BOLTON was given by William the Conqueror in 1067 to Roger de Pitou, whose family, the Montgomerys, held it until 1200 when it passed by marriage to the Earl of Derby. In 1251, William de Ferrers obtained a Royal Charter from king Henry III for a market and fair to be held in Bolton. By 1253, Bolton had been granted another Charter making it a free borough and a market town. Flemish émigré weavers settled in Bolton around 1337 and introduced spinning and weaving to the area of Bolton-le-Moors. Bolton archers are said to have played in the defeat of the Scots at Flodden Field in 1513 read by the coat of arms with an arrow or "bolt" through a crown.

A parish in the ward of Allerdale-below-Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, not far from Ireby. In Cumberland, Ireby is about the same distance southeast of Aspatria near the Roman Arbea, containing townships of High and Low ireby and the hamlet of Ruthwaite and Langlands. The Ellen river rises to the neighboring lake of Overwter. The church is dedicated to St. James. Wigton is its post town. It is situated in a hilly country on the banks of the river Ellen, and includes the townships of High Bolton, Low Bolton, or Bolton Wood, and Quarry Hill. Many of the inhabitants are employed in working the coal and limestone, which are very abundant here. Copper is also obtained.

The name BURY, (also earlier known as "Buri" and "Byri") comes from a Saxon word, probably meaning "a stronghold". In ancient times the whole area was almost certainly covered in woodland, marsh and moorland and was probably inhabited by nomadic herdsmen. The Romans are believed to have arrived in Bury around 78 AD and Agricola, the Governor of Britain built roads out from his new fortress as Mamuciam. The village of Ainsworth may be near to or the site of Roman Coccium as the place has always been known by the nickname "Cockey Moor". During medieval times most of Bury was held by the De Montbegons, Lords of the Manor of Tottington. This barony had been granted to Roger De Poitou at the end of the 11th century. By the 14th century, the manor had passed into the possession of the Pilkington family until 1485 when the lands of Sir Thomas Pilkington were forfeited because of his allegiance to Richard III.

In OLDHAM the towns and villages of Chadderton, Crompton, Delph, Denshaw, Diggle, Dobcross, Failsworth, Greenfield, Lees, Royton, Shaw, and Uppermill. The town can be dated from 865 AD when Danish invaders established a settlement here with the name Aldehulme. In 1215 much of the lands of Oldham were given to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem by Roger de Montbegon. Lawrence Tetlow made a settlement of six messuages, in Ashton in 1551. In 1536 Lawrence Chadderton, after whom the district of Chadderton is named, was born in Oldham. He was to become the translator of the King James Bible.

ROCHDALE appears in the Domesday Book under the name of Recedham Manor, and was part of the Salford Hundred. The manor belonged to the crown until it was purchased by John Byron in 1638. St Chad's parish church was built in 1194, on the site of an earlier church which dates from 769 AD.