CHAPTER IV.

The Barons of Manchester-Albert Greslet, the First Baron-Bailiwicks of the Barony of Manchester-Robert Greslet, Second Baron, gives the Mill of Manchester to the Abbey of Swineshead-Albert Greslet (the Elder), Third Baron Stephen, King of England; State of the Country during his ReignWilliam Peverel's Lands in Salford claimed by Ranulph Gernon, Earl of Chester- Hugh de Burun becomes a Recluse at Kersal-Kersal Cell Endowed by Ranulph Gernon-Albert Greslet (the Elder) grants Lands in the Neighbourhood of Deansgate, now known as the Parsonage, to the Church of Manchester-Old Churches of St. Michael and St. MarySupposed Remains of the Ancient Church of St. Michael.

We have now arrived at the period when the barony of Manchester appears to have been first formed. On the defection of Roger de Poictou a large tract of country seems to have been granted to Albertus de Greslet, Grelle, Grelley, or Gresley, for such are the variations in the orthography of the name. About the pedigree of his family genealogists are not agreed. Some writers say the family is derived from Nigel, the younger of the two sons of Roger de Toeny, standard bearer of Normandy; while others deduce the lineage from the Greilleys of the county of Gex, near Geneva. But be this as it may, Kuerden tells us that Albertus Gresley, a favourite of Roger de Poictou, was the first baron of Manchester, and we find him mentioned in Domesday Book as holding, conjointly with Roger de Busli, lands in Blackburn hundred, which were exempt from all rent. When Roger de Poictou lost his possessions Blackburn hundred was transferred to the lord of Pontefract, Ilbert de Lacy, who seems to have conferred new estates upon De Busli and De Gresley, the former receiving Penwortham, near Preston, and the latter property in Leyland and Salford hundreds. Whether the possessions in the latter hundred comprised the manor of Manchester we are not informed, but we know that they included a wide circle of territory, of which Horwich Moor was the centre, and constituted what was

afterwards called the Upper Bailiwick of the lordship of Manchester. Of the ecclesiastical affairs of the town at this period we possess no authentic information, beyond that it was comprised in the diocese of Lichfield, the bishops of which resided at first at that city, then at Chester, afterwards at Coventry, from which place they returned to Lichfield.

Albert Greslet was succeeded in his barony of Manchester by his son Robert, who thus became the second lord, but the exact date has not transpired. This Robert is stated by Kuerden to have given Matthew Stauresides a knight's fee within his manor of Manchester. At this period the Greslets appear to have been possessed of extensive estates, the particulars of which we now proceed to give. Robert Greslet possessed Brockholes, in Amounderness, on the banks of the Ribble; Burnhill, or Brindhill, a detached fief in the northern part of the hundred of Leyland; Walsewythull, Duxbury, Charnock-Gogard, Worthington, Coppull, Adelventon (or Adlington), Shevington, and a knight's fee in Dalton, Wrightington, and Parbold, in the southern part of the same hundred. Adjoining these lands in Leyland, but in Salford hundred, the Greslets held an extensive hunting ground, which extended in a southerly direction from the high grounds in the neighbourhood of Anglezark and Sharples, where they border upon Blackburn hundred, to the vicinity of West Houghton, Kersley, Middlewood in Hulton, and Farnworth, a distance of ten miles; while the breadth of the ground of which Horwich Moor was the centre varied from six to eight miles. Proceeding from north to south it included Anglezark, Sharples, Longwith, Rivington, Turton, Smithel, Halliwell, Harwood, Little Lever, Bradshaw, Horwich, Heton, Lostock, Rumworth, Pilkington, Dean, Aspull, West Houghton, Hulton, and Farnworth. Much of the land here mentioned was devoted to the purposes of the chase, and as we have before stated was termed the Upper Bailiwick of Manchester. To the south-east of this lay the Lower Bailiwick, of which Manchester was the centre; its boundary is given as follows: Commencing at Aldport, or the Old Town of Manchester, near the junction of the Medlock with the Irwell, the line proceeded along the latter river to Strange ́ways, whence it proceeded along the Irk to Blackley, and thence by Alkrington south-east to Ashton-under-Lyne. On reaching

the last-named point, the boundary pursued the course of the Tame as far as the confluence of that river with the Mersey, near Heaton Norris, and then proceeded along the latter stream by Didsbury and Urmston until it reached the confluence of the Mersey and Irwell near Cadishead, and thence went north-east by the Irwell till it arrived at Aldport, where it commenced. The Robert Greslet above mentioned, in 1131, gave to the Abbey of Swineshead, in Lincolnshire, his mill at Manchester; and in the annals of Peterborough, is said to have founded the abbey for monks of St. Bernard. He died in 1135, and is supposed to have been buried at Swineshead.

Albert Greslet (the Elder as he was called), the next baron of Manchester, succeeded his father in 1135. He married Agnes, daughter and co-heiress of William Fitz-Nigel, constable of Chester, receiving with her a portion of the barony of Widness, comprising Raynford, Childwall, Kuerdly, Allerton, Garston, and Hale, in the hundred of West Derby. This property formed, at a subsequent period, part of the upper bailiwick of the barony of Manchester mentioned above. By means of alliances with the families in the surrounding district, the Greslets became the owners of property in various parts of the country, and their possessions might be traced from Amounderness, Leyland, and Widness, to the most southerly part of the hundred of Salford.

At this time the throne of England was occupied by Stephen, the third son of the Count of Blois, and of Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. He was brought up at the court of his uncle, Henry I., from whom he received many benefits and favours, and professed himself a warm supporter of the succession of his cousin the Empress Maud, Henry's daughter. Yet no sooner was his benefactor dead than Stephen seized the crown, and was shortly afterwards declared king. A general state of anarchy followed this usurpation, and in the words of the Saxon Chronicle, ' all was dissension, and evil, and rapine.' The nobles of England sided some with Stephen and some with Maud, but both parties cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castlework, and when the castles were made they filled them with devils and evil men.' 'They threw the people into dungeons, and inflicted upon them unutterable tortures. Every man robbed another who could. Never was there more wretchedness in the

land, nor ever did heathen men worse than they did; for, after time they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that were therein, and then burned the church and all together.' 'They said openly that Christ slept and all his saints. The bishops and learned men denounced them continually, but the effect thereof was nothing to them for they were all accursed, and forsworn, and abandoned.'

Foremost among the partisans of Stephen at this period, we find William Peverel, lord of Nottingham and Salford, who took an important part in the famous battle of the Standard, fought near Northallerton, on August 22, 1138. But his valour and prowess could not ensure to him the possession of his extensive estates, for the confusion prevalent at the time was so great, that the tenure of land became very uncertain, estates being transferred by the contending princes to their respective followers as occasion required, and little or no regard paid to the rights of those in possession. To this state of things William Peverel became a victim. Ranulph Gernon, fourth earl of Chester, claimed all the possessions held by William Peverel between the Ribble and the Mersey, on the ground that his father, Ranulph de Meschines, had been infeoffed with them; and so great was the power and influence exercised by the Earl of Chester, that Stephen, forgetting Peverel's great services, confirmed to Ranulph and his heirs, all the estates claimed, among which were, as we have seen, the town and hundred of Salford. William Peverel died in 1142, and was succeeded by his son, William Peverel the Younger. Stephen maintained his acquisition of the throne of England by force of arms, but on the death of his son Eustace, he came to a compromise, in virtue of which he passed the last year of his reign in comparative peace. This king remitted the tax called Danegeld, and in this benefit the churches of Manchester fully participated. Stephen died, October 25, 1154, and was succeeded by Maud's eldest son, Henry II.

About this period mention is made of Hugh de Burun, who, in the ninth year of the reign of King Stephen (1143-4), held the castle of Horestan, in the county of Derby. He had two sons, Hugh and Roger, who successively inherited their father's possessions, and sanctioned his grants of the churches of Horseley, and Cotegrave, in Derbyshire, along with other property, to the

monastery of Lenton. This Hugh de Burun subsequently retired from the world, and became a Cluniac monk, making his monastic profession in the convent, to which he had been so great a benefactor. He, however, did not continue to reside at Lenton, but appears to have removed to the neighbourhood of Manchester, where, in what was then a sequestered valley, about three miles north of the modern town on the banks of the river Irwell, which bore the name of Kersal, he became a recluse, and the first inmate of Kersal Cell, which was soon afterwards attached to Lenton Priory, and as a cell of that house was endowed by Ranulph Gernon, earl of Chester, who now possessed the lands heretofore held by William Peverel. The charter of foundation is preserved among the Cole MSS. in the British Museum. Dr. Hibbert-Ware conjectures that the foundation of Kersal Cell caused the oratory of Ordsal to fall into disuse. He says, 'I have surmised that the cave of Ordeshall originally devoted to Odinism, was converted into a chapel by a few monks of Clugni, brought over from Lenton by William Peverel, the great benefactor of that monastery. That Hugo de Burun, the first recluse of Kershall, was of their fraternity, has been likewise explained. It is highly probable, therefore, that after the cell of Kershall was brought into repute by the admission within it of so influential a character and patroniser of the rules of Clugni as Hugo de Burun, the chapel of Ordeshall would fall into proportional neglect. And hence the reason why the history of this Christianised cave would be lost amidst the gloom of a remote antiquity.' Ranulph Gernon afterwards endowed several religious houses, and is said to have died on December 16th, 1153; but some writers give 1155 or 1156 as the year of his decease, which is said to have been caused by poison, administered by William Peverel, in revenge for the loss of his estates; and it is added that Maud, countess of Chester, was fully cognisant of the manner in which her husband's death was effected. In consequence of his share in this transaction, William Peverel quitted England, and remained in exile during the remainder of his life. Ranulph Gernon was succeeded by Hugh Kevilioc, who thus became the fifth earl of Chester.

Albert Greslet (the elder) is connected with the lordship of Manchester, not only by possessing its manorial rights and