The Marland Family

Marland places: Marland in Rochdale

From Henry Fishwick; The History of the Parish of Rochdale in the county of Lancaster (1889):
 

Chapter III pp. 69-71 Township History - Marland
 

Marland — or, more correctly, Merland — derives its name from the large mere which covered a large area in Castleton until quite modern times. Like the other parts of the township much of its soil passed to the religious houses of Stanlawe and Whalley; the following charters are taken from the Coucher Book of Whalley:-

• Alan de Merland conveyed to Roger [de Lascy], Constable of Chester, all his lands in Merland for 100s., an annual rental of 40d. from Hugh de Eland, and service to the King; this estate was shortly afterwards given to Stanlawe [Roger de Lacy died in 1211].
• Adam de Bury, about the same date, granted to the abbey, for an annual rent of 22d., half the "vill" of Marland, which Edwin de Bamford for 100s, had quit-claimed before the Wapentake of Rachedam; this is witnessed by Hugh de Eland, John de Newbolt, Michael de Hunresdefeld and others.
• William, the son of Roger de Lightolres, by charter dated at the church of Rochdale in 1304, quit-claimed the abbot of Whalley of all his right or title to the grange of Merland, and in all the "vill" of Castleton and in all its divisions ; amongst the witnesses to this deed were Richard, the son of Roger de Butterworth, and Henry his brother, and Adam Belfeld.

At the Lancaster gaol delivery, 13th June, 1302, William del Clegg was found to have been imprisoned for theft from the grange of Merland [Ass. Rolls, Lane, M. 3, 2, 4, M. 3 dorso].

Edward II, by commission dated 7th December, 1324, appointed John de Lancashire and Gilbert de Syngleton to enquire whether the seneschall of Blackburnshire, when they went into the Rochdale district, received "puture" (that is, if they made the tenants provide their men and horses with provisions during their visit) from the abbot of Whalley on account of his grange at Merland; from the Inquisition taken on 12th January following it appears that neither during the time of the King nor of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, nor of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, had the abbot provided "puture," neither was he called upon to do so [Add. MS. 10,374, f. 141, and f. 141 B].

The mere was at this time well stocked with fish, as appears from the fact that Henry de Barlowe and Hugh de Tetlowe were, at the Lancaster assizes of June, 1343, indicted for taking 100s. worth of fish from the lake ("stagumn") of the abbot at Merland; and at the same assizes Thurstan de Holland was charged with a similar offence, he having caught and taken away forty breams ["bremes et bremiculos"] [Ass. Rolls, Lane, M. 3, 4, M. 16 and 29]. 1 Three hundred years later (in 1652) one William Leach was fined by the Manor Court for fishing with a net in Marland mere.
The question of "puture" occurred again in another form at the assizes at Preston, 1st April, 1353, when John, abbot of Whalley, and others were called upon to show if they had not unjustly disseised John de Radeclyffe, senior, of two "putures" to be taken in Spotland and Castleton, where the said John was bailiff of the bailiwick of the sergeancy of the manor of Rochdale; and he claimed for his two sub-bailiffs a "puture" a day in every week of the year, and also on two days in each year at nine o'clock and at supper, at the abbot's table as his servants had [Ass. Rolls, Lane, M. 3, 4, 5, M. 34; Whitaker's Whalley, ii., 452, 4th edit]. At the assizes on 27th September, 1353, John de Radeclyffe was called upon to answer why he took and detained the cattle of the abbot, who complained that on 19th December, 1352, in the "villa" of Castleton, in a place called Merland, the defendant had taken two of his bullocks and detained them until a fine was paid. John de Radeclyffe's reply was that Adam, formerly abbot of Stanlawe, not long ago held the manor of Marland from Henry de Lacy, Constable of Chester (from whom the Duke inherited), for 6s. a year, and he had seized the cattle because the rent was four years in arrear. A jury, 21st April, 1354, declared that the Duke was not seised of the 6s. rent, and therefore the abbot did not owe it to him [Ass. Rolls, Lane, M. 11 dorso]. The "puture" question was settled by an indenture dated 8th November, 1360, by which John de Radecliff, bailiff of the court of Rochdale, released to the abbot and convent his right to bailiff's "putures" in all the "ville" of Castleton and the grange of Whitworth in Spotland, the consideration being 12s. a year to him and his heirs [Add. MS. 10,574, M. 116, 117].

After the dissolution of the monastery, Whalley, by letters patent dated 1st July, 32 Henry VIII. [A.D. 1541], conveyed all the abbey possessions in Marland to Thurstan Tyldesley and Edward Jackson, Esqs,, who on 9th December, 1565, sold the same to Richard Radcliffe of Langley Hall, gentleman [Manor Survey, 1625], and Henry Radcliffe his descendant died seised of the "manor of Marland", as appears from his "Inq. Post Mort.", taken 10 Car. I. [a. d. 1634-5]. He died 15th December, 1630. Langley went to his son Richard, but the Marland estate passed by purchase to Robert Holt of Stubley [Duchy Records, Inq. P. Mort., xxvii., 25].

Before 1626 Castleton was divided into four divisions, viz. :-Castleton (which was chiefly Castleton Moor), Marland, Newbold, and "Bewerdsall". Marland was held, as before stated, by Henry Radcliffe, and it consisted of 720a. 2r. 40p., which were valued at £229 17s. 8d. per annum. There were several undertenants . The mere was described as "well stocked with fish" and covering nearly eight acres of land ; there were over 120 acres of the 720 which were moss and rough ground [Manor Survey, 1626]. Subsequently, but at what date is uncertain, Marland was made to include Castleton Moor . There are two detached parts of Marland, one in the centre of the town near the river, and another lying to the south of Hartley. In 1641 the adult male population of Castleton was 401 ["Protestation" - See Appendix].

Marland today

Its latest incarnation is as a municipal park and golf course, the mere resurrected as an ornamental lake. Of Marland Mere house, which may have been the manor house, there is no trace. However, there is still Mereside House, on the north side of the lake. On the map of 1851 this bears the label "old walls" - an intriguing clue.

Since the nineteenth century, another mansion, Springfield, has had Marland as its park. In the 1930s it became a hospital, and is now a nursing home.