History & Heritage
in and around Greater Manchester

Alphabetical Listing - continued...:

Sometimes spelled 'Tetlawe', there is evidence of fines being levied against this old family with one Robert de Tetlawe in 1410, and in 1422 Adam de Tetlow having rented properties in Ashton-under-Lyne. They still held lands around Prestwich in the 14th century, when Joanne de Tetlawe married Richard Langley and set up Langley Hall just north of Prestwich and began the Langley family of Middleton and Agecroft, who held the lands for several hundred years thereafter. Around 1320-21, during the reign of King Edward II, Richard Tetlow, son of Adam de Tetlawe, had been granted lands around Werneth in Oldham. Adam de Tetlow had also apparently married Eva, daughter of William de Oldham, and obtained her lands in Werneth and Oldham. The Tetlawes were to live at Chamber in Werneth for many generations and the family name appears in numerous historical documents which support this. Gradually, the name was changed to Tetlow, and their family line remained intact until the 17th century, when Jane, sole heiress of Robert Tetlow, married George Wood, who in 1646 sold it on to Henry Wrigley, a linen draper from Salford. Sometime around 1680 Wrigley's granddaughter, Martha married Joseph Gregge and the estate past to him and thereafter was in the possession of the Gregg family.

The powerful Towneley (sometimes spelt Townley or Townsley) family lived in the Burnley area from the mid-thirteenth century. Towneley Hall, their imposing Elizabethan country seat, dates from the early 15th century and is set in 62 acres of parkland. Since 1903 it has been a museum and art gallery and is rated as one of the finest medieval mansions in Lancashire. It still displays a large wall chart displaying their family tree.
In the year 1200, one Roger de Lacy had granted lands at "Tunleia" (Towneley) to his son-in-law, Geoffrey, and building probably began in about 1400 and completed during the 15th century.
The Towneleys were an important Catholic family and the hall contains the 15th Century Whalley Abbey vestments and a private chapel - they were consequently persecuted for their faith during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1817 Peregrine Towneley donated an area of land at Burnley Wood on which to build a Roman Catholic church as well as donating £1000 towards its construction. For many years the Towneleys possessed the original scripts of the Wakefield Mystery Plays, (the so-called Towneley Manuscript); they are now in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California and are sometimes referred to as the 'Towneley Cycle'.
In more recent times, the Towneleys held land around the Stargate Pit until 1826, and gleaned a great deal of new wealth from surface coal mining in the area, where coal had to be transported across Towneley land for payment of a toll or wayleave.
Towneley Hall remained with the Towneley family until the early 20th century, when Lady O'Hagan (Alice Mary Towneley) sold the Hall and 62 acres to Burnley Corporation for a nominal sum of £17,500 in 1901.

The Trafford family, (or more properly the 'de Trafford' family), were once one of the most prominent Catholic families in Victorian Britain, and trace their ancestry back well before Norman times - a member of the family is said to have served King Canute. One Radulphus, an early forebear of the family died in about 1050 in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The family's long association with Trafford Park dates at least from the late 12th century, though nowadays the family name is perhaps best known by virtue of the Trafford Centre, Manchester United's home ground at Old Trafford and the industrial estate at Trafford Park which now lies in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford and was formerly in Lancashire.
Much later, around the beginning of the 17th century, Cecil de Trafford was knighted at Houghton Tower, and Trafford Borough Coat of Arms still bears a Griffon, emblem of the de Trafford Family.
The Traffords had extensive land holdings throughout Lancashire and Cheshire, and had pre-Reformation connections with Wilmslow church and held lands at Alderley Edge, where the De Trafford Arms pub still survives.
In 1882, their estates at Trafford Hall were threatened by the projected Manchester Ship Canal which was intended to run round its north side. The plan was vehemently opposed by Sir Humphrey de Trafford right up to the time of his death in 1886. In 1898, after numerous abortive attempts by Manchester City Council to buy the estate for conversion into a public park, Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford sold the land in its entirety to Trafford Park Estates, who turned it into the first industrial estate in Europe. It is reckoned now to be the largest estate of its kind in the world, and perpetuates the family name of the Traffords.

The Tyldesley family seat was at Myerscough Hall where the family in 1617 acted as loyal hosts to King James I. In 1651 Charles II also lodged there on the way to claim the throne of England. The Tyldesley family were devout Roman Catholics and Royalist supporters and Thomas Tyldesley was killed at the battle of Wigan Lane, by Parliamentarian forces.
By 1332 they had established themselves as Lords of the Manor of Tyldesley, and their lands would bear the family name thereafter right up to the present day. The fields and forests of the Tyldesleys to the north; then known as Tyldesleyhurst, and now called Mosley Common. In 1375 Thomas Tyldesley acquired lands in Chaddock hamlet by marriage to Agnes Sutherland; later, Shakerley lands were added to the family holdings.
By 1700, the Tyledsley family had virtually disappeared through marriage into other noble families. As an example, in 1696 the men of Tyldesley-cum-Shakerley were convened to swear an oath of loyalty to the new King William III. Some sixty-five men are recorded as having taken the Oath of Association , administered by the constables of the township. The list shows only one inhabitant from the former prominent families, Thomas Chaddock. Others, including the Tyldesleys, had gone.

When William the Conqueror bequeathed substantial north west lands in gratitude to Baron Rogier de Poitou (or Poictou) who had aided in his conquest of England; he in turn gave part of his holdings to Albert de Greslé. In turn, Geslé (or Grelley), sometime during the reign of King John, bestowed lands upon Orme, the son of Edward Aylward. This area became known as Orme's Tun (meaning 'Orme's settlement' or dwelling), which later became, Orme Eston, (crudely, 'Orme - his town'), then Ormeston and finally Urmston.
In 1292 Sigreda, the heiress of the neighbouring Manor of Westleigh (in Leigh, now in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan), married Richard Urmston, and these lands also passed to the Urmston family. However, the Lordship of the Manor of Westleigh was to be frequently disputed many times over the following years, but by the early 17th century the rights seem to be firmly in the possession of the Urmston family and remained there until the last of the male Urmstons died in 1659. Elements of the Urmston Arms (notably, the spear) are to be found included in those of Leigh.
Urmston Hall itself, the family's county seat, was built c.1350, was rebuilt towards the end of the sixteenth century, later became a farm and was finally demolished in 1937. The township of Urmston, which bears the family's name is located west of Manchester in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford.

< Previous
< Back to Families Menu