GREAT LEVER
Leoure, 1278; Leuir, 1282; Leuere, 1292;
Leuer, 1301; Leyver, 1560.
The isolated township of Great Lever, some
9 miles west of Middleton Church, measures over
2 miles from east to west, and has an area of 866½ acres.
It lies chiefly between two small brooks running
eastward to the Tonge, which forms the eastern
boundary. Lever proper lies in the south-eastern
portion, with Burriden to the north, and Priestcroft
to the south-west, Lever Edge stretching away to the
west. The surface is generally level, falling a little
from Lever Edge towards the north, east, and south.
The population in 1901, including that of Darcy
Lever, was 10,701.
The principal road is that from Manchester to
Bolton, passing north-west through the eastern side
of the township. Another road goes west along the
Edge. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's
railway from Manchester to Bolton runs on the west
side of the former road. The London and NorthWestern Company's Worsley and Bolton branch
crosses the centre of the township, going north; and
the same company's Bolton and Kenyon Junction
line touches the north-western boundary.
Besides collieries the industries include cotton mills
and chemical and bleach works. There are many
good residences.
The township was included in Bolton by the
Extension Act of 1898.
The hearth tax of 1666 found fifty-eight hearths
liable, of which twenty-one were in the house of 'my
lord Bridgeman'; no other dwelling had as many
as six. (fn. 1)
Manors
Though technically a hamlet of Middleton, and held of its lord, GREAT
LEVER, had always a certain independence, and is not usually recited among the hamlets
or appurtenances of Middleton as are the rest. (fn. 2) Its
early history is obscure; for a time it was held in
moieties, and a portion was granted to the priory of
Birkenhead. The tenure also is not quite clear. In
an early deed, as will be seen, a moiety of Great
Lever is said to be held of the lord of Middleton by
the fortieth part of a knight's fee, so that the whole
would be the twentieth part; with this agrees the
rent of 14d. payable in the 16th century to the lord
of Middleton, that sum being a twentieth part of the
23s. 4d. due from Middleton to the duchy for sake
fee and castle ward. Yet at the same time, in the
16th century, the tenure is stated as the eightieth
part of a fee. In a petition of the time of Edward IV
Great Lever was said to be held of the lord of Middleton by knight's service, rendering 10s. to a scutage
of 40s.—i.e. it was considered to be the fourth part
of a knight's fee.
Not far from the year 1200 Leising de Lever,
apparently the lord of Little Lever, granted to Leising
de Farnworth a moiety of the vill of Great Lever,
with common of pasture in Little Lever; the moiety
to be held of Roger de Middleton by the service of
the fortieth part of a knight's fee. (fn. 3) Descendants of
the grantor—Henry, William, and Henry—who appear to be described sometimes as ' of Little Lever,'
but usually as 'of Great Lever,' continued to claim
the lordship during the 13th century, (fn. 4) after which no
more is heard of them in this connexion. Leising
de Farnworth probably adopted the local surname,
and seems to have been the father of Emma de Lever, (fn. 5)
with whose son John the more detailed history of the
manor begins in the third quarter of the century. (fn. 6)
Adam, the son of John de Lever, succeeded. He
made considerable additions to the paternal lands,
more especially in Farnworth. (fn. 7)
He had several lawsuits, particularly with Henry de Lever,
but was usually successful. (fn. 8)
He was followed about 1310
by his son John, (fn. 9) who, dying
about the same time, left as
heir a son Adam, under age.
Roger de Middleton, as superior lord, in 1313 granted to
William de Charnock the education of the heir, promising
him 20s. a year towards Adam's
keep, and engaging to supply clothing. (fn. 10) This was
probably the Adam de Lever who was killed, with
twenty-six others, in the disturbances at Liverpool on
the day after Ash Wednesday 1345, during the visit
of the king's justices. (fn. 10a) Adam had a son John, living
about 1356 to 1370 of whom nothing of note is recorded. (fn. 11) John's son, Adam the younger, obtained
the Pilkington lands in Great Lever, thus becoming
sole lord of the manor ; (fn. 12) and by his marriage with
Margaret Cundcliffe added lands in Anderton to his
patrimony. (fn. 13)
Lever of Lever. Argent two bendlets, the upper one engrailed, sable.
Adam had two sons, William (fn. 14) and Henry. The
former, who died about the end of 1447, left a son
Adam as heir; a minor, but married to Joan daughter
of William Garnet. (fn. 15) Adam died early, leaving a
daughter and heir Margaret, only two years of age.
Sir Ralph Ashton of Middleton, the superior lord,
married her to his younger son Ralph, who thus
became lord of Great Lever. This transfer to the
Ashtons did not take place without persistent opposition on the part of the Lever family. Sir Ralph
Ashton, however, in 1467 proved his right to the
wardship against Roger Lever son of William and
uncle of the heiress. Not long afterwards Roger
Lever and a party of his kinsfolk and friends assembled
at Lancaster and took the record of the recovery from
its place of keeping in the castle; whereupon in 1472
Sir Ralph petitioned Parliament that his right might
be safeguarded in spite of the loss of the record. In
the suit referred to it was stated that Adam Lever
had held the manor of Great Lever of Richard Barton
of Middleton by knight's service; that his daughter
and heir Margaret being under age the custody of
the manor belonged to Richard, and after his death
to his executors; then to Sir Ralph Ashton of Middleton. In 1479–80 Roger Lever, called 'of Bolton,'
received a pardon for any offences he might have
committed; it appears that he was outlawed for
murder. The violence was not all on one side, for
in 1469 an agreement was made between Sir Ralph
Ashton and Thomas Pilkington; the latter was to
capture Roger Lever, and if Roger were slain Sir
Ralph would bear half the damage or would petition
the king to interfere should the death be adjudged a
murder. After Roger's death a claim was made to
the Anderton estate on behalf of the heir male, a
descendant of the above-named Henry son of Adam
Lever; but the Ashtons of Lever established their
title. (fn. 16)
Bridgeman, Earl of Bradford. Sable ten plates in pile, on a chief argent a lion passant of the field.
Ralph Ashton, who, as
stated, acquired the manor
with his wife, was followed in
regular descent by five Ralphs
in succession. (fn. 17) The last of
them, who was also seated at
Whalley, was created a baronet in 1620. (fn. 18) He sold Great
Lever and the adjoining estates to Bishop Bridgeman in
1629, (fn. 19) and the manor has
descended to the present Earl
of Bradford. Bishop Bridgeman, of whom an account will be found among the
rectors of Wigan, resided at Great Lever after his
purchase, rebuilding the hall and domestic chapel. (fn. 20)
His descendants, however, made little use of it, (fn. 21) and
about 1760 a large part of the hall was demolished
to save the expense of repairs. (fn. 22) Sir Henry Bridgeman in 1793 obtained an Act of Parliament to enable
him to let lands in Great Lever and elsewhere in
Lancashire on building leases for 999 years. (fn. 23)
Great Lever Hall stands in a high situation on the
north side of the road from Bolton to Manchester,
close to the former town. The River Croal flows
on its north side along the bottom of the brow on
which the house stands, and the site is naturally a defensive one, being directly accessible only from the
west.
Of the first house of the Levers and Asshetons probably little or nothing remains, the oldest part of the
present building being the work of Bishop Bridgeman,
who rebuilt the house about 1630. The building
has suffered very much from neglect and alterations.
The plan is now one of great irregularity, and the
greater part of the building is of modern construction,
with elevations of brick or stucco. The house is
divided into three portions, the oldest of which is
used as the rectory for the parish of Great Lever.
The eastern wing is entirely modernized and used
as a Conservative Club, while a north-west wing, at
right angles to the older part of the house, has been
converted into cottages. There is nothing of interest
in the east and north-west wings, but the centre
(south-west) portion of the house, or rectory, retains
a portion of the 17th-century timber front as built by
Bishop Bridgeman, bearing his initials i.b with the
date 1631 in two ornamental panels. The rest of
the rectory portion of the house has been a good deal
altered, and is faced with brick or stucco. Opposite
the principal front across the courtyard is a detached
building containing the domestic chapel—built by
Bishop Bridgeman in 1634 and consecrated two years
later—with a house attached. The position of the
chapel would almost suggest its having been originally
situated at the east end of a former south wing of a
house built on three sides of a courtyard, but there
seems to be no record of the original hall having been
thus planned. The chapel is now entirely detached
and the court open at both ends. There has been
so much destruction and rebuilding, however, that it
is difficult to say what the plan of the house was in
Bishop Bridgeman's day. The timber front of the
rectory facing the court is about 28 ft. wide and stands
on a stone base 4 ft. high. The wall is coved at the
first floor, and there is also a cove under the gable.
There are no barge-boards to the gable, and the black
and white filling is only paint on plaster. All the
timber below, however, is genuine, including the tiebeams of the gable. The composition escapes the
uniformity and monotony of a good deal of halftimber work by the use of straight uprights on the
ground floor and reversed curved braces above, but
more especially by the treatment of the long windows
of thirteen lights, the sills of the three outside lights
at each end of which are higher than the rest. The
lead of the diamond quarries is very broad and painted
white, with a white fillet painted on the glass on each
side. The roofs of the old portion of the house, as well
as of the chapel, are of grey stone slates, and the chimneys are of red brick, one of them, the principal stack
on the south front, being of some architectural merit. '
The timber construction of the rectory house also
shows on the north side. Most of the windows have
been renewed and have moulded wood mullions, but
some, with plain chamfers, are old. The interior
arrangements are so much altered that the original
plan of the house has been quite lost. There are no
very remarkable features on the ground floor. The
rooms are low, with old oak beams running across the
ceilings, those in the kitchen being very massive and
of great length ; one of them is supported by a modern
post, presumably replacing an ancient one. The
floors both upstairs and down are very uneven owing
to sinkings occasioned by mining operations. The
dining-room has some oak panelling under the window,
and high up on the wall over the fireplace are two
small shields, one on each side, with the arms of
Bridgeman. The staircase is cramped, and is obviously
not the original one. Over the dining-room is the
library, a handsome room running across the house at
this point, and lit by a long window at each end.
This room, which is under the timber gable facing
the courtyard, is richly wainscoted on the west side
and at the two ends, the detail consisting of pilasters
and square and oblong panels, the latter along the
top under a classic cornice, and elaborately carved.
The fireplace has Ionic pilasters, and the whole is a
good specimen of Renaissance woodwork. The ceiling is of plaster divided by beams into four bays, the
two end ones having ornamental plaster-work, and
the middle ones being plain. In the bay at the west
end of the ceiling are the arms of the see of Chester
on a large shield surrounded by strap-work with
four smaller shields, one at each corner, bearing the
arms of Bridgeman. The east wall has apparently
been rebuilt after the demolition of the part of the
house on that side, and is quite plain. Another room
on the first floor is also panelled in oak, but is less rich
in detail. (fn. 25)
Samuel Pepys, writing under date 10 November
1662, refers to some heraldic glass in the windows
at Great Lever, but this, if it were ever placed there,
has now disappeared. There is now no painted or
heraldic glass in any of the windows of the house. (fn. 26)
The chapel, which is dedicated in honour of the Holy
Trinity, is built of brick on a stone base. It stands
about 40 ft. to the south of the house, from which it
is separated by a courtyard paved with cobbles. A
stone wall at one time inclosed the court on the east
side, but this has now given way to a lattice screen.
The chapel occupies the east portion of a detached
building, the total length of which is about 57 ft-,
and the western half of which is a dwelling-house,
now a cottage, with a timber front to the courtyard.
The brickwork of the outer walls of the chapel is
yellow-washed, and the roof is covered with grey
stone slates. Inside the chapel is now quite bare, and
a movable wood floor has been inserted above the
original tiled one, which raises the floor level about
10 in. The interior, which measures 27 ft. in length
and 16 ft. 6 in. in width, is lighted at the east end
by a window of eight lights with stone mullions and
double transoms, under a four-centred arch with
external hood-moulding. The lights of the two lower
tiers have rounded heads, those in the head of the
window under the arch being plain. There is a
square-headed six-light window on each side of the
chapel, north and south, with stone mullions and
transoms, the heads of the top lights only being
rounded. The entrance is at the west end of the
north side, the doorway having a four-centred arch,
and the door being the original one of oak, nailstudded. The glass is all plain and in square quarries.
The walls and ceiling, which partly follows the line
of the roof, are plastered. A description of the chapel written (fn. 27) in 1787 speaks of it as being no longer
in use, but of marriages having been solemnized there
before 1764–7. 'At the end, opposite to the altar,
to which there is an ascent of two steps,' says the
writer, ' is a gallery formerly for the use of the family,
and a bench runs round the chapel below.' The
gallery no longer remains, but its position is marked
by the coupled roof-trusses about 5 ft. apart at the
west end. The ridge of the roof does not coincide
with the centre line of the chapel, but is slightly
to the south of it, making an irregular gable at the
ends. The ends of the two roof-trusses rest on
the wall in the usual way on the south side, but on
the north they project in front of the wall and carry
the roof in the form of a penthouse further forward
over the entrance doorway. This may have served
originally as shelter to a doorway higher up in the wall,
giving access to the gallery from the outside, the
bricked-up opening of which may still be seen.
There is a door out of the chapel opposite the
entrance into the adjoining house, which may have
been originally the house of the chaplain. A bell
belonging to the chapel is still kept at the hall,
though it has not been in use for a very long time.
It may have hung from the projecting ends of the
chapel roof principals over the doorway. It bears the
inscription RAF ASH TON CS K.
To the west of the hall is a stone boundary wall
and gateway, on the head of which are the initials of
Bishop Bridgeman (i. b.) and the date 1631, as on
the timber front of the house. Farther to the west
again was until recently one of the finest barns in
the district, with timbers of enormous size. Part of
this, however, has been demolished to make way for
a new schoolhouse, and the portion which remains
has been refaced at the end and between the timbers
in brick, but enough is left to show the strength and
massiveness of the original timber construction.
Robert son of Roger de Middleton, who may have
acquired the right of Henry de Lever, (fn. 28) about 1300
granted to Sir Roger de Pilkington and Margery his
wife all his lands in Great Lever, with a moiety of
the waste. (fn. 29) In 1332 Roger de Pilkington, son of
Sir Roger, granted the same to his brother Richard. (fn. 30)
A later Sir Roger de Pilkington in 1378 exchanged
his lands in Great Lever with Adam de Lever the
younger, receiving from the latter certain lands in
Kearsley; the exchange was to be for life only, but
the Pilkingtons do not seem to have had any further
interest in the township. (fn. 31)
BURNDEN was an estate of the priory of Birkenhead. Robert the prior granted to Siward son of
Robert the chaplain of Deane an acre in Great Lever
by the hill of Burnden, above the road from Bolton
to Lever, and land by Bolton Brook, at a rent of 6d.
on St James's Day. (fn. 32) The Burnden family are
mentioned later, but about 1300 their estate was
sold to Adam de Lever. (fn. 33) Lands in Burnden were
afterwards held by a branch of the Lever family. (fn. 33a)
Priestcroft also gave a surname to the family who
held it of the local lords. (fn. 34)
The Hultons of Farnworth had a small estate in
Great Lever, (fn. 35) which in 1611 was stated to be held
of Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton, by the hundredth part of a knight's fee. (fn. 36) Richard Chisnall held
land here in 1587; (fn. 37) and Andrew Lever was a freeholder in 1600. (fn. 38)
In 1787 the Duke of Bridgewater paid half the
land tax; Ellis Crompton and Thomas Boardman
were the other contributors. (fn. 39)
As already stated, Bishop Bridgeman provided a
domestic chapel at the hall, which for a time appears
to have been used by the residents, who were almost
all his tenants. (fn. 40) Apart from this there seems to have
been no church or chapel in the township till recent
times. For the Church of England St. Michael's was
consecrated in 1851; the Earl of Bradford is the
patron of the rectory. (fn. 41) St. Simon and St. Jude's,
built in 1900, is in the gift of trustees.
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel.