A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



From this time onward the vicars, except Edward 

 Goodall, do not call for special mention. It is notice- 

 able that at the visitation in May, 1691, no clergy 

 appeared from this parish l ; the chapels of Rainford, 

 Great Sankey, and St. Helens were then in the hands 

 of Presbyterians. The schoolmaster, Henry Wareing, 

 licensed a year before, was the only representative.* 



A grammar school was founded here before 1 600. 



The charities, usually for particular 



CHARITIES districts or townships, are very 



numerous * The old almshouses were 



founded by Oliver Lyme in 1707, for poor persons in 

 Prescot and Whiston. 4 For Prescot itself were the 

 benefactions of the Rev. Samuel Sewell, John Lyon, Sir 

 Thomas Birch, and others. 5 A number of charities 

 are united under the control of the chief officers of 

 the township, but the intentions of the several bene- 

 factors are, as far as possible, respected in the distribu- 

 tion. In 1861 Eleanora Atherton bequeathed 4,500 

 for the erection of almshouses. 8 



For Eccleston Richard Holland, Priscilla Pyke, and 

 others left various sums. 7 Rainhill received 201. from 



