Places: Ainsworth
Place Type
Township
County
Lancashire
Parish
Middleton
Deanery
Manchester
Causes
EDC 5/12/1 – Robert Assheton, rector of Middleton, contra John Aspenhawlgh, John Alens and John Bradley.
EDC 5/13/3 – Robert Assheton, rector of Middleton, contra Giles Johnson.
AINSWORTH
The hamlet or township of Ainsworth, although part of the parish of Middleton, was situated about 6 miles from the parish church and was separated from the central area of the parish by parts of the parishes of Radcliffe and Bury. Cockey Moor, part of which is in Radcliffe, lies to the east of Ainsworth. The chapel of Cockey, also known as Ainsworth Chapel, served as a chapel of ease. In 1586 it was described as ‘a chapel built of timber, beset round about with trees’. The chapel was rebuilt in 1832 and the chapelry became a parish in its own right in 1867.
The farming was mainly arable with some pasture. The cotton industry developed later and stone was quarried.
Field names
named in EDC 5/12/1 –
the intak
the park
the crofte
the marledyerthe
the old marledyerthe
the newe marlederth
the barine crofte
Sources:
‘Townships: Ainsworth’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp180-182 [accessed 8 January 2025]