A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



by the chapel and through the town of Ashton, 

 standing upon a rocky ground, which belongeth to 

 Sir William Gerard, bart., of Brynn, who resides at 

 Garswood, about a mile to the east (sic). Having 

 passed the stone bridge take the left hand way, which 

 though something fouler is more used. You then 

 pass by Whitledge Green, a place much resorted to 

 in summer by the neighbouring gentry for bowling. 

 Shortly after, you meet with the other way from 

 Ashton bridge by J. Naylor's, a herald painter and an 

 excellent stainer of glass for pictures or coats of arms. 

 Through a more open coach-way passing on upon the 

 right leave the Brynn gate, a private way leading to the 

 ancient hall of Brynn, and upon the left another road 

 by Garswood to the hall of Parr, a seat belonging to 

 the Byroms, and to St. Helen's chapel ; and thence 

 past Hawkley to Wigan.' * 



Among the worthies of the parish may here be 

 noted Thomas Legh Claughton, born at Haydock 

 Lodge in 1808, who became Bishop of Rochester in 

 1867, resigning in 1890, and died in 1892 ; s also 

 Thomas Risley, a Nonconformist divine, 1630 to 1716.* 



The following in 1630-3 compounded by annual 

 fines for the two-thirds of their estates liable to be 

 sequestered for their recusancy : Ashton, Sir William 

 Gerard of Brynn, 106 I 3/. \d. ; Jane Gerard ; Cul- 

 cheth, Richard Urmston, 6 ; Lowton, Peter and 

 Roger Haughton, 3 ; Southworth, Christopher Bow 

 of Croft, 2 ios. & 



The church of ST. OSWALD has a 

 CHURCH chancel 6 with north vestry, nave with 

 aisles and south porch, and west tower 

 and spire. It is built of a very inferior local sand- 

 stone, with the result that its history has been much 

 obscured by repairs and rebuildings, and cannot be 

 taken back beyond the I4th century ; though the 

 dedication and the fragment of an early cross, now set 

 up outside the chancel, both point to an early occupa- 

 tion of the site. 



The chancel was entirely rebuilt in 18478 in 

 14th-century style, the elder Pugin being the archi- 

 tect, and is a fine and well-designed work with a high- 

 pitched leaded roof, a four-light east window, and 

 three-light windows on north and south. There are 

 three canopied sedilia and a piscina, and the arched 

 ceiling is panelled, with gilt bosses at the intersection 

 of the ribs, and a stone cornice with carved paterae. 



The nave is of six bays, with a north arcade having 

 pointed arches of two orders with sunk quarter-round 

 mouldings, and curious clustered piers considerably 

 too thick for the arches they carry, and projecting in 

 front of the wall-face towards the nave. The general 

 outline is octagonal with a hollow between two 

 quarter-rounds on each cardinal face, and a deep 

 V-shaped sinking on the alternate faces. The abacus 

 of the capitals is octagonal, but the necking follows 

 the outline of the piers, and pairs of trefoiled leaves 

 rise from the hollows on the cardinal faces. The 

 bases, of very rough work, are panelled on the cardinal 

 faces, with engaged shafts 6 in. high, while on the 

 diagonal faces are badly-cut mitred heads. 



There is a curious suggestion of 14th-century de- 

 tail in the arcade, in spite of its clumsiness, but the 



actual date is probably within a few years of 1600. 

 The clearstory above has three windows set over the 

 alternate arches, of four lights with uncusped tracery 

 and low four-centred heads. 



The south arcade, ' from the first pillar eastward to 

 the fifth west,' was taken down and rebuilt from the 

 foundations in 1836. It has clustered piers of quatre- 

 foil section, and simply moulded bell capitals with 

 octagonal abaci, the arches being of two chamfered 

 orders with labels ending in pairs of human heads at 

 the springing. The original work belonged to the 

 beginning of the I4th century. The clearstory on 

 this side has six windows, of four uncusped lights 

 without tracery, under a four-centred head, all the 

 stonework being modern. 



At the east end of the north aisle is the Gerard 

 Chapel, inclosed with an iron screen, which about 1 848 

 replaced a wooden screen dated 'in the yere of our 

 Lord MCCCCLXXXI.' There is a three-light east window 

 and two four-light windows on the north, all with 

 16th-century uncusped tracery. In the aisle west of 

 the chapel are three four-light north windows with 

 embattled transoms and uncusped tracery, and a north 

 doorway with a square-headed window over it, of four 

 uncusped lights. The tracery, except part in the 

 Gerard Chapel, has been lately renewed, the original 

 date of the windows being perhaps c. 1530-50. On 

 the external faces of the transoms is carved the IHS 

 monogram. The two east bays of the south aisle are 

 taken up by the Legh Chapel, and separated by an 

 arch at the west from the rest of the aisle. This 

 western portion was rebuilt in 1530, being dated by 

 an inscription running round the external cornice, 

 and the Legh Chapel is somewhat earlier in date, 

 perhaps c. 1500. The chapel has a small doorway on 

 the south, a three-light window on the east, and two 

 on the south, all with uncusped tracery, the stone- 

 work being mutilated, and in the aisle are three four- 

 light windows on the south, with embattled transoms 

 and tracery uncusped except in the upper middle 

 lights, and one window at the west, also of four 

 lights, but of different design. On the external faces 

 of the transoms are carved roses, all the stonework 

 being modern. The aisle has a vice at the south- 

 west angle. The south porch is low, and the inscribed 

 cornice of the aisle runs above it without a break. 

 The porch has been completely refaced, and opens to 

 the south aisle by a four-centred doorway with con- 

 tinuous mouldings. Both aisles and clearstory have 

 embattled parapets and leaded roofs of low pitch. The 

 inscription round the south aisle is in leonine hexa- 

 meters, running from west to east, and is as follows : 



Hie locus Oswalde quondam placuit tibi valde ; 

 Nortanhumbrorum fueras rex, nuncque polorum 

 Regna tenes, prato passus Marcelde vocato. 

 Poscimus hinc a te nostri memor esto beate. 

 Anno milleno quingentenoque triceno 

 Sclater post Christum murum renovaverat 



istum ; 

 Henricus Johnson curatus erat simul hie tune. 



The tower retains much of its old facing, though 

 the surface is much decayed. It has a vice at the 



* Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. i, 209. 

 On p. 214 is his note of the other road 

 from Winwick to Wigan as follows : 

 ' Leaving the church on the left hand, 

 half a mile from thence you have a fair 

 built house formerly belonging to Charles 



Herle, parson of Winwick. . . . You 

 leave Lowton township, passing over Low- 

 ton Cop, leaving Byrom not far on the 

 right and the New Church, being a paro- 

 chial chapel to Winwick. 1 

 8 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



124 



* Ibid. ; see also the account of Cul- 

 cheth. 8 Lucas, ' Warton ' (MS.). 



6 For the former chancel see Sir S. 

 Glynne's account, Ch. of Lanes. (Chet. 

 Soc.) 27, 91 ; also generally the Rev. 

 W. A. Wickham in Trans. Hist. Soc. 1908. 



