Home Lords Worship People Places People Contact

Clifton Hall

Clifton

Clifton Manor although over the border in Salford has had an influence on the history of Prestwich for over eight centuries.

Ref: A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4



First reference to the Manor of Clifton was in 1183 when the sheriff collected 8 shillings in rent from a tyrant and outlaw Hugh Putsell a.k.a. Hugh the Hunter. The land fell out of his family line when, through a lack of a male heir in 1276, it became part of estate of the Trafford family after a marriage to Alice de Clifton.

William, the son of Sir Thurstan Holland of Denton, married Marjory de Trafford, daughter and co-heir of Henry de Trafford, and the Hollands then kept the Clifton residence for over 300 years.

In 1353 William had prosecuted William Bridde for cutting down trees in Clifton, and Thurstan and William were plaintiffs in the following year. William had a son by his second wife, Alice Pusshe, and so the manor passed to Otho/Otes and then to his son, Robert.

Robert Holland came into possession of Clifton about 1350 and he played a notable part in the history of the adjoining Manor of Prestwich. Alice de Prestwich (nee de Wolveley) inherited Prestwich when her husband Adam died in 1319. This passed to their son Thomas, who had two daughters, Agnes & Margaret. He died when they were still young and William de Radcliffe was appointed trustee. William put Margaret in a convent, and married his son John to Agnes. This secured that the Prestwich manor passed to the Radcliffe family, or so Robert had hoped. Agnes & John died childless, and Prestwich Manor skipped Margaret (as nun's cannot own land), passing to Alice de Wolveley's grand daughter, Joan de Tetlow. Joan married Richard de Langley and Prestwich Manor passed to their son Roger de Langley, who was aged 14, in 1374.

Margaret de Prestwich had eloped from the convent and married Robert de Holland and he (obviously) held a view on her being overlooked for the inheritance of the Prestwich Manor. Robert de Holland took matters into his own hands in 1374 and seized Prestwich by force from Sir Roger de Langley (aged 14). Sir Roger's protector was the High Sheriff of Lancashire ! Read more about the Lords of the Manor of Prestwich

Suffice it to say the Hollands claim failed, the Langley's seized Prestwich in 1389, but the Hollands didn't let go until 1401, and persisted in the meantime to raid Prestwich and take cattle and goods. They basically treated it as if it was theirs, and Robert de Holland even wrote a deed passing Prestwich to his son Peter in 1395.

Robert once raided at night and carried some of Langley's cattle as far as Glossop (in Derbyshire), and being pursued, he entered the house of Master Wagstaffe, who must have been much annoyed, and defied Robert de Langley, wounding one of his servants with an arrow. The brother of the wounded man threw fire into the house, and Holland had to surrender, and was taken into Lancashire. It was also said that he had then already been outlawed for treason as part of the 1400 conspiracy.

Robert de Langley, who had inherited Prestwich from his father Roger, detained Robert de Holland for a time. In 1402, when Robert de Langley was twenty-four, he was pardoned by the King having captured and detained Robert de Holland.

When the Holland family cousins (Earls of Kent and Huntingdon) declined in status as a result of their conspiracy to assassinate King Henry IV in 1400, so did the Holland's claim on Prestwich. But as if to silently record their grievance, the Hollands of Clifton used the Wolveley crest as part of theirs, and carved it onto their Hall at Clifton. Robert's son Peter de Holland finally gave up his claim to Prestwich in 1418.

Holland Crest 1361

The seal of William Holland of Clifton, attached to a deed of 1361, bore the arms of the Hollands of Upholland (above), a ' lion rampant gardant a field seme de fleurs de lys, over all a bend.'

Then in 1444, Ralph, the son of Otes was charged with trespass in the woods of Sir John Pilkington, and taking 3 hawks worth £20.

Upon Otes's death the manor passed to his son Thomas and then to his son, William. He married Alice Warden, from a notably Catholic, Lancashire family, some of whom later served on the Royalist side in the Civil War.

In 1514 the boundary of the land in Clifton held by the Hollands was described:

"Beginning at the Fennes stock at the end of Redford hedge and at the end of Cheping clough, and so following up Nordenbrook unto anends the Tynde oak, and so up the Fether snape as the water falls from the head, and so in again unto the [Qwab] head, and from thence unto the Black dyke, following this to the Butted birch, and thence down to the syke and sykeyard to Riddendenford, and down Riddenden Brook to the Irwell, and along the wator to the Parrok gate, and thence to the true mere between Clifton and Pendlebury, and so following up Norden Brook to the Fennes stock, where it began"

In about 1517 William's son Thomas, married Ellen de Langley, daughter of Robert Langley of Agecroft Hall and Lord of the neighbouring Manor of Prestwich.

An agreement respecting the marriage between the families was made in 1517 between William Holland and Robert Langley.

From the Herald's Visitation of 1533, the Hollands of Clifton (who were not present) had carved on their house as arms: ' with a second quarter sable, three maidens' heads couped two and one, with the crest of a wolf passant,' no longer a lion rampant gardant.

Holland Crest 1533

It is said that the wolf crest and maidens' heads belonged to a family called de Wolveley. Adam de Prestwich had married Alice de Wolveley about 1300, and her children were made heirs to the Manor of Prestwich. The Hollands had been hurting about not possessing the manor of Prestwich, but the marriage of 1517 had finally ended the quarrel, and the family crest reflected that. But the manor still lay with the male Langley heirs, and all was still not to be quiet between the Holland and Langley families.

In 1523 William Holland of Clifton died and Clifton passed to his son, Thomas.

Thomas Holland died in 1565 leaving Ellen a widow with four children. His youngest and sixth brother, William Holland, who was born about 1517, was executor of his will, and was ancestor of the Hollands of Rhodes, Mobberley,Sandlebridge, and of the Viscounts Knutsford.

Ellen Holland, the widow of Thomas Holland, with her children William, Robert, Thomas, and Ellinor, claimed in the courts against William Langley, Parson of Prestwich. This William was the second in a line of three William Langleys to take the position of Rector at St Mary's...and the most troublesome. He was also Ellen's brother.

The complaint was that the Late Thomas Holland had left Goods to the value of 300 Marks, the defendant was his trustee. William Langley undertook to provide Thomas and his family with board and lodging during his own lifetime at the Parsonage of Prestwich called the Deyne in consideration whereof the defendant enjoyed all the goods of the said Thomas. Ever since Thomas's death, Langley had refused these obligations and had even driven his nephew and niece, Thomas and Ellinor out of the Parsonage when they came to seek assistance.

Map of 1590 Showing William Holland of Clifton

The three sons of Thomas Holland died without surviving issue, and the manor then passed to their sister Eleanor, married to Ralph Slade.

Clifton Hall ~1830

The couple died without child, and on Ellen's death in 1613, the property reverted to a cousin, Thomas Holland, a grandson of John Holland, the second son of the William Holland who died in 1523. This Thomas Holland still owned the estate at the time of the Civil War. He was a Royalist, and the estates were sequestrated by Parliament for his own delinquencies, and more especially those of his son William, who had applied for a commission in the King's army, had fought as a defender of Wigan, when Colonel Richard Holland of Denton captured that town, and had also served in the garrison of Lathom House, and in other places.

After the Civil War Thomas Holland and his son William, suffered for choosing to fight the Royalists cause and fell into financial difficulty having to sell Clifton Hall.

Click here to browse the
Holland Family tree on Ancestry.co.uk. (Ancestry account required - no subscription required)

The Hall along with some land in Clifton, was bought by Lawrence Gaskell in 1652, and in 1666, Daniel Gaskell his son, was been recorded as living in a house at Clifton which had 6 hearths. Only the residence of Elizabeth Holland matched this size in the same Hearth Tax returns. This elder Daniel, had children: Rebbecca (1652) and Nathaniel (1653/4) by his first wife Grace, who died in 1657. By his second wife he then had a son Daniel (1660).

Gaskell Family Crest

The Registers of St Mary's in Prestwich record the burial of Daniel Gaskell, Gentleman, of Clifton Hall in February 1720. Daniel was the son of Daniel of Clifton Hall mentioned in 1660, who had died in 1680.

In 1687 Holland paid 6s. and Daniel Gaskell 2s. 3d. to the bailiff of the wapentake for Clifton. Then in 1777 Richard Edensor and Richard Ireland paid the Duchy 5s. 11½d. for the manor of Clifton, while James Gaskell paid 2s. 6d. for Clifton Hall.

In the 18th Century it was most likely that Nathaniel Gaskell (Son of Daniel and Ann Seddon) had Clifton hall rebuilt. Nathaniel had married Sarah, daughter of James Wilson of Poppythorn. The Wilson family had long been residents of the Glebelands,Poppythorn and Polefield areas of Prestwich, they had taken the position of churchwarden on five occasions between 1646 and 1725, and were classed as "yeoman". Back in 1666 the hearth tax had recorded that James Wilson had a house of 7 hearths, just 3 less than the Rectory. Read more about the Wilson's at Polefield House.

Rebbecca Gaskell, the daughter of Daniel and Sarah, was the mother of Major General Robert Clive, a.k.a. Lord Robert Clive of India. Rebecca's sister married Daniel Bayley of Hope Hall, Manchester, and deputy lieutenant of Lancashire.The Bayley family, originally from the Blackburn area, were silk weavers and moved into cotton and general trade, acquiring Hope Hall (by 1698) and Daniel's son Thomas Bayley, inherited Booth Hall (1781).The New Bayley Prison, in operation from 1790 to 1868, took its name from the family after Thomas laid the foundation stone in 1787.

Clifton Hall ~1860

Click here to browse the
Gaskell Family tree on Ancestry.co.uk. (Ancestry account required - no subscription required)

Robert Clive, the man whose achievements laid the foundation for the whole British Raj, and who is implicated in the Bengal Famine of 1770, was one of thirteen children, and had been sent by his father Richard Clive M.P., to live with his aunt & uncle Elizabeth and Daniel Bayley, in 1728 (when he was just aged 3).

During his 7 years that he spent in Manchester, it is said that Robert Clive would have visited his grandfather Nathaniel Gaskell at Clifton Hall, and also further relatives at Brick Farmhouse in Whitefield.

The Grade II listed Brick Farmhouse on Griffe Lane in Whitefield, has a dated inscription showing that it was once owned by Robert Clive's 1st Cousin three times removed (the son of his great great grandfather's brother).

Adam
Gafkell
Octob
21
1681

Clive is also claimed to have attended Stand Grammar School, his route taking him over the Irwell at Bradley Ford.

See inside Brick farmhouse...it came up for sale in 2018

Bury Times