CHAPTER XIII.

HANDFORD HALL AND CHEADLE CHURCH, CHESHIRE. {267a}

HANDFORD is a township of the parish of Cheadle, in Cheshire, in the hundred of Macclesfield, intersected by the London and North Western (formerly the Manchester and Birmingham) Railway, and situated eleven miles from Manchester, and five miles south-west-by-south from Stockport.

The village of Handford is agreeably situated in a pleasant part of Cheshire, upon the turnpike-road leading from Manchester to Wilmslow and Congleton. On entering the village from the northward, a neat but small country church, of brick, which is a chapel-of-ease under Cheadle, lying on the left side of the road, and a well-built National School, on the right, are conspicuous objects.

The Village Green is noticed by Sir William Brereton, Bart., of Handford, whose family I shall soon have occasion to advert to, and whose travels in Holland, England, &c. &c., in 1634 and 1635, have been published by the Cheetham Society, in vol. i. of the _Cheetham Papers_. He refers to the Village Green, {268a} when narrating his travels in Scotland, and in describing one of the places of public entertainment, he calls it “a poorer house than any upon Handforth Green;” and again {268b} he afterwards states that he had been in a small tavern in Ireland, “a little low thatched Irish house, not to be compared unto Jane Kelsall’s, of the Green at Handforth.” {268c} Her cottage has disappeared, and the Green has long been enclosed: no appearance of either of them now remains, and it may be a question whether portions of the railway and its station do not stand on what was once the south-eastern end of the Green; it is, however, to a certain degree, preserved from oblivion, by the field enclosed from its site, being still called the Green Field.

Handford is also sometimes known by the names of Hanford, Honford, Handforth, Handford-cum-Bosden, and Handforth-cum-Bosden (Handford being a joint township with the township of Bosden). Some centuries ago the manor and estate of Handford belonged to the ancient family of Handford of Handford; then, by marriage, to that of Brereton, in the reign of Elizabeth; {268d} they afterwards passed, under a deed of settlement, to that of Booth, Sir William Brereton having, in the reign of Charles II., settled them, in default of male issue of his son, on Nathaniel Booth, Esq., of Mottram St. Andrew, in tail male; but the estate did not remain any considerable time with the Booths, and it soon became subdivided amongst various proprietors. The manorial rights, however, remained a much longer period with the Booths; the manor having been sold and conveyed, in 1766, by Nathaniel, Baron Delamer, formerly Nathaniel Booth, Esq., and others, to Edward Wrench, Esq., of Chester; in 1805, it was again sold, to Mr. Joseph Cooper, of Handford; and, in 1808, it was once more sold, by the devisees in trust under his will, to Mr. William Pass, of Altrincham.

The family of Brereton, and also those of Grosvenor and Davenport, are mentioned by Ormerod, in his _History of Cheshire_, as families which can be proved, by ancient deeds, to have existed at or near the time of the Conquest.

I do not pretend to give a full historical account of the old family of Brereton, especially as some very interesting particulars respecting it, have been recently given by Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, in a paper, read before the Society of Antiquaries. {269a} Sir Randle Brereton, of Shocklach and Malpas Hall, in Cheshire, grandson of the founder of that branch, was Chamberlain of Chester, in the 19th and 20th years of the reign of Henry VII., and one of the Knights of the body to that King. He is mentioned generally as Chamberlain to Henry VII., in the 21st year of that monarch’s reign, and that he held that office twenty-six years, to the 23rd of Henry VIII., by whom he was made a Knight Banneret, as a reward for his conduct at Terouenne and Tournay. He built the Brereton Chapel {269b} in the Church of Malpas, in 1522, where he was buried, leaving issue nine sons and three daughters. {269c}

Sir Randle Brereton’s second and ninth sons were founders respectively of the Tatton and the Handford branches of the Breretons. His seventh son succeeded his father as Chamberlain of Chester, and was Groom of the Chamber to King Henry VIII. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Earl of Worcester, widow of Sir John Savage, and was beheaded, upon a most questionable charge of criminal intercourse with Queen Anne Boleyn, in 1536, when he was twenty-eight years of age, and a young married man. It may be noticed incidentally that Queen Anne Boleyn’s favourite lap-dog (an Italian greyhound) was named Urian, the name of a brother of the Groom of the Chamber, and a family name in the Malpas Hall branch of the Brereton family, derived from the early Barons of Malpas. “Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of Holy Writ.”

Sir Urian Brereton, the ninth son of Sir Randle Brereton, of the Shocklach and Malpas Hall branch, married Margaret, the daughter and sole heiress of William Handford, Esq., of Handford. His son, grandson, and great-grandson, were all of the name of William; and it was the latter (Sir William Brereton, Bart.), who was the distinguished Parliamentarian general, {270a} and whose achievements are so well known to persons who have devoted their attention to the unhappy war between Charles I. and the Parliament, in which—now that the excess of party-heat has long ago subsided, and the history of those times can be dispassionately considered—there is too much reason to believe that both parties were in the wrong. His notorious aversion to church government, noticed by Clarendon, was probably heightened by circumstances; but he appears, by his early travels, to have been always of a sober, serious, and religious turn of mind, with a _penchant_ for spicy sermons. He married a daughter of Sir George Booth, who was considered the cornerstone of the Presbyterian interest in Cheshire, and is described by writers of the day as “free, grave, godly, brave Booth, the flower of Cheshire.” Sir William Brereton was also the friend and neighbour of Henry Bradshaw, of Colonel Duckinfield, and of Lenthall; the latter of whom afterwards married his daughter. The cruel and unjust execution of the Groom of the Chamber, by Henry VIII., rankled in the breasts of his family and connections; the imposition of ship-money had led Sir William Brereton into collision with the citizens of Chester; and he had disputes with the church and corporation of that city, about exemptions from tolls, and for murage, on account of his lands of St. Mary’s Nunnery in Chester, granted by the Crown to his family.

The before-mentioned William Brereton, of Handford, was created a Baronet in 1626–7, and the title became extinct on the death of Sir Thomas Brereton, Bart., in 1673. {271a}

A copy of the principal portion of the Pedigree of the Breretons, of Handford, {271b} so far as is necessary to elucidate the subject, will be given afterwards.

Another branch of this ancient family was that of the Breretons, of Brereton Hall, Cheshire. It is, however, foreign to the purpose to go into any particulars with respect to that branch, here, further than to mention, that that branch was ennobled; and, as a proof of the divisions which existed in some of the principal families during the disastrous period of the civil war, Lord Brereton, of the latter branch, eminently distinguished himself by his devotion to the opposite cause, and raised troops and ventured his life and property on the part of King Charles I. Lord Brereton was taken prisoner, with his wife and son; he suffered sequestration of his estates, and was ultimately reduced to compound for them, and to pay a composition for his son. After the restoration, Lord Brereton was associated with the Earl of Derby, in the Lord Lieutenancy of the county of Chester; he was also member for the county in the first Parliament ensuing, as many of the members of his family had been in prior Parliaments. {271c}

The old hall at Handford, formerly the residence of the Breretons, lies nearly half a mile from and on the south-eastward side of the village, and is approached, after crossing the bridge built over the railway before mentioned, by a lane lending from thence into a pleasant and picturesque valley, through which a small brook runs, and after crossing it we arrive at the old hall.

This mansion, like many others situated in various parts of Cheshire, is principally built of timber and plaster, the timber being disposed in squares, which are filled up with plaster. At the front or main door is a porch, the entrance to which is under a beam of oak, supported at each end by a very large beam, of that wood. On the transverse beam, which forms what may be considered a kind of arch, at the entrance, the following inscription is carved, in Old English characters:—

“This haulle was buylded in the yeare of oure Lord God MCCCCCLXII by Uryan Breretoun Knight whom maryed Margaret daughter and heyre of Wyllyam Handforth of Handforthe Esquye and had issue III sonnes and II daughters”

Underneath the inscription, and on each side of the arch of the porch, are as follows:—On one side the letter V (for Urian), and on the other the letter B (for Brereton), and between them, on a border running along the arch, is carved a tun or cask (in the centre), and also a brier, the stem and foliage of which extend, on each side, from the tun to the before-mentioned letters; evidently a rebus punning upon the word “Brereton” (or “Brier-tun”). At the upper part of the door-post of the porch, on the left-hand side, is an escutcheon with the arms of Brereton impaling those of Handford. Ormerod calls it “the coat of arms of Brereton quartering Ipstones, and impaling Handford,” and adds, “Brereton has for difference a cross crosslet between the bars, and a crescent on the first bar.” {272a} The last time that I visited the hall was on the 11th January, 1849, and then, possibly in consequence of the wearing effects of time and weather on the coat of arms, I was not able to discover any crescent, but I did distinguish the cross crosslet. I could discern that there were some quarterings on the dexter side, but they were so impaired by time, that except those of Brereton proper, I could not clearly distinguish them. {272b} The arms of Brereton are “Argent two bars sable, a crescent gules” {273a} (on the first bar); crest, “a bear’s head and neck, erased sable, muzzled gules.” {273a} The arms of Handford (which are impaled with those of Brereton), are first and fourth, sable, a star argent pierced of the field, for Handford proper; second and third, gules, a scythe argent, for Praers; {273b} with which family the Handfords had formerly intermarried. The wife’s arms are nearly perfect, and are plain to the sight, the sinister side of the carved escutcheon having suffered less than the dexter side: both sides are, however, too much worn to enable me to distinguish the metals or colours, even if the marks of discrimination were then used, or to decide whether the star (for Handford) was “pierced of the field.”

At the upper part of the corresponding or right door-post is the crest of the Breretons, a bear’s head and neck erased muzzled. {273c} The fronts of the door-posts of the porch have also been ornamented with carving; and the before-mentioned border with the brier is also continued down to the ground, on each of the door-posts.

This mansion is stated by Ormerod to have originally formed a quadrangle, but I could not satisfy myself, by inspection, whether that had been the case, although it is clear that it was once much larger than it now is. Early in 1849, in digging a drain in front of the hall, in a place which had been part of a garden, some human bones were found, with some wood, possibly parts of coffins, conveying an impression as if there had once been a place of interment there; but the remains were inconsiderable, and the researches were not pursued by any further excavation. There were persons, who have not been very long dead, who used to say that there had been grave-stones existing as late as in the last century, close to the hall. Traces of foundations have also been formerly discovered at the hall, conjectured to have formed part of a chapel; of course such a conjecture must be received with caution; as the mansion was once considerably larger, it does not follow that they may not have formed part of the foundations of other parts of it.

The hall has long been used as a farm-house, and belongs to the Rev. Henry Wright, of Mottram St. Andrew.

The brook before mentioned is one of the tributaries of a small river, called the Dean, and flows upon part of an estate at Handford, called the Brooke Farm, belonging to my father, Richard Brooke, Esq., {274} and which has been for a very long period in my family. The brook separates that estate in part from the adjoining one held with the hall, belonging to the Rev. Henry Wright. Some indications of fishponds and terraces may be seen in part of the field, which slopes down from the hall, towards the brook, conveying strongly the idea of the spot having been the site of a garden or pleasure-ground. As a proof how indifferent and inattentive the families of high consideration in the county were, in comparatively recent times, to many of the conveniences and requisites which respectable families now consider indispensable, I may observe, that the only road from the highway and village to the hall, crossed the brook, and that there was not any bridge there until about 1846 or 1847. {275} The Breretons must consequently have been obliged to cross it on horseback, or on stepping-stones, or have waded through it; and though the brook is quiet, and very shallow in dry weather, it is liable to rise and become much swollen after heavy rains, as I have more than once seen; and the act of crossing it in the dark, and after a continuance of wet weather, must have been a feat frequently attended not merely with much inconvenience, but with some danger. That circumstance may be mentioned, as exhibiting a feature in the habits of the country gentry of consideration in Cheshire, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the Breretons resided at the hall.

The interior of Handford Hall has been much changed, and the rooms considerably altered; the alterations, however useful they may be to a farmer, are sad desecrations in the eyes of an antiquary; but still something remains to interest the latter. The staircase is of oak, and is wide and handsome, with highly ornamented flat balusters, the upper part of which is curiously carved in open work, so as to form rather small and round-headed arches, cut through the wood, in a style occasionally used in the times of Elizabeth and James I. Above the arches are carved ornaments, not unlike lozenges, and the balustrade is surmounted with a heavy carved handrail, all of oak; and the whole balustrade, though handsomer than that of Soss Moss Hall, described by me in a former paper, has some resemblance to it. On the landing on the first floor, at the head of the stairs, is a large folding door, each fold of which is laid out in panels, on the lowest of which were formerly four ornaments of _fleurs-de-lis_, placed at the top, bottom, and on each side respectively; and each four pointing towards the centre of the panel; several of these _fleurs-de-lis_ ornaments still remain. Above them are other panels, each decorated with four lozenge-shaped ornaments, also disposed so that each points to the centre. I was struck with the resemblance to the lozenge-shaped carved ornaments which are to be seen on the pulpit of Wilmslow Church, only a mile distant from Handford, and mentioned in a former paper. The folding door before mentioned, opened into what was the principal apartment on that floor, but which is now quite stripped of all appearance of antiquity. Several windows of the old hall have been modernized, but there are still some of them remaining, apparently as they have been for many generations, with small squares of glass let into lead, such as may be seen in many old houses.

There are several modern additions of brick, and other alterations in the hall, which detract from its appearance; still it has an air of antiquity, and correctly conveys the impression of having been the residence of a family of importance.

The chapel-of-ease, before mentioned, in the village of Handford, was built in 1837, by subscription of the landowners there, and of other benevolent persons; the scheme having been set on foot and much assisted by the exertions of the Rev. Edward Trafford Leigh, the then rector of Cheadle, in which parish it is situated.

A handsome brick viaduct of the Railway crosses a picturesque valley at Handford, through which the river Dean flows; and, after joining the Bollin near Wilmslow, the combined rivers fall into the Mersey, near Altrincham.

The place of interment of the Breretons of Handford was in the parish church of Cheadle, distant nearly four miles from the hall. The church is in the village of Cheadle, and is an old stone edifice of the Gothic style of architecture, with a chancel, a clerestory, a nave with four pointed arches on each side, resting on octagonal pillars, and with side aisles. It has a square tower, with six bells. It is a rectory which has for many years been in the patronage of the Broughtons; and the present rector is the Rev. Charles James Cummings.

There is a striking general resemblance between the churches of Cheadle, Wilmslow, and Bowdon, all in the same part of Cheshire; and they all appear to have been rebuilt, or considerably altered, or repaired, not long before the Reformation; and tradition says, that all three were repaired or rebuilt at the same time, which receives considerable corroboration, not merely from the resemblance in the appearance and style of the churches, but also from the fact, that an inscription, which I saw a few years ago, and which probably still remains, on the stained glass of a window at Bowdon Church, mentions the name of a prior of Birkenhead, the last or one of the last priors of that place, who is stated in the inscription, to have presented the window to the church.

The church at Cheadle is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A chapel, called the Handford Chapel, is on the south side of the church. In this chapel is a large altar tomb, on which are recumbent marble figures of two knights or personages, in complete plate armour, of a very richly ornamented style, and each with his hands conjoined; one bare-headed, but with the head resting on a helmet, which is so injured that it cannot be clearly ascertained whether it had any crest; the other figure has a helmet, which is ornamented with a wreath and a fillet, and has a crest, seemingly the head of some animal, but of which there are not sufficient remains to show whether it was the head of a bird or beast, but it is said to have been that of a hind. Each of the figures is decorated with a collar of SS, and the feet of each rest upon a lion. Another altar tomb is placed close up to and on the north side of the tomb, but on rather a lower elevation; on it is a third figure, in stone, with some truces of its having been painted; it is the effigy of another personage, in plate armour, but instead of greaves, it has rather small jack-boots, and is bare-headed, with long flowing hair; and, what seems very remarkable in such an effigy, instead of a gorget, it has a neckcloth or cravat, tied, with the ends of it falling down over the upper part of the cuirasse. The head also rests upon a helmet with a plume of feathers, coloured blue, white, and red: the feet do not rest upon any animal.

On the north side of this tomb is the following inscription:—

Here lyeth the body of Sr. Thomas Brereton of Handforth Barronett who married Theodosia, Daughter to the Right Honourable Humble Lord Ward and the Lady Frances Barronesse Dudley, hee departed this life the 7th of January Anno Dom: 1673 Ætatis Suæ 43.

On the dexter side of that inscription is a shield of the arms of Brereton, before described, with the badge of Baronetcy; the crescent gules, before mentioned, appears on the first bar in the arms, but there is not the cross crosslet (before adverted to, in noticing the arms at Handford Hall); and on the sinister side is a shield of the arms of Ward, “chequy, or and azure, a bend ermine.” The east and south sides of the monument are so close to the walls, that it is impossible to ascertain what they contain by way of inscriptions or heraldic devices; and the same remark applies to the west end, where the side of a pew completely precludes all examination. All the three effigies are said to be those of Breretons, and there does not seem to be any fair doubt of the fact. The tombs seem to have been removed to their present position, as it is scarcely probable that they were originally crowded close to each other, and to the walls, as they now are.

In the east window of the Handford Chapel is a mutilated shield of arms, in stained glass; the parts remaining are, as far as I could distinguish, as follows:—On the dexter side, on a chief azure, three bucks’ heads caboshed, or, for Stanley (the rest of the dexter side is so much injured that it cannot be distinguished); impaling the arms of a female, evidently one of the Handfords, of which only the following quarterings remain distinguishable, viz.: second, gules, a scythe argent, for Praers; fourth, sable, a star, with six or eight rays (it is not easy to distinguish the number), argent, for Handford; the crest is rather defaced, but seems to be an eagle’s head erased, holding in its beak an eagle’s leg and claws erased.

Ormerod describes the arms in the window, as the arms of “Stanley impaling Handford, on a chief engrailed azure, three bucks or; impaling Handford, first and fourth, sable, a star of six rays argent; second and third, gules, a scythe argent, Praers; crest, an eagle’s head erased or, holding in the mouth a claw gules.” {279a} It is probable that the stained glass (with the arms) was more perfect when Ormerod wrote, than at present; but he seems to have fallen into an error, in mentioning three “bucks” instead of “bucks’ heads” on the chief. On the dexter side of the arms is the inscription “Vanitas vanitatum.” The chapel has a carved oak screen or frame-work, enclosing it on the west and north sides, with some carving, not very dissimilar to lace-work, but much injured; with a cornice containing the before-mentioned rebus, of a brier and a tun, for Brereton, repeated thirteen times, with the initial letters V and B between each alternately, for “Urian” and “Brereton,” on the north side, but the rebus has been destroyed on the west side. {279b} At the bottom of the screen, on each of those sides, are panels, carved so as to resemble drapery, in upright folds, with two arrows showing themselves upon the drapery on one or two of the panels, and which probably may also have formerly appeared on some of the others.

On the north side of the church is the part called the Mosely Chapel, and sometimes called the Bamford Chapel, which has on the south and west sides a screen or frame-work of carved oak, of a plainer style, and apparently of an older date, than that of the Handford Chapel. It is much mutilated, and there are on it traces of an inscription, in the old characters, of which only a few letters are still visible and legible; but I was informed, by Mr. George Smith, the clerk, that the pulpit, which has been removed, and placed close to the screen, now conceals other imperfect portions of the inscription, which, however, he had previously carefully copied (a measure highly creditable to him), and that the imperfect portions which exist, are as follows:—“rginis — — artu milīmo — uīgētismo XXIX”; the latter being meant for the date—millesimo quingentesimo undetricesimo (1529).

The roof of the church is of oak, supported by elaborately carved oak beams, with cross rafters, also handsomely carved, and with bosses at the intersecting points of the rafters; in several places the etoiles or stars, similar to those mentioned in my account of Wilmslow Church, are also carved on the bosses. Some modern bosses have been recently introduced in the roof of the chancel, and of the side aisles, where the old ones had disappeared; they have been carved in good taste by Mr. Smith, in strict conformity with the remaining ancient ones; he is not only the clerk of the church, but also a mason, and the Gothic font, which was presented by him, and is now used in the church, is of his design and workmanship.

On the east window, which has been sadly altered for the worse, is a mutilated inscription, in stained glass (which may, however, have originally belonged to a much older window), with the date 1556.

The chancel is separated from the nave by a slight screen of carved oak, nearly denuded of all ornament, which seems to have been the lower part of the rood-loft, the upper portion having been long since destroyed.

On a grave-stone near the altar is a small brass plate, with the arms of Bulkeley, three bulls’ heads couped, and the following inscription:—

“Hic jacet Humphridus Bulkeley Armiger, Filius et Hæres Richardi Bulkeley, Armigeri, et Katherinæ Uxoris, Filiæ Georgii Nedham de Thornset, in comitatu Derbiæ Armigeri; Richardus Filius fuit primogenitus Richardi Bulkeley, Militis de Beaumaris et Cheadle per uxorem priorem; Humphridus Bulkeley prædictus obiit octavo die Septembris, anno Domini, 1678.”

From the style and appearance of the present east or altar window, it is very probable that it was made during some general alterations and repairs of the church in the seventeenth century—a supposition which receives some corroboration from the date, 1634, which has been put upon the church porch; and it presents us with another striking and lamentable proof of the ignorance of many of the persons to whom the repair of our churches has been intrusted, and of the debased and retrograde state of the science of church architecture which prevailed at one period:—an ugly square-looking window, with little cottage panes of glass, not unlike those often seen in country schools, is put in the place where, no doubt, there was formerly a handsome Gothic altar window. {281a}

The following is a copy of the Pedigree before mentioned:—

[Picture: Pedigree. Honford of Honford]