A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of straight wall to the original chancel, and measures 

 3 ft. loin, on the face, its east half being new. The 

 west half and the arch on that side are old, and the 

 pier has on its north face a recess with a pointed head 

 sunk in the stone above, which was perhaps a cupboard 

 in the original chapel at the end of the north aisle. 

 On the south side of the nave a similar pier also marks 

 the end of the outer wall of the old chancel. The 

 arch to the east of it is much lower than the other 

 arches of the nave, and springs from moulded half 

 capitals on each side, that on the east forming a respond, 

 and that on the west being set in the eastern part of 

 the pier. Both capitals are new, but appear to have 

 been suggested by a mutilated fragment at the back of 

 the first pier, which may be seen from the gallery in 

 the Lever chapel. The arch, though apparently of 

 16th-century date, must have been a later insertion 

 when the chapel was extended eastward, a blocked 

 window still visible in the wall above proving it to 

 have been at one time an outside wall. 



The Lever chapel, the floor of which is a foot 

 above that of the nave, occupies a position on the 

 south side similar to that of the Wilton chapel on 

 the north, but has a lean-to roof, plastered between the 

 spars. It retains its gallery, which has a front of 

 poor early 19th-century gothic panelling, and is lit 

 by two four-light windows on the south side. There 

 is a door with a semi-octagonal porch and gallery stair- 

 case in the south-west corner, an addition to the plan 

 of the chapel in its rebuilding of 1874. The nave 

 aisles proper are 1 2 ft. wide, and have each two 

 pointed windows opposite the second and third bays 

 respectively of three cinquefoiled lights with hollow 

 chamfered mullions running up to the heads. The 

 north aisle has a doorway opposite the first bay from 

 the west, with a modern north porch, and at the 

 west end is lit by a two-light pointed window with 

 trefoiled lights and quatrefoil over in the style of 

 the 1 4th century, with external chamfered jambs and 

 head and without a label, said to be a copy of an old 

 window formerly in the same position. The south 

 aisle has a doorway with a four-centred arch, under an 

 open porch, opposite the first bay, and a three-light 

 window at the west end. The porch which, as 

 already stated, was rebuilt in 1756, has a semicircular 

 arch on imposts, and a stone gable with date and in- 

 scription. There is a stone bench on each side, and 

 the door is an old one studded with nails. There are 

 iron gates to the outer doorway. Each aisle has a 

 second set of three square-headed windows of three 

 lights each, placed high up in the wall to light the 

 galleries. The galleries themselves are good specimens 

 of 1 8th-century woodwork, with panelled fronts above 

 a classic cornice. The aisle roofs are modern with 

 exposed rafters and purlins and curved wind braces. 

 A stone half-arch is carried across each aisle at the 

 east end between the chapels and the aisle proper, and 

 opposite the piers from which the old chancel arch 

 would spring. 



The tower, which is of three stages, is 19 ft. 

 square outside, and rises 42 ft. above the ridge of the 



roof, its total height being 86 ft. It has buttresses of 

 seven stages with moulded set-offs set square at the 

 angles, the top and bottom stages having panelled 

 fronts, and the buttresses finish in gablets under an 

 embattled parapet. There is an external vice in the 

 north-east corner to the height of the ringers' story, 

 finished with an embattled top lighted by quatrefoil 

 openings. It is entered from the outside, but is a 

 modern addition, the original staircase having been in 

 the south-west angle. The tower arch is now opened 

 out to the nave and the west window exposed. The 

 arch has two chamfered orders of original masonry, 

 but the jambs, which have moulded bases and capitals, 

 are new. 1 * The west door is a restoration with con- 

 tinuous mouldings to jambs and head, and a string- 

 course over. Above there is a new window in the 

 style of the 1 5th century, of three lights with traceried 

 head. Above this again in the ringing chamber is a 

 modern square-headed window of two trefoiled lights, 

 replacing a smaller single-light window which formerly 

 lit the chamber already mentioned in the note. The 

 ringers' room also has a single-light window on the 

 south side, and above this, facing north, south, and 

 east, is a clock, placed here in 1 8 1 1 . The north and 

 south sides of the tower are plain and unrelieved up 

 to this height, but above the clock is a moulded string- 

 course on each face. The belfry stage above has a 

 three-light louvred window on each side with traceried 

 head and hood-mould, and the tower is crowned by 

 an embattled and panelled parapet, originally with 

 angle and intermediate pinnacles, above a moulded 

 string-course with gargoyles at the angles. 16 The 

 tower has a pyramidal roof covered with grey stone 

 slates, and a good 18th-century weather vane." 



The fittings, including the font and pulpit, are all 

 modern, but there is an oak chest of 16th-century 

 date in the vestry with three locks and strong iron 

 bands, and a good 18th-century brass chandelier in 

 the nave. The gallery fronts have already been men- 

 tioned. Booker mentions a penance form in I743. 18 

 The chancel has a carved oak screen and canopied 

 stalls of good modern workmanship. The organ was 

 not introduced till i825. 19 



The church contains but few monuments, and these 

 for the most part of little interest. The Wilton 

 chapel was the burial place of the family of the Earl 

 of Wilton, but the vault was finally closed in 1885. 

 There was formerly a conspicuous monument to the 

 first Earl of Wilton (died 1814) and members of his 

 family in the chapel, but during the rebuilding and 

 restoration it was removed, and has not been re- 

 erected. 10 The chapel contains memorials to other mem- 

 bers of the Egerton family, but all are of modern date.* 1 



In the vestry safe are kept fourteen old deeds re- 

 lating to the church, eleven on parchment and three, 

 in the nature of memoranda, on paper. They mostly 

 refer to relations between the churches of Prestwich 

 and Oldham, and one is a very interesting contract 

 for the building of the nave of Oldham Church. 

 These were recovered by the Rev. J. Booker when 

 writing his ' Memorials of Prestwich Church/ they 



15 Formerly the ringers' chamber 

 occupied the upper part of the lower stage 

 of the tower, and there was a smaller 

 chamber above it from which access was 

 obtained to the roof of the church. 



16 During some repairs in ij%z the 

 pinnacles were taken down, and have not 

 been replaced ; Booker, Prestwich. 



17 On the battlement is cut : Thit 

 roof was repaired in 1763 by the parish.' 



18 Op. cit. 37. 



19 Booker, op. cit 44. In 1761 Sir 

 John Prestwich had promised an organ, 

 but the parishioners were not unanimous 

 as to accepting it, and it was not given. A 



7 



bassoon, hautboy, and bass viol were in 

 use ; ibid. 39, 40. 



80 The inscription is given by Booker, 

 op. cit. 63. 



21 A list of all the monumental inscrip- 

 tions in the church is given in Booker, 

 pp. 60-70, and the more recent ones in 

 Geo. Middleton, Annals of Prettwich^ 1902. 



