Glodwick in 1630. Amongst the earliest felt hat makers, of whom there is any record in the parochial books, was a Thomas Hibbert, living in 1654. A James Whitehead, of Chadderton, cotton-linen weaver, occurs in the same year. Several younger members of the principall families of the district were at this period engaged in both the woollen and cotten-linen manufactures. The Leeses of Greenacres-moor, perhaps a branch of the Leeses of Lees-hall, or of Clarksfield, distinguished themselves in the seventeenth century as extensive traders in both lines of business. Enterprising beyond most of the ordinary families of the parish, and remarkable for a hardy industry, which persevered in the face of adverse circumstances, they became the skilled and courageous architects of their own fortunes, and exercised an influence productive of marked effects on the population around them. A number of general dealers in various descriptions of woollen and cotton goods, were resident in the parish towards the close of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. These traders were styled "chapmen" a sort of merchants on a small scale. Of this class was Theophilus Ogden, yeoman, of Lane-end, Greenacres-moor, died 1723; Samuel Leese, of Sholver hey, died 1737 ; James Pawlett, junior, of Hathershaw, died 1724; and Thomas Bent, of Copster-hill, died 1739. Forty years earlier than these dates the Ashtons, Taylors, Brierleys, Whitworths, Williamsons, Nuttalls, and Boltons, were engaged in the spinning and weaving of both woollens and cotton-linens.

The family of the Taylors, of Glodwick, were woollen cloth manufacturers in 1723. The Buckleys, of Greenacres, and Mayalls, of Welli-hole, were engaged in the same trade at the same period. Mr. John Lees, of Clarksfield, was a woollen cloth manufacturer in 1724. The Leeses, of Paulden, and Holts (in Ashton parish), Halkyards, of Sholver, Dronsfields, of Paulden, and Whiteheads, of Little-end, were

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