Irwell, making it demesne in the Kingdom of Wessex. During the Middle Ages the area was covered with forests and marshlands. Thinly populated by craftsmen and serfs, Worsley grew as a settlement adjoining an ancient corn mill, close to the location of the present-day Worsley Road Bridge. Most farms throughout Lancashire were small with their tenants dependent upon secondary employment, however in 1719 a John Kay of Worsley had five stirks, two bulls, 17 cows, "young cattle upon the moors", and a "cow at hire", all valued at £97 5s. Marl was commonly used as a fertiliser, and is recorded in use in 1719. Wheeler's Manchester: Its Political, Social and Commercial History, Ancient and Modern (1836) states that about one-fifth of the land around Worsley, Astley and Tyldesley was in tillage, lower on average than the surrounding areas. Bridgewater estates Worsley was, originally, the largest manor of the seven ancient manors of the Bridgewater Estates. It was created by William I and held for him by the Barton family in thegnage, and for them by a Norman knight named Elias, who fought in the crusades. On his death in Rhodes, the manor remained with Elias' son, whose family had by that time adopted the name of the village as its family name. On 23 June 1311 a substantial part of the Manor of Hulton was granted to the Worsleys. The family held both manors until the late 14th century, whereon they passed to the Massey family of Tatton, and then in the 16th century to the Brereton family of Malpas, Cheshire. The Brereton family added the Manor of Bedford (a small area of land to the west of Worsley) to the estate. Richard Brereton later married Dorothy Egerton, and upon his death the estates passed into the Egerton family. In 1617 John Egerton, son of Sir Thomas Egerton, became Earl of Bridgewater. The Egerton family was descended from Sir Richard Egerton of Ridley, Cheshire. His illegitimate son, Thomas Egerton, was a prominent lawyer who served as Master of the Rolls from 1594 to 1603, and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal from 1596 to 1617 and also as Lord High Chancellor of England. John Egerton succeeded to Worsley in 1639, and died in 1649. He was succeeded by the second and third Earls of Bridgewater. The title of Duke of Bridgewater was first given to Scroop Egerton in 1720. He