A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Institution 



1572 

 6 July 1608 . 



23 Aug. 1623 

 1 6 Mar. 1632-3 



1654 . . 



1654-6 . 



2 Mar. 1660-1 

 26 Feb. 1674-5 

 19 May 1710 

 19 July 1743 . 



6 Feb. 1778 



Name 



Patron 



Peter Shaw, B.D. 38 .... 

 Hugh Watmough, B.D. 39 . . 

 George Murray, B.D. 40 . . 

 Peter Travers, B.D. 41 . . . 

 William Alt, M.A." . . . 

 John Lightfoot 43 . . . . 

 John Greenhalgh, D.D. 44 . 

 Thomas Gipps, B.D. 45 . . . 

 James Bankes, M.A. 46 . . . 

 Hon. John Stanley, D.D. 47 . 

 Sir William Henry Clerke, 

 B.C.L. 48 



Cause of Vacancy 



John Favour 

 Earl of Derby 



bart., 



Oliver, Protector 

 Countess of Derby 



Earl of Derby . 

 Thos. Bankes . 

 Earl of Derby . 



d P. Shaw 



d. H. Watmough 



d. G. Murray 



sermon. Robert Cottam, a priest, once 

 curate of Longridge, had paid him a visit 

 when he lay sick. As being resident in 

 Lord Derby's house he did not himself 

 teach the Catechism to the youth of the 

 parish. The Communion, he believed, 

 was administered once a year only, unless 

 sick folk asked for it. He had never 

 been at burials or wakes ; Raines MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), xxii, fol. 531. From these 

 replies it would appear that he had actu- 

 ally been in charge for some time, though 

 not instituted. The admission asked for 

 was no doubt refused, but Shireburne be- 

 came rector of Brindle (q.v.). 



88 Paid first-fruits 20 Nov. 1572 ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Rec. ii, 410. Collated to the 

 sixth prebendal stall at Durham, 1572 ; 

 Le Neve, Fasti, iii, 313. He was plain- 

 tiffin a tithe case in 1598 ; Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), iii, 386. The ' wife of John 

 Shaw, old Mrs. Shaw, the parson's 

 mother,' was buried 4 May 1597, and the 

 parson himself on n July 1608 ; Bury 

 Reg. His son became rector of RadclifFe. 



8 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, fol. 

 72 ; the patron for this turn was vicar of 

 Halifax. The rector had been educated 

 at University College, Oxford ; M.A. 

 1586; B.D. 1594; rector of Thornton- 

 in-Craven, 1599-1623 ; Foster, Alumni ; 

 Whitaker, Craven. Paid first-fruits 17 

 Dec. 1608 ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. ii, 411. 

 He was buried 21 Aug. 1623 ; Bury Reg. 

 There is an allusion to him in N. Asshe- 

 ton's Journ. (Chet. Soc.), 6. 



40 The dates of institution, &c., from 

 this time onward to 1800 are taken from 

 the Inst. Bks. P.R.O., as printed in 

 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Notes. For 

 fuller accounts of the modern rectors see 

 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), iii, 98101. 



George Murray was of Queens' College, 

 Cambridge, and had been tutor of Lord 

 Strange ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 

 fol. 72. He paid first-fruits 17 Nov. 

 1623 ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. ii, 412 

 (where the name is given as Massye). He 

 was a prebendary of Lichfield from 1623 

 to 1633 ; Le Neve, Fasti, i, 590, 602. 

 Buried 12 Mar. 1632-3 ; Bury Reg. His 

 will was proved at Chester in 1633. 



41 Paid first-fruits 31 May 1633 ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Rec. ii, 413. The name is also 

 spelt Travis. Shortly afterwards he was 

 appointed rector of Halsall, retaining both 

 benefices till ejected by the Parliamen- 

 tarians, on account of his zealous adhesion 

 to the royal side in the war. On 24 April 

 1641; it was ordered that as Peter Travers 

 was ' disaffected to the Parliament and the 

 proceedings thereof,' and was actually at 

 Lathom House, a hostile garrison, his 

 rectory should be sequestered ; and that 

 William Alt and Andrew Lathom, 'godly 

 and orthodox divines,' should ' officiate the 

 cure ' and take for their pains the rectory 

 house, tithes, and other profits. Mr. La- 

 thom dying, Mr. Toby Furness, another 



' godly and orthodox divine,' was ' settled 

 in the rectory' in his place. A tenth 

 part of the profits was paid to Mrs. Doro- 

 thy Travers, wife of the sequestered rector, 

 for the maintenance of herself and her 

 children ; Common-wealth Cb. Surv. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 38-40. It is 

 clear that the three ministers named were 

 rather curates in charge during the seques- 

 tration than rectors. Toby Furness had 

 had a similar charge at Prestwich ; he 

 signed the ' Harmonious Consent" in 1648, 

 and continued to minister at Bury till his 

 death about 1653 ; Bury Classis (Chet. 

 Soc.), i, 90, 135. For Andrew Lathom, 

 see ibid, ii, 2424 ; his will is printed. 



An incident of the time should be re- 

 corded: The Manchester Parliamentarians 

 took from the church of Bury 'the sur- 

 plice, and put it on the back of a soldier, 

 and caused him to ride in the cart the 

 arms were carried in, to be matter of sport 

 and laughter to the beholders ' ; Lanes. 

 War (Chet. Soc.), ix. 



43 Rector Travers appears to have died 

 by 1654, for Halsall as well as Bury was 

 filled up in that year ; Plund. Mins. Accts. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 49, 60. 

 William Alt, as ' minister of Bury,' signed 

 the 'Harmonious Consent' of 1648. He 

 had been a curate of Bury for many years, 

 his name appearing in the registers from 

 1628. He died 5 April 1656, and was 

 buried at Bury. See the account of him 

 in Bury Classis (Chet. Soc.), ii, 208. 



43 Paid first-fruits 4 July 1656 ; Lanes, 

 and Cbes. Rec. ii, 414. He was presented 

 in July 1654 by the Countess of Derby 

 (Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 46) ; but the Pro- 

 tector's presentation appears to have pre- 

 vailed, though Lightfoot succeeded after 

 William Alt's death. He is identified by 

 Dr. W. A. Shaw with John son of the 

 celebrated Dr. John Lightfoot ; Bury 

 Classis, ii, 246. He was Episcopalian in 

 his leanings, and was in 1655 denounced 

 by the congregation of Bury for ' certain 

 mistakes and miscarriages in point of 

 doctrine and practice' ; ibid. 142. From 

 the date it would appear that he took up 

 his residence at Bury in the lifetime of 

 Mr. Alt, and also ministered there. In 

 1659 ne was engaged in suits respecting 

 tithes ; Excb. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 32, 33. He became vicar of Bow- 

 don in 1660, and died in 1661. He had 

 been an advocate of the Restoration, and 

 is said to have been deprived of his bene- 

 fice for praying publicly for the king at 

 the time of Sir George Booth's rising ; 

 Mancb. Guardian Local N. and Q. no. 577. 



44 He was a son of John Greenhalgh of 

 Brandlesholme, and educated at St. John's 

 College, Cambridge ; Admissions St. John's 

 Col. i, 9; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 126. 

 He was elected fellow of his College in 

 1632, but expelled by the Earl of Man- 

 chester (for the Parliament) in 1644 ; 

 Baker, Hist, of St. John's Col. (ed. Mayor), 



126 



res. J. Lightfoot 

 d. J. Greenhalgh 

 d. T. Gipps 

 d. J. Bankes 

 res. J. Stanley 



i, 294, 296. He was a Royalist, and 

 attended the Earl of Derby on his way to 

 Bolton in 1651, being afterwards chaplain 

 at Knowsley ; Stanley Papers (Chet. Soc.), 

 iii, pp. ccxxxix, cclxxvii. He took the 

 D.D. degree in 1672. He died 27 Oct. 

 1674; Bury Reg. Hi will was proved 

 at Chester. 



45 He was a correspondent of John 

 Walker, author of The Sufferings of the 

 Clergy ; Bury Classis, ii. He was edu- 

 cated at Trinity College, Cambridge, of 

 which he became fellow ; M.A. 1662. In 

 1674 he received a faculty to preach 

 throughout England and Ireland from 

 James, Duke of Monmouth, then Chan- 

 cellor of the University ; Stratford, Visit. 

 List, Chester. Hi sermon at the Preston 

 Gild of 1682 was published, and in 1697 

 he printed a sermon Against Corrupting 

 the Word of God, directed against the 

 Presbyterians, which roused some contro- 

 versy ; Fishwick, La. Lib. 391-2. His 

 will was proved at Chester in 1710. 



A terrier compiled by this rector in 

 1696 for the benefit of his successor is in 

 the possession of W. Farrer. There is a 

 copy in Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 

 fol. 368. It contains a full account of the 

 rector's dues and the tenants of the glebe, 

 with advice as to dealing with the people, 

 especially those of Tottington. The Easter 

 dues were as follows : House and offering, 

 $d. ; every communicant, \d. ; garden, 

 id. ; hen, id. ; cow, \d. ; calf, \d. (ex- 

 cept there be seven); plough, 4</.; foal, id. ; 

 sheep, each id. ; every lamb, id. (except 

 there be seven) ; every loom, id. ; every 

 swarm of bees, id. ; wintering only sheep, 

 each \d. ; or summering them only, \d. 



46 Church P. at Chester. Thomas 

 Bankes had the right of presentation for 

 that turn only. The date in the text is 

 that of presentation. There was probably 

 some dispute as to title, for the new rector 

 was not instituted till 5 March 1712-13. 



The rector was of the Winstanley 

 family, and founded a charity for the poor. 

 An anecdote of him is in Raines MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.),xxxi, fol. 278. 



James Bankes, of Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, M.A. 1686, became rector of 

 Lilley 1 706 ; Foster, Alumni Oxon. 



4 < Also rector of Winwick, under which 

 church he is noticed. At Bury he founded 

 a charity school, and started a dispensary. 

 Some anecdotes of him will be found in 

 Raines MSS. xxxi, fol. 335, 355. 



48 Educated at Oxford ; fellow of All 

 Souls ; B.C.L. 1778. Succeeded his 

 brother as eighth baronet in the same 

 year ; G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iii, 8 1. 

 He is said to have been a charitable man, 

 but incapable of managing his affairs ; his 

 creditors came upon him, the benefice was 

 sequestrated, and he died in the Fleet 

 Prison ; Raines MSS. xxxi, fol. 344. 



A further account of his speculations is 

 given in Barton, Bury, 106, 107. 



