FLIXTON
Flixton, c. l 200.
The township of Flixton measures about 2¼ miles
from east to west, with an average breadth of nearly
1½ miles. Its area is 1,564½ acres. (fn. 60) The general
slope of the surface is from the north and east towards
the opposite boundaries, the Mersey and Irwell, but
nowhere is a greater height than 65 ft. above sea-level
attained. The village and church lie near the centre
of the southern boundary, with Shaw in the southeastern corner. The population in 1901 was
3,656. (fn. 61)
The principal road is that from Irlam—where
formerly there was a ferry over the Irwell, as now
over the ship canal—to Urmston and Stretford.
From that road another runs southward to the church
and then to the side of the Mersey; there is a bridge
over the river at Carrington. (fn. 62) From the church a
second road runs east to join the former one at Urmston. The Cheshire Lines Committee's railway from
Manchester to Liverpool crosses the township diagonally, and has a station at Flixton, opened in 1873. (fn. 63)
The Manchester Ship Canal passes along the western
border, between large embankments, and has recently
been adopted as the boundary of the township. (fn. 64) It
should be observed that as the Mersey's course has
varied from time to time, its stream as at present is not
everywhere the exact boundary of the township and
county. The land by the river on the south is called
the Eea. In the south-west corner the land was
assigned partly to Irlam and partly to Flixton.
The annual wake was held on the Sunday next
after St. Michael's Day; it was noted for ecl
pies. (fn. 65)
The government of the place since 1894 has been
in the hands of a parish council.
A company of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Manchester Regiment, formed in 1872, practises at the
drill hall.
Thomas Wood, a Methodist minister and writer,
was born at Flixton in 1761. (fn. 66)
The well between Shaw Hall and Shawtown is
never known to fail. (fn. 67)
Thralam, Cawdoe, and other field-names are recorded in a deed of 1699. (fn. 68)
A stone celt was found in 1846 near Shaw Hall. (fn. 69)
The stocks in the village were taken down about
1823. (fn. 71)
The land in the township was formerly to a great
extent in the hands of yeomen, (fn. 72) who also were handloom weavers. (fn. 73)
Throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday, pace-egging
at Easter, and other customs, were practised. (fn. 74)
Manors
The place first appears in the records
as contributing a mark to the aid on the
vills and men of the honour of Lancaster
in 1176–7. (fn. 75)
From surveys of 1212 and 1226 it appears that at
that time, and probably for a century before, FLIXTON was held in moieties, one half belonging to the
demesne of the Crown, the other to the barony of
Manchester. (fn. 76) The former or Salford moiety was
granted with Ordsall to David de Hulton, (fn. 77) and passed
to two branches of the Radcliffe family—of Ordsall and
of Smithills, (fn. 78) descending with these estates till the
17th century, when the Radcliffe of Ordsall moiety
was sold to the Asshaws of Shaw (fn. 79) and the Radcliffe
of Smithills moiety, which had in the meantime
descended to the Bartons and their heirs, was sold to
a number of proprietors. (fn. 80) In 1779 a total rent of
20s. was paid to the duchy by—Greatrix (13s. 9d.)
and a number of others. (fn. 81)
The Manchester moiety, which included the church,
was granted as one plough-land by Albert Grelley
senior to Henry son of Siward, to be held by the
yearly service of 10s. (fn. 82) It did not, however, descend
like Lathom, having become parted among younger
branches of the family, so that about 1200 Roger son
of Henry and Henry son of Bernard were in possession
'by hereditary right.' (fn. 83) The descent is obscure, but
the whole seems to have been acquired by the Hulton
family, (fn. 84) who held the other moiety. After the partition
of their estates about 1330 one half, called SHAW,
was held by the Hultons of Farnworth, and of them
by the Valentines, (fn. 85) while the other half was divided
between the two Radcliffe families, like the Salford
moiety, and was in like manner disposed of in the
17th century. (fn. 86)
Thus about 1500 the manor of Flixton was held in
a number of fractions, viz., the Salford moiety by
Radcliffe of Ordsall and Radcliffe (or Barton) of
Smithills; and the Manchester moiety as to twofourths by the same families, and as to the other half
by Valentine, of Hulton of Farnworth as mesne
tenant. (fn. 87)
The Valentine family appear early in the 1 3 th century. (fn. 88) In 1292 William Valentine secured from
Richard de Urmston and Siegrith his wife the third
part of two messuages and two oxgangs in Flixton; (fn. 89)
and in 1308 Richard Valentine obtained from William
Valentine an acknowledgement of his title to certain
messuages and lands in Flixton, which William was to
hold for life. (fn. 90) Richard Valentine was a tenant in
1320, (fn. 91) and Richard and Robert his son were among
the defendant landholders of Flixton in 1338. (fn. 92)
Richard de Langley and Joan his wife at Pentecost
1352 claimed the wardship of John son and heir of
Robert Valentine, against Thomas del Booth and
John son of Robert de Worsley, on the ground that
Robert had held a messuage and 80 acres in Flixton
of Joan La Warre in socage, and Joan the plaintiff
was next of kin to the heir on his mother's side, 'to
whom the inheritance could not descend.' The heir
had already been married to a Worsley, and the
plaintiffs' claim being upheld damages were awarded
to them. (fn. 93) If this refers to the main line of the
family the heir must have died shortly afterwards, for
in 1355 William son of John de Hulton successfully
claimed the rent due from John son of Richard
Valentine and heir of his 'ancestor' Robert Valentine,
for lands in Flixton held of the plaintiff, who in turn
held of the lord of Manchester in socage by a rent of
8s. a year. Plaintiff and defendant were both minors
and had been taken into ward by the Lady La Warre,
on the allegation that they held by knight's service,
and the wardship of John Valentine had been granted
by her to William son of Robert de Worsley. (fn. 94)
John Valentine died in 1395–6 holding land called
the Shaw in Flixton, and leaving as heir his grandson
John son of Richard Valentine, fourteen years of
age. (fn. 95)
Nearly eighty years later Thomas Valentine held a
moiety of the Manchester part of Flixton of Lord La
Warre in socage by a rent of 8s. 2d., giving puture
of one serjeant and doing suit
to the court of Manchester. (fn. 96)
In 1476 John son and heir
apparent of Thomas Valentine,
on his marriage with Joan,
apparently a daughter of William Holland of Clifton, made
a settlement of the estate in
Flixton granted him by his
father. (fn. 97) Joan the daughter
and eventual heiress of John
Valentine is stated to have
married Lawrence Asshaw of
Shaw; she had no children
by him, but made him a grant
of her lands, which he in turn bequeathed to his
nephew Leonard, a younger son of Roger Asshaw
or Ashall of Hall on the Hill in Charnock. (fn. 98)
Asshaw. Argent on a cheveron between three martlets vert as many crosses for my fitchy of the field.
The younger Leonard died on 31 December 1594
holding the manors of Astley and Shaw, and various
lands in Flixton, Tyldesley, Worsley, Hulton, Barton,
& In 1587 he had settled the manor of Shaw and
various lands upon his second son, Lawrence, who,
however, died without issue two years later and then
a fresh settlement was made in 1591 in favour of the
third son, Leonard, and his heirs male. (fn. 99) The eldest
son, Edward, was still living, thirty-four years of age,
in April 1595. Shaw and the lands in Flixton were
stated to be held of George Hulton by fealty and a
rent of 16s (fn. 100)
Leonard, who thus inherited Shaw, died there
12 April 1633, holding the manors of Shaw and
Flixton, with views of frankpledge, the former of Thomas Hulton of Farnworth
in socage, and the latter of
Edward Mosley, as of his
manor of Manchester, also
in socage by a rent of 18d.
Elizabeth, his daughter and
heir, thirty years of age, was
the wife of Peter, son of Sir
Ralph Egerton of Ridley in
Cheshire. (fn. 101)
Shaw Hall
Peter Egerton, who thus
became lord of Shaw and
Flixton in right of his wife,
was one of the most prominent men in the county
during the Civil War period.
He was sheriff in 1641. (fn. 102)
On the outbreak of the war
he embraced the side of the
Parliament, taking part in
the defence of Manchester
in 1642 (fn. 103) and the sieges of
Lathom House; as General Egerton he received the
surrender of this place in December 1645. (fn. 104) He
died in 1656 by the accidental administration of
poison. (fn. 105)
He was succeeded by his son Leonard and grandson Peter. (fn. 106) The family appear to have become impoverished, and their lands were gradually sold in the
latter part of the 17th century. Peter Egerton died
in 1712, and his son John sold the Shaw Hall estate
in 1722 to William Latus. (fn. 107) On the new owner's
death in 1764 it was advertised for sale. (fn. 108) It passed
through various hands, and was in December 1845
purchased by Colonel George John Miller Ridehalgh
of Fell Foot near Ulverston, and on the death of his
widow became the property of Mr. George Ridehalgh. (fn. 109)
Shaw Hall lies to the east of the parish church about
a quarter of a mile north of the River Mersey, and
is said to have been built in the reign of James I.
The house, however, has been almost entirely modernized, and on the outside no ancient features
remain. It is a two-story gabled building the walls
of which are now covered with modern rough-cast
(except at the back, or west side, where they are of
brick), and the roofs with blue slates, and the
general appearance is uninteresting. The gables, of
which the building possesses no less than fifteen, are
rough-cast like the walls, and have either modern
barge boards or copings, and all the windows are late
insertions. A cupola, formerly containing a bell,
which was originally a feature of the building on the
outside, has disappeared.
The house is now divided into two separate dwellings, and contains some of its original fittings, though
the plan has been a good deal altered. There is some
good oak panelling in two of the lower rooms of the
south house, but it has been patched with pitchpine,
and painted and varnished. A lower room in the
north house is also panelled in oak, similarly patched,
but painted white. The hall is now divided, but
there is an interesting staircase in the south house
the balusters of which take the form of Tuscan, Ionic,
and Corinthian columns, repeating in threes, with a
thicker Corinthian column as newel. The handrail
is modern. The other house has a good Jacobean
staircase with twisted balusters, square newels, and
original wide handrail.
The chief interest now attaching to the interior of
Shaw Hall, however, lies in two pieces of tapestry in
one of the upper rooms representing scenes from the
life of Alexander, and a painting on the cove of the
hall ceiling representing the wife of Darius kneeling
before Alexander, together with a smaller allegorical
circular painting on the ceiling of what is now the
entrance porch to the north house. The paintings
and tapestry are part of the original furniture of the
house, and are said to be coeval with the building.
There was formerly a good deal of 17th-century
heraldic glass in the windows, but most of this was
taken out when the present sashes were inserted. It
is still preserved, however, in the house, and though
much broken and mutilated could easily be put together again and replaced.
Some fragments are still in position in the staircase
window in the south house, the two upper lights of
which contain two shields, one bearing the royal
arms of the Stuart sovereigns, encircled by a garter,
and the other being a quartered shield of the arms of
Trafford with the crest of a man and flail. In the
lower lights is a quarry with floral ornamentation and
the words 'Asshawe de Shawe,' and another with a
shield of Asshawe with five quarterings. The house
is said formerly to have had a moat, but this had
partially disappeared in 1847 (fn. 110) and is now planted
over.
There is a stained-glass window in the church
commemorating Arthur William Whitnal, 'lord of
the manor of Flixton,' who died in 1890.
No courts have been held for a long period. As
in other townships within the barony the constable
of Flixton was in the 17th and 18th centuries summoned to attend the Court Leet at Manchester, but
no attention was paid to the summons. (fn. 111)
The Booths of Barton also held land in Flixton. (fn. 112)
The surname Flixton occurs, but was not used by a
local family. (fn. 113)
Flixton House was formerly the residence of Ralph
Wright, who died in 1831. (fn. 114) His estate, partly inherited and partly purchased, he endeavoured to make
more compact and secluded by the closing and diverting of footpaths. This roused great opposition in the
neighbourhood, and after several years of expensive
litigation the attempt was defeated. (fn. 115)
The land tax return of 1787 shows that the land
was then much divided; the largest contributor was
William Allen, who paid about a sixteenth. (fn. 116)
The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel at
Flixton.