Little Lever, United Kingdom

During the next hundred years, the de Lever family took control of the moieties. In around 1320, the manor was jointly controlled in homage by William de Ratcliffe and William de Lever. This homage each year amounted to 4d and a fee of 6s 8d and 1s for provision of future for the sergeant and foresters, a total of 8s. Several cases were brought before courts by family members trying to take control of the manor. A settlement in 1331 found in favour of Adam, son of Ellis de Lever, and thus the family line was settled. There are no records about the ownership until 1448, when Henry Lever the elder owed rent of 25s on the village.

In 1623 the Bubonic Plague killed a third of the village population.

By 1666, the village had sixty hearths liable to tax. Records show the land used for agriculture, and the main landowner was John Andrews, who had the only large house in the village which contained 9 hearths. The manor house, Little Lever Hall, built of wood and plaster, was destroyed in the 18th century. It was a seat of the Levers in 1567, and after that the Andrews who inherited the Lever's estate in Rivington.

Records show there were fulling-mills in Little Lever before 1559. The holding of Adam Byrom of Salford who died in 1559 was described as "an estate of eight messuages, a moiety of two fulling-mills etc., in Little Lever", his three-year-old grandson Ralph, was his heir. Adam's great-grandson Ralph Byrom, died in 1599 without issue, leaving his fourteen-year-old brother Adam as heir to twelve messuages, half a water-mill and fulling-mill in Little Lever (or possibly Darcy Lever).

In the 1800s the coal mining industry was spread throughout the area including Kearsley, Outwood, Radcliffe and Little Lever. In 1880 there were ten working pits listed for Little Lever: Bally, Harpurfold, Middle Bents and Stopes, owned by Thomas Fletcher and Sons, Ladyshore, Owl Hole and Victoria owned by John Fletcher and Dingle, Farnworth Bridge and New Rivin, owned by Andrew Knowles and Sons.

The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal passed alongside the village, where two basins were used to load coal from the Ladyshore Colliery (originally named, Back o' th' Barn, opened 1830). The pit closed in 1949 and the colliery offices (now a house) and the stables survive.

Bricks and tiles were made along Stopes Road. The industry today is much smaller but Tarmac Topblock still run Crowthers Brickworks. Originally the site of a much larger traditional clay brick works, it is currently used for the production of building materials and produces lightweight blocks for the construction industry. The manufacture of terracotta in the North of England was pioneered by Colonel John Fletcher at his Ladyshore Terracotta Works. The Ladyshore Coal and Terracotta Company supplied the terracotta used in the building in St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge.

There were several paper mills situated in the area, two in Little Lever. Creams Mill, founded by James Crompton 1677 and Grundy's Mill, founded by James Grundy in 1760. The name Creams was given by Adam Crompton II who said it described the paper being made.

The three arms of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal meet at Nob End which is approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km), southwest of the village, making Little Lever a convenient place for lodging and refreshment in the days when the canal was in operation. The proximity of the canal and the coal industry led to the establishment of a small boatbuilding industry for coal transportation. In part 2 of his book, Waterson (the last of 5 generations of boat builders) describes working on the canal.

There was a small chemical works on the outskirts of the village and major chemical works along the canal at Nob End, Farnworth. Bridson, Thomas Ridgeway & Sons, operated the Lever Bank Bleach Works, (later becoming Smith, J. Junior & Company). Wilson Edward & Company operated the Prestolee Alkali Works between 1875 and 1884. The largest and longest lasting chemical works in Little Lever was in Church Street, located on land between the canal and Lever Hall Farm. It was established in 1868 by F.W. Graham, but failed and was rescued by a partnership of Crompton and Potter. Edmund Peel Potter became the sole owner and expanded the business, manufacturing acid and alkali for the cloth bleaching industry. However, it was the production of sodium and potassium bichromate that made Potter's a world leader and by about 1900 the firm had become a limited company. In 1951 Potter's amalgamated with the Eaglescliffe Chemical Company. The company closed in 1969 when it was owned by Albright & Wilson. Until closure Potter family members remained in senior management positions. Edmund Peel Potter was prominent in the local community and endowed a hospital on Chorley New Road, Bolton in pre-NHS years. His son Colonel Colin Kynaston Potter served with distinction in the Boer and First World Wars.(Ref.Papers in Little Lever library reference section)