| Hundred of Salford | |
|---|---|
| LancashireHundred | |
 | |
 Salford Hundred depicted in John Speed's 1610 map of Lancashire | |
| Area | |
| • 1831 | 212,170 acres (859 km²) |
| History | |
| • Created | BeforeDomesday |
| • Abolished | Mid-18th century, never formally abolished |
| • Succeeded by | Greater Manchester |
| Status | Ancient Hundred |
| • HQ | Salford |
| Subdivisions | |
| • Type | Parish(es) |
| • Units | Manchester • Ashton-under-Lyne • Eccles • Deane • Flixton • Radcliffe • Prestwich • Bury • Middleton • Rochdale • Bolton • Wigan (Aspull) |
TheSalford Hundred (also known asSalfordshire)[1] was one of thesubdivisions (a hundred) of thehistoric county ofLancashire inNorthern England. Its name alludes to its judicial centre being the township ofSalford (the suffix-shire meaning the territory was appropriated to the prefixed settlement). It was also known as theRoyal Manor of Salford[2] and theSalfordwapentake.[1][3]
TheManor or Hundred of Salford hadAnglo-Saxon origins. TheDomesday Book recorded that the area was held in 1066 byEdward the Confessor.[4][5] Salford was recorded as part of the territory ofInter Ripam et Mersam or "Between Ribble and Mersey", and it was included with the information aboutCheshire, though it cannot be said clearly to have been part of Cheshire.[6][7][8]
The area became a subdivision of the County Palatine of Lancaster (or Lancashire) on its creation in 1182.
In spite of its incorporation into Lancashire, Salford Hundred retained a separate jurisdiction for the administration of justice, known as theCourt Leet,View of frankpledge, and Court of Record of our Sovereign Lord the King for his Hundred or Wapentake of Salford.[9] Exceptionally forhundred courts, Salford survived until the 19th century.[3] The lordship of Salford passed with theDuchy of Lancaster to the Crown, and a serjeant or bailiff was appointed to administer the hundred on the king's behalf.[5] In 1436 the office of Hereditary Steward of the Wapentake of Salfordshire was granted to Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton. The office was held by Sir Richard's successors, theEarls of Sefton until 1972.[5]
ThePortmote of the Borough of Salford merged with the Hundred Court in the 17th century, and the latter body took over the administrative business of the manorial borough.[9] In 1792police commissioners were established in Manchester and Salford, and the Hundred Court was left with few powers. By 1828 the activities of the court consisted of the following:[9]
| Salford Hundred Court Act 1846 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for more effectually regulating the Salford Hundred Court, for extending the Jurisdiction and Powers of the said Court, and for establishing and constituting it as a Court of Record. |
| Citation | 9 & 10 Vict. c. cxxvi |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 26 June 1846 |
| Salford Hundred Court of Record Act 1868 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Citation | 31 & 32 Vict. c. cxxx |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Courts Act 1971 |
Status: Repealed | |
In 1846 the court was reformed to become aCourt of Record with its jurisdiction extended to debts not exceeding fifty pounds in value.[10] In 1838Manchester was incorporated as amunicipal borough and granted its own court of record. The two courts were merged as theSalford Hundred Court of Record in 1869 by theSalford Hundred Court of Record Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. cxxx). The court had jurisdiction in personal actions only.[10][11] Themunicipal boroughs ofOldham,Bolton,Heywood andRochdale successively had their areas exempted from the jurisdiction of the Hundred Court byOrder in Council or privateAct of Parliament between 1878 and 1893.[9]
| Salford Hundred Court of Record Act 1911 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to amend the Salford Hundred Court of Record Act 1868. |
| Citation | 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. clxxii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 16 December 1911 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Courts Act 1971 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
In 1910 a committee was appointed by theChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to report on the practices, area and jurisdiction of the court, and whether it was "of benefit to the parties for whose use it was intended". One member of the three-man committee recommended the abolition of the court which had "little but its age to justify its continuance", while the majority called for amending legislation.[12] Accordingly, theSalford Hundred Court of Record Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. clxxii) was passed to restrict the area of the court to thecounty court areas of Manchester and Salford and to alter its procedures and costs.[10][13]
Forty years later the court was again referred to a review committee.[14] The committee's report recommended that the court be retained as it provided "a popular and speedy remedy for a large number of litigants in the area".[11] In 1956 the court's area was extended to encompass the entireCounty Borough of Stockport, which was deemed to belong to the County of Lancashire and the Hundred of Salford for the purposes ofassizes,quarter sessions and licensing.[15] The Court of Record for the Hundred of Salford was abolished by section 43(1)(d) of theCourts Act 1971. The last hereditary steward,Hugh Molyneux, 7th Earl of Sefton died on 13 April 1972.[16]
Separate places of detention were maintained for the hundred: theNew Bailey Prison in Salford, which was replaced byStrangeways Prison in 1868.[10]
The area it occupied, 212,170 acres (859 km2), corresponds loosely to the modern metropolitan county ofGreater Manchester, though excludes those parts from the historic county boundaries ofCheshire, as well as most of that that forms the modernMetropolitan Borough of Wigan. Its area also extended into territory north of what is now Greater Manchester, including parts ofRossendale andTodmorden.
Theparish of Manchester formed part of Salfordshire. It has been suggested that a Manchester-shire hundred was not favoured over one centred at Salford becauseManchester had been ravaged as part of theViking occupation.[17]
Theparish of Rochdale, in Salfordshire, included the chapelry ofSaddleworth from the historic county boundaries ofYorkshire.[3][5]
Salfordshire comprised several parishes and townships during its history. These were not static, but fragmented with the establishment of daughter churches and chapels and increases in population. The parish ofPrestwich-cum-Oldham originally included the parishes ofBury,Middleton andRadcliffe,[18] and theparish of Manchester originally included the parish ofAshton-under-Lyne.[19] The township ofHundersfield was one ofRochdale parish's four original townships, but was itself split into four.[20] Similarly,Prestwich-cum-Oldham was later split into two separate parishes of Prestwich and Oldham.
In 1830, Salfordshire was documented to consist of the following parishes and townships:[21]
Certainly there were links between Cheshire and south Lancashire before 1000, when Wulfric Spot held lands in both territories. Wulfric's estates remained grouped together after his death, when they were left to his brother Aelfhelm, and indeed there still seems to have been some kind of connexion in 1086, when south Lancashire was surveyed together with Cheshire by the Domesday commissioners. Nevertheless, the two territories do seem to have been distinguished from one another in some way and it is not certain that the shire-moot and thereeves referred to in the south Lancashire section of Domesday were the Cheshire ones.
The Domesday Survey (1086) included south Lancashire with Cheshire for convenience, but theMersey, the name of which means 'boundary river' is known to have divided the kingdoms ofNorthumbria andMercia and there is no doubt that this was the real boundary.
53°33′38″N2°17′57″W / 53.5606°N 2.2991°W /53.5606; -2.2991
