Southworth with Croft. (Suthewrthe, 1212; Sotheworth, 1293; Suthworth, 1306. Croft, 1212.) Croft on the eastern portion of the township was the only hall in Southworth from the principal road leading eastward from Winwick to Culcheth. The two manors Southworth and Croft were held by different lords of Makerfield as it gave its name to the lord in 1212, Gilbert de Croft by his service of falconer and held Southworth and the manor of Dalton in Kendal. Gilbert's son Hugh took the local surname as founder of the Southworth family holding manors of South worth and Croft until the seventeenth century. Thurstan Banastre, lord of makerfield confirmed the charter of service for a pound of pepper annually. The remaining part of Croft was later acquired by the Southworth family to Gilbert de Southworth by Agnes, daughter of Randle de Croft and to Gilbert son of Gilbert de Southworth. Gilbert and Alice, daughter of Nicholas de Eways in 1325 with a moiety of the manor of Samlesbury came from the Southworth and Croft family together as Southworth of Samlesbury until the 17th century. The manors of Middleton, Houghton, Arbury adjoining Southworth and some junior branches of the family settled in them. 1287-1292 the settled boundary between Croft and Kenyon by lords of the manor became half of the manor of Southworth with Sir Robert de Holland. The ancient faith in the time of Elizabeth made the district in Southworth left with few charters. About 1556 Henry Southworth and James hey contributed to the subsidy and no freeholders appear in the list of 1600. Some of Croft was accustomed to Derwent families. Sir Thomas Ireland of Bewsey held Southworth and Croft in 1621 and the manor was held a century later by the Gerards of Ince. The gift to the society enabled maintenance of local missions by the time it was bequeathed by Richard Gerard to his brother, a Jesuit priest in 1743. From Southworth, it was known as Stonyhurst College addition and from where Aspahsaw anciently gave a surname to the family settled there.

George Booth (great-grandson of Sir Thomas Ashton) died 3 August 1543, leaving a son and heir William, three years of age. The estate is described as twenty-five messuages, &c., in Ashton and Oldham, a third part of two mills in Ashton, a third part of the moor, and a third part of the advowson; it being arranged that George (or his assigns) should present at the next vacancy; Elizabeth Ashton, widow, at the second vacancy; and Sir Richard Hoghton at the third vacancy; and so on in perpetuity. The will of George Booth is given; it names his wife Elizabeth, his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. His uncle Robert Booth had an annuity of £4 from Ashton. Thomas Hoghton died in 1580, holding among other estates a moiety of the manor of Ashton; he was at Hoghton succeeded in turn by his brother Alexander and his half-brother Thomas the younger. Alexander and his half-brother Thomas the younger. Thomas Hoghton died in 1580. With the death of Alexander in 1581 the male issue of Alice Ashton ceased, and the Hoghton share of Ashton should have gone to the Booth family; yet a moiety of the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne and the advowson of the church appear in the inquisition after the death of the younger Thomas in 1589.

Richard Hunt died in 1587 holding a capital messuage and lands in Middlebrook of the queen as of the late priory of St. John. The other part of the Hospitallers' lands was acquired by the Hulmes of Manchester and Reddish. William Hulme, father of the benefactor, died in 1637 holding a messuage and land in Ashton of William, Earl of Derby, as of the late priory of St. John.

In 1595 the moiety of the manor is named among the Hoghton estates, and the manor in 1596 among those of George Booth. George Booth of Dunham, son and heir of Sir William, stated in 1597 that his father had been seised of a moiety of the manor of Ashton, and had made certain estates in it. John Hunt and George Latham had recently inclosed divers parcels of waste on the moor called 'Odenshawe,' and had alleged that John Hunt was joint lord of the wastes and commons of the manor. The other 'wastes' were Luzley Moor, Mossley, and Little Moss. In 1606 a settlement of the manor and advowson was made by Sir George Booth and Katherine his wife. A similar settlement was made in 1648 by Sir George Booth and George Booth. =>

MOSSLEY has two elements - "moss" meaning "bog" or "swamp" and the old English word "lea" or "leah" indicating a clearing in a wood. Henry de Waterhouses contributed to the subsidy of 1332 and John Moss of Waterhouses occurs in 1616. In 1309, according to records, the land was owned by Henry, son of William de Mossley where it was little more than a small hamlet included in the Manor of Ashton and the town was once situated in three counties - Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire - and its three Parish Churches (St George's, Lancashire; St John the Baptist, Yorkshire; All Saints, Cheshire). Coals got at the very edge of town to Manchester, an extensive moss of shaking bog with red fir trees that served as candles and large numbers of large oak trees that the ancient borough of Ashton lost its charter from the ten great boroughs in Great Manchester: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tamesaide, Trafford, and Wigan- are the city of Manchester or County Lancashire.