AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



whole parish. 1 " Together with Roger's other posses- 

 sions the advowson reverted to the Crown in 1 102."* 

 It was included in the grant of the hundred to 

 Theobald Walter about 1191,"* but claimed by the 

 Abbot of Sees. By a compromise made in 1196 the 

 advowson was resigned to Theobald, but the rector 

 was to pay 10 marks yearly to the Prior of Lancaster." 4 

 After King John's accession the advowson reverted to 

 the Crown," 4 and as part of the honour of Lancaster 

 descended to the earls and dukes. 



Thomas Earl of Lancaster in 1316 had leave to 

 appropriate the rectory, 14 * but his purpose, whatever 

 it may have been, does not seem to have been carried 

 further 147 ; and it was not till July 1400 that an 

 appropriation was made by Henry IV in favour of 

 the new collegiate church of St. Mary at Leicester, 

 known as the college of Newark ; a vicarage was to 

 be endowed and a sum of money distributed annually 

 to the poor. 14 * After the confiscation of such colleges 

 in 1 546-8 the rectory remained in the Crown la 

 until 1607, when it was sold to Sir Richard Hoghton, 

 the advowson of the vicarage being included. 140 His 

 family, retaining the rectory, sold the advowson of 

 the vicarage in 1828 to Hulme's Trustees, 141 the 

 present patrons. 



About 1222-6 the value of the rectory was csti- 



PRESTON 



mated at 50 marks, 14 * and in 1297 at double that 

 sum, 1 " this agreeing with the Palor of I292. 1M 

 Within thirty years, however, owing to the havoc 

 wrought by the Scottish invasions, the taxation was 

 reduced to 3 5 marks. 144 The ninth of sheaves, &c., 

 assessed in 1341, shows a recovery. 148 In 1527 the 

 rectory was thought to be worth 42 a year and 

 the vicarage ^zo, 147 and this estimate is almost the 

 $ame as that of the yalor of 1 5 3 5 1M ; it appean, 

 however, that the vicar had to pay the ancient 

 10 marks rent to the Abbess of Sjon, who had taken 

 the place of the Abbot of Sees. 148 After the sale of 

 the rectory in 1607, a rent of 45 $s. SJ. had to be 

 paid to the Crown by the lay rector, but in 1650 

 the value of the tithes was estimated as 309." 



The vicarage about 1620 had an annual value of 

 J 66." 1 In 1650, on account of the 'distracted, 

 troublesome times,' it was not worth so much, but the 

 vicar, one of the leading Puritan divines, had 50 

 from the Committee of Plundered Ministers and 

 another $o from the duchy revenues, as one of the 

 four itinerant preachers. 161 The vicar in 1705 

 certified that he had 53, but the true value was 

 nearly double, though part was precarious."* The 

 income has greatly increased in modern times and is 

 now returned as 802 net. 1 * 4 



141 Fairer, Lanci. Pipt K. 290. 



141 Thii ii an inference from the later 

 history, but the matter ii not clear, for 

 Roger's grant, including Preston, wai 

 confirmed by John when Count of Mor- 

 tain, i.e. before 1193 ; ibid. 29$. 



141 Ibid. 434-$. To justify Theobald 

 Walter'i claim Preston muit have been in- 

 cluded among the 'advowsons of churches' 

 not recorded by name. 



F,nal Cane. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chei.), i, 6. The monks, described ai 

 tenants, retained the church of Poulton, 

 but surrendered Preston. Each clerk 

 presented to the church was to promise 

 to pay the 10 mark* annuity. 



** From the list of rectori it will be 

 seen that John presented in 1201 and 

 1202. 



Col. Pat. 1313-17, p. 512. He 

 may have intended to bestow it on 

 Whalley Abbey. In a later petition from 

 the abbey to the Archbishop of York the 

 abbot and monks state that they have 

 obtained the church, so far as a layman 

 could give it, from Henry Earl of Lan- 

 caster, and pray for its appropriation to 

 their house, undertaking to pay a vicar 

 20 a year; Whitaker, tfkalltj (ed. 

 Nichollt), i, 168-9. Toe abbot's initial 

 is printed as C. 



147 In 1354 it was found Out it would 

 not be to the king's injury that the 

 advowson of the church of Preston in- 

 cluding, it would seem, the whole rectory 

 worth 100 should be appropriated to 

 St. Mary's Collegiate Church at Leicester ; 

 Inq. p.m. 28 Edw. Ill (2nd not.), no. 2. 

 The scheme was not carried through, as 

 the Dukes of Lancaster continued to 

 present to the church. 



14> Col. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 341. The 

 New College (or Newark) was founded in 

 1355 ; Cal. Papal Lttttri, iii, 585. 



The appropriation was in 1401 con- 

 firmed by Boniface IX ; ibid, v, 41 1 ; vi, 

 no. 



In i $20 the Dean and Chapter of the 

 New College of our Blessed Lady of 

 Leicester demised to Richard Hesketh for 

 twenty-five years the parsonage of Preston 

 with its demesne and glebe land and the 



chapel of Broughton at a rent of 40 and 

 371. Thomas Hesketh, brother and heir 

 of Richard, afterwards demised it to Sir 

 Alexander Osbaldeston at a rent of 

 52 31. 8</. for the use of Thomas's son 

 Robert; Towneley MS. DD, no. 231. 

 Robert Hesketh in 1531 procured a fresh 

 lease from the college for a term of forty 

 years at the old rent of 40 and 371. ; 

 ibid. no. 384. Various disputes arising 

 out of these and other grants are related 

 in Smith, op. cit. 14-19. 



ltv Certain possessions of Newark 

 College at Preston seem to have been 

 granted with other church property to 

 Richard Venables and others in 1 549 ; 

 Pat. 3 Edw. VI, pt. ix. The rectory with 

 the advowson was probably leased for 

 short terms, judging from the changes of 

 patrons. In I $69-70 Christopher Ander- 

 ton of Lostock transferred to John Bold 

 of North Meols the advowson of Preston ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 22$, m. 7 ; 227, 

 in. $ d. Thurstan Anderton in 1$92 

 granted the same to Henry Bold, who in 

 I $96 transferred it to Richard Hoghton ; 

 De Hoghton D. 



" Pat. $ Jaa. I, pt. iii. The rectory 

 of Preston and the advowson of the 

 vicarage were included in the Hoghton 

 properties in 1616 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 317, m. 7. 



The De Hoghton D. show that 

 Thomas Hoghton had in 1587 procured 

 a lease of the rectory from the Crown. 



111 Smith, op. cit. 6. It appears from 

 a fine of 1772 that the rectory and 

 advowson of Preston were in that year 

 told or mortgaged to William Shaw, jun., 

 by Sir Henry Hoghton ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 387, m. 114. 



1H Land. Inq. and Exttnti (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Clies.), i, 120. '' Ibid. 298. 



l* Pop Nitk. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 307 ; 

 66 I 31. tJ. 



"* Ibid. 327 ; 23 61. M. The pension 

 payable to the Abbot of Sees is not 

 mentioned. 



146 In:/. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 37. 

 The inquiry was made at Preston. The 

 borough, which was excepted, was worth 

 7 marks and the rest of the parish 28 



marks and 2o</. The several townships 

 paid as follows : Ashton, 1 ids. 8,/. ; 

 Lea, 2 61. 8</. ; Broughton, 3 I 31. 4</.; 

 Barton, 3 61. 8</. ; Haighton, i 8j. 4</.; 

 Grimsargh, 1 101. ; Brockholes, 

 i 11. *d. ; Elston, \ 81. 4</. ; Ribble- 

 ton, i it. 8</. ; Fishwick the same ; in 

 alL^iS i$. 



The reasons given why the 100 marks 

 was not reached were that the excepted 

 revenues were considerable (tithe of hay 

 to, other small tithes i$ marks, obla- 

 tions, Ac., $ marks, glebe 2$i.), and that by 

 the destruction wrought by the Scots and 

 other insupportable charges daily increas- 

 ing there were waste lands in the parish 

 causing a loss of 28 marks to the tax ; in 



". 43 5'- 



" Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 5, 

 no. i$. 



** yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 169 j 

 the rent received by Newark College was 



4" I7. 



" Ibid, v, 262 ; the net value was 

 1$ 41. The manse and garden were 

 valued at 21., the vicarial tithes at 

 7 is. 4</., and the oblations and Easter 

 roll at 14 161. 8</. 



Commons. C*. Surv. (Rec. Sc<. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 144-$. In 1670 i 

 rent of 4$ was paid to the Crown for 

 the rectory by Sir Richard Hoghton and 

 Edward Rigby ; Pat. 22 Chas. II. 



111 Cammoniv. Ch. Surv. 146. 



189 Ibid. The endowment of the vicarage 

 included cottage and barn, with ij acres of 

 glebe, small tithes of the whole pariah, 

 and the corn tithes also in Ribbleton, but 

 in some cases a prescriptive rent limited 

 the amounts payable. 



A terrier of the glebe lands of the vicar- 

 age made in 1663 and a table of Eastct 

 duet of about the same time are printed 

 in Smith, op. cit. 12. 



' Gastrell, Noiiat Ctitr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 461. The vicar paid 4 to the curate 

 of Broughton. 



1(4 Manet. Dim. Dir. The old vicarage 

 was in the street so called, off Tithebarn 

 Street, to the north of the church. The 

 present house, at Eastclift, was built in 

 1846. 



