A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



KING'S COLLEGE, 

 CAMBRIDGE. Sable, three 

 roses argent, barbed -vert, 

 seeded or ; on a chief per 



One or more families took their surname from the 

 place, but no connected account of them is possible. 1 

 Another local family took its name from Churchlee in 

 Prescot. Richard son of Robert 

 de Churchlee early in 1286 

 accused Alan le Breton, the 

 rector, of disseising him of his 

 free tenement there ; Henry 

 the son of Richard joined in 

 the complaint, which terminated 

 successfully.' 



The hall of Prescot, at one 

 time the residence of the Ogles, 

 as stewards of the lords of the 

 manor, was afterwards leased 

 out.* 



There were in the town in 

 1666 thirty-two houses with 

 three hearths and more. 4 "and a lion passant guard- 



Thomas Waller of Prescot ant on the sinister of the 



compounded with the Com- fourth. 

 monwealth authorities in 1646 



for his sequestered estate. 5 In 1717 John Ashton 

 of Whiston, watch-maker, as a ' Papist,' registered 

 his estate as a house at Prescot ; Arthur Ashton, tailor, 

 had two small houses; Edward Ellam and Edward 

 Greenough of Parr also registered small freeholds. 8 



John Philip Kemble, the actor, was born at Prescot 

 in 1757.' 



In 1843 a dispute occurred respecting the boun- 

 daries, the township of Whiston claiming Prescot Hall 

 to be within its limits. It appeared that though all 

 the usual rates had been paid by the hall to Prescot, 

 the tithes had been collected with those of Whiston. 

 This arrangement may have been due to one of the 

 leases granted by King's College to the farmers of 

 the tithe. The Prescot authorities justified their 

 contention that the boundary went as far as Shaw 

 Lane, where an ancient mere-stone was placed. 8 



The government of the town by the old court-leet 

 was thus described in 1836 : 'The manor and liberty 

 of Prescot is governed by a steward, " four men," a 

 coroner and several constables, nominated by the jury 

 of the court leet and baron, who are composed of 

 twenty-four of the principal inhabitants of the town- 

 ship of Prescot, and who are nominated by the lords 

 of the manor. ... A court-baron, or court of re- 

 quests, is held for causes to any amount every fort- 

 night in the town-hall. . . . There is also a general 



court-baron held on Corpus Christ!, and special courts 

 with which a court-leet is held.' 9 



The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted 

 in 1867 ; I0 and Prescot is now governed by an urban 

 district council of twelve members. The coroner of 

 the Liberty of Prescot is appointed by King's College, 

 Cambridge. The town is lighted with gas and the 

 electric light by private companies ; and water is 

 supplied by the Liverpool Corporation. A lending 

 library was established in 1854. 



The history of the parish church has already been 

 given. 



The Wesleyan Methodists and United Methodists 

 have each a place of worship, and the Independent 

 Methodists have two 'Free Gospel* churches, one 

 called ' Zion.' 



There is a barracks of the Salvation Army. 



The Congregational church was founded in 1798, 

 but the chapel was not built until 1 8 1 1 , from which 

 time there has been a regular succession of ministers. 

 The present church was built in 1878." There is 

 also a Welsh Congregational church. 



The Unitarian church seems to have represented the 

 earliest effort of Nonconformity to gain an establish- 

 ment in Prescot. It was founded about 1756, by 

 the St. Helens congregation." It has been disused 

 for services for about twenty years, the Wesleyans 

 having it for a school. 



The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady Immacu- 

 late and St. Joseph was erected in 1857 ; it is served 

 by Jesuit fathers. 13 



BUTTON 



No variation in spelling. 



This township, now included within the borough 

 of St. Helens, has an area of 3,752^ acres. It 

 partakes of the unpicturesque character of other Lan- 

 cashire townships where the country is flat and open, 

 containing manufacturing towns and coal mines. 

 The smoke and fumes arising from factories have 

 well-nigh destroyed the best trees, and even hedges 

 have a blackened stunted appearance, and cinder- 

 paths are frequent. There are, however, crops 

 grown in the more favoured parts of the district, con- 

 sisting chiefly of oats, wheat, hay, and clover. The 

 soil is of clay. 



The greater part of the township lies upon the 

 coal measures. A belt of the lower molded sand- 



