satisfactory evidence that ever Nicholas Fitz-Gilbert de Radcliffe (of the time of Henry the Second, youngest brother of Fitz-Gilbert, fourth Baron of Kendal}, alleged ancestor of the late Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Bart., held what has been imaginatively called the manor of Oldham. John Radcliflie, Esq., of Fox-Denton, held lands in Oldham, under John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in the ninth year of his Duchy, 1386. John Radcliffe, Esq., of Gisburn, in Yorkshire, held the same lands in 1587. Some of the Oldham property of the Radcliffes, of Fox-Denton, passed to the Rev. Samuel Sidebottom, M.A., Rector of Middleton, in right of his marriage with Mary, daughter of Alexander Radclyffe, Esq., of Fox-Denton, who died 1735. The Rev. S. Sidebottom, who possessed Bent Hall, in 1747, was father of Radclyffe Sidebottom, Esq., of Sutton-court, Chiswick, Middlesex, who was father of Alexander Radclyffe Sidebottom, Esq., new of London, barrister, and also the possessor of considerable property in Oldham. Mr. John Clegg, hat manufacturer, became the occupier of Bent Hall, prior to 1758, but in a few years afterwards, he erected Bent House, and he and his brother ultimately ranked for many years as the most enterprising and extensive hat manufacturers in the district. Bent Hall is now the property of Mr. John Rowbottom, of Hunt-lane.

Lower Bent, or, as sometimes formerly styled, Bent Hall, was long the residence of the Taylors. This family is said to have been allied to a family of the name of Bent, of Bent. I have already noticed a John Taylor, at Over Horsedge, in 1553, and a John Taylor, gentleman, who suffered for his loyalty in 1646. Amongst the first trustees of Oldham Grammar School,. occurs the name of Edmund Taylor, the elder, in 1611. John Taylor, of Crumpsall, gentleman, whose daughter, Sarah, married James Clegg, Esq., of Bent House, is conjectured to have been a relative of this family. Ralph Taylor, gentleman, of Bent, living in 1758, was

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