SALFORD HUNDRED 



includes Oldham, and the rector receives the commu- 

 tation for the tithes of the chapelry. Even in official 

 documents, however, Oldham has from time to time 

 been styled a parish. 



There was no endowment, and the chapel is there- 

 fore not mentioned in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 

 I534. 130 The list of ornaments in 1552 shows that it 

 was well supplied at that time, there being at least three 

 altars. 131 Under the Commonwealth, Edmund Ashton, 

 farmer of the tithes, as the price of his peace with 

 the Parliamentary authorities, agreed to give 140 to 

 the chapels of Oldham and Shaw, of which jioo 

 went to the former. 132 On the lapse of this arrange- 

 ment at the Restoration, the curate again became 

 dependent on whatever stipend the rector of Prestwich 

 might assign him. 133 In the i8th century grants were 

 made by the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, the 

 lands therewith purchased yielding a rent of 22 in 

 I778. 13 * At this time, in addition to the ancient 

 Shaw chapel, three new churches had been built in 

 the neighbourhood, at Oldham, Hollinwood, and 

 Roy ton. 



The chapel became the head of an ecclesiastical 

 district in i835. 13i The rector of Prestwich presents 

 the incumbent, and the income is now $ 30 a year. 



PRESTWICH WITH 

 OLDHAM 



The following have been the parochial chaplains 

 and vicars : 



oc. 1379 John de Blackburne 136 



oc. 1411 Thomas Wild 



oc. 1517 N. Cowper 137 



oc. 1540 Thomas Sherock m 



oc. 1563 Roger Wrigley 139 



oc. 1585 Richard Bateson 14 



oc. 1589 Thomas Hunt m 



1619 Isaac Allen, M.A. 142 (Queen's and 



Oriel Colleges, Oxford) 

 oc. 1619 Hall 143 

 oc. 1 64 1 William Langley 144 



1 646 Humphrey Barnett 145 



1647 John Worthington, 146 B.A. (St. Catha- 



rine's Hall, Cambridge) 



1 647 Robert Constantine 147 



1650 John Lake, B.A. (St. John's College, 

 Cambridge) 148 



1654 Robert Constantine H9 



1662 Loben 150 

 oc. 1664 John Walworth 151 



1669 Isaac Harpur, 152 B.A. (St. John's Col- 

 lege, Cambridge) 



return for the tithes, is printed in Shaw, 

 Oldham, 163. 



In 1704 the rector, at the request of 

 the inhabitants, agreed to the separation 

 of Oldham, but the necessary Act of Par- 

 liament was not procured ; Raines papers 

 in Chet. Lib. 



iso There were no endowed chantries. 



In 1458 the 'tithes, oblations, and 

 emoluments belonging to the chapel of 

 Oldham ' were leased by the rector of 

 Prestwich to Lawrence Ashton, priest, 

 for 43 marks. The rector was to find a 

 parish priest for the chapel ; Raines D. 

 (Chet. Lib.) 3/41. 



181 Ch. Gds. 1552 (Chet. Soc.), 43. 



182 Plund. Mint. Accts. i, 3 9 ; Commontv. 

 Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 22. 



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

 ii, in, 112 ; 'the chapelry is very large,' 

 he notices, and 'the congregation very 

 numerous." There was an endowment of 

 2oj. per annum for the Haward Charity 

 sermon. There were four churchwardens, 

 one chosen by the rector, the others by 

 the parish. 



184 Booker, Prestwich, 85. An account 

 of the income in 1808 was given by 

 Thomas Fawcett, then chaplain ; he had 

 30 from the rector, about 40 from the 

 lands, and about 20 from surplice fees ; 

 Oldham Notet and Gleanings, iii, 93. 



135 Land. Gaz. 5 May 1835. 



186 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1500. 



18 ' Langley Autobiog. p. viii. He occurs 

 again in 1529. 



188 fj e was a lessee of Edmund Ashton 

 of Chadderton in 1540; Raines D. (Chet. 

 Lib.), bdle. 4, no. 59. 



As paid by the rector of Prestwich he 

 appears in the Clergy List of 1 541-2 (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 12. He is named 

 again in the Visitation Lists of 1548 and 

 I554-. 



139 Probably the Roger Wrigley who 

 was curate of Prestwich in 1541-2. He 

 occurs at Oldham in the Visitation Lists 

 of 1563, 1565, and 1567. He was still 

 curate in 1575 ; H. Pennant's Acct. Bk. 



140 Shaw, Oldham, 32. In the list of 

 curates, where no other reference is given, 

 this book should be consulted under the 

 date named. 



141 A Lancashire Thomas Hunt gradu- 

 ated B.A. at Oxford (Brasenose College) 

 in 1586; Foster, Alumni; but the Old- 

 ham curate is stated to have been ap- 

 pointed in 1580. He preached before 

 the Earl of Derby in 1589. Next year 

 he was summoned before the Bishop of 

 Chester to give evidence of conformity, 

 and Edmund Hopwood wrote to the arch- 

 bishop desiring that there should be no 

 interference with him as a 'discreet, 

 peaceable, and honest man.' In 1604 he 

 was again summoned before the bishop, as 

 one of the ringleaders of nonconformity ; 

 in the next year is a note in the register 

 of baptisms that three children were 

 ' christened with the cross by Mr. Masson,' 

 as if this were an exceptional ceremony. 

 Shortly afterwards Thomas Hunt became 

 master of the newly-founded grammar 

 school, so that he had the confidence of 

 the people. He retained his curacy, and 

 at a visitation in 1608 it was stated that 

 he did not wear the surplice, omitted the 

 cross in baptism, and at a burial did not 

 meet the corpse at the church stile. He 

 died in 1611. Perhaps Thomas Jackson, 

 master of the grammar school, also suc- 

 ceeded to the curacy ; Shaw ; see also 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 1, 1 6. 



Thomas Hunt, preacher of the Word 

 of God at Oldham, in 1609 received 

 12 IOJ. from James Ashton of Chadder- 

 ton as a half year's rent for ' all the white 

 tithes in the parish of Oldham ; ' Raines 

 Papers, Chet. Lib. 



143 Afterwards rector of Prestwich. In 

 1622 he was called 'lecturer,' while a 

 Mr. Dickonson was ' curate at Chadder- 

 ton ; ' Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i,6 7 . 



148 Named in the Visitation List. He 

 did not wear the surplice, and was sus- 

 pected of incontinency. 



144 Shaw, op. cit. 88, 90 ; he resided at 

 Chadderton. The Protestation was signed 

 by 553 people. 



145 He was a member of the Manchester 

 Classis in 1646 ; Mane A. Classis (Chet. 

 Soc.), i, 6. 



146 He was ordained and appointed in 

 1647 ; ibid, i, 35, 38 ; afterwards at 

 Tockholes. 



105 



14 7 He had officiated at Fairfield and 

 Buxton in Derbyshire ; was ' presented 

 by the people at Oldham for allowance to 

 be their minister' in Nov. 1647, and 

 approved by the classis ; ibid, i, 59, 64. 

 He signed the 'Harmonious Consent' in 

 1648, but refused the Engagement, and 

 was suspended ; in 1654 he was restored, 

 and continued at Oldham until 1662, 

 when he was ejected for nonconformity. 

 He then ministered privately during the 

 twenty years' proscription, and was the 

 founder of the Independent chapel at 

 Greenacres. He died at Manchester in 

 1699 ; ibid, iii, 424, 425. 



148 Afterwards rector of Prestwich, and 

 Bishop of Chichester. During his tenure 

 of the curacy at Oldham he resisted the 

 Classis as much as possible ; ibid, iii, 



375-95- 



149 Reinstated by an order of the Com- 

 mittee of Plundered Ministers 15 Oct. 

 1654 ; Plund. Mint. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 54. 



After the Restoration he was summoned 

 to answer the Bishop of Chester's official 

 on charges that he was ' not a lawful 

 ordained minister,' and had refused to read 

 the Book of Common Prayer, &c. ; the 

 churchwardens supported him, and had 

 refused to 'set up the old font in the 

 place where it anciently stood according 

 to the ancient custom of the Church,' 

 suffering it ' to lie indecently in the belfry 

 in scorn and derision.' Alexander Potter 

 of Foxdenton had endeavoured to procure 

 the resumption of the Prayer-book ser- 

 vices ; Chest. Consistory Ct, Rec. 1661. 



iso Mentioned by Calamy as a confor- 

 mist at Oldham. 



151 The name is also spelt Walwork. 



152 Admissions to St. John's College, i, 

 145 ; his tutor was Mr. Kenyon, after- 

 wards rector of Prestwich. He was or- 

 dained in 1664 and 1665. The date of 

 his appointment to the curacy is from 

 Stratford's Visitation List, 1691 ; but 

 from Harpur's list of preachers at Oldham, 

 printed in Pal. Note Bk. iv, 54-6, it is 

 clear that he was in charge from early in 

 1665, for on 5 Apr. of that year he 

 states that ' Mr. John Walworke, my pre- 

 decessor,' preached. 



