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Home , History of Lancashire, John Byron (died 1600), Salford Hundred, Wardleworth

Chapter Two NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS : 1086-1485 THE . OCHDALE'S written history begins in 1086, when sent his men all over England to find out how much land was being cultivated and how much revenue he might expect R to collect : the result was the Domesday (or Doomsday) Book, so called because of its uncompromising thoroughness and detail . Its two volumes, written in crabbed Latin, with words occasionally scored through in red for emphasis, instead of being underlined, are now displayed at the Public Record Office, London . One can imagine the difficulties of the Norman inspectors : how unwillingly and in what various dialects the English land-holders gave their answers when the " day of reckoning " came upon them . Perhaps this may account for the fact that "" is set down as " Recedham ." It was probably then, as we still hear it today, pro- rounced as " Ratchda ' " with a long " a," and a soft " c." Very freely translated and abbreviated, this is the gist of the Domesday entry concerning Rochdale as it was in the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), excluding such details as the King's personal property and lands in the Hundred : King Edward held Salford . . . . To this Hundred belonged 21 manors held by as many thanes ; in which there were 112 hides and 102 carucates of land . . . . Camel, a tenant of 2 of these hides in Recedham, was free of all customs but these six : theft, housebreaking, premeditated assault, breach of the peace, not answering the reeve's summons, and

1 4 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

continuing a fight after swearing on oath to desist . The fine for these was 40 shillings . In 1086, Game], now termed a knight, held 2 carucates of land, by the gift of Roger of Poictou. Even this simplified version requires some explanation : Game] the Thane had held 2 hides of land and the Lordship or Manor of Rochdale, under Edward the Confessor, but after the Battle of Hastings King William rewarded his victorious Normans with English lands (taking care, it would seem, to scatter the grants far and wide so that his nobles did not become too powerful), and Roger of Poictou for a time held the whole of the Ribble-Mersey lands . In 1086, however, Game] still held 2 carucates which had been given to him by Roger . According to William Farrer's account of this section of the Domesday Survey, " theoretically the contained six carucates, or teamlands, and every teamland represented the area of arable land which a team, or gang of eight oxen could annually plough," but such measurements varied considerably according to local conditions . As was assessed at some 20 hides of arable land, Game! in 1066 held about a tenth of this, but in 1086 his possessions had shrunk to a sixtieth . The Ribble-Mersey area was surveyed together with part of Cheshire and was divided into six Hundreds ; although Salford was the largest and most valuable, only four places in it are mentioned by name : Salford, , Radcliffe and Rochdale . Game] appears to have been especially privileged in being exempt from all but six customs, possibly because of the difficult and isolated nature of his land . This may explain the heaviness of the fines imposed : if they had to be collected at all they must be worth the trouble! In the , for instance, fines of ten shillings were exacted for such offences as bloodshed, rape or absence from the Shiremoot, and five shillings for non-attendance at the Hundred Court, or for disobeying the reeve's summons to appear . Although the Domesday Book was a magnificent achievement, it contains both complications and shortcomings : such terms as " leagues " and " poles " cannot be precisely defined ; the wilder parts of the country were less thoroughly surveyed. The origin of the Hundred itself is obscure (it is said to mean either a hundred villages or a hundred people), but it became an administrative unit within a . The Manors of the Thanes, also, in feudal times, became separate units whose Lords received fees or rents for lands farmed within the Manor, together with services performed for the Lord by his tenants . The Domesday Book was not intended to be a census : the families of such classes as free men, for instance, were not indicated, although slaves may have been counted separately . Moreover, the method of assessing a manor by a particular number of hides for taxation purposes was not meant to show the amount of arable land which it contained .

NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS : 1086-1485 1 5

However, Farrer's interesting summary gives an estimate of the wild and sparsely cultivated Salford Hundred at the beginning of the Norman period . There were, according to him, roughly 112 ox teams held by 450 persons (of various classes connected with the land) . The total population was under 3,200 people . On the basis of Gamel's 2 hides, it is fair to suggest that the total population in the Rochdale district would he over 300 people . From Rochdale's Norman days until the 19th century . its physical boundaries remained much the same : it was one of the largest manors in the Salford Hundred, being bounded on the north by Rossendale and , with Tottington, Bury, and Middleton to the west and south, and to the east . For purposes of comparison, Fishwick in 1889 gives the area as 41,828 acres, including , which is now in Yorkshire . MEDIAEVAL ROCHDALE. From the Domesday Survey, from the early place-names as exam- ined by Dr . Schram, from a few early remains and from various documents, a picture of mediaeval Rochdale begins to emerge . There was certainly a Norman, or earlier, church of St . Chad standing on the present site some 80 ft . above the Roch . Its position suggests that the river valley was either wooded or considered unsafe when the church was first built . One wonders whether there is some grain of historical truth in the legend that the first foundations were on the north bank of the river and each night were found carried across to the south side by boggarts, or phantoms . The story is told in The Gohlin Builders by John Roby ; there is, also, on the south side of the tower a mediaeval carved face (perhaps of a supernatural being) which looks resolutely southwards . The church is dedicated to the St. Chad who was was Bishop of Lichfield in the 7th century . Moreover, one of the require- ments of a Saxon thane was that he should hold lands and a church . During 1816 restorations a hollowed stone was discovered and believed to be the original Saxon font ; other remains included a small lachrymatory, or tear-bottle (such as the Romans left in their tombs), and a few very early Norman stone fragments . The nave pillars of the present church are of the 13th century . Of the existence of an early Norman, perhaps a Saxon, castle there is little doubt : it is referred to in 12th century charters as " the castle of Rachedal," and an early 13th century charter indicates its position as being on Castle Hill (which overlooks the present Gas Works and Dane Street), referring both to " the ditch of the castle " and rights of way for " ingoing and exit to the place of the castle " and to lands in Castleton . Fishwick gives a plan of Castle Hill as it was in 1823 before the northern mount was demolished . There is a later scale drawing in the second volume of the Victoria County . The entrance was from the south-east, up ground which slopes from what is now Manenester Road . Rochdale Market : Public Record Office photograph of an A .D. 1251

SHORTENED VERSION . Grant to Edmund de Lacy, king's yeoman, and his heirs, of a weekly market on Wednesday at his manor of Racchedal, which Margaret, countess of Lincoln, holds of him in dower : and of a yearly fair there on the vigil, the feast and the morrow of S .S. Simon and Jude. (Cal. Charter R . Vol . I, 1226-1257 . p. 362) .

The Domesday Book : Public Rec- ord Office photo- graph of part of the Domesday Book relating to Rochdale. (Domesday Book . Vol.1. P . XVI) .

Royal Charter . (Charter Rolls, Chancery. No . 43 . 35 Hen . lll . m.5 .)

Rochdale Court : Public Rec- ord Office photograph of two Rochdale Court records, dated 27th October and 26th November, 1323 . (Court Rolls . 17 Ed. Il. P . 183 . No . I l . m .3) .

TRANSLATION . Perquisites of the Court of Rachedal, on Thursday, the Eve of the Apostles Simon and Jude, in the 17th year (27th October, 1323). Of Matthew, son of Enot, for trespass „ William Rathebon, for breach of the peace . . Sum , . 7d .

Perquisites of the same Court, on Saturday the Morrow of St . Katherine, m t e )ear ( t oven Of the Abbot of Wallay, for entry to land 40d. „ Daude of Baunford, and his wife, because they failed in the law 2s. „ Alan of Turnagh, for a rescue (recussus) made . 3d. Alan of Welhevid, because he did not prosecute ., 3d . William of Ligh(t)alleres, for many defaults . . 3d. William Broubgh., for many defaults 3d . „ Richard of Baunford, for withholding a debt . . 3d . „ Henry, the Smith, for entry to one cottage 4d . „ Richard le Keuer, because he did nut prosecute 4d . „ Thomas Payt. for selling flesh contrary to the assize 6d. „ John of the Milnehouses, for the same . . . . 6d . William fox, for the same 6d . „ the wife of John of the Milnchouses, for licence to brew 3d. „ the wife of William an, for the same , , 4d . „ Dye of the Milnehouses . for the same 3d . „ John of Baunford, because he did not have Geoffrey of Turnagh here 3d . Adam of Hilton . John of Baunford, and Richard of Baunford, and other "rodemen;' for fine for resrite of primate „ Elias of Baunford, because he did not came Richard, of the same, because he did not have Ralph of Falynge here „ the same Richard, because he did not have Alan of Falynge here Hugh ofthe Oakenrode, and Richard of the Hill and others, because they did not come to an inquest ...... , . . 12d. „ William Wlf,' for entry to I messuage and 3 acres of land 2s. Sum 28s . 3d. (Record Society, Lancashire and Cheshire . Vol . 41 . pp . 16, 17).

18 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

With its palisaded earthworks, this once important court and mount castle, possibly in ruins at the time of Domesday, is further proof that there was a correspondingly early church : the two were generally found together in pre-Conquest days, and in the Museum today there is the head of a stone cross of Saxon design which is reasonably considered to be the remaining part of the somewhat travelled and abused Market Cross : from early times the markets were held near St . Chad's church . In 1324 a " John of the Brig" was fined 4d : this implies at least one bridge in Rochdale, but the Roch continued to be forded at the Butts for centuries to come . Castle and church were within the" vill of Castleton ." The Manor of Rochdale was divided into four separate townships whose boundaries met north of the church, forming a mutual centre, although the joint Butterworth and Casileton dividing line was a little to the east of this cen- tral point . The north-eastern and lar- gest township was - sometimes said to take its name from the meeting-placeoftheHun- dred, though this is unlikely : its forms of Honresfeld or Honesworthesfeld probably mean " Huna's homestead and field," Huna being a personal name . , the next largest and north-western township, takes its name from the river Spod, or "spouting stream ." Butterworth, in the south-east, has the O . E . derivation of "the homestead with the dairy-farm ." Castleton, the smallest, but oldest and richest township, in the south-west, is derived from the O . E . " Tun "- hamlet or houses, near the castle . The original name of the River Roch was probably the Ire, or upper tributary of the Irwell . Phww D 0 n. The Domes day version, " Reced- Head of Rochdale cross . ham," in its O . E . counterpart of " Raeced-ham " would mean the village with the hall "-ironically enough, for Rochdale is one of the few Manors with no record of one ancient and predominant hall . It is also a curious fact that although many families in the district have taken their names from the first dwelling-places, there is little evidence of any local family named "Rochdale." The present town owes its

NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS : 1086-1485 19 character to the many independent and often aggressive families whose names survive today : Belfield, Buckley, Butterworth, Chadwick, Clegg, Gartside, Greave, Hamer, Haworth, Healey, Holt, Lightowler, Marcroft, Marland, Newbold, Ogden, Riding, Schofield, Shore, Turner, Wardle- worth and Wolstenholme are a few examples . It has been suggested that Gamel the Thane took the name of Rochdale, and that his family intermarried with the Yorkshire Saviles who held a large part of Rochdale, also that his descendants were the Chadwicks of Chadwick Hall, whose arms, eight martlets (or swifts), now form part of the arms, but it is more probable that Camel's descendants were the Elands to whom passed his other lands of South Owram and Elland on the eastern side of Blackstone Edge . These lands are listed in the Domesday Survey of Yorkshire . THE MANOR AND THE DE LACYS . Apart from his Lancashire lands, Roger of Poictou owned part of Lincoln and other ; much of his property eventually passed to the powerful De Lacys, Lords of and Pontefract, whose heiress, Albreda de Lizours, married into the family of the Barons of Halton, who were Constables of Chester . Albreda's son, John, Constable of Chester, died at Tyre in 1190, during a Crusade. His warlike son, Roger or " Hell " de Lacy, so called because of his fury against the Welsh, assumed the name of de Lacy, and it was Roger's son, John, who became the first in 1232 . John's grandson, Henry, the third, last and " the great Earl of Lincoln " died in 1311 at his house in London which still bears the name of " Lin- coln's Inn." He left a daughter Alice, wife of Thomas Plantagenet, the who headed a rising against Edward 11 which reached its climax in 1322 . Amongst his forces were 500 armed men who, march- ing from to Ashbourne, stopped at Rochdale, where their leaders paid out wages . However, in March, Thomas was beheaded at Ponte- fract Castle ; in the same month a Henry de Lacy was amongst other royalist supporters who came by night to " Mylnehouses" in Rochdale and took away the rebels' goods to the value of £100.1 Through the marriage of Alice de Lacy and Thomas Plantagenet the lands of Lincoln and Lancaster came eventually to the mighty , " named Plantagenet, King of Leon and Castile, Duke of Lan- caster, Earl of Lincoln, Leicester and Derby," who died in 1399 . In the same year his third son became Henry IV, King of England ; from then and ever since, loyal Lancastrians drink their toast to " the ," the hereditary title of the monarchs of England, including our present Queen . With the accession of Henry IV the Manor of Roch- dale passed to the Crown . Many of the early Manor Court records were lost ; it has been said that it was due to Thomas Plantagenet's execution that his possessions were confiscated and their documentary records fortunately preserved . There are still, amongst the 50 million or so documents at the Public

20 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

Record Office, some 39 almost monthly accounts of the " Rachedale " Manor Courts, dating from 1323-5 and 1335-6 . In 1251, Edmund de Lacy, son of the first Earl, was granted the right to hold a weekly Wednesday market at Rochdale, and an annual fair on " the vigil, the feast and the morrow " of St. Simon and St . Jude (the 27th, 28th and 29th of October) .2 The original roll, in the Record Office, contains many charters and is about the length of a fair-sized stair-carpet . In clear writing, though the ink has faded a little after 700 years, Edmund de Lacy is described simply as "king's yeoman," and the Manor as being held by his mother, Margaret, Countess of Lincoln . Edmund was a minor when his father, John, the first Earl, died in 1240 ; his mother was Countess in her own right ; Edmund died before her and was never invested as Earl. He married Alice, daughter of the Italian marquis Manfred Ill of Saluzzo . This royal charter for a market and fair was amongst the first dozen to be granted within Lancashire ; few details are given, but the De Lacy accounts for 1295-6 and 1304-5 show that this revenue from Rochdale, which included stallage and tolls, i.e. a certain proportion of money from each transaction, amounted to an annual four marks, or £2 13s. 4d. As Dr. G. H . Tupling says, " complete control over their markets, including the collection of the tolls, was one of the privileges which urban commun- ities were most anxious to acquire ." It is probable that for a short time Rochdale became a borough ; burgesses are mentioned in 1295-6, in 1311 and in a 1341-2 document,3 but no charter has been preserved . The Norman lords, although not averse to borough-making, jealously upheld their. manorial rights . The De Lacy lords even claimed that no bailiff of the king should enter their lands unless accompanied by the Lord's bailiff . Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, said that he would continue to resist, by force, placing " posse against posse " in support of his bailiff, Gilbert de Clifton, against sheriff's officers who had appeared in Rochdale during 1276 to exact satisfaction for debt . Nevertheless, during the 14th century, the commissioning of " keepers of the peace," to curb disorder within the country, and their gradual evolution into Justices of the Peace for each county, greatly weakened the power of the sheriffs and other bailiffs . Moreover, during the 13th century, it had been provided that constables should be appointed within hundreds and within townships, primarily for military purposes . Petty constables became responsible for the safety of their townships and for the custody of criminals . The con- stables, whose duties gradually extended, were supervised by the Justices of the Peace, who, in Tudor and Stuart times, not only tried criminal cases at petty and quarter sessions, but " were endowed by statute with extensive supervisory powers over the work of civil administration then being en- trusted to parochial and township officers."4 However, in Rochdale, from the 14th till the 20th century, the Manor Court continued to function, although with ever-declining powers . The latest, and not necessarily the last, Manor Court was held during 1928 . Adaptation : H. Harte. Rochdale rivers .

2 2 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

The early Court Rolls of " Rachedale " were written, like the Market Charter, in Latin, but on both sides of foot-length strips of parchment . For 1323-55 and 1335-66 the number of cases heard is generally a dozen or two at each Court, with average fines of 3d ., 4d . or 6d . for such common offences as breaking the peace, longstanding debts and making false complaints. Amongst the larger perquisites of the Lord of the Manor are the sums paid for occupying land : 40d. was paid by the Abbot of Whalley in November, 1323, and in December of the same year Richard Byron paid 12d . for entry to 3 acres . Bread, meat and ale were sold by licence ; an interesting summary of tradesmen emerges, and the following are mentioned : dyer, mercer (or dealer in cloth), tailor, cobbler, butcher, miller, baker, brewer, cooper (or barrel-maker), black- smith, fletcher (or maker of arrows), wainwright (or maker of waggons) and herdsmen, also a clerk . Tenants of the " rodeland " or forest clearings, paid an annual sum of money in order to be excused from " puture," i.e. food and lodgings claimed by forest-keepers or bailiffs . In January, 1325, there is a mention of 2s. 6d. paid for two sheets and a coverlet, and 3s . for a tunic belonging to Robert de Newhal (or Newall) . At a time when the majority of the people lived in thatched huts with rush- covered earth floors such items must have been rare amongst a small community where much of the land was waste, particularly in the northern townships of Hundersfield and Spotland . 14th CENTURY TRADE. These Court rolls give evidence of a trading centre which had already developed a small woollen industry . Fishwick quotes a case at York in 1338 which gives an early record of local iron smelting : John and Geoffrey de Bukelegh (Buckley) claimed eight pieces of iron, each, as their share in a Whitworth mine where they and the Abbot of Whalley were wont to dig and smelt . The Abbot complained that John and others with swords and bows and arrows took and carried away his goods, to wit, 300 pieces of iron also linen and woollen cloths, for which he claimed damages of £20 . This was by no means the earliest mine in the district-forges and mines for iron and steel existed in Waisden in 1235? The late J . L. Maxim, an authority on local corn mills, states " that thousands of water (corn) mills were at work in England in the Anglo-Saxon period ." He gives an early instance in Rochdale : about A .D. 1200 John de Lacy released to the Abbey of Stanlaw his right in the mill of the monks on the water of Sotheden (Sudden) between Castleton and Merlond (Marland) .s There was a mill on the Beal river in 1321 and probably sooner .9 Corn was first ground by hand with millstones or querns which varied in shape and size . Many querns have been found from time to time in the Rochdale district 10-several types are now in the Museum . From 1336 to the reign of Elizabeth the Manor Court records are missing, but the local population and trade seem to have thrived, despite

NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS : 1086-1485 23

the " Black Death " plague of 1349, which carried off nearly half the Eng- lish people ; 300 died in Preston alone, and Manchester is said to have suffered heavily . However, in 1332, 33 people in Rochdale between them paid £4 15s . Od. in taxes towards the wars with Scotland . Richard Byron of Butterworth paid the highest sum 5s. Sd., the lowest amount being 9d .11 In 1380-81, every adult male and female was required to pay the unpopular poll-tax of 3 groats, or Is . and 146 people-probably the entire adult population, except for the clergy and the very poor-thus contributed a total of f7 6s . Od.1- It was at one time believed that Edward III's imported Flemish weavers " took root " in Manchester and " took up their abode in Roch- dale," as Baines says, and that between 1337 and 1363 they founded the woollen cloth trade of Lancashire . They did, in fact, settle in York between 1346-50 but (and despite the famous fresco of the A .D. 1363 Flemish weavers which is in the Manchester Town Hall) there is no evi- dence that they invaded either Rochdale or Lancashire . Fishwick strongly denies their presence in Rochdale ; A. P. Wadsworth traces the myth back to Thomas Fuller's Church History and his well-known description of Edward's Englishmen " as knowing no more what to do with their wool than the sheep that wear it," but Fuller lists fustians, bays, says and serges amongst the cloths supposed to have been introduced by the Flemings . These were not made in England until the late 16th century, when, also, Lancashire cloth was being exported, as distinct from wool . In the 13th century the Cistercian monasteries, which dealt with Flemish and Italian buyers, produced a large proportion of the English wool and were unique in sorting it into three grades . The Cistercian abbey of Whalley may well have graded and sent abroad wool from sheep which grazed on Rochdale hills in mediaeval times . During the following century the Flemish immigrants came to this country to weave fine cloths, such as were made on the continent from English wool, but cheap light cloths were already being made in Lancashire before their arrival and in this county, as in many others . the influence of the aliens was negligible . " The great growth of the industry in the 14th century was a home development owing little to foreigners, not much to deliberate acts of State policy (except the high taxation on exported wool), and most to the energies of plain Englishmen ."13 STANLAW, WHALLEY AND ST . CHAD . During the 12th century, many of the riotous Norman nobles sought expiation for their violence by founding monasteries and endowing them with lands . The monks acted as general estate agents, collecting rents, employ- ing farm labour, and marketing produce, as well as offering shelter to travellers and forming centres of learning . While their benefactors spent their lives and their money in fighting for the Holy Land, the hard- working monks profited from the Crusades, due to the increase in trade between Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, particularly with Venice .

24 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

According to its charter, the Cistercian abbey of Stanlaw was founded in 1178, by the John de Lacy who died at Tyre . His son Roger or " Hell " de Lacy, who fought at the siege of Acre, died in 1211, and it was he who granted the church of Rochdale to Stanlaw, also lands including Marland, which became a grange of the Abbey . A great many 12th and 13th century deeds show that large parts of Rochdale passed into the keeping of the Stanlaw monks, amongst whom five Rochdale names were represented : a Howarth, a Belfield, two Healeys and a Buck- ley . The site of Stanlaw, however, on rocky ground west of the marshy junction of the river Gowy and the Mersey estuary, was ill-chosen . The Abbey was often flooded by the spring tides : in 1279 there was a disastrous flood, in 1287 the tower fell down and in 1289 a fire destroyed much of the building . Apart from its Cheshire possessions the Abbey had received large gifts of land in Lancashire and in 1296 Abbot Gregory de Norbury and most of the monks moved to Whalley . Robert Howarth, 8th Abbot of Stanlaw, remained and resigned the abbacy which he had held for 24 years . Stanlaw became a cell of Whalley : of the five monks who remained with Howarth, two, Richard Storesworth and Richard Sutton, were sent to Marland Grange . John Belfield, originally of Butterworth, became the third Abbot of Whalley in 1316 . Alone amongst the four Rochdale townships, Butterworth did not provide much land for Stanlaw, but many Butterworth acres passed into the hands of the religious and military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem . A 13th century charter granted the prior and knights of this Order the right to try thieves and to build a gallows in their domains in Butterworth, Buersill and Wordhall .t4 The old Gallows Lane still runs eastwards from Cross Gates, by the " Hare and Hounds " inn (once the " Dog and Partridge "), , and on to Low House. Whitaker, in his " History of Whalley " mentions an anchoress at Newbold . An insight into the living conditions of this somewhat mysterious lady is provided by the list of provisions granted in 1349 to the Abbot of Whalley by Henry, Duke of Lancaster, for a female recluse and her two women attendants . The three women were to receive, weekly, 24 loaves, 8 gallons of beer and 3d . for their food, with yearly allowances of oatmeal, rye and dried fish, also oil for their lamps, tallow for candles, and turf and faggots for their fuel . In later years the monks of Whalley relapsed from their original vows of abstinence from flesh : accounts reckoned for A .D. 1478 show that they were spending large amounts on meat and drink . The first known vicar of St. Chad, c . 1210, was Geoffrey, the Dean of Whalley and son of the same-styled Geoffrey who appears to have held the church in 1195 . His successor, William de Dumplington, c. 1230, was the first official vicar, and received, by permission of the Bishops of Lichfield and confirmation of three Popes, a vicarage and 4 oxgangs of NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS : 1086-1485 25 land, together with a stipend-the previous vicar, Geoffrey, had received 5 marks, or £3 6s . 8d., in 1222 . The next vicar, John de , c . 1260, had his stipend raised to 18 marks in 1277.15 The list of Rochdale vicars is nearly complete from the end of the 12th century and up to date, though the early ordination dates are uncertain. However, from Richard de Parbold (or Perebold), 1312-1317, there are clear dates of the successive vicars, apart from an awkward gap between William Asheton in 1483 and Gilbert Haydock in 1522. Of the individual vicars, Richard Parbold's predecessor, Roger, was in 1307 fined £20 at Wakefield for trespassing in the Earl of 's " free chase at Sourebyschyre ." 1 6 Although the fine was severe, offences (such as killing deer) in a private forest were not legally punishable by death, as they had been in royal forests during the previous century . During the vicariate of Thomas de Bolton, the Bishop of Lichfield held an ordination at Rochdale in 1330 . Bolton died in 1350, at a time when the plague of the Black Death was rampant . In 1388, Roger, son of William de Manchester, was driven from the vicarage by Robert de Holland and others armed with bows and arrows . 17 They had already assaulted the Vicar's reapers. The result was a trial at Lancaster, between John Duke of Lancaster, and Robert de Holland . This vicar, also called Roger de Lache, was appointed to the rectory of Radcliffe in the same year as the assault. John Sawley (or de Salley), vicar from 1402-3, was in 1411 made Vicar of Whalley . He was on of the two 15th century Whalley monks who became vicars of Rochdale. Whalley also held the chapel of , in Yorkshire, the tithes of which were paid to the mother church of St . Chad .18 In the 15th century, chapels of ease at Milnrow, Todmorden and Littleborough were founded for the convenience of parishioners living at some distance from the Parish Church . ROCHDALE HOUSES AND FAMILIES . No single surname dominates the history of Rochdale . From the earliest days, various families intermingle, passing often from one hall to another, as their fortunes vary . Fishwick gives 95 headings to the old houses and families of the district-each one of which would provide enough material for a separate book. While the families fluctuate and their direct lines eventually die out, many of the old halls survive, in some form, into the 20th century and it is from these that a selection of ten has been made in order to provide a continuous illustration of Rochdale's particularly energetic and in- dependent character. Some of the oldest and finest halls, such as that of the Radcliffes at Todmorden, are too far from the nucleus of the town ; others are of later date, or have an individual rather than a general interest, but the various owners of Belfield, Clegg and Schofield in the Township of Butter- worth, also Chadwick, Healey and Oakenrod of Spotland Township, and Stubley of Hundersfield continually thrust themselves forward . Pike c

26 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

House of Hundersfield came later, but became the centre of a group of of older halls at the foot of Blackstone Edge ; nor can the later magnifi- cence of Castleton Hall be overlooked. The Great House, or Amen Corner, was probably the oldest in the very heart of Rochdale, and just within Hundersfield .

~O dike House ; V • +/.tdeborougb ra W~ Stumey ;

$,F ~' ,JciwHa// SchoHe/dNa// • Pej2y ~, Amen ;~ 'i y comer t •~ Be/Fie/d Ha// ~L

Adaptation : H. Harre. Rochdale townships and halls . The families of Belfield, Clegg, Schofield and Stubley are all men- tioned in 13th century deeds ; successive families named Castleton, Mar- land and Oakenrod lived at Oakenrod in mediaeval times : two Healeys, it will be remembered, were monks at Stanlaw in the 12th century ; the Chadwicks of Chadwick claimed a kinship with Gamel the Thane . Until the 16th century the early halls were built of timber : " wattle and daub " or rough branches plastered with clay still form the inner walls of many NORMANS AND PLANTAGENETS : 1086-1485 27 local stone halls which through the centuries have remained undisturbed on moorland sites mainly near to the northern and eastern boundaries of the Manor. Until the beginning of the in 1485, these native families mostly remained fairly constant to the districts which gave them Old English names having such possible derivations as : Belfield, or the tillable ground near the winding stream ; Chadwick, or Chad's farm ; Healey, or high clearing in the woods ; Oakenrod, or clearing in the oaks ; Stubley, or tree-stump clearing . Schofield contains the Old Norse Schole," or shelter on a hill-side, and Pike is a Middle English (c . 1t 50- 1500) term for pointed hill . Some index of family character appears in the offences which are recorded in the 1323-5 Court Rolls. Adam Belfield was fined for non-attendance and for not prosecu- ting, but he and his son Geoffrey each paid fees for acquiring land . His son Richard, however, was fined for a breach of the peace . A Henry Belfield paid " for having aid," i.e., possibly, for receiving the help of the Court in effecting a prosecution . Alexander Heley was fined the usual 4d . for a breach of the peace, and Hugh Oakenrod was fined for non-attendance, for a breach of the peace, for default of service, for not prosecuting and for contempt of court . John Stubley was fined for withholding a debt, for unjust detention and for trespass . Nicholas Stubley paid for making a false claim and for unjustly " withholding a debt . The spelling of the names varies considerably ; Stubley, for instance, fluctuates between de Stubleygh and de Stubbelay . A hint of 15th century morals is given in a deed whereby Agnes Belfield's mother was to live with Ralph Shore with a view to a possible marriage within twelve months. In 1451, Hugh Schofield (or Scolfeld) foretold the fiery qualities of his family in being slain at Castleton by Ralph Dicson, " alias Butterworth," who stabbed him in the stomach with a picket-staff (or pointed stave) . This was, however, by no means an isolated case of bloodshed, and indeed, in 1447 some sixty Rochdalians, with a white banner and " much noise and blowing of horns," violently demonstrated against the risingly powerful Halts at Fieldhouse, near Buckley in . THE BYRONS. The Byrons, future Lords of the Manor, had long held lands in Rochdale. Baines records that in the I I th century the family held manors in and in Derbyshire . In the 13th century the Byrons had settled at Clayton, and there are many deeds in this period of Roch- dale lands, particularly in Butterworth, being transferred to them, some of it from the Elands, through Margery, Hugh de Eland's daughter, who married Sir Baldwin de Tyas . Their daughter, Joan, married , to whom came her lands in Bultterworth, Clegg, Gartside, Ogden and

28 ROCHDALE RETROSPECT

Hollingworth . In 1262 he paid twenty pounds of silver to Andrew and Christiana Butterworth in return for their acknowledgement to his right to 60 acres of land in Butterworth . 1 9 In the same century there appears to have been a dispute by the Byrons over that bone of contention the Butterworth boundary . Between 1437 and 1461, Sir John Byron and his son Nicholas, of Clayton Hall (part of which still exists), were successive High Sheriffs (or Shire Reeves) of Lancashire . This Sir John in 1420-21 held a licence for his private chapels at Clayton and at Butterworth, in 1427 being granted the stewardship of the Manor for life, and in 1430 buying the grant out- right. However, in 1481 Edward IV ordered this Byron's grandson, John (knighted after the Battle of Bosworth, 1485), to allow Sir John Savile (also a connection of the Elands) to occupy the Manor for 10 years . After this, in 1499, Sir John Byron's brother and successor, Nicholas, was granted a lease of the Manor for 40 years .211 Nicholas was knight- ed in 1501, at the marriage of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon, and died three years later. In an age characterised by the struggle to acquire and develop land, the Byrons were " first in the field," and this seems to have been their chief interest in Rochdale: from the 13th century they lived at Clayton, near , and later at Hall, Middleton . They certainly had a 15th century chapel, and probably a timber house, in Butterworth Hall hamlet, but how long or how much they used it is problematical, as is its connection with the now ruined and partly rebuilt Butterworth Hall building at the top of Charles Street, off Milnrow Road, which once had a 1630 date-stone, and still has a not much worn stone over the porch, carved in the shape of a human face, with its tongue out . This (or per- haps an earlier carving) was said to be the likeness of a Lord Byron, but apart from the deeds concerning the oratory at Butterworth, the Byrons never seem to have looked on Rochdale as their home, nor, generally, to have been anxious to take up any local responsibilities which were not profitable to themselves .