A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The great chamber has a ceiling panelled with 

 moulded wooden beams and light ribs crossing the 

 panels diagonally, the beams being slightly cambered. 

 This room has been lined with sixteenth-century 

 wainscot, full of good detail, and in it were inserted 

 two elaborately carved panels with figures in low re- 

 lief said to represent Henry VIII and his wives. Only 

 one of these panels now remains, leaning against the 

 wall. 



The rest of the south wing is gutted, and ends in a 

 plain brick gable. 



The north wing has been nearly rebuilt, and re- 

 tains nothing of its old fittings, its eastern half being 

 now used as a farmhouse. On the north are some 

 picturesque brick farm buildings, built by Sir Francis 

 Anderton in 1744. 



To the south of the hall in an open field stands 

 the ruined chapel called ' Lydiate Abbey.' It was 

 dedicated in honour of St. Catherine. Its plan is of 

 the simplest form, a rectangle 46 ft. 9 in. long by 

 1 6 ft. 4 in. wide, internal measurement, with a small 

 west tower. Weather and the arch-enemy of ancient 

 buildings, ivy, are slowly destroying its ruins. It 

 has had an east window of five lights, and four three- 

 light windows on the south side, with stepped but- 

 tresses between the windows, formerly capped by 

 pinnacles, which, with an embattled parapet, are 

 shown in Pennant's view, noted below. There are 

 no windows on the north side. There are north 

 and south doorways near the west end, with a south 

 porch, over the outer arch of which are the arms of 

 Ireland, and on the dripstones of the label the initials 

 LI and CI. There are stone seats on both sides of the 

 porch, and in the north-east angle is a holy-water 

 stone, while the remains of a niche and corbel, 

 formerly over the outer arch, lie near by. The 

 tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses, and a 

 three-light west window. In the belfry stage are 

 two-light windows with tracery, and the tower has an 

 embattled parapet with angle pinnacles. 



Parts of a broken altar-slab lie in the church, 

 enough remaining to show that the altar was 3 ft. 4 in. 

 high by 8 ft. 6 in. long and 2 ft. 6 in. wide. 



The date of the building is probably fixed by the 

 initials on the porch of Lawrence Ireland, ob. before 

 1486, and Catherine (Blundell) his wife, though 

 the details would suggest a later date, especially the 

 absence of cusps in the window tracery. 



Pennant thus describes it in 1773 : 'A small but 

 most beautiful building, with a tower steeple, with pin- 



nacles and battlements venerably overgrown in many 

 parts with ivy." Gregson also notices the building, 

 but was of opinion it was never completed. 1 This 

 however, is a mistake, fragments of stained glass and 

 roofing flags having been found within the walls. 



The chapel was no doubt dismantled when the 

 worship for which it was erected was prohibited 

 by law. Four alabaster groups attributed to the 

 Nottingham school, and representing the story of 

 St. Catherine, probably formed the reredos ; they 

 were preserved at the hall, and are now in the pulpit 

 of the church opposite. An alabaster figure of 

 St. Catherine, which has been supposed to have occu- 

 pied the niche over the porch, has also been transferred 

 from the hall to the church. 3 The interior of the 

 chapel was used for burial occasionally five priests 

 lying there. 4 



No details are known as to the continuance or 

 revival of the Roman Catholic worship in Lydiate, but 

 Francis Waldegrave, S.J., was in residence at the hall 

 in 1 68 1. Margaret Ireland of Lydiate, widow, and 

 many others, occur in a list of recusants fined or 

 outlawed in i68o. 5 The mission was served by 

 the Jesuits down to l86o, 6 when the late Thomas 

 Ellison Gibson, a secular priest, was appointed.' He 

 was a diligent antiquary and author of the work 

 frequently quoted in this account Lydiate Hall and 

 its Associations, issued in 1876. He also edited the 

 Cavaliers Note Book, Crosby Records, and N. Blunders 

 Diary. Edmund Powell, appointed in 1885, must 

 also be mentioned. 8 



Gregson in 1 8 1 6 records that ' the neighbourhood 

 still abounds with Catholic families, and mass is 

 regularly performed in the old hall.' ' This domestic 

 chapel has been superseded by the church of St. Mary 

 (commonly called 'Our Lady's'), built in 1854 by 

 the late Thomas Weld Blundell, and consecrated in 

 1892. A burial ground was opened in 1860. Be- 

 sides the alabaster groups and statue already mentioned 

 the church has the figure of a bishop seated (said to 

 have been brought from Halsall), a pre-Reformation 

 chalice, and an ancient processional cross. A roadside 

 cross, found buried in the neighbourhood in 1870, 

 has been erected as the cemetery cross. 10 



MELLING 



Melinge, Dom. Bk. ; Melling, 1224, usual; 

 Mellinge, common ; Mellyngg and Mellyngge 

 1292. 



