SALFORD HUNDRED 



regained his place before 1660, and his successor 

 appears to have become a zealous adherent of the epis- 

 copal discipline then restored. 82 



For the next century there is little to record. 

 Many of the rectors appear to have been non-resident, 

 a curate having charge. A view of the condition of 

 the parish in 1778 states that the rector had for 

 twenty years constantly resided and had kept a curate, 

 also in constant residence. Seven chapels of ease were 

 regularly served, each having its minister. At the 

 parish church there was divine service twice each 

 Sunday, with sermon each time, and ' on stated 

 holidays.' Catechizing took place for eight Sundays 

 in the summer. ' The Sacrament of the Lord's 

 Supper was duly administered every first Sunday of 

 the month, besides the great festivals and Good 

 Friday.' There were chapels for the Presbyterians 

 and the Methodists, and a few Quakers were known ; 

 but these Nonconformists were mostly of the lower 

 ranks. ' Popery ' was represented by eight or ten per- 

 sons, ' all of lower rank ' ; there was no resident 

 priest, meeting-place, or school. 88 Since then the 

 conditions have greatly changed, owing especially to 

 the growth of Oldham, Middleton, and Radcliffe ; 

 but it is of interest to have this statement of what an 



PRESTWICH WITH 

 OLDHAM 



18th-century rector thought was an orderly and well- 

 equipped parish. 



Among the curates of Prestwich should be named 

 the Rev. John Booker, whose histories of this and 

 other churches are of great value. 84 



There were formerly two endowed chantries in the 

 church. At the altar of St. Margaret, on the south 

 side of the chancel, was the Langley chantry, founded 

 by Agnes daughter of John Langley of Agecroft, 

 and wife of Sir Thomas Holt and then of Thomas 

 Manne. 85 The other chantry was founded by Ellis 

 Hulton. 86 At the confiscation the priests were cele- 

 brating according to their several foundations. 



Schools were founded at Oldham in 1606 ; at 

 Ringley in 1626 ; and at Stand in Pilkington in 

 1696 ; the last-named belonged to the Protestant 

 Nonconformists in 1 7 1 8. 87 



Various charitable endowments ex- 

 CH4RITIES isted at the date just named. 88 For 

 the Prestwich half of the parish 10 

 for the poor represents a gift by Sir Thomas Egerton in 

 I756. 89 For the township of Prestwich the principal 

 endowments are those of the Earl of Wilton in 1814 

 and Lewis Novelli in 1 844, producing nearly 60 ; 

 there are also a poor's stock and some special funds. 90 



iii, 375-95 ; also ii, 1 34, &c. Hisitipend 

 at Prestwich was 80 a year ; Commonw. 

 Ch. Sur-v. 15. From this record it ap- 

 pears that other ministers had been tried 

 at Prestwich Langley, Porter, and 

 Brierley. 



1652. Nehemiah Rathband ; Booker, 

 Prest-wich, 104. In 1656 he moved to 

 Keighley in Yorkshire ; Manch. Classis, 

 ii, 227 ; iii, 444. 



After Rathband's departure Rector 

 Allen seems to have regained his church ; 

 in October 1656 a letter was sent to him 

 desiring his appearance at the class, but 

 he paid no attention ; ibid, ii, 252-3. 

 He thus replied to the summons of the 

 Classis in 1658: 'We are unsatisfied what 

 you mean by your church, whether you 

 mean your church at Manchester, where 

 your classis is, .or you mean the church 

 of England. If you mean the church of 

 Manchester of your association, it is estab- 

 lished not so much by an ordinance of the 

 Lords and Commons in Parliament as by 

 later acts granting the free exercise of reli- 

 gion in doctrine and worship to all churches 

 and congregations in their own way. . . But 

 if your meaning be of the Church of Eng- 

 land, you are certainly mistaken and dare 

 not maintain it that the Protector or his 

 Council own presbytery and none but that 

 government'; Booker, Presnvich, 92, 

 quoting his Excommunicatio Excommunicata, 

 294-5. An accommodation was attempted; 

 Manch. Classis, iii, 296-9. 



Mr. Birch, the schoolmaster, who said 

 he was a deacon, continued to defy the 

 Classis down to 1649, baptizing children 

 and performing other ministerial acts ; 

 Manch. Classis, i, 47 ; ii, 101, 109, &c. 



In August 1657 John Angier and 

 William Coulburne were ordained at 

 Prestwich church ; ' Mr. Meeke began 

 with prayer, Mr. Newcome preached, 

 Mr. Harrison prayed after, Mr. Newcome 

 (for Mr. Heyrick) propounded the ques- 

 tions and gave the exhortation ' ; Manch. 

 Classis, ii, 269. It does not appear that 

 Mr. Allen was present. 



82 Edward Kenyon is mentioned a 

 number of times in Newcome's Diary 

 (Chet. Soc.), showing that he was friendly 

 with the Nonconformist divine ; but in 



the case of Mr. Constantine of Oldham, 

 ejected in 1662, he gave no satisfaction. 

 'Some men have a strange measure of 

 stiffness ; alas, what a temptation is this 

 wretched world ! " remarks Newcome, 



220. 



The churchwardens' accounts show that 

 the king's arms were set up in 1660 ; 

 while a surplice and linen table-cloth were 

 purchased in 1662, when also a ttone 

 font was again set up ; Booker, Preitivich, 

 23, 24. 



88 Booker, Prestwich, 82-8. The 

 curate's salary was c,o a year. A list 

 of the curates is given in the same work, 

 118-31. 



84 He was of Magdalene College, Cam- 

 bridge ; B.A. 1844, M.A. 1855. He was 

 ordained in the former year, and after 

 serving various curacies, including Prest- 

 wich from 1848 to 1858, was appointed 

 perpetual curate of Benhilton, Surrey, in 

 1863. He published Mem. of the Ch, in 

 Prestwicb in 1852 ; a Hist, of the Ancient 

 Chapel of Blackley, 1854; and through the 

 Chetham Society, Hist, of the Chapelt of 

 Denton, Didsbury, Chorlton, and Birch, 

 1855-8. He married the daughter of 

 Dr. Lee, first Bishop of Manchester. He 

 resigned his benefice in 1895, and died 

 two years later. 



8i Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), ii, 

 190-3. The endowment consisted of 

 burgages in Manchester, and tenements 

 in Halifax and Altrincham ; the net 

 revenue was j6s, %d. The priest, John 

 Hall, is named in the Visitation List of 

 1 548, but as moreuus is written against him, 

 he probably died about that time, being 

 succeeded by Lawrence Wallwork. The 

 chapel, as 'newly built,' is mentioned in 

 the wills of Robert Langley of Agecroft 

 and Eleanor his wife. 



86 Ibid, ii, 193 ; no particulars of the 

 endowment are given, but Canon Raines 

 found that lands in Hundersfield had be- 

 longed to it. The income was 4 IQJ. zd. 

 and the incumbent was Thomas Dodson, 

 who was still living in the parish in 1554- 



87 Gastrell, Notilia, ii, in, 116, 119. 



88 Ibid, ii, in, 116. An acre of land 

 at Rainsough in Prestwich, bought by the 

 inhabitants, brought in 4 a year, distri- 



75 



bated in linen cloth. The land seems 

 afterwards to have been used as the site 

 of the workhouse, occupied till 1869, 

 and sold in 1875. 



89 The following details are taken from 

 the report of the Endowed Charities in- 

 quiry, held in 1903 ; in it the report of 

 1826 is reprinted. 



In 1826 the 200 bequeathed by Sir 

 T. Grey Egerton was invested in a mort- 

 gage on land in Chadderton, and produced 

 10 a year, distributed by the church- 

 wardens at Christmas time. The capital 

 now consists of 333 railway stock, pro- 

 ducing 9 igs. gd. a year; the benefits 

 have long been restricted to the poor at- 

 tending the parish church of St. Mary. 



90 The poor's money in 1826 amounted 

 to 101 5*., having been contributed by a 

 number of benefactors from 1698 onwards. 

 There is a list in Booker, Prestwich, 75. 

 The money was in 1819 expended in 

 building the workhouse mentioned above, 

 and the overseers paid 5 a year as in- 

 terest ; this was expended on linen cloth 

 given to the poor. In 1846 the auditor 

 disallowed this payment ; but when the 

 workhouse was sold in 1875 107 of the 

 proceeds was set apart for the benefit of 

 the poor. The income, 2 i$s. 8*/., is 

 distributed with Sir Thomas Egerton's 

 charity. 



Sir Holland Egerton in 1730 left 20 

 to the poor of Prestwich and Great and 

 Little Heaton ; in 1826 the interest was 

 distributed in loaves once a month at 

 Prestwich Church, but being paid out of 

 the rates was afterwards disallowed by 

 the auditor and lost. 



Thomas, Earl of Wilton, in 1814 left 

 500 to trustees for the benefit of the 

 poor of the three townships named above, 

 and another $oo for the poor of the 

 Heatons ; the possessor of Heaton Hall 

 was to determine the manner of distribu- 

 tion. In 1826 a distribution of clothing 

 and blankets to the value of over ,100 

 (of which about 40 was the interest of 

 Lord Wilton's legacies) was made at the 

 hall to the poor of the district. The 

 capital is now ^1,117 consols, giving an 

 income of 27 181. %d. ; this is distri- 

 buted at Polefield Hall by the rector of 



