Salford Hundred Explained

Hundred of Salford
Hq:Salford
Subdivision Type:Lancashire Hundred
Status:Ancient Hundred
Start:Before Domesday
End:Mid-18th century, never formally abolished
Replace:Greater Manchester
Arealast:212,170 acres (859 km²)
Arealastyear:1831
Map:
Salford Hundred depicted in John Speed's 1610 map of Lancashire
Divisions:Parish(es)
Divisionsnames:Manchester • Ashton-under-Lyne • Eccles • Deane • Flixton • Radcliffe • Prestwich • Bury • Middleton • Rochdale • Bolton • Wigan (Aspull)

The Salford Hundred (also known as Salfordshire) was one of the subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire in Northern England (see:Hundred (county division). Its name alludes to its judicial centre being the township of Salford (the suffix -shire meaning the territory was appropriated to the prefixed settlement). It was also known as the Royal Manor of Salford[1] and the Salford wapentake.[2]

Origins

See also: History of Lancashire. The Manor or Hundred of Salford had Anglo-Saxon origins. The Domesday Book recorded that the area was held in 1066 by Edward the Confessor.[3] [4] Salford was recorded as part of the territory of Inter Ripam et Mersam or "Between Ribble and Mersey", and it was included with the information about Cheshire, though it cannot be said clearly to have been part of Cheshire.[5] [6] [7]

The area became a subdivision of the County Palatine of Lancaster (or Lancashire) on its creation in 1182.

Salford Hundred Court

In spite of its incorporation into Lancashire, Salford Hundred retained a separate jurisdiction for the administration of justice, known as the Court Leet, View of frankpledge, and Court of Record of our Sovereign Lord the King for his Hundred or Wapentake of Salford.[8] Exceptionally for hundred courts, Salford survived until the 19th century.[9] The lordship of Salford passed with the Duchy of Lancaster to the Crown, and a serjeant or bailiff was appointed to administer the hundred on the king's behalf.[4] In 1436 the office of Hereditary Steward of the Wapentake of Salfordshire was granted to Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton. The office was held by Sir Richard's successors, the Earls of Sefton until 1972.[4]

The Portmote of the Borough of Salford merged with the Hundred Court in the 17th century, and the latter body took over the administrative business of the manorial borough.[8] In 1792 police commissioners were established in Manchester and Salford, and the Hundred Court was left with few powers. By 1828 the activities of the court consisted of the following:[8]

Reform

Short Title:Salford Hundred Court Act 1846
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long Title:An Act for more effectually regulating the Salford Hundred Court, for extending the Jurisdiction and Powers of the said Court, and for establishing and constituting it as a Court of Record.
Year:1868
Citation:9 & 10 Vict. c. cxxvi
Royal Assent:26 June 1846
Collapsed:yes
Short Title:Salford Hundred Court of Record Act 1868
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of the United Kingdom
Year:1868
Citation:31 & 32 Vict. c. cxxx
Repealing Legislation:Courts Act 1971
Status:repealed
Collapsed:yes

In 1846 the court was reformed to become a Court of Record with its jurisdiction extended to debts not exceeding fifty pounds in value.[10] In 1838 Manchester was incorporated as a municipal borough and granted its own court of record. The two courts were merged as the Salford Hundred Court of Record in 1869 by the (31 & 32 Vict. c. cxxx). The court had jurisdiction in personal actions only.[10] [11] The municipal boroughs of Oldham, Bolton, Heywood and Rochdale successively had their areas exempted from the jurisdiction of the Hundred Court by Order in Council or private Act of Parliament between 1878 and 1893.[8]

Short Title:Salford Hundred Court of Record Act 1911
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long Title:An Act to amend the Salford Hundred Court of Record Act 1868.
Year:1911
Citation:1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. clxxii
Royal Assent:16 December 1911
Repealing Legislation:Courts Act 1971
Status:repealed
Original Text:https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo5/1-2/172/pdfs/ukla_19110172_en.pdf
Collapsed:yes

In 1910 a committee was appointed by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to report on the practices, area and jurisdiction of the court, and whether it was "of benefit to the parties for whose use it was intended". One member of the three-man committee recommended the abolition of the court which had "little but its age to justify its continuance", while the majority called for amending legislation.[12] Accordingly, the (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. clxxii) was passed to restrict the area of the court to the county court areas of Manchester and Salford and to alter its procedures and costs.[10] [13]

Forty years later the court was again referred to a review committee.[14] The committee's report recommended that the court be retained as it provided "a popular and speedy remedy for a large number of litigants in the area".[11] In 1956 the court's area was extended to encompass the entire County Borough of Stockport, which was deemed to belong to the County of Lancashire and the Hundred of Salford for the purposes of assizes, quarter sessions and licensing.[15] The Court of Record for the Hundred of Salford was abolished by section 43(1)(d) of the Courts Act 1971. The last hereditary steward, Hugh Molyneux, 7th Earl of Sefton died on 13 April 1972.[16]

Prisons

Separate places of detention were maintained for the hundred: the New Bailey Prison in Salford, which was replaced by Strangeways Prison in 1868.[10]

Constituent areas

The area it occupied, 212170acres, corresponds loosely to the modern metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, though excludes those parts from the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, as well as most of that that forms the modern Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. Its area also extended into territory north of what is now Greater Manchester, including parts of Rossendale and Todmorden.

The parish of Manchester formed part of Salfordshire. It has been suggested that a Manchester-shire hundred was not favoured over one centred at Salford because Manchester had been ravaged as part of the Viking occupation.[17]

The parish of Rochdale, in Salfordshire, included the chapelry of Saddleworth from the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire.[9] [4]

Parishes and townships

Salfordshire comprised several parishes and townships during its history. These were not static, but fragmented with the establishment of daughter churches and chapels and increases in population. The parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham originally included the parishes of Bury, Middleton and Radcliffe,[18] and the parish of Manchester originally included the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne.[19] The township of Hundersfield was one of Rochdale parish's four original townships, but was itself split into four.[20] Similarly, Prestwich-cum-Oldham was later split into two separate parishes of Prestwich and Oldham.

In 1830, Salfordshire was documented to consist of the following parishes and townships:[21]

Hundred Parish Townships Notes
SalfordAshton-under-LyneAshton-under-LyneAshton-under-Lyne was a "single parish-township", but was divided into four divisions (sometimes each styled townships): Ashton Town, Audenshaw, Knott Lanes and Hartshead.[22]
Bolton le MoorsGreat Bolton, Little Bolton, Anglezarke, Blackrod, Bradshaw, Breightmet, Darcy Lever, Edgworth, Entwistle, Harwood, Little Lever, Longworth, Lostock, Quarlton, Rivington, Sharples, Tonge with Haulgh, Turtonhttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53036
BuryBury, Elton, Heap, Walmersley (with Shuttleworth), Tottington Higher End, Tottington Lower End, Musbury, Cowpe, Lench, Newhall Hey, Hall Carrhttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53011
DeaneRumworth, Horwich, Heaton, Halliwell, Westhoughton, Little Hulton, Middle Hulton, Over Hulton, Farnworth, Kearsley
EcclesBarton, Pendleton, Clifton, Worsley, Pendleburyhttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41440
FlixtonFlixton, Urmstonhttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=52997
ManchesterArdwick, Beswick, Blackley, Bradford, Broughton, Burnage, Cheetham, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Crumpsall, Denton, Didsbury, Droylsden, Failsworth, Gorton, Harpurhey, Haughton, Heaton Norris, Hulme, Levenshulme, Manchester, Moss Side, Moston, Newton, Openshaw, Reddish, Rusholme, Salford, Stretford, Withingtonhttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41404
MiddletonMiddleton, Pilsworth, Hopwood, Thornham, Birtle-With-Bamford, Ashworth, Ainsworth, Great Lever
Prestwich-cum-OldhamAlkrington, Chadderton, Crompton, Great Heaton, Little Heaton, Oldham, Pilkington, Prestwich, Royton, Tonge
RadcliffeRadcliffe
RochdaleCastleton, Spotland, Butterworth, Wuerdle and Wardle, Wardleworth, Blatchinworth and Calderbrook, Todmorden and Walsden.Rochdale also included the chapelry of Saddleworth from the West Riding of Yorkshire
West DerbyWiganAspullAspull was a township in Salfordshire, but attached ecclesiastically to the Wigan parish of West Derby hundred.

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

53.5606°N -2.2991°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Salford's Local History. 25 May 2004. http. 13 November 2007. salford.gov.uk. Salford City Council. City of Salford. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20050223144801/http://www.salford.gov.uk/leisure/salfordlocalhistory.htm. 23 February 2005.
  2. .
  3. https://opendomesday.org/hundred/salford/ Open Domesday: Salford Hundred.
  4. Web site: The Hundred of Salford . British History Online . Victoria County History . 7 April 2007 .
  5. Harris and Thacker (1987) write on page 252:
  6. Phillips and Phillips (2002). pp. 26 - 31.
  7. Crosby, A. (1996) writes on page 31:
  8. Webb . Sidney . Sidney Webb . Beatrice Webb . English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act. The Manor and the Borough, Part One . . London . 52 - 57. 1908 .
  9. Web site: Greater Manchester Gazetteer. Greater Manchester County Record Office. 21 February 2008. Places names - S. 18 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110718144349/http://www.gmcro.co.uk/Guides/Gazeteer/gazzs.htm.
  10. Web site: Prison and Court Records. 5 September 2008. Manchester Library and Archives Service. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080611040500/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/Prison_and_Court_records.pdf. 11 June 2008.
  11. Salford Hundred Court Inquiry, The Times, October 9, 1951, p.8
  12. Salford Hundred Court. Departmental Committee's Report, The Times, February 17, 1911, p.4
  13. The Times, August 10, 1991, p.2
  14. Salford Hundred Court, The Times, October 10, 1950, p.3
  15. The Criminal Justice Administration Act 1956 (c 34), section 7
  16. Obituary: The Earl of Sefton, The Times, April 15, 1972, p.16
  17. Salford . 14 . 67.
  18. Book: Farrer. W.. Brownbill. J.. A History of the County of Lancaster. 2014-11-30. 5. Victoria County History. 1911. Constable and Company. London. 222576476. 67. The parish of Prestwich with Oldham. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53001.
  19. Book: Tupling, G. H.. Carter. C. F.. Manchester and Its Region. 2014-11-30. 1962. Manchester University Press. Manchester. 16772259. 115. Medieval and early modern Manchester. https://books.google.com/books?id=mqXnAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA115.
  20. Web site: Townships: Hundersfield | British History Online .
  21. Cooper, Salford: An Illustrated History, p. 8
  22. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41438 The parish of Ashton-under-Lyne - Introduction, manor & boroughs | British History Online