A 'lost' estate in the manor of Bosden in Cheshire, just south-east of Stockport, which Charles Bardsley suggested as a possible origin of the Swindells surname in his dictionary of surnames in 1901.
There is a manorial map of Stockport barony at http://www.cheadlehulme.net/village/chmoremaps.htm#Barony
In his book 'East Cheshire : Past and Present, Or, A History of the Hundred of Macclesfield' published in two parts in 1877 and 1880, John Parsons Earwaker records, in relation to Bosden,
"A branch of the family of Honford held a small estate here in the 14th century called Swyndelves, which they parted with to the Leghs of Adlington in 1378-79. A family who bore the local name of Bosden or Boseden held land in Hurdsfield near Macclesfield in the 14th and 15th centuries, but the name is now rarely met with. A large part of the straggling village of Hazlegrove, formally called Bullock Smithy, is in Bosden".
(Text transcribed by Leon Knapper on the Cheshire list of Rootsweb in 2001. Bardsley states 'Howford' rather than 'Honford' but that is irrelevant to the discussion).
Due to the urbanisation of Manchester 'Bosden' is hard to define in terms of current place names but it was one of three hamlets - Norbury, Torkington and Bosden - which later became known as Bullock Smithy and now as Hazel Grove. The township of Bosden was to the south-east of Stockport and comprised an area to the north-east of the modern A6 running through Hazel Grove, lying on either side of the Poise Brook. The area is relatively flat and low-lying (80m) at the eastern edge of the Cheshire plain.
There is a high occurrence of the Swyndle(s) / Swindell(s) (etc) surname in the 16th and 17th centuries just a few miles to the south east of Bosden (in Titherington, Rainow and Disley) so Bardsley's suggestion of Swyndelves as a possible origin of the name is extremely plausible. This contrasts with the absence of Swindle surnames around any place now called Swindale. However there is still no positive connection between Swyndelves and the Swyndle surname - it would require a discovery in manorial documents of the 14th century to confirm the connection. (Since Cheshire, as a County Palatinate, was exempted from taxation, lay subsidy rolls and poll tax lists are not available as a source of information).
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives:-
Delf/Delph:- An excavation; a pit, ditch, quarry etc.; a drainage canal
(in the fens) [OE dælf, (ge)delf]
Considering the nature of the land at Bosden, Swyndelves might
refer to the twisting ditch rather than anything to do with swine.
"As I am sure you are aware the Honforth Manor of Hanforth cum Bosden in Cheshire went to the Breretons when John Honforth, Lord of Honforth, was killed in battle with only a daughter as heir. She was married to a Stanley and the marriage resulted in divorce, he becoming a monk, and she ultimately marrying Uriah Breteton and the manor and titles passed to Breretons. For generations we have thought we were lineal descendants of Honforth (various spellings Handford, Hanford, Handforth, Hansford) but DNA testing does not support that. I believe you as a Brereton are a descendant of Honforth at there were many Brereton,Mainwaring, Leigh, Daventort, Stanley marriages with descent to Honforth. I am hoping to find a connection through one of these Irish lines to Brereton or Leigh. I am very interested to know the pedigree of these early Breretons in hopes that perhaps Ms. Geo. Barrington might have been related or perhaps the Harpoles, Gilberts, might have been related.
Glad to share any information with you.
Sincerely,
Bill Hansford, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
http://www.brereton.org/emails.htm
"
The titles 'Lord of Honforth' passed (many male generations) to William Hondford, Lord of Hondford, who was slain at Flodden 9-9-1513.With him the name Honforth became extinct and the titles passed to Sir Urian Brereton, who was on the privy cancel of Henry VII, who had intermarried with Lady Margaret Hondford, sole heir of William. It was Margaret who built Hondforth Hall. The titles then passed through the Breretons.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/hanford/messages/197.html
The Brereton family tree begins in 1175 with William de Brereton. His family had arrived from France with William the Conqueror, and that William was named after him as a tribute - it was to become a recurring name within the family. Later, another unfortunate William Brereton, along with four companions, was arrested and sent to the Tower of London charged with high treason as lovers of Anne Boleyn . Despite protestations of innocence, they were sentenced to death and beheaded on Tower Hill in 1536. The Brereton family exerted power and influence over Cheshire with holdings in Handforth, Malpas, Cheadle and at their country seat at Brereton Hall. It was a Sir William Brereton who also headed parliamentarian forces at the Battle of Middlewich and the siege of Nantwich in the English Civil Wars. The Brereton's established Handforth Hall when they became lords of the manor of the Bosden area in the early 1500s. One Sir Richard Brereton was the last owner of Tatton Park before the Egerton family took it over.
http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/old-families2a.html
Manorial map of Stockport barony http://www.cheadlehulme.net/village/chmoremaps.htm#Barony
Discussion of the origins of the Swindale surname.