The manorial system was strong in Chadderton, and this lent distinction to the township, in a region which otherwise had weak local lordship. Throughout the Middle Ages, the manor of Chadderton constituted a township, centred on the hill by the banks of the River Irk, known as Chadderton Fold. The fold consisted of a cluster of cottages centred on Chadderton Hall manor house, and a water-powered corn mill. Chadderton Hall was owned and occupied by the de Chaddertons. Geoffrey de Chadderton became the Lord of the Manor of Tottington in the 13th century. The de Chaddertons' involvement in regional and national affairs gave prestige to what was otherwise an obscure and rural township. William Chaderton was Bishop of Chester from 1579 to 1595 and held distinguished academic posts such as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity. Laurence Chaderton was the first Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and among the first translators of the King James Version of the Bible. Tottington was dissolved in the mid-15th century and there came a succession of distinguished families, each headed by an esquire with links to the monarchs of England. The Radclyffe, Assheton, and Horton families provided six High Sheriffs of Lancashire and a Governor of the Isle of Man.