Spring Hill," near to Bamford Chapel . She was a great sufferer for many years, and i 47 her experiences form the subject of one of John Ashworth's "Strange Tales," entitled "Trials." Another pamphlet was published on her death : a sermon preacheu in the Bam- ford Independent Chapel, on Sunday, October 11th:, 1869, by the Rev . Robert Ashcroft . George Jackson (Rachel's brother) published "Twenty hymns, tunes, and chants," in '1868 . He was at one time a bank manager for Messrs . J . and J . Fenton and Sons, in York- street, Heywood, and was afterwards engaged in the cotton manufacturing business . Infor- mation of his later career is lacking . J . A . GEEEN .

Iribap, fflardt 220, 1907.

NOTES. [271 .] BAMFORDS OF BAMFORD . (Reply to Query No . 12 .) I have just gleaned a few facts bearing on this early inquiry . The inquirer quoted from the Rev . Oliver Heywood's Register, to the effect that "after sermons at Heywood Cbappel," on September 24th, 1682, "Mltris Lomax, wife of Mr . Rich . Lomax of Bury, who, he being dead, lived with Mr . Bamford of Bamford, that marryed his daughter," missed her footing when getting on horse- 7 back, "slipt down," and "scarce spike after," the fall resulting in her death, at the age of 76. An entry in the Bury Parish Church registers shows that Ellen, widow of Richard Lomax, died on September 27th, 1682, and was interred on the 29th . Richard Lomax, uenr ., yeoman, of Bury, made his will on December 9th, 1675, and died on January 23rd, 1676 . In his will he directed that his body was to be buried in the church of Bury, among his ancestors, and his estate divided between his "loving wife," his children-Richard, John, and Susan, wife of Samuel Bamford of Bamford, gentleman- his granddaughter, Alice Loc, and the chil- 48 dren of his son Richard . His son-in-law, Samuel Bamford, succeeded William Bamford (brother) in the ownership of the Bamford estate . William Bamford made his will on April 19th, 1673, and died on the 28th of the same month . One of the witnesses to his will was Robert Pendlebbury, yeoman, of Jowkin, Bamford, brother of the Rev . Henry Pendlebury (who was born at Jowkin) ; one of the two thousand clergymen ejected from their living under the Act of Uniformity in 1662. Robert Pendlebury died st Jowkin on February 5th, 1699, having survived his famous brother three years and eight months . Whether the Bamfords of Bamford were related to the Pendleburys of Jowkin or not I am unable to say. In some references to the Pendleburys, Canon Raines has left it on record in his MSS . that in April and August, 1833, ho had talks on old-time affairs with Mrs. Bamford, a widow, residing in York- shire-street, Rochdale, who died in 1835 at the age of 94-her husband, at whose funeral the Canon officiated, having died about a year before in his 91st year. (In 1825 there was one Thomas Bamford, a shopkeeper in York- shire-street, Rochdale .) The venerable couple had been married upwards of 66 years . Canon Raines says : - I saw at Mrs. Bamford's an old oak bed which belonged to her ancestor, Rev . Henry Pendlebury, M .A. It is much carved about the head, and has an oaken top, somewhat ornamented . The posts have foliage and roses upon them . Altogether the workmanship !s rude, but invaluable as the remnant of the furniture of a learned, good, and perhaps per- secuted man . It is not to be bought. I saw also an oak desk, with the date 1692 upon it, which I think was stated to have been Mr. Pendlebury's Mrs. Bamford's grand- mother was brought up very strictly with her aunt Pendlebury, and "always had a leaning towards the Presbyterians," though her husband, Mrs . B: s grandfather, was an old Churchman, and did not like the -ways of Disc centers. . I have heard old Mr . Fenton of Baniford Hall say that his father, who lived tr be nearly ninety, was the last person Mr . Pendlebury baptised . Mr. Fenton's grand. 49 father was clerk to Mr . Pendlebury when he was minister of Ashworth Chapel . Canon Raines, it will be seen, alludes to Henry Pendleburv as "ancestor" of old Mrs. Bamford of Rochdale . But Henry Pendle- bu,ry left no issue-a statement I venture to make notwithstanding what is said to the contrary in the "Dictionary of National Bio- graphy" and elsewhere . Samuel Bamford, the son-in-law of Richard Lomax, was a descendant of William Bam- ford, who died in November, 1607, his wife, I Genet, dying in January, 1617 . This Wil- liam Bamford was succeeded', by his eldest son, William, who died in 1624, and whose brother Samuel died in 1629 . The last-named William Bamford had two sons-William, born in February, 1639, and Samuel, born in September, 1611-the latter being the Samuel Bamford who succeeded to the Bamford estate and married Richard Lomax's daughter Susan . By his marriage with Susan Lomax Samuel Bamford had two sons, William and Samuel, and four or five daugIsters . In the county history it is; stated : The [Bamford] estate descended lineally to William Bamford, who died in 1757 [11761], leaving by his w'fe Margaret (daughter of Edward Davenport of Stockport) three daughters and co-heirs ; all of them dying without issue, it was devised by Ann, the eldest, >n 1779, to William Bamrford of 'Tarleton Bridge, a remote kinsman, afterwards [in 1787] High Sheriff of Lancashire, who married in 1786 Anne, daughter of Thomas Blackburne of Hale ; but dying in 1806, without male issue, it passed, with a distant female relative, in marriage to Robert Hesketh of Upton, Cheshire, who assumed the name of Bamford in 1805. . Bamford was purchased by Joseph Fenton, whose sson, James Fenton, in 1841 took down the hall, which had been rebuilt in the time of Queen Anne, and erected near the former site a large and handsome modern house . Anne Blackburne, who became the, wife of the last-named William, Bamford, was a sister of John Blackburne of Orford Hall' and Hale, M.P. for Lancashire in ten successive Par- VOL. 3.-Part 28. 50 liaments, and grandfather of the present Rector of Bury, Archdeacon Blackburne . Edwin Butterworth mentions that in 1719 William Bamford made a bequest to the curacy of Heywood, and says that "his descendant, William Bamford, died in 1761, according to the monument in Bury Church ." Since Edwin Butterworth's time the Parish Church of Bury has been almost entirely rebuilt, and there does not appear to be a Bamford monument in the church now . The monument referred to is stated to have borne the following epitaph :- To the memory of their most affectionate 1 father, William Bamford of Bamford, Esquire, this monument was erected by his ;nucb afflicted daughters, Ann and Margaret, in tes- timony of their pious regard and tender affec- tion to the man . His sweetness of manners ,and ;goodness of heart endeared him to all that knew him . He was a kind husband, an indulgent parent, an easy master, a cheerful companion, a sincere and generous friend to all . He was a good man ; herein exercising himself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man . After a bad state of health, of unany years' continuance, which he bore with all the patience and resig- nation of a Christian, he departed this life . In "The Admission Register of the Man- chester Grammar School," published by the Chetham Society in 1874, it is stated that William Bamford was admitted to that school on June 26th, 1776, and these, particulars are given William, son of William Bamford and Anne Ryley of Tarleton, his wife, was baptised at Tarleton on 25th November, 1760 . His father V was [a remote kinsman] of the family of Bam- ford of Bamford Hall, an edifice of the early part of the seventeenth century (but now de- molished, and a new house built near the ald site), and succeeded to that estate in 1779, on 4 the death of Ann, the last surviving daughter of William Bamford . He built the house at Tarleton, where he lived for many years, when he succeeded to the Bamford estate . The son, who was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1787, married Anne, only sister of his school-fellow, Isaac Blackburne, by whom he had two daugh- 51 ers, of whom Anne married in April, 1811, her cousin, John Ireland Blackburne of Orford and Hale, for some years M .P. for Warrington . Several members of the Bamford family were interred at Bury Parish Church, but the only memorial there now relating to them appears to be a flat stone-or, rather, an arti- ficial slab, of light colour, and very hard-in the yard on the north side of the church . Probably it was originally in one of the aisles of the church, over or near the family vault, and this will account for the inscription being much worn . So much of the inscription as is legible reads Here lieth the body of Margaret, wife of William Bamford, Esq ., who died June-(?), 17-(?), in the 63rd year of her age . Also .Susan, their daughter, who died July the 17th, 17-(?), in the 18th year of her age . William Banrford died October the 10th, 1761, in the 87th year of his age . Those who have read Sam Bamford's "Early Days" may remember that in the chapter relating to his forefathers the famous Reformer mentions a tradition that had been "handed down" in his branch of the family, to the effect that his great-grandfather, James Bamford, of Hools Wood, Thornham, I a small farmer and cane reed-maker, "was the next heir to tine estate of Bamford Hail, where he used to visit and be on terms of intimacy with William Bamford, the last male of the old family, who resided at the hall : My ancestor was, it seems, fond of the chase, and on hunting and shooting days he was frequently at the hall and dined with the other guests. At this time the property was said to be entailed ; though for the truth of that I vouch not more than I do for other traditionary matters which follow. My aunt, who was, I believe, a contemporary of some of the parties, narrated the story to me as 1 give it. This William Bamford had no offspring save two daughters, and as they could i.ot inherit the property, when he lay on his deathbed he sent for my ancestor, and by much entreaty, and many solemn promises, backed perhaps by a douceur, he induced my ancestor to forego 52 his claim nn favour of the young ladies, on`', condition that at their decease the property should revert to the next heir in his family. Tho entail was accordingly cut off ; Bamrford of Bamford made his will and died ; and his daughter, "Madam Ann" as she was titled, held the property . The other sister married, and went to reside in Yorkshire ; but Madam Ann lived and died a spinster at Bamford Hall. And thus, according to traditionary accounts, were the rightful heirs cut off from the property, which had descended through their ancestors from the time when the Saxon wrested it from the Celt . Yet bow much that is of rare interest and value would have been missed' if the story had run otherwise! A great , deal better was it for his fellow-men that the author of "Early Days , " and "The Life of a Radical" should become a handloom weaver and a social and political Reformer than that he should be known as the Squire of Bamford Hall. LECTOR .

QUERIES. [272.] t ARISH APPRENTICES. I have lately has an opportunity of looking at some old local indentures relating to Sir Robert Peel . From, these it appears that it was quite a common practice to apprentice the "parish" children . It is painful' to notice on one of the indentures referred to that the Guardians placed and bound' James Cleg;g of Spotland, of the age of seven years, as an apprentice to Robert Peel, with him to dwell, continue, and serve until the said James Clegg attained the age of twenty-one years . Sir Robert, for his part, undertook to teach, instruct, and inform the said James Clegg in all the arts and mysteries of the spinning and manufacturing of cotton . In exchange for the labour of fourteen years, Sir' Robert was to allow the said apprentice sufficient. meat, drink, apparel, washing, lodging, and all other things needful ; and at, the end of the term "shall provide the said apprentice with two good intire suits of cloaths ." Nothing is 58 said in the indenture about wages or money to be handed over at the close of such a long period of apprenticeship. It has been said that apprentices were bound in this manner in quite a wholesale fashion, and their work at such cheap rates helped to make the immense fortunes of their masters . The documents referred to are dated 1800-1 . Can any reader inform me how long this degrading system continued in the cotton industry, and whether parish apprentices were employed by others besides the Peels? MAKEANT.

.Srihap, ffiarich 29th, 1907.

NOTES. [273 .] THE ROAD TO THE CEMETERY . [Under the above expressive title an interesting article appeared in the "Heywood Advertiser" for July 12th, 1856 . The article was, most likely, written by John Heywood, and contains many reminiscences of the by- gones of Heywooa which will be of interest to readers of this column .] Nor strange, that recollection there should dwell, Where first I felt and reasoned, loved and was beloved . Who does not love to dwell on the delightful reminiscences of childhood? Who does not love to roam where the days of his boyhood were spent? Where he picked up the acorn, where he gathered the blackberries, plucked the hawthorn blossom, collected from amongst the beautiful flowers of the field and the lane his first nosegay, the rippling brook by which he used to meander, the wayside flower which smiled upon him in his daily walks, the hum of the bee as it flitted past in search of its winter store, the singing of the redbreast, the wren, and the thrush, the tuneful rising of thee lark from its mossy bed, the shout of the merry haymakers when hous- ing their hay, with a thousand other sights and scenes most pleasant to dwell upon? 54 We were reminded of many such scenes as these in our boyhood days on the road to the Cemetery on a recent visit to that place . But time has made many changes on the road from Heywood to Chamberhouse during the last thirty-five years . From the bottom of York-street to the "Top o'th' Orchard" there were then no buildings but the Roe Acre, now used as a turning shop, and the row of houses ab "Marled Earth," near to the house of Mr. William Hartley, Sandy Lane . The house at Captain Fold, with the exception of the row occupied by Mr. John Leach and others, and the rope-making establishment of Mr. W. Heywood, are all of earlier date than the time to which we have referred. The beautiful residence of Mr . Kay, Harefield Hall, with its rising trees, shrubberies, gar- dens, and neat entrance, highly ornamental to the, locality and pleasant to look upon, are all of recent date . The general features of the road from Mr. Kay's lodge to the Rye- croft toll bar have not been very much altered. The trees, the hedges, and the houses are much the same . Robert Pollok, in his "Course of time," tells us of some trees near his father's house in the following words : ------Tall trees they were, And old, and had been old a century Before any day ; None living could say aught About their youth ; but they were goodly trees : And oft I wondered, as I sat and thought Beneath their summer shade, or, in the night Of winter, heard the spirits of the wind Growling among their boughs,-how they had grown So high, in such a rough, tempestuous place And when a hapless branch, torn by the blast, Fell down, I mourned as if a friend had fallen ." And we also know two trees, a little further on than Mr. Kay's lodge . They were always known as the "Great Plane Tree" and the "Little Plane Tree." They appeared old when we first knew them forty years since . They are there yet : the woodman has spared those trees . We are glad of it, for they have often served the purpose of an umbrella 55 in a shower of rain. They are esteemed by us for their friendly protection in time of need. A little further ),n there was formerly a crab tree which overhung the footpath, and in the proper season used to tempt one to throw a stone and fetch a few crabs to the ground . Here is Ryecroft House, now occupied by Mr. Cheetham, but at the time we refer to it was the residence of Mr . Ralph Bolt. From here to the toll bar there are a few new features to record of recent date . After passing the bar we find there have been alterations of considerable magnitude since the year 1830 . From the bar we formerly had to descend into a deep valley, so deep that conveyances of every kind were almost at a stand in attempting to gain the hill on the Chamberhouse side. But at the bottom of this valley there was a large watering trough fixed, from which the horses quenched their thirst previous to ascending the hill . There was also a plantation on the left hand side as we ascend towards Chamberhouse . About the year 1838 it was our lot to fetch a can of milk every morning from the farm called "Primrose Hill," now situate on the western side of the Cemetery . It was our custom to start from the bottom of Rochdale Lane, near the White Lion public-house, about half-past six o'clock in the morning, and busy thought often conjures up "sunny Y memories" of those happy days. With a can on our back and a stick in our hand we bounded forth with joyous hearts, often essaying to imitate the singing of the lark as it soared above our heads into the bright and sunny sky, or mocking the cuckoo as it poured forth its ever welcome morning strain, or beating the bushes and hedge-rows to start from its nest the sparrow, the finch, or any other of the winged tribe which in- habit the thickest hawthorn and briar ; anon stopping suddenly to listen to the sound of the bugle blown by the road-coated gentleman who then accompanied the Royal Mail, which passed over Castleton Moor about that time in the morning with the Yorkshire letters 56 destined for Manchester and other places in Lancashire . This mail passed over Black- stone Edge from Yorkshire about six o'clock a.m., arrived in Manchester about eight . This was in the "good old coach times," before the fiery steed of the railway king began to frighten the rustics with its fiendish 1 shriek, making many of them vow determined opposition to such a mode of transferring human beings from town to town, many of whom have kept their word and will, we believe, do so to the end of their natural life. These were the days when the famous coach firm of "Bretherton and Company," Liverpool, were always patronised by the comparative few who then ventured as far as Liverpool, either for 'business or pleasure . It was then a fine sight to see one of these coaches come through Heywood on the first day of May, the round-faced fat, coachey, with a favour in his breast, driving four-in-hand, with his horses fully ribboned, garlanded, and honoured with the symbols of May Day . But these days, bright as they were then thought to be, have passed away, and many of their customs with them, and have been superseded by others much brighter, which are destined soon to be placed in the shade by days brighter still, through the onward progress of science and enlightenment. The residence and farmstead opposite the entrance to the Cemetery was, at the time to which we have alluded, inhabited by Mr. Robert Holt, a "fine old English gentleman," such as are but seldom to 'be met with . We always enjoyed the sight of him when we met him on the road or saw him about the grounds at Chamberhouse Farm . He is prominent in the reminiscences of our boyhood days, and 'twere well if his like could be multiplied . Strange things have happened since that time, and amongst those things we must include the selection of a site for interring the dead of this district on the Chamberhouse estate . Everyone, at the time we refer to, would have been incredulous of such an impn.bability . But the new Ceme- tery is now a fact-it has been purchased

57 and laid out-and this week it has received the first instalment of the inhabitants of our town, and in a few years there is little doubt of its having become the place of sleep for many thousands . Heywood . E . F.

[274 .] PACE'-EGGING AT HEYWOOD . Would some kind youthful reader give me a description of a performance of the play called the "Pace Egg?" I want to know whether it is still played locally, and, if so, the words used . LEMUEL .

, rtha , April 5th, 1907.

NOTES . [275 .] Rr7MrNTS(7ENCES OF THE SMOBR.IDGE SONDNOKKURS . [One of our early correspondents asked for informaltion about the local sand dealers, otherwise known as "sondnokkurs ." The business was carried on in Heywood for many years, and a note on the dealers would be of some interest . The following reminiscences of an almost extinct race, recently contri- buted to the "Ptodhuale Observer," will probably satisfy the inquirer.] Y Not many years have elapsed since the dis- - tridt of Smallbridge 'bore an unenviable repu- tation from the lawlessness of some of its inhabitants who spent the time when not at work in drinking, fighting, and gambling . The villagers of that day were for the most part colliers or handloom weavers, but no classification woulu be complete without mention of the "Sondnokkars" who formed a small colony in the district extending from St. John's Church 'to Brickfield . These "sondnokkurs, or "Kitters," as they were often called (Kilter being the name of one of their leaders), were a sturdy race, and gained a livelihood by crushing sandstone rock oh- 58 tained from Blackstone Edge, subsequently selling it in Rochdale and other neighbouring towns . This sand was used for strewing on the stone floors of the cottages and farm- houses just after they were cleaned . With the advent of the cheap carpet and linoleum and the still cheaper oilcloth the demand for the sand largely ceased, and to-day sand- knocking can be counted among our "decay- ing industries ." One by one the old "sondnokkurs" were removed by death, and with the declining trade there was no inducement for their sons or other young men to take it up. So far as we can ascertain only one member of the families who were originally engaged in the calling remains-Mr . John Law, more familiarly known as Jack Law of Halifax Road-an•d he has almost relinquished the business . While the old race of "sondnokkurs" has become almost extinct, and the trade-what little of it survives-is diverted into other channels, there remains at Smallbridge ample evidence to show that it was at one time a, fairly large and lucrative business . The names of Sand-,street and Kitter-rtreet remain to remind us that these were the centres of the trade (which dates back fully 150 years) ; and in these localities are still standing buildings which old residents point to as being the mills in which the sandstone was crushed and ground to fine particles. GRINDING THE SAND . The methods of grinding are well worth describing . At first the sand was crushed and ground by hand . The rock was broken into pieces of two or three inches diameter by means of heavy hammers, and was then ground down by a wooden hammer with a large and heavy iron facing. The manipula- tion of these tools involved much hard work, and there is still living in Sand-street Mrs . Alice Whatmough, better known, perhaps, as Aloe o' Josses, who informed our representative that she used to "knock by hand" till she was so ill that she was forced to stop work. 59 The method eventually gave way to one which involved much less labour . A long pole which was attached to a revolving pivot also served as the axle for a huge crushing stone . This crushing stone, which was often six feet in diameter, ran in a circular trough resem- bling that of a mortar mill, and was pulled round by a horse which was harnessed to a part of the pole projecting beyond the stone . The broken stone was put into this trough, and as the ponderous Wheel revolved it was crushed to powder . Several such mills existed in the district . The last one was erected by Jim o' Harris at the top of Sand- street, and the building is still in an excel- lent state of preservation, although the grinding apparatus has been removed. It is a two- storey building with a wide door, to which the carts were backed for the purpose of loading . On the ground floor was the crushing mill ; the upper storey was used as a hay- loft . Lower down and on the same side of Sand-street are some stone buildings in which the sandstone was also crushed and ground . NOTED " SON.DNOKKURS ." Sand-street was perhaps the centre of the trade, for here Harry o' Bills, Jim o' Harris, George o' Owd Jones, and Owd Bet lived in adjoining houses . Of all the "sondrokkurs," with the exception of Owd Tew and Owd Kitter, these were the best known. It was from this centre that the carts drawn by ricketty horses set off to take the sand to distances as far as Burnley, Haslingden, Bury, Oldham, Ramsbottom, Halifax, Crawshaw- booth, and the intervening towns and villages. The men were mostly finely-built with thick-set sturdy figures, and faces tanned by exposure to wind and rain . Most of them wore knee breeches, but whatever the cut of their nether garments they were, like the !i waistcoats,, of stout moleskin or corduroy, and an indispensable part of the attire was an apron of some strong material . This was used Whenever a customer wanted quantities larger than a quart, for the sand was sold by measure at the price of a halfpenny per quart. The sand as it was mews red was{ 60 tipped into the apron until the required quantity was obtained, when it was transferred from the apron to the receptacle of the customer. The "sondno'kkurs" had a natural propen- sity for playing jokes, especialily if they could be made to end for their own personal gain . The measures used for selling the sand were so constructed that the bottoms were not flush with the lower edges of the sides, but were raised about an inch or so. Having ordered several quarts, instead of getting the proper quantity of sand an unwary customer would receive only so mudh as would fill the space when 'the measure was inverted, and unless the mistake was noticed and attention called to it the "sondnokkur" would go away laughing at the success of his crafty plan . Edwin Waugh, who gives an interesting sketch of these "sondnokkurs" in his "Lan- cashire Sketches," slays the men were accompanied by their women folk . Our representative made inquiries on this point, and Mr . Law assured him that the cart was, as a rule, tended only by two or three men . Pos- sibly women took the shorter distances-to the villages around Rochdale. Mr. Law himself walked with Owd Tew thirty and forty miles a day, and it is hardly likely that the women would undertake sudh long journeys . DRINKING HABITS. Nearly all " sondnokkurs " were hard drinkers . In conversation with an old Smallbridge resident who remembers many of the leading members of the fraternity, our representative was assured that after a journey "they alilus com whoanl drunken." The business "ne'er paid onless they could be drinkin' an buyin' horses . They'd set off at three in th' mornin', an' coom back at eight or nine at neet as drunk as fiddlers." The winter months, our informant said, was a good time for them ; but in the summer time it was difficult to sell the sand, and he had seen them returning as late as ten or eleven o'clock at night . He continued, "They didn't use to come back while they'd sowd 61 up. They'd rayther ha' swopped it fur ale than ha' browt it back ; an' they did that monny a time ." INTERESTING STORIES . Their favourite sport was "feightiing ." It mattered not whether it was between themselves or with strangers, and many a Male is told of their prowess . Often a drinking bout would end in boxing. To avoid disturbance from the landlord of the house or any out, sfder the combatants would carefully secure the door by wedging a, chair against' it. They would then strip and, having had their fight out, would open the door, walk out, and resume business. The story is told of two of the number who, having visited Rochdale one Saturday evening, were returning to, Smallbridge . Both had drunk too much. They had reached St. James's Church, Wardleworth, when one of them said to his mate : "Aw dunnot feel yezzi ; aw hannut• had a feight ." "Weel," said his companion, "fast chap tha meets hit him, an' then, happen, tha'11 get a feight ." They had proceeded about two hundred yards when they met a man. He was of good physique, but the "sondnokkur" wanted a fight badly, so he hit the stranger in the face . He had caught a tartar . The stranger set to and gave his assailant a sound thrashing . This had little effect on him, however, for after it was over, and he was once more on his way home, he observed to his companion, "Aw feel a bit yezzier neaw aw've bin punced' a bit ." OWD BEN'S PRODIGIOUS ~STRENG'TH . Although not one of the chief men of the fraternity Owd Ben was noted among them for his great strength . "He favverd a young giant," was the description of him given by Mr. Law. His work was principally to wheel and break up, the rock preparatory to it being ground down .' "He'd a barrow that ud howd verra neer half a cart looad o' stoane'," added Pdr. Law, when speaking of him, "an' he used to rnak' a groan when 62 he lifted it. Eh! but he wur a strong felley. Plenty o' donkeys couldn't ha' drawn th' stuff he used to wheel ." As a further instance of the strength of these men, Mr. Law recounted an incident in which his father was concerned . He and his wife were out hawking the sand, and when near the White Lion at Wolstenholme the cart upset owing to the bad condition I of the road . Without waiting for assistance hi, father went from the horse's head, righted the cart himself, and continued his journey as if it was nothing out of the ordinary . Owd Tew also figures in another story. Like the rest of the men, he was finely built, but he limped badly . One day as he was sitting in a public-house at Burnley his well- set figure caught the eye of a recruiting sergeant . After some talk the sergeant induced him to accept the Queen's shilling. He was rather priding himself on his smartness in en- listing so promising a man when Owd Tew got up and proceeded to walk across the room with a most pronounced limp . The sergeant demanded his shilling back, but Owd Tow calmly told him that it was mixed with others and could not be identified . Mr. Law informed us 'that before the work- house at Dearnlev was built tramps used to be required to break the standstone rock as their labour task . This was done in Wardle worth,, and at the Old Bailey (now part of the premises known as the Chapel for the Destitute) . He said he had fetched many loads of sand from there to hawk in the district . There is little demand for the sand now except in. lodging-houses, old inns, farm- houses, and a few of the older mills . What is used now is ground by steam-driven madhinery, but the demand will probably dis- appear altogether soon . [276 .] MEL LOR"S FACTORY CHIMNEY . Some years ago a Manchester newspaper gave what purported to be a sketch of Mellor's famous crooked cmmney, with some remarks by the late Mr . Smith, the popular "steeple jack ." The "Advertiser" of the following week commented on the matter, and referred to Heywood's doubtful distinction in possessing "the crookedes't chimney in Etg land ." This brought forth a reply from Colonel 'Vlcllor, in which he detailed the cause of the dhimney's eccentric appearance. Will some reader give me the date of this letter or some extracts from it? WRIGLEY BROOK.

riba 1, ~l 1tt1 12th, 1907 .

NOTES. [277 .] THE "PACE EGG" AND THE FOLK DRAMA . A regular feature of the celebration of the Easter season in Lancashire, and in fact all over the country, is the acting of the play, "The Peace (cr Pace) Egg ." This has a singular history . -Many writers call it the lineal descendant of the mystery and miracle plays which preceded the epic drama as the amusement of the English of the Middle Ages, but I would claim fcr it an older and morrf distinp ish

67 from once being of a religious character--like the midsummer and harvest time-now survive only in the form of rollicking games and village mummeries . The Dionysian dramas of ancient Greece celebrated the same season, and were connected with the worship of the god of vegetation or generation (4) ." Another writer on folk lore (5) says :- "In old Aryan myth the springtide sun was _ typified by a red or golden egg, which in after- times was made by the early Christians the emblem of the Resurrection . Hence the Easter egg and the many curious customs connected with it throughout Europe. . . Quite recently Cheshire children begged (as is still the custom in the Midland,, and in Scotland) for pace or pasch eggs (so-called from the Hebrew word Paseha, meaning the Passover), which are usually boiled hard in water stained with different dyes-red, blue, or violet-and otherwise ornamented ." Then we come to the ST. GEORGE element, perhaps the chief feature of the play . The fight between St . George and the Dragon in Christian legend, Beowa and the Dragon in Anglo-Saxon, Perseus and the Dragon, Apollo and Python of the Greeks, Sigfried and the Dragon of the Teutons, Sigurd and Fafnir of the Northmen, and in every Aryan race-Hindoo, Persian, and all the European branches-we find the myth of a hero and a dragon . This, Dr. Stopford Brooke calls the oldest myth of the world- the ancient myth of the light and the darkness, the sun overcoming the night and dying in the contest in order to live again . The origin of the St . George legend has been well developed by Mr. Baring Gould (6), and for the history of our patron saint all readers should refer to his book . It is this same myth which occurs in not quite the same way in the "Peace Egg." We have no dragon represented directly in the play, though reference is made to the combat of St . George and the Dragon, but Slasher takes the place of the monster and is vanquished by St . George . Especially in the 68 North, the old light and darkness myth referred to above became a battle between the winter and the summer, between the frost giants and the beneficient beings who brought life to men and fruitfulness to their labour . Probably before the Christian form-the martyr St . George--was added, our play in the heathen days represented the defeat of Winter (Slasher) by the Summer (or beginning of Summer, i .e., Spring (St . George), as the legend is developed in the Elder Edda . This portion of the play-the nature myth-one is led to think, is the older, the latter part being an addition of the Middle Ages . One might greatly elaborate on the theme of the plays' original significance, but space is short and one can but briefly allude to the subject . It has been suggested with some probability that Slasher (the prototype of Winter) in his boasting to St . George, "9My head is made of iron, My body's made of steel, My hands and feet of knuckle bone," refers to the frostbound earth of the winter . He is then vanquished by St. George (as the beginning of summer) and the land is fruitful once more . With the second portion of the play I purpose dealing in a further note. QUINCUNX .

(1) "The English Drama," A . S . Rappoport. London, 1906 . (2) "Northern Mythology" (Doutsche Mythologie), Friedrich Kauffmann, trans'ated by M . Steele Smith . London, 1903 . (3) Two papers on "Folk-Drama," read before the Folk-Lore Society, by T . Fairman-Ordish, F.,S.A. Re-printed in "Folk-Lore," 1891 and 1893 . (4) "The Christmas Boys" (a. mumming play), F. Gordon Brown in "Notes and Queries," 1907. A (5) "An Introduction to Folk-Lore," Marian Roalfe Cox . London, 1904 . (6) "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," Rev. S . Baring-Gould, M.A." London, 1868 .