A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Instituted 



1 6 Mar. 1496-7 

 31 July 1527 . 



zi Dec. 1532 . 

 9 June 1542 . 



oc. 1562 . 



22 Mar. 1571-2 



9 Mar. 1573-4 



17 Dec. 1616 . 



5 Feb. 1617-18 



1656 . 



6 Oct. 1681 . 

 3 Aug. 1706 . 



26 Feb. 1738-9 



Name 



Robert Crombleholme 54 . . 

 William Clayton, D.Can.L. 



Thomas Thirlby, LL.D. 5G . 

 George Wolset, LL.D. " . . 



Patron 

 The King . 



Cause of Vacanrr 



The King 



res. R. Cromble- 

 holme 



d. W. Clayton 

 res. T. Thirlby 



VICARS 



James Lingard 58 



Christopher Alsop ro 



Henry Norcross 60 John Whitaker 



Richard Learoyd 61 Bp. of Chester . 



Christopher Hindley CJ . . 

 William Ingham c3 . . . 

 George Ogden, B.D. 64 . 

 Thomas Johnson, B.A. 6S . 

 John Heber 66 . . . . 



res. last incumbent 

 depr. of H. Nor- 

 cross 

 res. R. Learoyd 



Bp. of Chester . 



M Smith, op. cit. 141. Crombleholme 

 resigned the rectory on a pension, but 

 died soon afterwards, intestate, when his 

 administrators began a suit against the 

 Abbot of Whalley ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanc. and Ches.), i, 201. The abbot 

 was liable as surety for William Clayton, 

 the succeeding rector, and alleged that 

 the covenants had been fulfilled. 



55 The king in 1520 granted the next 

 presentation to John Veysey (Bishop of 

 Exeter) and Sir Edward Belknap ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxii, 229 d. On 

 Crombleholme's resignation the bishop, 

 as surviving trustee, presented one 

 Thomas Brerewood, and complained that 

 William Clayton unjustly hindered his 

 obtaining possession ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 142, m. 2 d. 



The new rector (D. Can. Law, 1528 ; 

 Foster, Alumni Oxon.) held various 

 benefices and dignities, including Winder- 

 mere, Doncaster and Bromfield Churches, 

 and canonries at Lichfield and York ; Le 

 Neve, Fasti, i, 627 ; iii, 193 ; L. and P. 

 Hen. fill, v, 608, 700. He died 14 

 Oct. 1532, and it appears that Edmund 

 Bonner was recommended as his successor 

 at Ribchester ; ibid, v, 604, 687. A 

 letter from Clayton to Cromwell is at 

 the P.R.O. ; ibid, iv, 2248. 



56 Thomas Thirlby (Trinity Hall, 

 Cambridge, LL.D. 1528) had many 

 preferments, becoming successively Bishop 

 of Westminster (1540), Norwich (1550) 

 and Ely (1554) ; Le Neve, Fasti. He 

 had complied with the religious changes 

 of the time, but in 1559 refused to 

 abandon Roman communion and was 

 deprived by Elizabeth. Thenceforward 

 he lived a prisoner with Archbishop 

 Parker, dying at Lambeth in 1570. See 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Cooper, Athen. Cantab. 

 i, 287-90. 



He had a dispute with his lessees of 

 the rectory of Ribchester in 1542 ; Duchy 

 Plead, ii, 1 60. 



57 Act Bk. at Chester 1502-76, fol. 

 I2i. He was also rector of Chipping. 

 His name is uncertain, being given also 

 as Wolfet or Wolflet. He was educated 

 at Oxford (M.A. 1512, as Welsett or 

 Wylsett ; Foster, Alumni), was rector of 

 St. Olave, Hart Street, London, in 1518 

 to 1528, and became clerk of the king's 

 closet in 1537 ; he had other benefices 

 and was a canon of Salisbury ; see the 

 account by T. C. Smith, Chipping, 85-6. 

 His will, dated 1553, was proved at 

 York in 1554; an abstract is given by 

 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 195-6. 



Gilbert Wicks obtained a presentation 

 to the rectory in 1540, but it does not 

 appear to have been acted upon ; L. and P. 

 Hen. yill, xv, g. 1027 (zo). 



68 No first-fruits were paid by the 

 vicars. James Lingard's name appears 

 in the visitation list of 1562 and again 

 in 1570. He was one of the old clergy, 

 having been ordained in 1546-7 ; Chester 

 Ordin. Bk. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 



73. 77- 



69 Smith, Ribchester, 143. Some later 

 dates are taken from the same work, 

 which contains a full account of the 

 vicars. Alsop's name occurs in Jan. 

 1573-4; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 xxii, 56. 



60 Act Bk. at Chester. The Bishop of 

 Chester had in 1572 granted the next 

 presentation to Bernard Anderton, his 

 servant, and another, who transferred it 

 to John Whitaker. In Raines MSS. 

 xxii, p. 350, will be found a record of the 

 proceedings against Norcross in 1614-15. 

 He was charged with having obtruded 

 himself into the ' parish ' of Stidd, and 

 with being a drunkard, ale-house keeper, 

 gambler, &c. He was deprived or 

 degraded, but continued to live at Rib- 

 chester, being buried there 14 Aug. 1623. 

 In 1590 he was described as 'no 

 preacher ' ; S. P. Dom. Eliz. xxxi, 47. 



61 Act Bk. at Chester 1579-1676,63!. 

 64*. He became one of the chaplains 

 or curates at the Collegiate Church, Man- 

 chester, and was buried there 22 Aug. 

 1623. From the presentments at one 

 of the visitations it appears that he was 

 unable to obtain possession of the vicarage- 

 house at Ribchester. 



62 From this time the institutions have 

 been compared with the Institution Books 

 P.R.O. as printed in Lanes, and Ches. 

 Antiq, Notes. 



Christopher Hindley (or Hindle 

 Hynde in Act Bk.) was of Cowell or 

 Cowhill in Rishton. At first he ' could 

 not peaceably enjoy the vicarage,' appa- 

 rently owing to the opposition of Nor- 

 cross, who also detained a communion 

 cup; Visit. P. of 1619 at Chester Dioc. 

 Reg. Though not a member of the 

 classis, he continued to minister at Rib- 

 chester after the establishment of Presby- 

 terianism, until violently ejected from 

 his pulpit in 1649 while denouncing the 

 execution of Charles I. He then retired 

 to Cowhill, where he died in 1657 ; Loc. 

 Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 34, &c. 



It was probably the execution of 

 Charles I which roused the vicar to 



d. W. Ingham 

 d. G. Ogden 

 d. T. Johnson 



resistance, for in 1646 the Parliamentary 

 Committee ordered an increase of ^40 in 

 his stipend, and as late as May 1649 

 directed payment of arrears ; but in the 

 following month the increase was sus- 

 pended on account of accusations of 

 1 notorious misdemeanours ' ; Plund. Mins. 

 Accts. i, 70, 72. In 1650 it was found that 

 ' the present incumbent, Mr. Christopher 

 Hindley,' had been 'lately suspended by 

 order from the provincial assembly of 

 divines for this county, but for what 

 cause the presenters know not'; Commonly. 

 Ch. Surti. 169. Thus he had not then 

 been deprived. 



63 William Ingham, who was considered 

 a ' diligent, painful minister,' occurs at 

 Church (1646), Goosnargh (1650) and 

 Shireshead (1652) ; Commonvj. Ch. 

 Sur-v. 155 ; Plund. Mins. Acctt. i, 119. 

 He was not recommended as ' settled 

 minister' of Ribchester until 1656, so 

 that the account of his conduct given by 

 his Royalist successor has no doubt been 

 exaggerated; ibid, ii, 151. The first 

 baptism by him was on 23 Nov. 1656 ; 

 Reg. He seems to have been a Presby- 

 terian and signed the ' Harmonious Con- 

 sent* in 1648, but conformed at the 

 Restoration, retaining the benefice till his 

 death in 1681. For his will see Smith, 

 op. cit. 150. 



M Educated at Jesus Coll., Camb.; M.A. 

 1668. His epitaph describes him as 

 ' fellow ' of his college and B.D. ; the 

 former statement is erroneous. He built 

 a vicarage-house in 1682. He was elected 

 fellow of Manchester in 1 68 1 and retained 

 this with his vicarage till his death in 

 1706 at Manchester. In 1692 the 

 Bishop of Chester (Stratford) wrote to 

 him asking whether he intended to reside 

 at Ribchester or to resign it ; see Loc. 

 Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 4 and the 

 account of him in Raines, Felloius. of 

 Manch. (Chet. Soc.), 183-8. At Rib- 

 chester he collected the antiquities found 

 there. 



65 Educated at Brasenose Coll, Oxf. ; 

 B.A, 1692; Foster, Alumni. He was 

 non-resident in 1734, but was buried at 

 Ribchester in 1738. 



60 Educated at University Coll., Oxf., 

 but did not graduate ; Foster, Alumni. 

 He was rector of Marlon, a family living, 

 1728 to 1775, and did not reside at Rib- 

 chester ; Whitaker, Craven (ed. Morant), 

 95. In 1739 the vicar was also 'chap- 

 lain to his Majesty's invalids at Ports- 

 mouth ' ; Visit. Returns. Reginald Heber, 

 the poet, was his nephew. 



