Stretford, 1212. Trafford, 1212.
This large township, lying between the Irwell and Cornbrook on the north and the Mersey on the south, occupies the south-west corner of the parish and contains 3,255 acres. The surface is comparatively level, though it slopes to the Mersey. Stretford proper lies in the south, taking its name from an ancient ford over the Mersey, also called Crosford. The north-eastern portion is called Trafford or Old Trafford; a ford over the Irwell is said to have been near it. Longford lies on the eastern border. The population in 1901 was 30,436.
The principal road is that on the line of the old Roman road from Chester to Manchester, and crosses the Mersey by a bridge at the point where the ford was. Leland about 1535 crossed the Mersey 'by a great bridge of timber called Crossford Bridge.' Edmund Prestwich of Hulme in 1577 left £30 for this bridge; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 4. Though broken down in 1745 the Young Pretender's army repaired it sufficiently to use it; Crofton, Stretford, i, 12. Close by the ford was the mill, which has long since disappeared. John the Miller contributed to the subsidy in 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 30. From Stretford village roads go east and west to Fallowfield and to Urmston. Old Trafford has to some extent become urban, and there are many streets of houses on the border of Hulme. In this part of the township are the Botanical Gardens, opened in 1831, and the Lancashire cricket ground, with several other cricket and football grounds. Pomona Gardens formerly occupied land at the junction of the Cornbrook and the Irwell.
Henshaw's Blind Asylum at Old Trafford was established in 1837. A deaf and dumb school, which originated in 1823, found a home adjacent to it in 1837.
The Cheshire Lines Committee's Manchester and Liverpool line crosses the northern portion of the township, with a station called Trafford Park, and has an older line south to Stockport; there is a large goods yard near the northern boundary, close to which, on the Irwell, are docks and jetties of the Ship Canal; also a corn elevator and various large warehouses and works. The London and NorthWestern Company's Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway passes through the centre with stations at Old Trafford, the cricket ground, and Stretford. The Bridgewater Canal also passes through the centre and north of the township, after crossing the Mersey from Cheshire by Barfoot Bridge.
In 1666 there were in Stretford 117 hearths to be taxed; the principal house was that of Sir Cecil Trafford with twenty-four. A century ago it was famous as a fat pig market, some six hundred animals being killed weekly for Manchester. There was a paper-mill at Old Trafford in 1765. Weaving was formerly one of the chief industries.
The wakes were held at the beginning of October.
A stone celt, Roman remains, and a hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins have been found. The cross was taken down about 1840; the stocks, which were near the cross, had been removed about 1825. The Great Stone—now inclosed by a railing—lies in Old Trafford beside the Chester road; it has two cavities.
A local board was formed in 1868, and its offices were built in 1888; it has become an urban district council of eighteenemembers, elected from six wards— Stretford, Longford, Trafford, Talbot, Cornbrook, and Clifford. There are a public hall, free libraries, and other institutions. There is a recreation-ground at Old Trafford. At Stretford are a cemetery, opened in 1885, and a sewage-farm. Gas-works were erected in 1852.
Stretford gives its name to one of the parliamentary divisions of the county.
John Holker, who established factories in France, was born at Stretford in 1719. Holker was a Jacobite and became lieutenant in the unfortunate Manchester Regiment of 1745. He escaped from prison, and found a refuge in France, where, with the encouragement of the government, he introduced various manufactures. He was ennobled in 1775, and died in 1786. Edward Painter, pugilist, was also a native; 1784–1852. A distinguished resident was John Eglington Bailey, the antiquary, author of a life of Thomas Fuller; he died there in 1888.
An exhibition of art treasures held at Old Trafford in 1857 was opened by Queen Victoria. The Royal Jubilee Exhibition of 1887 was held there.
MANORS
In this township there were anciently two manors, both held in thegnage of the king in chief as of his manor of Salford. The principal was in 1212 STRETFORD, rated as one plough-land and held by Hamon de Mascy by the service of a judge; the other was TRAFFORD, held by Henry de Trafford by a rent of 5s. yearly. Under Mascy a moiety of the former was held by Hugh de Stretford, who performed the service of the judge; and a fourth part was held by the abovenamed Henry de Trafford, who paid 4s. a year. Among others are two which show how the Traffords became possessed of the two oxgangs held in 1212. Hamon de Mascy granted to Robert son of Ralph an oxgang of land in Stretford, viz. an eighth part of the land of the vill, at a rent of 2s.; Hugh and Henry de Stretford were witnesses; op. cit. iii, 234. The same or a later Hamon granted to Henry son of Robert de Trafford an oxgang of his demesne in Stretford, formerly held by William son of Robert, at a rent of 2s.; ibid. This charter mentions that the service of a judge due from the vill was discharged by another. The deeds quoted below as 'De Trafford deeds' have been taken from the originals.About 1250 another Hamon de Mascy gave the whole of Stretford to his daughter Margery, who afterwards granted Stretford to Richard de Trafford. Margery daughter of Hamon de Mascy about 1260 granted to Richard de Trafford the whole vill of Stretford with all its appurtenances in freemen and villeinages, at a rent of 1d.; Crofton, op. cit. iii, 237. The seal is described. Then Hamon de Mascy released to Richard all his claim in the whole vill of Stretford, which was thenceforward to be held by the new lord of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, by the services due from the vill; ibid. 236. E. de Mascy, widow, released to Richard her claim for dower in Stretford; ibid. 241. A little later Margaret de Mascy, as widow of Roger Payn of Ashbourne, released all her right in the whole vill to Henry de Trafford; ibid. 238.The moiety of the manor held by Hugh de Stretford in 1212 does not occur subsequently in the records. The Trafford family thus acquired the whole of Stretford and Trafford, and the two manors have descended together. The principal residence remained at the latter place until about 1720, when Trafford Park in Whittleswick was chosen. Manor courts continued to be held until 1872.
All the Lancashire estates except Trafford and Stretford seem to have gone, but the Barton marriage brought in some new ones. Among the sales and mortgages the following are recorded: 1569, a messuage, 40 acres, &c. in Stretford, with remainder to Thomas Brownsword; 1573, two messuages, 80 acres, &c. in the same, Richard Worsley and George Dykyns, plaintiffs; 1590, forty messuages, &c. in Stretford, &c. sold to Gregory Lovell; 1596, 20 acres, &c. in Trafford to Nicholas Fenne; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 31, m. 204; 35, m. 94; 52, m. 4; 59, m. 119. Sir Robert Lovell in 1597 appears to have sold or mortgaged his father's purchase to William Johnson; ibid. bdle. 58, m. 74. For the Lovells see the account of Withington and its dependencies.
In 1580 Sir Edmund wrote from Trafford to the Earl of Leicester, stating
that masses were said in several places, and desiring the offenders to be
dealt with rigorously; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547–80, p. 656. The rhetorical
account of his persecution of the Allens in 1584 in Bridgewater's Concertatio
reads thus: 'The furious hate of this inhuman wretch was all the more fiercely
stirred by the fact that he saw offered to him such a prospect of increasing
his slender means out of the property of Catholics and of adorning his house
with various articles of furniture filched from their houses. For though as
far as his own fortune went he could scarcely be called a gentleman, still
with other people's gold, no matter how wrongfully come by, he might rightly
be called and accounted a knight'; Gillow, Haydock Papers, 31. This
may be balanced by the equally rhetorical eulogium of his chaplain, William
Massie, who in 1586 addressed him as 'a principal protector of God's truth
and a great countenance and credit to the preachers thereof in those quarters,'
who had 'hunted out and unkenneled those sly and subtle foxes the Jesuits
and Seminary priests out of their cells and caves to the uttermost of his
power, with the great illwill of many both open and private enemies to the
prince and the church.' He also says that Sir Edmund had 'maintained still
his house with great hospitality, in no point diminishing the glory of his
worthy predecessors, but rather adding to it'; quoted by Crofton, op. cit.
iii, 123. His portrait is given ibid. 129.
Mascy. Quarterly gules and argent in the second quarter a mullet sable.
The pedigree of the lords can be traced at least to the early part of the 12th century. Hamon de Mascy before 1190 gave Wolfetnote and his heirs to Ralph son of Randulf and to Robert his son for 4 marks. This was afterwards confirmed to Robert son of Ralph. It is suggested that this Ralph may be the Ralph de Dunham mentioned in the Pipe R. of 1187–93; Lancs. Pipe R. v, 69, 73, 76. A further grant was made to Henry son of Robert of an oxgang of Hamon de Mascy's demesne m Ashley, previously held by Uctred, it being a fourth part of the whole vill. Henry, surnamed 'de Stratford,' agreed in 1205 to pay 40s. as relief for the half plough-land he held in Trafford. ( In 1212, as above shown, he held Trafford of the king and a fourth of Stretford of Hamon de Mascy. He died in 1221, when his son and heir Richard paid 20s. for relief of the land held of the king.
Henry son of Robert son of Ralph de Trafford received lands in Chorltonupon-Medlock
and in Withington; De Trafford D. no. 122, 310. He had a dispute with Hamon
de Mascy regarding Adam son of William de Stretford, and Hamon agreed that
Adam was a free man; Crofton, op. cit. iii, 235. Henry de Stretford or de
Trafford was perhaps a younger son of Robert de Trafford. William son of Robert
has already been named and a Richard de Trafford was witness to a charter
which must be dated between 1200 and 1204; Hulton Ped. 3.
There is frequent confusion between Stretford, Stratford, Stafford, and Trafford.
Apart from his acquisition of Stretford little is known of Richard de Trafford, whose son Henry in 1278 agreed to a partition of the family estates, taking as his share eight oxgangs of land, &c., in Stretford, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and Withington. Six years later Henry obtained a charter of free warren for his manors of Trafford and Stretford. He was succeeded by his son Henry before 1292, in which yeare the younger Henry had a dispute with his brother Richard. ( Henry de Trafford in 1302 contributed to the aid as holding part of a knight's fee in Harwood near Bolton, and five years afterwards he made a settlement of the manor of Clifton. In the Parliament of 1312 he was a knight of the shire. In 1324 Henry de Trafford had the king's leave to settle his manors of Trafford and Stretford upon Henry son of John son of Henry and his heirs; and in the following yeare accordingly this was done. In 1334 Sir Henry de Trafford acquired John Grelley's lands in Chorlton-upon-Medlock.
The dispute concerned lands, &c., in Clifton, Crompton, and Edgeworth; Assize R. 408, m. 3 d.; Final Conc. i, 170. Lora widow of Henry de Trafford had called Henry son of Henry to warrant her. Lora appears as plaintiff in 1305; Assize R. 1306, m. 20 d. In 1292 Henry had also to defend his title to the manor of Stretford against Hamon de Mascy, Loreta, his father's widow, then holding a third part and himself the remainder. The plaintiff was non-suited; Assize R. 408, m. 36. Henry also defeated a claim to a tenement in Stretford put forward by two sisters— Alice wife of Thomas son of Richard (or Roger) de Manchester, and Avice wife of Henry de Openshaw; ibid. m. 32, 36 d. As grandson of Richard de Trafford he claimed the manor of Chadderton; ibid. m. 40 d, 47 d.
In 1353 Sir Henry de Trafford came into court and proffered letters patent
dated 12 June 1343, by which the king ordered that he should not be put on
assizes, juries, &c. all his life; Assize R. 435, m. 17. The same protection,
which had been granted at the request of the famous soldier Walter de Mauney,
had in 1346 excused him from the obligation of receiving knighthood; Q.R.
Mem. R. 122, m. 142 d. He had therefore served in the French wars.
Henry de Trafford and John de Ashton in 1343 pleaded guilty to retaining people
with them who went against the king's peace; Assize R. 430, m. 29. They and
others had in 1341 assembled at Leigh and prevented John de Tyldesley, &c.
from entering the church until they agreed to a dies amoris with a
view to settlement of disputes; ibid. m. 17. In 1346 Henry de Trafford was
found to hold the manor of Trafford in socage by a rent of 5s., paying
double as relief, and performing suit of county and wapentake; Add. MS. 32103,
fol. 146. Stretford is not separately named. In 1359 and again in 1369 Sir
Henry de Trafford purchased lands in Manchester from John Grelley; De Trafford
D. no. 15, 18, 19. In the former yeare he made a feoffment of lands in Crompton,
Ancoats, Beswick, and Chorlton to Thomas de Trafford and William Saunpete,
chaplain, until his return from the king's service beyond the sea. The remainders
were to John de Trafford, Henry son of Robert de Trafford, and John son of
Thomas de Trafford; Court of Wards and Liveries, box 13A/FD12. Licence for
his oratory at Trafford was in 1368 granted to Sir Henry; Lich. Epis. Reg.
Stretton, v, fol. 20.
Soon after this probably he was succeeded by his grandson Henry, also a knight, who died between 1373 and 1376, leaving a son Henry under age.The younger Henry died in 1395, holding the manor of Trafford and vill of Stretford, together with two-thirds of a third part of the manor of Edgeworth, and leaving a son and heir Henry, six years of age. This son died in 1408, the manors going to his brother Edmund, known as the Alchemist, from his having procured a licence from the king in 1446 authorizing him to transmute metals. Sir Edmund, at Eccles in 1411, married Alice daughter and co-heir of Sir William Venables of Bollin, and thus acquired a considerable estate in Cheshire, which descended in the Trafford family for many generations.
Lancs. Rec. Inq. p.m. no. 21, taken in 1414. By this it was found that Henry son of Henry son of Sir Henry de Trafford died on 20 Feb. 1407–8, seised of the manor of Trafford and two-thirds of the vill, held of the king as of his duchy of Lancaster in socage by the service of 5s. yearly, and worth £20 per annum clear; also of two-thirds of three parts of the hamlet of Chorlton-upon-Medlock ('Chollerton'), held of Thomas La Warre; lands in Hulme in Barton, Blackrod, and Edgeworth. Edmund the heir was of full age in 1414. His custody during minority had been granted to Sir Ralph de Staveley. See also Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 11. Further inquisitions were made in 1417, after the death of Margery, grandmother of Edmund; ibid. 13; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 127; and in 1421 after the death of Agnes widow of the last Henry; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1505.
Trafford of Trafford. Argent a griffin segreant gules.
Sir Edmund died in 1458 leaving a son Sir John, who was regularly succeeded by five generations of Edmunds. In the latter half of the 16th century the fortunes of the family began to decline; several estates were sold, and Sir Edmund the fourth, having conformed to the Established religion, appears to have attempted, and with some success, to acquire fresh wealth by an active prosecution of the recusants. As sheriff he was specially zealous against them. He also arranged the marriage of his son Edmund with Margaret daughter and co-heir of John Booth of Barton, and though the son afterwards disinherited the children of this marriage, the Trafford share of the Barton estates has descended like Trafford to the issue of a second marriage—with Mildred daughter of Thomas Cecil, first Earl of Exeter.
(i) Sir Edmund Trafford was made a knight at the creation of Prince Henry as Duke of York in 1494; Metcalfe, op. cit. 25. He died in Aug. 1513 holding the manor of Trafford of the king by the rent of 5s.; its clear value was 40 marks. He also held twenty messuages, &c. in Stretford of the heirs of … Mascy, in socage, by the service of a pair of gloves; the clear annual value was £40. The other estates included a third part of Edgeworth, lands, &c. in Whitfield, Withington (Yeldhouses, Rusholme, Fallowfield, and Moss Side), Chorlton-with-Hardy, Chorltonupon-Medlock, Ancoats, Manchester, Salford, and Turton. His father Sir John had granted lands in Harwood to Margaret on her marriage with Edmund; Margaret still survived. Sir Edmund had settled lands in Chorlton-with-Hardy, Rusholme, Moss Side, Fallowfield, and Beswick to the use of his son Edmund and Elizabeth his wife. This Edmund, the heir, was twenty-four years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iv, 51. (ii) Edmund Trafford recorded a pedigree at the Visit. in 1533 (Chet. Soc. 66). He died 28 June in the same year; the inquisition after his death shows an increase in his possessions, but Trafford and Stretford were held as before. Edmund Trafford, his son and heir, was twenty-six years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vi, 20. (iii) Sir Edmund Trafford was made a knight in the Scottish Expedition of 1544; Metcalfe, op. cit. 77. He was sheriff in 1532–3 and 1556–7; P.R.O. List, 73. He died on 10 Dec. 1563 holding Trafford of the queen as of the manor of Salford by 5s. rent, and Stretford of Geoffrey Mascy in socage by the rent of a pair of gauntlets, and other manors and lands. Edmund, his son and heir, was thirty-four years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, 11. 'Geoffrey Mascy' must be a mistake. (iv) Sir Edmund Trafford recorded a pedigree in 1567; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 2, 3. He was made a knight in 1578; Metcalfe, op. cit. 132. He was high sheriff of the county in 1564–5, 1570–1, 1579– 80, and 1583–4; P.R.O. List, 73. He was knight of the shire in 1580; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 66. In 1575 he procured a grant from Warden Herle of the stewardship of all the manors, lands, &c. of the Collegiate church; De Trafford D. no. 75. For his dispute with various persons of Stretford regarding Wallroods see Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), iii, 193. The inventory of his goods is printed in Piccope's Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 72; among others the 'chapel chamber' and the 'schoolmaster's chamber' are named. The inquisition taken after his death (14 Apr. 1590) shows a considerable diminution in the Lancashire estates, and recites the provision made in 1538 by his father Sir Edmund for younger sons—Richard, Alexander, Anthony, and John. Edmund, the son and heir, was twenty-eight years of age in 1590; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xv, 46. (v) Sir Edmund was knighted at York by James I on his journey to London in 1603; Metcalfe, op. cit. 139. He had represented Newton in the Parliament of 1588; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 277; and was sheriff in 1601–2, 1608–9, and 1616–7; P.R.O. List, 73. A pedigree was recorded in 1613; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 10. He died at Trafford 7 May 1620 holding the manors of Trafford, Stretford, and Barton, with lands, &c., and in 1611 had settled all upon his son Cecil. The tenures of Trafford and Stretford were unaltered. Edmund, the son and heir, was thirty-six years of age; Sir Cecil Trafford was living at Trafford; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 326–9; Fun. Certs. (Chet. Soc.). Settlements of the manors of Trafford and Stretford were made in 1598 and 1599; to these Barton was added in 1611; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdles. 60, m. 470; 61, m. 324; 80, m. 4.
Cecil Trafford, the eldest son of this union, was made a knight at Hoghton Tower in 1617. He was at first, like his grandfather, a Protestant and a persecutor, but afterwards, about 1632, embraced the faith he had attempted to destroy. In 1638, accordingly, the king seized a third of his estates and granted them on lease to farmers. Siding with the king on the outbreak of the Civil War, he was seized and imprisoned by the other party and his estates were sequestered. His sons appear to have gone abroad, as they are mentioned as present at Rome and Douay. In 1653 Sir Cecil begged leave to contract under the Recusants Act for the sequestered two-thirds of his estates.
Sir Cecil died in 1672, his eldest son Edmund died twenty years later, and was followed by a brother Humphrey, who was accused of participation in the fictitious plot of 1694, and sympathized with the rising of 1715. He was succeeded by his son and grandson, each named Humphrey. The last of these died in 1779 and left Trafford to his relative John Trafford of Croston, who died in 1815. During this time, owing to the laws concerning religion all public employments had been closed against the Traffords, who had therefore to dwell quietly on their estates. John Trafford, indeed, raised a troop of volunteers in 1804; and his son Thomas Joseph, high sheriff in 1834, was created a baronet in 1841, at which time he altered the surname to De Trafford. Dying in 1852 he was succeeded by his son, Sir Humphrey de Trafford, who in turn was in 1886 succeeded by his son Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford, the present lord of Trafford and Stretford, twenty-fourth in descent from the Ranulf or Randle who heads the pedigree.
The Turf Moss estate and Longford House belonged to the Mosleys. The latter was acquired by the Walkers, and in 1855 was purchased by John Rylands, who rebuilt the house. He is commemo rated by the John Rylands Library in Manchester, founded by his widow.
From a survey of the tithes made in 1649 it appears that there were in Stretford Manor twenty-four whole seats, or holdings. The tithe corn in 1643 had filled three bays and the greater part of a fourth; it was mostly oats and barley.
The land tax returns of 1796 show that John Trafford was then the principal landowner, he paying more than one-third of the tax; the remainder of the land seems to have been much divided.
CHURCH
The earliest record of the chapel of Stretford is in a lease of 1413, in which land is described as lying next to the chapel. Rather more than a century later a chantry was founded in it by Sir Edmund Trafford, for the souls of his ancestors. At the confiscation in 1547–8 the rental of the chantry was only 44s.; the chapel had a chalice and two vestments. Service appears to have been maintained in this chapel even after the Elizabethan changes, for in 1563 William Hodgkinson was 'curate of Stretford,' and seems to have remained there until 1586; he was in 1581 censured for keeping an alehouse. The names of many curates are on record, but except during the Commonwealth period there was no adequate provision for them, there being neither residence nor endowment. At the beginning of the 18th century the 'settled maintenance' was only 11s. 2d., but some further endowments and contributions were secured, the chapel was rebuilt in 1718, and from about that time the succession of curates and rectors appears to be unbroken. In 1842 the present church of St. Matthew was consecrated; it was enlarged in 1861. A district had been assigned in 1839. The Dean and Canons of Manchester present to the benefice.
The following is a list of the recent curates and incumbents :—
| 1716 | Samuel Bolton, M.A. (Brasenose College, Oxf.) |
| 1717 | Roger Masterson |
| 1718 | Robert Armitstead, B.A. (Magdalen Hall, Oxf.) |
| 1721 | John Jackson, M.A. |
| 1741 | John Baldwin, M.A. |
| 1747 | John Baxter, B.A. |
| 1766 | William Stopford, B.A. (Brasenose College, Oxf.) |
| 1778 | Thomas Seddon |
| 1796 | Thomas Gaskell |
| 1818 | Robinson Elsdale, D.D. (Corpus Christi College, Oxf.) |
| 1850 | Joseph Clarke, M.A. (St. John's College, Camb.) |
| 1860 | William Edward Brendon |
| 1864 | Thomas Daniel Cox Morse |
| 1868 | Dudley Hart, M.A. (T.C.D.) |
| 1903 | James Peter Rountree, M.A. (T.C.D.) |
St. Bride's, Old Trafford, consecrated in 1878, is in the patronage of trustees; All Saints, 1885, is in the Bishop of Manchester's gift. At Old Trafford there are also St. Thomas's, the chapel of the Blind Asylum, and St. Hilda's, consecrated in 1904, with the districts of St. Cuthbert and St. John, not yet having permanent churches; the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester present alternately to these benefices; and also to the new district of St. Peter, Stretford. There was in 1718 only a private school, without endowment. Soon afterwards the township shared in the benefaction of Ann Hinde. The Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitive Methodists each have churches at Stretford and Old Trafford; and the Independent Methodists have one at the former place. The Baptists also have a church at Stretford. The Congregationalists have churches at Stretford and Old Trafford; in the latter part of the township there is also a Welsh Congregational chapel. The Unitarian Free church, begun in Moss Side in 1887, has from 1901 had its place of worship within Stretford township. Although from the time of Sir Cecil Trafford, the chief resident family, as well as some minor ones, professed the ancient faith, no chapel was erected in the township until 1859, when a temporary one was opened. This was followed by St. Anne's in 1863; it was consecrated in 1867. St. Alphonsus's, Brooks' Bar, was opened in 1904.