The Marland Family

History in print

From Winifred Bowman, Five Thousand Acres of Old Ashton(1990):

p. 161 St. George's Parish Church, Mossley

Marlands and Dysons, from Broadcar, and Ashtons, from Flash, have all brought their children here for baptism.

p.204 Wood Park and Lime

Apart from the Fifteen Book of James I. and such odd information as can be discovered from parish registers, etc.: apparently the earliest date of reference is 1691. At that time there lived in Wood Park (briefly called "Park") "Ralph Sandiforth, gentleman, William Wright, senior, William Wright, junior, John Wright, Thomas Heywood et mater, John Marland, John Wilde, John Lees, the wife of Edward Ogden and Ellen Goddart", together with sundry small tenants and servants. The Marlands were, no doubt, members of the same family so well known in Hartshead, and probably originated in that part of the parish - on the "marled land".  Land in the hunting park, unused for agriculture, would not be marled. Another suggestion is that the surname means "of the boundary land", e.g., mere or boundary stone. The registers give John, son of Caleb Marland, of Hartshead, 1633, amongst baptisms, and in 1651 we find "Caleb Marland, finisher, son of Caleb, of Wood Parke, husbandman, married Alice Street, daughter of John, late of Alte, deceased". Of their home in Wood Park there is no doubt, for Marland Fold is still there, now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mills: this family has itself been in the vicinity for several generations. Matthias Platt lived there in 1823. It must be remembered that these folds were little self-contained communities within the greater community of the hamlet.
 

p.255 Hartshead (with Hazelhurst and part of Luzley)

Twarl Hill Farm lies on the lane between the Tythe Stone and Lilley Lanes farmstead, and bears, or once bore, the initials I.M.E. and the date 1723. Several generations of the Marland family lived here, so the rebuilding of the old house may have been the work of James Marland who was assessed in this group in 1775, and paid for "Wilde's" and Brown Edge as well.

p.257 Hartshead (with Hazelhurst and part of Luzley)

The hill ridge facing the Colliers' Arms is Brown Edge; here for many centuries the Marland family had their sand-mills, which they worked for over two hundred years, living in the house on the crest. The sand was silvery white, and the millstones which ground it now mark the old site of Hartshead Pike. Miles Marland lived on Brown Edge in 1618 and John Marland is named a yeoman of Broadcar thirty-seven years later. By this time there was a Miles Marland (probably one of the sons) in Hurst, and Marlands appear soon after in both Wood Park and Littlemoss, as well as down the hill at Lilley Lanes. Caleb Marland is on Hartshead in 1633 and twenty years later there is Caleb Marland at Wood Park. Obadiah Marland, son of Obadiah Marland, lived at Twarl Hill in 1823, a man of mechanical and inventive interests, and in 1871 died Peter Marland of Park Bridge, whose father was also named Obadiah. Mr. Harry Marland of Park Bridge (1948) is grandson of this Obadiah Marland There was a Peter Marland at Alt Hill in 1825; Peter, son of Jonathan Marland, of Littlemoss, was born in 1821, and that Peter Marland, who was later described as " of this Town, Inn keeper" (Ashton) was a relation of his, and died in 1829. Joane Marlande of this parish was married on the "13th of Februarie, 1603." Most of the men of this family, of fine stature, have perhaps to thank the fine air of Brown Edge and the rugged, healthy, open-air occupation of their forefathers for the fitness they inherit to-day. In 1904 Richard Barlow, of Brown Edge, sand merchant, was elected to the Parish Council of Hartshead, the business having apparently come to this family partly as a result of marriage with the original owners.

p.297 Manchester Court Leet Records

In 1624 is a more disturbing entry: "A hew and crye from Ashton-under-line after one Calebb Marland, upon suspicon of Murther, 8d".