A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



was in 1322 a considerable amount of land in that 

 part of the township in the possession of the lord. 41 

 It was in 1609 decided that Greenlow Marsh lay in 

 Gorton and not in Chorlton or Greenlow Heath. 41 

 An ancient chantry endowment was situated at the 

 same place. 43 



From the land tax returns of 1787" it appears 

 that the most considerable owners were : Richard 

 Gorton, paying about a sixth of the tax, Robert 

 Grimshaw, John Hague's heirs, and Richard Clowes. 

 The origin of ST. JAMES'S CH4PEL 

 CHURCH is unknown. It existed in 1562, when 

 Ambrose Beswick bequeathed 3*. \d. 

 to the chapel reeves. 45 It was probably used for 

 service, a lay ' reader ' being employed, 46 and one 

 of the fellows of Manchester preaching occasionally. 

 There was no endowment, but the people seem to 



have contributed according to an assessment. 47 

 Ministers and people were Puritan, and in 1634 ^ 

 was stated that the surplice had never been used. 48 

 The minister had an endowment of 26^. 8</. in 

 1650, besides the voluntary offerings ; 49 but changes 

 were frequent.* The minister in charge in 1662, 

 William Leigh, is said to have been ejected ; but the 

 chapel appears to have been used indifferently by 

 Episcopalians and Presbyterians for some time after- 

 wards." A library was given by Humphrey Chet- 

 ham. M In 1 706 the fixed revenue was 8 1 5^. and 

 the contributions about iS ; at that time a quarter 

 of the population was avowedly Nonconformist. 55 In 

 1755 the chapel was rebuilt, 54 and again in 1871. A 

 district chapelry was assigned to it in 1839." The 

 registers date from 1570. The monumental inscrip- 

 tions are copied in the Owen MSS. The Dean and 



41 Heath land of 223 acres, -worth 

 1 131., was held ; 14 acres were let at 8</., 

 and the rest at 6d. Thomas de Chorlton 

 had 7 acres there ; Mamecestre t ii, 363. 



43 Note by Mr. Earwaker. Greenlow 

 Heath appears to have been considered a 

 separate township, or at least a con- 

 spicuous hamlet of Chorlton. The ham- 

 let of Gorton was at the same time bound 

 to maintain 'one half of the highway in 

 the High Street so far as Gorton and 

 Greenlow Marsh alias Greenlow Cross 

 lay to the said High Street, beginning at 

 the bridge near to Edmond Percival's 

 house and so downward to Ardwick, 

 with the one half of the said bridge 

 also.' 



48 Mamecestre, iii, 483 ; a rent of 20*. 

 was due to the lord of Manchester. The 

 chantry was that of St. Nicholas, or the 

 TrafFord chantry, as will be seen in the 

 account of the parish church. 



It was probably in respect of this land 

 that disputes arose among the lessees. 

 Sir Edmund TrafFord had had a lease of 

 two tenements there, and in 15 88 Thomas 

 Windbank secured from the queen a lease 

 for fifty years from the end of TrafFord' s 

 term. Roger Kenyon in another plead- 

 ing John Kenyon and Robert his son 

 and Thomas alias James Gredlow were 

 occupiers ; and for each tenement 

 261. Sd. rent was due to the Crown. 

 Thomas Pyecroft and George Ashton 

 acquired an interest in part of the land 

 about 1600, but their title was questioned; 

 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. clxxxi, F. 1 1 ; 

 clxxxix, P. i ; cxcvi, B. 5. Roger Kenyon 

 and Thomas Greenlow were the tenants 

 of the chantry lands in 1547 ; Raines, 

 Chant. (Chet. Soc.), i, 35. 



44 At the County Council Office, 

 Preston. 



45 Higson, op. cit. 52 ; quoting Raines 

 MSS. Pike-house Deeds. The chapel is 

 marked in Saxton's map of 1577. 



46 George Wharmby was licensed as 

 'reader' in 1576; Pennant's Acct. Bk. 

 (Chest. Reg.). He was buried at the 

 collegiate church in 1588 as 'minister at 

 Gorton.' 



At the bishop's visitation in 1592 it 

 was found that the curate was unlicensed ; 

 he christened in a basin or dish, there 

 being no font ; he also taught a school. 

 Jewell's Reply and Apology were wanting ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xiii, 63. As 

 he baptized probably he was ordained. 



4 7 Thomas Beswick and Mary Bes- 

 wick, widow, were summoned before the 

 consistory in 1604 for not paying the 

 ' accustomed wages ' to the minister ; 



Higson, op. cit. 55. See also Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 1 . 



48 Humphrey Chetbam (Chet.Soc.),5o,5i. 



49 Commowuiealth Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 8. An addition of 

 40 out of sequestrations was ordered in 

 1648 ; Plund. Mim. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 63, 65 ; ii, 55. 



60 Thomas Norman was curate in 

 1619 ; it was reported that he 'did not 

 read the whole service ' ; Visit. P. at 

 Chester. He was called the ' lecturer ' in 

 1622; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i. 66 ; Manch. Classis (Chet. Soc.), iii, 

 443. Henry Root is stated to have 

 been there in 1632 ; Robert Watson, 

 curate in 1639, was excommunicated for 

 contumacy ; Mr. Norman reappeared in 

 1641 ; Higson, op. cit. 59, 60. 'Corne- 

 lius Glover of Gorton, .preacher of the 

 Word of God,' was buried at Manchester 

 in 1635. John Wigan, an Independent, 

 was there in 1645-6, and moved to 

 Birch ; his appointment was an incident 

 in the strife between the Independents 

 and the Presbyterians ; see Adam Martin- 

 dale (Chet. Soc.), 61. 



Adam Martindale followed ; he gives 

 an interesting account of the 'wasps' 

 nest' in which he found himself. He 

 had the cordial invitation of the people ; 

 his principal promoter was 'an ancient 

 professor that had formerly driven a 

 great trade, and after borne a considerable 

 office as a soldier in the wars, but at 

 that time was out of all employment, 

 only gave himself much to reading and 

 Christian converse,' and was a zealous 

 Presbyterian ; others of the people ' were 

 downright for the Congregational way,' to 

 which Martindale himself inclined, and 

 * one honest gentleman, of better parts 

 and greater interest than he that drove 

 on so eagerly, was against ruling elders 

 as unscriptural and strangers in antiquity.' 

 In consequence of these bickerings, and 

 his salary being in arrears, Martindale 

 left in 1648 ; ibid. 60-76. 



David Dury succeeded, 1 649-50 ; he 

 was 'a painful and godly minister' ; 

 Commonwealth Cb. Sari/. 8. Thomas 

 Norman, son of the earlier minister of 

 that name, was there 1650-51 ; 

 Zachariah Taylor, 1651 to 1653 ; Robert 

 Seddon, 1654 to 1656 ; William Leigh, 

 1657. Notices of all of these will be 

 found in W. A. Shaw, Manch. Classis; see 

 also~Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 183, 289. 



51 John Jollie, an ejected minister, 

 preached at Gorton in 1669 ; on one 

 Sunday a minister sent from the warden 

 of Manchester found him in the pulpit 



278 



and had to retire ; Booker, Denton (Chet. 

 Soc.), 85. Yet a Caleb Stopford appears 

 as 'minister of Gorton" in 1662, and 

 other names are given ; Higson, op. cit. 

 71, 72. There is a tradition that 'at 

 one period two difFerent modes of wor- 

 ship, Episcopal and Presbyterian, were 

 conducted in Gorton Chapel, one in the 

 morning and the other in the afternoon ' ; 

 ibid. 76. Thomas Dickenson, who left 

 for Northowram in 1702, is said to have 

 'preached at Gorton chapel,' so that the 

 arrangement may have been in force so 

 late as his time ; Nightingale, Lanes. 

 Nonconf. v, 55. The state of matters at 

 the chapel was a scandal to the more 

 zealous Anglicans, who wanted the laws 

 enforced against offenders ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 85. 



63 Humphrey Cbetham, 209. The bene- 

 factor is stated to have attended the 

 chapel, and on the south side of the old 

 building, near the chancel, was a gallery 

 called the 'Chetham loft,' used by the 

 family and servants of Clayton Hall ; 

 Higson, op. cit. 66. Other books were 

 given in 1730 ; ibid. 85. See also Old 

 Lanes. Libraries (Chet. Soc.), 62 ; many of 

 the books are still preserved. 



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

 ii, 88. The house, garden, and little 

 meadow brought in z i $s. There were 

 two chapel wardens, chosen by the 

 minister and inhabitants. 



84 Higson, op. cit. 97-100, where the 

 faculty is printed ; this states that the old 

 chapel and its furniture were 'very old, 

 ruinous and decayed,' and that a larger 

 building was needed. A petition in 1753 

 states that the inkabitants had repaired 

 the pillars and supports of the timber 

 roof ; that the building measured 60 ft. 

 by 40 ft. ; that the estimated cost of a 

 new chapel was 1,171, which the in- 

 habitants were unable to raise, for though 

 the township was populous it was but small, 

 and the people mostly 'cottagers and 

 labourers and common workpeople in the 

 linen and cotton manufactures,' who 

 could not give much ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 493. 



A ballad referring to a church incident 

 about 1800 is printed in N.andQ. (Ser. 4), 



, 555-6. 



According to Higson (op. cit. 101) the 

 new chapel was called St. Thomas's instead 

 of St. James's, but the change does not 

 appear to have been permanent. The in- 

 terior remained unfinished until i775> 

 when it was properly fitted ; ibid. 108. 



55 Land. Gay.. 29 Mar. 1839 ; 16 June 

 1854. 



