An extract from Volume IV of ‘A
History of Lancashire’ edited by William Page, F.S.A., part of ‘The
Victoria History of the Counties of England’. The Salford Hundred –
pages 96,97.
CHAMBER HALL, to the south-east of Werneth, was for some
centuries the residence of the Tetlows of Werneth, said to be descended from the
Oldham family.41 Lawrence Tetlow died 26
December 1582 seised of three messuages, &c., in Ashton under Lyne, held of
the queen in socage by a rent of 5d.; and twelve messuages, &c., in Oldham,
held of Ralph Barton in socage by a barbed arrow at Christmas, and a pair of
gloves (or 1d.) at St. Oswald’s. Richard, his son and heir, was about
thirty-seven years old.41a Early in the
17th century the estate passed by sale to the Woods,42
and from them in 1646 to the Wrigleys.43
Henry Wrigley served as high sheriff in 1651,44
and in local matters was a zealous supporter of Robert Constantine in the
disputes as to the church of Oldham.45
By marriage Chamber Hall passed to the Gregges of Chester, who in 1773 succeeded
to Hopwood, and took this surname.46
Edward Gregge Hopwood died in 1798, and left the Chamber Hall estate in equal
portions to his three daughters. The eldest died unmarried; Elizabeth married
James Starkey of Heywood; and the other married Maj. General Peter Heron, Tory
member for Newton in Makerfield from 1806 to 1814; and the estate was recently
held by their heirs.47
Chamber Hall lies on the south side of Oldham at the bottom
of Chamber Lane, but on an eminence formerly commanding a very extensive
prospect of the country to the south.48
The building belongs to two periods. The older part at the back was apparently
erected in 1640, along with the barn to the south, and is a stone-built house of
two stories and an attic with mullioned windows and gables, and the roofs
covered with grey stone slates. Some of the windows are built up and others
modernized, but many of the original 17th-century windows with the labels over
remain. The walling is of long thin coursed stones with square quoins, many of
great length, at the angles.
The front of the house was pulled down in 1752, when the
present block facing the street was erected. It is of three stories, built in
stone in the plain classic style of the period, with central door and two
square-headed windows on each side of it. There are five large windows on the
first floor with small attic windows over. The ground floor windows have
architraves and keystones, but the upper ones architraves only, and the sashes
retain their original wood bars. The front is faced with large squared coursed
stones, with chamfered quoins at the angles, the chimneys are of brick, and the
roof is covered with blue slates. On the south-west of the house is a large
stone barn, with stone slated roof and wide end gables. The entrance doorways in
each side of the barn have also smaller stone gables, that facing the house
bearing the initials G.W., J.W., and the date 1640 on a stone over a blocked
three-light mullioned window. The initials are probably those of George Wood and
his wife Jane (Tetlow), the builders of the house. The barn is a fine specimen
of the stone-built barns of the 17th century. At the other side of the house, to
the south-east, is a range of stone buildings, two stories high, now a cottage
and stable, with outside stone steps at the north end. It has low mullioned
windows and a stone-slated roof, and over the stable door is the date 1648 and
the initials H.W., being those of Henry Wrigley, who bought the hall from the
Woods in 1646. He is said to have ‘employed numerous artisans in the trade of
fustian weaving, and converted part of the outbuildings of his hall into a
warehouse.’49 The door with his
initials may be an insertion in one of the original outbuildings, but it is more
probable that he erected this range of buildings himself for workshops.
A portion of the Tetlow estate passed by marriage to the
Langleys of Agecroft, and long continued in that family.50
Another Tetlow family was settled at ...
41
In 1292 Adam son of Adam de Oldham bound
himself to repay 4 marks borrowed from Adam de Prestwich, or instead grant him
land called the Northhey; Agecroft D. 3.
In 1332 Richard de Tetlow and others did not prosecute their
claim against Richard de Byron respecting lands in Oldham and Chadderton; Assize
R. 1411, m. 12 d.
Thomas son of Adam de Prestwich in 1335 granted to Richard
son of Adam de Tetlow all his part of Adamhey in the Northwood of Oldham –
perhaps the Northhey of the above cited bond; Raines D. (Chet.
Lib.), bdle. 3, no. 28.
In 1337 the sheriff was ordered to inquire whether Richard de
Tetlow was seised of 80 acres of land and 20 acres of wood in Oldham and
Crompton; Alice his widow claimed a third of it as dower against Amabel widow of
Adam de Tetlow. She further claimed dower in other lands in Oldham and Cheetham;
De Banco R. 310, m. 160 d.; Cal. Close, 1337-9, p. 116.
Another Tetlow family is shown in pleadings of 1480, in which
the grant of a messuage, &c., in Oldham by Eva daughter of William de Oldham
to Richard son of Adam de Tetlow, with remainder to Richard’s brother Adam,
was claimed by the descendants of Adam’s three daughters – George Chadderton,
Ralph Belfield, Bernard Butterworth, and Elizabeth his wife; Pal.
Of Lanc. Writs of Assize, 20 Edw. IV.
Hugh son of Adam de Tetlow in 1340 gave lands in the
Coppedhurst and Payrehalghus to his mother, Anabil, for life, with remainder to
his brother Roger; Raines D. no. 29.
Adam son of Richard de Tetlow in 1347 successfully claimed
eight messuages, &c., in Oldham, held by Adam son of Adam de Tetlow; Assize
R. 1435, m. 39.
In 1375 Roger son of Richard de Langley gave to Richard son
of Richard de Tetlow all his lands in Manchester, Crompton, and Oldham, with
remainders to Richard bastard son of Adam de Tetlow, and to John son of Richard
de Oldham; Agecroft D. no. 48. In the following
year Richard son of Richard de Tetlow occurs as plaintiff; De
Bance R. 462, m. 121 d. Richard de Tetlow in 1390 confirmed to Robert
Walker, chaplain, a burgage and messuage in Oldham and Manchester; Shaw,
Oldham, 11.
Cases of cow-stealing and trespass in 1441 and 1443 bring in
other members of the family – Robert and Alexander, sons of Robert de Tetlow;
Robert son of Richard de Tetlow and Isabel his wife; Robert Tetlow of Oldham and
Richard his son; Pal. Of Lanc. Plea R. 3, m. 31; 5, m. 15b.
Richard Tetlow of Werneth granted to John Langley 5 acres in
Oldham in 1474; the bounds mention Hunwalgate, Glodwick Brook, the Clough
Bottom, the old kiln, the lime-pits, Hollinwood, and Northwood; John Langley
resigned his claim to the Spurfield land; Raines D. bdle.
3, no. 43.
Arthur Tetlow, of Chamber Hall, contributed to the subsidy in
1523; Shaw, Oldham, 15. John Tetlow contributed for
goods in 1541; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. And Ches.), i, 145.
Lawrence Tetlow in 1551 made a feoffment of messuages and lands in Oldham and
Ashton under Lyne; Pal. Of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m.
178. He was among those summoned in 1574 to provide equipment for the
muster; Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 31.
41a
Duchy of Lanc. Inq.
p.m. xiv, 56. The inquisitions of the Bartons of Smithills do not mention
any lands in Oldham, but the Butterworths of Butterworth also held lands of them
by ‘an arrow with an iron barb’; ibid. xiii, 2.
Richard Tetlow, in return for the surrender of a lease
granted by his father Lawrence, gave a new lease of a messuage in Oldham in
1596; the rent was to be 82s. a year, with four hens at Christmas, two capons at
Easter, and four days’ shearing (reaping) in harvest. Richard further agreed
that Robert his son and heir apparent should confirm it on coming of age; Shaw,
Oldham, 40. In 1610, in conjunction with Katherine his wife, he made a
settlement of his ‘manors of Oldham and Werneth,’ with thirty messuages,
mill, lands, &c.; Pal. Of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 78,
no. 5. He died in 1611, and his will and inventory are printed by Shaw,
op. Cit. 51, 52; he mentions his wife Katherine, son Robert, daughter Jane wife
of William Bradshaw, grandson Adam Pilkington, and others, and desired to be
buried in the ‘chapel church of Oldham.’ The only book was ‘a great old
Bible’; the arms were a caliver, two great bills, a yew bow and a quiver, and
a broken cross-bow; ‘a pair of playing tables’ was valued at 1s.
Robert Tetlow contributed to the subsidy in 1622; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 157. Nine years later he paid £10 on refusing
knighthood; ibid. 216. As a convicted recusant he paid double to the subsidy of
1626-7 (Lay Subs. bdle. 131, no. 312), and in 1630 compounded for his
sequestered two-thirds by an annual fine of £10.
42 By indenture dated
14 September 1635 Robert Tetlow of Chamber Hall in or near Oldham, and William
Horton of Barkisland, Yorks., conveyed to George Wood of Groby and John Wood of
London, for £2,120, the capital messuage in Werneth, with lands, &c., there
and in Greenacres, the names and rents of the occupiers being given; Raines
D. (Chet. Lib.), bdle. 5, no 77. This was accompanied by a fine, Robert
Tetlow and Mary his wife, William Horton and Elizabeth his wife, being
deforciants; Pal. Of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 128, no. 33.
George Wood, who is said to have married Jane the daughter
and heir of Robert Tetlow, contributed to the subsidy of 1641 for his lands; Shaw
op. cit. 87. In the following year George and John Wood gave a lease of
the messuage , &c., called Broad Heys in Oldham; ibid.
93.
43
Ibid. 102.
44
P.R.O. List, 73.
45
See the correspondence in Manch. Classis (Chet.
Soc.), App. Henry Wrigley died in London, and was buried there 26 July 1658; Shaw,
op. cit. 152.
Henry Wrigley the younger, son of Henry Wrigley of the
Chamber in Oldham, at Ashton under Lyne on 5 April 1654 married Susannah
daughter of Samuel Jenkinson of Woodhouses. A son, Henry, was buried at Ashton
23 Mar. 1654-5.
Benjamin Wrigley, the next owner of Chamber, was summoned to
attend the Herald’s Visitation in 1664, but no pedigree is recorded; Dugdale,
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), p.v.
46
E. Butterworth, Oldham
(ed. 1856), from which this account of the descent is mainly taken. By
his will, 1671, Benjamin Wrigley devised his property in Oldham, &c., to his
eldest daughter Martha and her issue; and she married Joseph Gregge.
In 1681 Joseph Gregge and Martha his wife made a sttlement of
the manors of Werneth and Oldham; Pal. Of Lanc. Feet of F.
bdle. 207, m. 84. In 1682 Jospeh Gregge granted a lease of a messuage at
a rent of 10s., a heriot at every death, two fat hens at Christmas, a fat capon
at Easter, a day’s harrowing with two harrows, and three days’ reaping as
required; Shaw, op. cit. 187. Joseph Gregge died in
1705; ibid. 241.
In a recovery of the manors of Werneth and Oldham in 1712 the
tenants were Benjamin Gregge, Elizabeth his wife, and Henry Ashton; Pal.
Of Lanc. Plea R. 496, m. 4. Benjamin Gregge was high sheriff in 1722; P.R.O.
List, 74.
A settlement was made of the manors of Werneth and Oldham in
1773 by Edward Gregge Hopwood and Judith his wife; Pal. of
Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 389, m. 28.
47
In 1856 these heirs were:- Edmund John Gregge
Hopwood, Catherine Heron, Mary Felicia Barry, (Rev.) George Heron, Henry Heron,
(Rev.) Frank George Hopwood, and Hervey Hopwood; Butterworth,
op. cit. 28. On the same page is an account of the haunting of Chamber
Hall.
In 1890 Chamber was stated to be the property of the Gregge
Hopwoods; see an account of the place in Lancs. and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. viii, 150-4, where is printed an ungallant couplet written on
a window pane of the hall.
48
J. Butterworth, op.
cit. 1826.
49
Lancs. and Ches. Antiq.
Soc. viii.
50
In 1352 lands in Crompton, Oldham and Werneth
were part of the Tetlow estate settled upon Richard de Langley and Joan his
wife; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 132.
Disputes had ...
