in it would doe them goode. And this depont both then and after his returne from Manchester and before he dyed moved the sayd Edward Stanley to remember his sister Mary wyfe of Robert Chorleton of Wythington and her children; but he answered this depont yt the sayd Robert Chorleton should never have anythinge of his. And when this depont spake to him againe and desired him to be good to his sister Mary and her children he went his way and gave her never a worde, and not longe tyme after dyed. Scythence which tyme this depont never heard that the sayd Edward Stanley ever made any other disposition of his goodes and (Signed) estate. MARY HULLME + the sayd deponents marke. Item Theophilus Nicholson of Redditch in the countie of Lancastr yeoman, of the age of thirtie fowre yeares or thereabouts, sworne and examined sayth yt Mary Hullme of Redditch aforesayde did in the p'sence of the sayd Theophilus Nicholson declare that Mr. Edward Stanley late of Redditch deceased had given and disposed his whole estate to his twoe sisters Anne Goddart and Alles Hulme and her children, and that James Hullme husband to the sayd Mary, being then and there by, did affirme and aver the same. (Signed) THEOPHILUS NICHOLSON. The name of another member of this family, William Stanley of Woodhall gent., whose sympathies appear to have been on the side of the royalists, occurs in the list of those in 1646 compounding for their estates; this he did by the payment of £46 13s. TOWNSHIP OF LEVENSHULME. Levenshulme is a township in Manchester parish, lying three miles south-east of Manchester. It is bounded on the north by Gorton and Rusholme, on the south by Burnage and Heaton Norris, on the east by Reddish, and on the west by Rusholme. The orthography of the name has varied at different periods, being written Lywensholme, Lewonshulme, Lerwoneshulme, Lamsholme, Leysholme, Lensholme, Lentsholme, Lavonsholme, Levensholme, Leyvenshulme, Leinshulme, &c. From the sign of the possessive case, the first syllable would seem to indicate the name of the first colonist or early proprietor, whilst the suffix "holme" or "hulme” signifies in the Anglo-Saxon a flat area by the side of a stream or river, occasionally submerged by floods; or the name "Leven" may be derived (for in the etymology of words much is left to conjecture) from a brook intersecting the township, which may at one time have received the name "Leven," as did certain rivers in Cumberland, Dumbarton, Fife, &c., signifying in the Celtic "smooth." It is worthy of remark that of the four townships within Manchester parish terminating in "holme," three abut upon each other; thus Kirkmanshulme borders on Rusholme, and Rusholme on Levenshulme. The annals of this township are of the scantiest and most meagre description, no family of note having at any time resided there; scattered farm-houses and a few isolated cottages bordering upon the old Stockport lane (for road it could not then be called) constituting the entire township. In the Survey of Manchester in 1322 we find the tenants of Lywensholme referred to the Lower Bailiwick of Manchester, and paying their proportion to the maintenance of the bailiffs and under-bailiffs of the manor. The earliest landed proprietors in the township of whom any record now remains were the family of Legh of Baguley in the county of Chester, who were chief if not exclusive lords of the soil. Sir John Legh of Baguley Knt., son and heir of Edmund Legh Esq. and Margery his wife, married Ellen, daughter of Sir William Booth of Dunham Massey in the 6 Edward IV. (1466). Besides lawful issue he had an illegitimate son, John Legh, living in the 21 Henry VII. (1505), on whom he settled a tenement in Levenshulme as an annuity for his life.' In the 19 Elizabeth (1576) Margaret Vaudrey, claiming by conveyance from Edward Legh, enters an action at Lancaster against Robert Shelmerdyne, John Smythe, Henry Tymperley, James Bowker and others as lessees of William Radcliffe, the matter in dispute being certain messuages and lands in Levenshulme. From this it may be inferred that the Radcliffe family, though what branch does not appear, possessed also at this time an interest in the township. Two years later another suit was commenced by the same plaintiff against Henry Brome, Thomas Holme, John Glossoppe, James Shelmerdyne and others in relation to similar premises in Levenshulme. From the pedigree of Legh it appears that Margaret Vaudrey, daughter of Robert Vaudrey of Riddings in Timperly gent., became the second wife of Edward Legh of Baguley Esq., who died in 1607. This, however, could scarcely be the plaintiff in the above-mentioned suits, since in 1584, in a subsequent action, she is associated with one John Coppocke, and three years later in certain legal proceedings before the same court she is styled Margaret Coppocke, otherwise Vaudrey, implying that a marriage had taken place between herself and Coppocke. She would doubtless be of the same family as the wife of Edward Legh, if not actually his wife. Other lands in the township form in part the endowment of Gorton Episcopal Chapel. These were purchased in 1734 by subscription of the inhabitants of Gorton, aided by a grant from the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty. This estate also belonged originally to the family of Legh, but was conveyed in 1620 by Richard Legh of Baguley Esq. and Henry, his eldest son and heir to John Thorpe of Levenshulme; from his grandson it passed to 1 Ormerod's History of Cheshire, vol. i. p. 416. Obadiah Hulme of Reddish, chapman, whose son Samuel Hulme disposed of it to the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty for the purpose already indicated. About the middle of the seventeenth century the Manchester family of Gilliam appears among the landed proprietors in the township. John Gilliam gent., who is described as of Levenshulme, was son and heir of John Gilliam of the same place Esq. (a captain in the parliamentary interest and justice of the peace). He was baptised at Littleborough July 2, 1658, and married Jane, daughter of Thomas Percival of Royton gent. By will dated June 18, 1688, and proved at Chester October 26 in the same year, he left many legacies for charitable purposes, and settled his very large estates in Newton, Droylsden, Failsworth, Fallowfield, Horsedge, Oldham, Crompton, Heaton Norris, Levenshulm otherwise Leyvenshulme otherwise Leynshulme, Westleigh, Hindley, Woodhouses in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, Barton-uponIrwell, Reddivall and Pinnington on his only child Jane Gilliam, who subsequently married John Greaves of Culcheth Esq. High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1733.1 Mr. Gilliam of Levenshulme was in the number of those gentlemen summoned in 1664 by Sir William Dugdale, Norroy King of Arms, to register their descents and to justify their titles to such coats of arms and crests as they usually bear. The earliest Population Returns for Levenshulme are in 1774, in which year there were 55 houses tenanted by 56 families or 280 individuals, of whom one hundred and five were under the age of 15; thirty-six above 50; seven above 60; and six above 70. In 1801 the inhabitants numbered 628; in 1811, 674; in 1821, 768; in 1831, 1,086; in 1841, 1,231; and in 1851, 1,902. In 1655 there were 25 persons in the township rated to the relief of the poor, and the amount of rate collected for the six months ending November 25 was £7. Amongst the ratepayers were Thurstan Peake; John Hobson, draper; John Hobson, swaler [corn-miller]; Alexander and Ralph Bowerhouse; John Glossop, 1 Notitia Cestriensis, vol. ii. part i. pp. 91, 92. and John Shelmerdine. In 1847 the same rates amounted to £422 6s. 11d. In 1692 the annual value of real property in Levenshulme, as assessed to the land-tax, was £154; in 1815, as assessed to the county-rate, £2,340; in 1829, £3,316; in 1841, £6,056; and in 1853, £7,342. The superficial area of the township, as given in 1831 by Mr. Rickman, is 1,050 acres; in the Census Returns of 1851 it is reduced to 605 acres; Messrs. Johnson and Son's Survey in 1818 estimates it at 602 acres; and the Ordnance Survey at 602 acres. In 1835 the number of county voters in Levenshulme was 32. In 1844 the landowners in the township numbered forty-nine; of these the principal were Grimshaw, Samuel A. R. P. 59 3 27 51 0 22 Assuming the total area of the township to be 602 acres it was thus divided: - Arable land, 16 acres; meadow and pasture land, 576 acres; buildings, 10 acres. A branch of the London and North Western Railway passes through the township. Ecclesiastically considered, Levenshulme is situated in the parish of Manchester, and has from the earliest times owned its relationship by the payment of tithe. Though here included as a part of the ancient chapelry of Didsbury, no better reason can be assigned for such classification than H H |