who was living in 1246, ancestor of the Levers of Little Lever, who held a share of the manor until the beginning of the 17th century. In the Lever of Great Lever are charters referring to the Lever family. Adam de Lever and his son Ellis attested a grant; no. 45. Ellis son of Adam de Lever granted to William his son and his heirs a portion of his land in Little Lever. The bounds began at 'the Langcestre' (alias Hanycestre) where Denebrook fell into the great water called Lever (alias Letoce); ascended the brook to a ditch dividing Little Lever and Breightmet as far as the Menesshaw; went down to the Tonge water, and down this to the first division. These boundaries are those of the present township of Darcy Lever. The grant included the homage of Richard del Snape, who paid 13d. rent, and other services; and the land was held of the chief lords of the fee by a rent of 4s., paid at the four terms, and by such other services as Ellis had rendered for the whole manor of Little Lever Nothing relating to the Lever family descent was recorded as to the second moiety of the manor, from 1310 to 1448, when Henry Lever the elder, Giles, and Henry the younger, a son of Giles, held it on a lease for life of Alice, widow of Sir Robert Tempest. Despite the absence of satisfactory evidence of the family descent some facts can be stated; that in 1320 William de Radcliffe and William de Lever held [Darcy Lever] by homage, service, and suit to the court of Manchester and that they paid 4d sake fee for the lands being [Darcy Lever] held by Ellis de Lever. They also paid 6s 8d in rent and 12d in lieu of the hawk. In 1331 a settlement of a moiety of the manor was made by Ellis de Lever in favour of his son and his issue by Agnes his wife. The documents show that the Radcliffes were responsible for the whole rent but it also appears that the [Darcy Lever] half of the manor had been granted away, but to whom is not known. In 1473, John Lever held half of the manor by the twentieth part of a knight's fee, a rent of 3s 4d and a sake fee of 2d, while Sir Richard Tempest held