A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The marsh and sea frontages have lately been sold 

 by the duchy to the Rev. James Cardwell Gardner 

 of Fluke Hall." 



Ulkrigge or Ulrick Meadow was in part acquired 

 by Robert Hawes,* 3 and William Hawes, who died 

 at Bromley in Middlesex 1625, held 80 acres there. 

 He left two daughters as co-heirs." 



Robert Bindloss acquired messuages in Pilling and 

 the neighbourhood in 1587." 



The three coparceners of the manor all suffered 

 as ' delinquents ' in the Commonwealth period. 16 



The owner of Eskholme Houses in 1734 com- 

 plained that his right of way through Nateby to 

 Garstang and Preston had been denied." 



The small detached portion of the township ad- 

 joining Cockersand has resulted from an agreement 

 in 1 340 between the canons there and the monks of 

 Leicester. It is in the hundred of Amounderness 

 but in the parish of Cockerham. 18 



The canons of Cockersand probably 

 CHURCH established the chapel of ST. JOHN 

 THE BAPTIST near their grange when 

 they were placed in possession.* 9 Agnes Shepherd 

 had in 1493 the bishop's licence to live a solitary in a 

 cell at Pilling chapel.* After the dissolution of the 

 abbey it seems that 2 a. year was allowed for the 

 maintenance of a curate," but as this was obviously 

 insufficient it is probable that the chapel was used 

 only irregularly during the latter half of the i6th 

 century." In 1621 some sixty of the inhabitants 

 petitioned the king about the neglect of service, com- 

 plaining that though they had to pay tithes there 

 was no curate provided. The 2 granted out of the 

 duchy revenues was to be renewed ; Sir Robert 

 Bindloss, the lay rector, promised 10 a year from 

 the tithes, the inhabitants were ordered to provide 

 another 8, and thefarmer of thedemesne 6 I3/. 4</.' 3 



How far this award became operative is uncertain, 

 but Mr. Lumley was curate in 1639" and remained 

 there till in the Commonwealth time he was ' silenced 

 for several misdemeanors.' " In 1650 the chapel was 

 vacant, and there was no proper maintenance. 36 

 Early in 1652 it was ordered that 50 a year be 

 paid to the curate out of ' delinquents' ' estates. 37 



The list of curates shows that the chapel was served 

 regularly from about that time. The certain income 

 in 1717 was 1 1 13^. 4*/. M It was then found 

 necessary to build a larger chapel, and the present 

 site was chosen, about a mile west of the old one, for 

 the greater convenience of the inhabitants.* 9 This 

 was built in 1717 and consecrated in 1721 ; it 

 is a small rectangular structure with a bellcot over 

 the west gable. Additional endowments were obtained 

 from Queen Anne's Bounty and other sources. 40 A 

 census of religions was made by the wardens in 

 1755. They reported 'about 100 families, most 

 in communion of the Church of England, two 

 Prote;tant Dissenting families, six or eight single 

 persons who are Papists.' " A new church was built 

 in 1887, and consists of chancel, clearstoried nave 

 with north and south aisles, south porch, and western 

 tower and spire. It is in the Gothic style and the 

 spire forms a prominent landmark. The lords of the 

 manor present alternately. The net value is given 

 as 250." 



The following is a list of curates and vicars : 



1676 Oswald Croskell " 



oc. 1686 Richard Hardy" 



1687 Gabriel Dawson 4J 



oc. 1701 Thomas Hunter 



1715 John Anyon 46 



1731 John Coulton 47 



1758 George Holden 48 



23 Other owners of land, &c., have put 

 forward claims to easements in the 

 Marsh. 



* Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 286, 

 338, 355. The suits related to the part 

 of the estate held by Jane Kitchen the 

 widow, as mentioned in a former note. 



24 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no. 

 32 ; the heirs were Anne Hawes, aged 

 twenty-one, and Susan, aged eighteen. 



15 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 49, 

 m. 21 ; the deforciants were Richard 

 Bold, John Fleming and Roger Dalton. 



** Richard Ashton's rents in Cockerham 

 and Pilling in 1652 amounted to 

 25 121. zd. ; Royalist Comp. Papers 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 97. 

 Richard Banastre of Altham ; ibid, i, 126. 

 Thomas Hesketh of North Meols ; Cal. 

 Com. for Comp. iii, 20515 iv, 2934. 



" Cal. Exch. of Pleas, P 94. 



88 Cockersand Chartul. ii, 385. 



59 The petition presented to the Bishop 

 of Chester in 1716 records an 'ancient 

 tradition ' that the old chapel was built 

 in or about 1209, when there were but 

 seven families in the township ; Ch. P. 

 at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



30 Cockersand Rental (Chet. Soc. Ivii), 

 30. 



31 This appears from the petition of 

 1621. 



33 The chapel is not mentioned at all 

 in the list of 1610 in Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 8. 



33 Fishwick, op. cit. 105-8. It is 

 probable that the payments by the 



inhabitants and the farmer could not be 

 levied. Bishop Gastrell does not mention 

 them. The registers go back to 1621 ; 

 ibid. 113. 



84 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 124. 



35 Common-w. Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 150. 



86 Ibid. 



37 PlunJ. Mini. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, no, 247. James Threl- 

 fall, ' a godly and orthodox divine,' was 

 then minister ; the maintenance did not 

 exceed 20 nobles a year (6 13*. 4<), 

 and there were 120 families. 



38 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 413 ; the Crown gave i 131. $J. and 

 the impropriator jio. 



39 The petition has been cited above. 

 It states as a reason for changing the site 

 that ' such of the inhabitants as live 

 westward of the present chapel [were] 

 forced to go above two miles on lands not 

 well to be ridden upon, being soft and 

 mossy.' It was added that ' there is not 

 one Dissenter in the chapelry.' The 

 agreement made is printed by Fishwick, 

 op. cit. 109-11. 



40 Ibid. 112, where a brief description 

 is given, with a notice of the monuments. 



Visit. Ret. 



4J Manch. Dioc. Dir. 



43 Visit. List of 1677 at Chester. 

 Short notices of the curates will be found 

 in Fishwick, op. cit. 113-20; some of 

 the following details are derived there- 

 from. 



334 



44 Rector of North Meol 1689- 

 1708. One of these names graduated 

 from Pembroke Coll., Camb. ; M.A. 

 1674. 



45 Of St. John's Coll., Camb., but did 

 not graduate ; Mayor, Admissions to St. 

 7oAn'j, ii, 93. He was licensed to Pilling 

 28 Jan. 1686-7 ; Visit. List of 1691. He 

 was 'conformable ' in 1689 ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 230. He died 

 in 1692. 



46 The records in the church papers at 

 Chester Dioc. Reg. begin with this curate. 

 He was nominated on the death of 

 Thomas Hunter by Roger Hesketh and 

 Edward Hornby, two of the lords of the 

 manor, ' the third lord being a reputed 

 Papist.' Anyon was afterwards curate of 

 Ribby and Lund in Kirkham. 



In 1731 he was still at Pilling and 

 presented for incontinence ; Visit. Ret. 

 at Chester. 



47 Nominated by Roger Hesketh and 

 Geoffrey Hornby on the resignation of 

 J. Anyon. He resided at Pilling in 

 1743, but also ministered at Shireshead 

 every other Sunday afternoon ; Visit. 

 Ret. at Chester. 



48 Nominated by Roger Hesketh and 

 Edmund Hornbyonthedeath of J. Coulton. 

 Holden was under-master at Bentham 

 School. He became curate at Tatham Fell 

 1767 and compiled Holden's fide Tables^ 

 still published at Liverpool. He had a 

 son George, whose son George Holden 

 was curate of Maghull in Halsall i Su- 

 fi 5 ; Fishwick. 



