Edward Sharples

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Edward Sharples [send private message]

Biography

The biography for Edward Sharples is empty. What can you add?

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Edward Sharples at registration.

Sharples, Greater Manchester From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Township / Civil parish History • Created Middle Ages • Abolished 1898 Status Township (until 1866) Civil parish (1866–1898)

Sharples, a suburb of Bolton, was a township of the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors in the Salford hundred of Lancashire, England. It lay 2½ miles north of Bolton.[1][2] It contained the smaller settlements of Banktop, Sweet-Loves, High-Houses, Gale, Folds, Belmont, Piccadilly, Water-Meetings, Old Houses and part of Astley Bridge.

History

Sharples was recorded in documents as Charples in 1212, Sharples and Scharples in 1292[1] and the manor was part of the Barony or Lordship of Manchester in the Middle ages and was separated and then further divided into shares by subinfeudation. Sharples was the name of a local family who lived at Sharples Hall, the Lawson family owned the Hall at the time that the manor became partitioned after the death of Dr John Sharples Lawson who died in 1816.[3][4] The next family to live and own the hall were the Rothwells.[5]

Sharples contained forty-three hearths liable to the hearth tax in 1666. During the Industrial Revolution coal was mined on a small scale and cotton mills, calico print-works, extensive bleach-works were built in Belmont and Astley Bridge.[4]

Malcolm Howe had purchased manorial rights through an intermediary acting on behalf of the descendants of the owner as an historic relic to preserve its existence and keep the rights within the borough, at a cost of £15,000 in 2006. In the same year he gifted the rights to Bolton Council whilst retaining rights to continue the use of the title of Lord of Sharples.[6][7]

Governance

Historically, Sharples formed part of the Hundred of Salford, a judicial division of southwest Lancashire, whilst administered from St Peter's Church, at Great Bolton.[8] Under provisions of the Poor Relief Act 1662, townships replaced parishes as the main units of local administration in Lancashire.[9] Sharples became one of the eighteen autonomous townships of the parish of Bolton le Moors.[1] In 1837, Sharples became part of the Bolton Poor Law Union, which took over the responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law in that area.[10]

In 1864 Lower Sharples and part of Little Bolton became Astley Bridge Local Board of Health and in 1894 Astley Bridge Urban District before being merged in Bolton County Borough in 1898. Upper Sharples became Belmont civil parish in the Bolton Rural District from 1894 to 1898 when it became part of Turton Urban District and in 1974 became part of Blackburn District in Lancashire.[11]

Geography

The township, on ground rising to the north of Bolton, had an area of 3920 acres divided into two portions.[4] Upper Sharples on the slopes of Winter Hill and Whimberry Hill contained the districts of Hordern, Belmont, and the hamlet of Bromiley and a reservoir built by Bolton Waterworks formed the boundary between Sharples and Longworth. Lower Sharples was separated from the upper portion by a detached portion of Little Bolton. Astley Bridge is in Lower Sharples.[1] The old road over the West Pennine Moors from Bolton to Preston via Astley Bridge and Withnell, now the A675 passed through the township for five miles. Much of the land is high moorland.

Education

The main secondary school serving the area is Sharples School, located on Hill Cot Road.

Religion

St Peter's church in Belmont was built in 1850.

SHARPLES Charples, 12I2; Sharples and Scharples, 1292.

This large township, stretching from Bolton in a north-west direction for over 6 miles, has an area of 3,999½ acres, and is divided into an upper and lower portion. The former occupies the eastern slope of the range of hills, including Winter Hill and Whimberry Hill, which goes west and north through Smithills, Rivington, and Anglezarke; it contains the district called Hordern, the village of Belmont, and the hamlet of Bromiley, to the east being a large reservoir, part of the Bolton Waterworks, on the boundary between Sharpies and Longworth. The lower division is cut in two by a detached portion of Little Bolton; its northern part is called the Folds, and its southern part contains a portion of the town of Bolton, called Astley Bridge. (fn. 1) The population of the Belmont portion was 837 in 1901, and that of the southern portion, together with parts of Little Bolton, was 7,674. (fn. 2)

The principal road is that from Bolton to Preston, which passes through the whole length of the township, from Astley Bridge to the boundary of Withnell.

'Sharpies in Harwood' contained forty-three hearths liable to the tax in 1666; no house had as many as six hearths. (fn. 3)

The township contains some cotton-mills, the large dye works and print works at Belmont, and a paper works at Spring Side in Folds. The Eden Orphanage is situated at Astley Bridge.

The southern half was formerly joined with the detached parts of Little Bolton to form the Astley Bridge Local Board district, (fn. 4) and has now been included in the borough and township of Bolton. (fn. 5) The northern part was in 1894 constituted a civil parish with the name of Belmont, (fn. 6) and was in 1898 included in Turton Urban District. (fn. 7)

Manor The manor of SHARPLES was a member of Manchester fee. It appears to have been assessed as four oxgangs of land, (fn. 8) but one oxgang was in 1212 held of Robert Grelley by Roger de Samlesbury and Alexander de Harwood by a rent of 3s. This may have been an additional oxgang. (fn. 9) Whether it was so or not it appears to have been the most important part of the district, and its lords being also lords of Harwood and Bradshaw the three were held together, (fn. 10) and as late as the 17th century the 'hamlet of Sharpies' is described as lying 'in the town of Harwood.' (fn. 11) Another part of Sharples was within the Marsey fee; what were known as the detached portions of Little Bolton were probably its constituents. (fn. 12)

The upper and larger part of the township was retained by the lords of Manchester in their own hands, but the Folds, described as 4,000 acres, had in 1427 been occupied by Richard son of Thurstan de Holland, and in 1473 was held by the heir of Henry de Radcliffe. Hordern Solyns, 1,000 acres, was in Thomas La Warre's possession in 1427. (fn. 13)

Sharples proper, the one oxgang, appears to have been divided among several immediate holders; the rent also seems to have been increased to 3s. 2d. Thus in 1320 Henry de Trafford paid yearly 3s. 2d. for Sharples, and gave puture of the Serjeant and foresters, (fn. 14) while Adam de Sharples for the twenty-fourth part of a fee in the same rendered castle ward and puture. (fn. 15)

The local families adopted the surname of Sharpies, and continued to reside for some centuries; (fn. 16) one of them, known as Ward alias Sharples, appears down to the 17th century. (fn. 17) In the absence of documents no proper account can be given of these families. Sharples Hall has for some time been the seat of the Rothwell family; Mr. Richard Rainshaw Rothwell was recently one of the principal landowners. (fn. 18)

Sharples of Sharples. Sable three crescents argent, between the points of each a mullet of the last.

One Roger de Sharples in 1315–16 granted to Sir William de Holland, ancestor of the Denton family, his manor of Sharples and all his land there, together with his goods, movable and immovable, in the manor and his share of the waste. (fn. 19) Sir William at once granted it to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shoresworth for life. (fn. 20) Thurstan in 1332 made a feoffment of his lands in the hamlet of Sharples in the vill of Great Bolton and in Harwood; (fn. 21) and in 1335 granted the manor of Sharples to his mother, together with the homages and services of Jordan son of Adam de Sharples and others. (fn. 22) The Holland family acquired other lands in the hamlet or township, (fn. 23) and in 1429 Thurstan de Holland made an agreement with Sir Ralph de Radcliffe touching part of a field called Rodenhey, adjoining the road leading from Smithills. (fn. 24)

From the rental of 1473 it appears that the rent of 3s. 2d. was contributed by three occupiers— Richard Sharples, 18d.; Robert Sharples, 10d.; and Richard Holland of Denton, 10d. (fn. 25) The Holland manor therefore was rather more than a fourth part. It continued to descend with the Denton estates, (fn. 26) and the Earl of Wilton is now reputed to be lord of the manor.

Lord Fauconberg in 1723 sold, among other lordships, the manor of Sharples, which probably represented the estate descending to him from the Bartons of Smithills, who had held the FOLDS. (fn. 27)

The Bradshaws of Bradshaw also had a holding in Sharples, (fn. 28) and some other owners' names are met with. (fn. 29) One Lawrence Longworth, of Sharples, was in 1443 bound to array a man-at-arms and three able archers for the king's service. (fn. 30)

The land tax returns of 1796 show that—Wright, Lord Grey de Wilton, and — Lawson were the chief landowners. (fn. 31) The Wright estate has recently been purchased by the Bolton Corporation for waterworks purposes at a cost of £100,000. (fn. 32)

In connexion with the Church of England St. Peter's, Belmont, was built in 1850, and had a separate district assigned to it in 1861. (fn. 33) It has a tower and spire, with peal of six bells.

The Congregationalists began services in or before 1821; the present church at Belmont was opened in 1898. (fn. 34)

The Roman Catholic church of the Holy Infant and St. Anthony, at Astley Bridge, was opened in 1877. (fn. 35)

ORIGIN OF COAT OF ARMS

ecorded in several forms including Sharples and Sharpless, this is a famous English surname. It is locational and originates from a place now called Sharples Hall, near the town of Bolton, and first recorded in the ancient Pipe Rolls of the county as "Scharples" in the year 1240. The place name, and hence the later surname, derives from a fused spelling of the pre 7th century Olde English words "scearp" meaning steep and "laes", a meadow. Another possible meaning is sheep meadow from the similar "sceap-laes". The first known recording in any spelling is probably that of John de Scharples in the Assize Court rolls of the county of Lancashire in 1246, whilst Adam de Sharples is recorded in the Subsidy Tax rolls also of Lancashire in 1332. A coat of arms was granted to the family known as Sharples of Sharples in the year 1567. This has the blazon of a black shield charged with three silver crescents. This blazon suggests that the family were descendants of the famous Crusaders of the 12th century, in their various bids to free the Holy Land from the Muslims. Locational surnames were often the status name given to the local lord of the manor and his descendants, as may well be the case here. In addition they were given to former inhabitants of a place, who moved somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such strangers being to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best erratic, often lead to the development of "sounds like" spellings.