A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Among the tenants were the Heatons of Heaton and 

 other neighbouring families. 13 In the Subsidy Lists 

 of 1541 " and 1622" no landowners are named in 

 Horwich. 



At the Court Leet of Manchester in 1598 the 

 constables of Horwich presented a number of persons 

 for tithing men. 16 



The Andertons of Lostock, successors of the Heatons, 

 acquired the manor of Horwich and held it in the 

 1 7th century and onwards. 17 Henry Blundell was 

 the chief landowner in lj8S. lB The minor family of 

 Anderton of Horwich sprang from Thomas Anderton, 

 a younger brother of Christopher Anderton of Los- 

 tock (1592), who settled in this township. His son 

 Lawrence, who became a Jesuit, was the author of 

 the famous hymn, ' Jerusalem, my happy home,' and, 

 under the alias of John Brereley, of various controver- 

 sial works, such as The Protestant's Apology for the Roman 

 Church, printed at the secret press at Lostock. 19 Law- 

 rence's brother Christopher was prothonotary of the 

 common pleas at Lancaster by patent dated 1607. 

 Administration of the goods of Thomas Anderton of 

 Horwich, apparently son of Christopher, was granted 

 in 1 669 to his brother William. The horrible death 

 of this William (Dr. Anderton of Wigan) is described 

 by Oliver Heywood (Diaries, iii, 211). His will was 

 proved in 1675 ; his executors were to bring up his 

 son Thomas, aged eight, in the * knowledge of the 

 true Catholic church.' The guardianship was en- 

 trusted to Anne Anderton, widow (grandmother), 

 and Anne Tootell (aunt). 



Thomas Willoughby, a descendant of the second 

 Lord Willoughby of Parham, married Eleanor daugh- 

 ter of Hugh Whittle of Horwich, and lived at Shaw 

 Place in Charnock. Being erroneously supposed to be 

 the heir male he was summoned to Parliament as 

 Lord Willoughby of Parham. He died in 1692, and 

 was buried at Horwich. His son, two grandsons, and 

 a great-grandson followed him in the title. They 

 were Presbyterians. The last of them, Hugh Wil- 



loughby, enjoyed the title from 1715 to 1765; he 

 was president of the Society of Antiquaries in 1754.* 



In 1322-3 the herbage of the wood called Le 

 Twecheles, now Twitchills, could not be agisted, 

 through the deficiency of cattle in the district, owing 

 to the Scottish raid at midsummer, 1322." 



Among those whose estates were sequestrated for 

 * delinquency ' by the Parliament in the time of the 

 Civil Wars was Philip Martindale of Horwich, chap- 

 man." 



A chapel of ease existed at Horwich 

 CHURCH before the Reformation, for in 1552 it 

 was found provided with the ornaments 

 for saying mass. There were also three bells, * which 

 are the poor men's of the town, bought with their 

 own money, and the said bells not yet hanged up.' n 

 In 1565 the commissioners for removing superstitious 

 ornaments reported to the Bishop of Chester that they 

 had taken from this chapel * vestment, alb, altar-cloth, 

 corporas, and other idolatrous gear.' " There was 

 then a curate there," but the chapel seems afterwards 

 to have fallen into obscurity and is not mentioned 

 again 16 till the survey of 1650, when Mr. Henry 

 Pendlebury usually preached there on Sunday without 

 any stipend beyond the people's offerings. 17 The re- 

 commendation to make Horwich a separate parish 

 was not acted upon, and it is probable that down to 

 the Revolution nothing more than a Sunday service 

 was performed by the vicar or curate of Deane. In. 

 1669 numerous meetings of Nonconformists were re- 

 ported in this parish, and at Horwich Chapel there 

 was a * conventicle,' but the ringleaders had been 

 prosecuted.* 8 



After the Revolution, with the connivance of the 

 vicar, the chapel was used by Nonconformists, but in 

 1716 Bishop Gastrell recovered it for the Established 

 Church, and it has since been retained. There was 

 a chapel stock of ^190, in the hands of Nonconforming 

 trustees, who refused to pay the interest when the 

 chapel was taken from them. In 1723, however, 



18 The inquisitions show the following 

 to have held lands in Horwich : Barton 

 of Smithills, Hulton of Farnworth, Hul- 

 ton of Over Hulton, and Greenhalgh of 

 Brandlesholme. 



Andrew Barton was in 1549 said to 

 have held a moiety of the manor of Hor- 

 wich, eight messuages, &c., of Lord La 

 Warre by a rent of 8 161. 8</.; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 27. He was the 

 heir of Ralph Radcliffe of 1473. 



Thomas Greenhalgh was in 1577 found 

 to have held eight messuages, &c., in 

 Horwich (not called a manor), of the lord 

 of Manchester by a rent of ^3 131. ^d. 5 

 ibid, xii, no. 10. 



14 Mite. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 139 ; the contributors for 'goods' were 

 Bryan Heaton and four others. 



14 Ibid. 151; James Urmston and James 

 Stones were the contributors. 



16 Mane A. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 140. The 

 constables of Horwich seem to have been 

 summoned to the court till 1733, but had 

 ceased to appear ; ibid, vii, 25. 



17 In the inquisition of Christopher An- 

 derton in 1593 his tenement in Horwich 

 is mentioned incidentally only as an ap- 

 purtenance of Lostock and Heaton held 

 of the manor of Manchester ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 41. James Ander- 

 ton his son and heir purchased the manor 

 of Horwich from Nicholas Mosley and 



Elizabeth his wife and Rowland Mosley 

 and Anne his wife in 1599 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 61, no. 351 ; Anderton 

 D. no. 76. 



In 1620 part of Andertons' land in 

 Horwich was held of the king by knight's 

 service, and the remainder of the lord of 

 Manchester ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 164. The manor is 

 named in an Anderton settlement of 1654; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 156, m. 

 174. Later it descended in the same 

 manner as Anderton to the Blundells and 

 Stonors. 



18 Land tax returns at Preston. 



19 Foley, Recs. S. J. iv, 7 1 3 ; he had a 

 nephew Thomas, also a Jesuit. A list of 

 his works is given by Gillow, Bill. Diet. 

 of Engl. Cath. i, 34 ; v, 204 (pedigree 

 erroneous). See also Diet. Nat. Biog. In 

 1630 Thomas Anderton of Horwich com- 

 pounded by an annual fine of 8 for the 

 two-thirds of his estate liable to sequestra- 

 tion for recusancy ; Lucas, ' Warton ' 

 MS. (from Thoresby). Dorothy Walton 

 compounded similarly by 2. 



20 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, viii, 156-8, 

 referring to W. D. Pink in Gen. (old 

 ser.), iv, 34-9, and to the Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv (Kenyon MSS.) ; 

 see also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 

 14, 38. The co-heirs of the last of this 

 line were his sisters Helena wife of 



Baxter Roscoe of Anglezarke in Bolton, 

 and Elizabeth widow of John Shaw of 

 Heath Charnock. 



21 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.), ii, 

 185 n. 



22 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), iv, 121. 



33 Ch. Gds. (Chet. Soc.), 27 ; see also 

 Raines, Chantries (Chet Soc.), 273, for 

 the sale of two bells. 



84 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii,. 

 41. 



25 Peter Mackinson ; he was one of 

 the Marian priests, having been ordained 

 by Bishop Scott in 1558, on the title of 

 Robert Barton of Smithills ; Ordination Bk. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 101. 



26 There is no mention of Horwich in 

 the list of the Kenyon MSS. or the Clerical 

 Subs. (Rec. Soc.). 



2 ? Commoniv.Ch. Surv, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 37. An allowance of 20 

 was made to him out of the tithes, and 

 it was said that ,100 had been sub- 

 scribed ' by the well affected ' of the chap- 

 elry, but no interest had been received for 

 five or six years from Richard Holt of 

 Ashworth, who held the principal. 



James Walton, ejected from Shaw 

 Chapel in 1662, is said to have preached 

 at Horwich in 1648 ; Nightingale, Lanes. 

 Nonconf. iii, 99. 



28 Visit. P. at Chester. 



