A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Numerous disputes are on record concerning the 

 wastes and commons." In 1618 the tenants agreed 

 to pay a composition of 1,420, and arrearages of 

 264 for a confirmation of their title as copyholders, 

 but this was not fully carried out until i66g. 33 



The land tax returns show that the principal pro- 

 prietors in Tottington Higher End in 1796 were the 

 Rev. Mr. Formby and Lawrence Rawstorne ; and in 

 Lower End in 1797 William Lomax and Thomas 

 Barcroft.* 4 



Ancient chapels exist at Holcombe ** 

 CHURCHES and Edenfield. At HOLCOMBE there 

 remained in 1552 two sets ofvestments, 

 some bells, and other * ornaments.' 36 After this time 

 Holcombe Chapel probably continued to be ' main- 

 tained by the inhabitants,' 37 there being no endow- 

 ment, and in 1634 it had a curate of its own. 88 The 

 steward of the king's courts for Tottington held the 

 courts in this chapel in 1633 ; on finding the build- 

 ing locked against him he fined the wardens 40. 

 The commissioners of 1650 found it vacant 'for 

 want of maintenance,' and recommended that it be 



made a parish church. 39 From the Restoration to 

 the beginning of last century this chapel and Eden- 

 field appear to have been served by the same curate. 40 

 It was enlarged in 1714 and again in 1774, and re- 

 built in 1853 ; it is now called Emmanuel Church. 41 

 A separate district was assigned to it in 1863." The 

 rector of Bury is patron. 



The following have been curates and rectors : 4S 



oc. 1609 Thomas Scholefield 44 



oc. 1615 William Rathbone 



oc. 1620, 1624 John Blagge (or Bragge) tf 



oc. 1634-41 Edmond Brooks 46 



oc. 1645 John Pollitt 47 



oc. 1645 Nicholas Cudworth 48 



oc. 1647-48 Robert Gilbody 49 



1652 Henry Pendlebury, M.A. 50 (Christ's 



Coll. Camb.) 



oc. 1667-91 John Warburton, M.A. 51 



oc. 1696 William Richardson 



oc. 1705 James Murray 



oc. 1712 Richard Slater 



81 In 1 540 Robert Holt and other 

 tenants of Tottington made complaint 

 against John Bradshaw and others re- 

 specting the common in Affetside ; Du- 

 catus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 62, 72. In 

 1554 the tenants complained that Roger 

 Gartside had trespassed on the waste ; 

 ibid, i, 282. 



83 The documents are printed in Mr. 

 Dowsett's Holcombe Long Ago, 25-36 ; 

 see also Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Lanes, and 

 Ches. Rec. Soc.), ii, 276, 277. The 

 tenants alleged 'with regard to their 

 ancient copyhold lands and the commons, 

 &c. (which they owned were the king's 

 and had never been demised by copy of 

 Court Roll), that they had usually and 

 respectively every one in his own copy- 

 hold land been accustomed, time im- 

 memorial, at their free will and pleasure 

 upon any occasion to dig, take, and get 

 coals, slate stones and other stones, marl, 

 clay, sods, turves, and peat,' and had 

 common of pasture and turbary on the 

 commons, moors, and waste grounds, and 

 liberty to get coal, slate stones, &c., for 

 use upon their lands in Tottington. They 

 had resisted ' the arbitrary, excessive, and 

 unaccustomed fines which had of late 

 been taxed and claimed,' but made a 

 composition as stated in the text. An 

 Act of Parliament was to have been 

 passed for confirming the title, but 

 nothing was done till 1641. This Bill 

 did not receive the royal assent, and an 

 Act in 1650 being judged insecure, an- 

 other Act was passed in 1662 ; 23 & 24 

 Chas. II, cap. 21 (private). 



A grant of two mills in Tottington 

 was made in 1609 ; Pat. 7 Jas. I, pt. vii. 



84 Land tax returns at Preston. 



85 This chapel is probably of remote 

 origin. It is mentioned incidentally in the 

 Tottington Court Roll of 1509, Richard 

 Kay of Sheep Hey having made an as- 

 sault on Hugh Hartside in the chapel of 

 Holcombe. 



The spelling Holecumbe occurs in 1265 

 in a plea in Curia Regis R. 179, m. 5 d. 



88 Ch. Goods (Chet. Soc.), 46. The 

 goods of the chapel were sold for 

 3 6s. 8</.; Raines, Chantries (Chet. 

 Soc.), ii, 271, 273. Warden Wroe 

 reported that it was consecrated in the 

 time of Elizabeth ; Notitia Cestr. ii, 33. 

 Perhaps the old building had become 



ruinous, for in 1717 it was the tradition 

 that the existing chapel had been built 

 for a prison. It was 49 ft. long by 23 ft. 

 9 in. wide, and 10 ft. 9 in. high. The 

 pulpit, screen, and some of the oak 

 benches were set up in 1696. In 1714 

 it was repewed, a reading desk and war- 

 den's pew being erected out of old 

 benches ; ibid, ii, 36 n. 



8 7 So about 1610; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 12. 



88 This seems to have been a tem- 

 porary arrangement, enforced by Bishop 

 Bridgeman, who ' compelled each chapelry 

 [i.e. Holcombe and Edenfield] to allow 

 10 per annum apiece to the minister 

 whom they should choose, or he should 

 send, to officiate once a month in each 

 chapel; but now [1706] there are only 

 contributions of about 8 per annum to 

 both ; ' Notitia, loc. cit. The number of 

 services required should be noticed ; it 

 was no doubt an improvement on what 

 had been. The monthly service con- 

 tinued down to 1733, when the curate 

 began a fortnightly service, going to 

 Edenfield the alternate Sundays ; Hol- 

 combe Long A go, 85. 



89 Common-wealth Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 44. Holcombe was 

 made a separate parish in 1659, but tn ' 3 

 decree was treated as null on the Restora- 

 tion ; Plund. Mlm. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 274. The Lower 

 End of Tottington was assigned to it ; a 

 list of the tenants is given. 



40 So Bishop Gastrell, loc. sup. cit.; 'no- 

 thing certain ' then belonged to the chapel. 



41 Holcombe became a perpetual curacy 

 in 1725. In addition to the fortnightly 

 Sunday service, with two sermons, the 

 sacrament was administered four times a 

 year. On Easter Day, Whit Sunday, and 

 Christmas Day, the incumbent attended 

 at the mother church of Bury ; Hol- 

 combe Long Ago, 85. 



The old chapel was taken down in 

 1851 ; an account of it and the building 

 of the present church is given in the 

 work cited, 87-98. There is a view in 

 Notes on Holcombe, 69. 



48 Land. Gaa. 20 Nov. 1863. It was 

 declared a rectory in 1866 ; ibid. 3 Apr. 



48 This list is mainly taken from Mr. 

 Dowsett's Notes on Holcombe, 82-5, and 

 Holcombe Long Ago, 138. 



148 



44 Visit. List at Chest. Dioc. Reg. 



45 Note by Mr. Earwaker from Chest. 

 Registry. 



46 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 95. His name occurs at the end of 

 the Protestation of 1641. 



4 7 Afterwards at Milnrow. 



48 Afterwards at Manchester, Sec. Noah 

 son of Nicholas Cudworth, minister at 

 Holcombe, was baptized at Bury, 22 Mar. 

 1645-6. 



** Bury Classis (Chet. Soc.), 28, &c. 

 He was very soon in trouble, being ac- 

 cused of frequenting the ale-house on 

 Sabbath days and fast-days, playing at 

 bowls, breaking forth ' into much rage 

 and unseemly expressions," &c.; ibid. 77, 

 82-5, 87. He signed the ' Harmonious 

 Consent ' as minister of Holcombe in 

 1648, but seems to have left soon after, 

 and became minister of Haslingden ; 

 ibid. 227, 228. 



40 Ibid. 128. He became one of the 

 foremost Nonconformists of the time. 

 He was born at Jowkin in Bamford 

 (Bury) in 1626, educated at Christ's 

 College, Cambridge ; became a minister 

 in 1650 at Horwich, removing to Hol- 

 combe in 1652 ; was ejected in 1662, 

 but continued to minister in the neigh- 

 bourhood until his death in 1695. He 

 was interred in Bury churchyard on 

 20 June 1695, a multitude of people 

 attending and making 'great lamentation 

 over him ' ; Nightingale, Lanes. Noncon- 

 formity, iii, 154 ; Manch. Guardian N. and 

 Q. no. 570, 602, 728 ; W. Hewitson in 

 Heywood N. and Q. notes 318, 320, con- 

 taining much new matter. He wrote 

 a number of sermons and tracts, the 

 principal of which is a Plain Representation 

 of Transubstantiation, 1687. 



61 He was there from about 1667 till 

 1691 (or later), as appears from Stratford's 

 Visitation List. In 1671 he wrote that 

 he had been promised 301. a year by 

 Edward Kenyon, rector of Prestwich 

 (died 1668), as stipend for his service at 

 the chapels of Edenfield and Holcombe ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 87. 

 He is perhaps the John Warburton son 

 of Francis Warburton of Stubbins who 

 entered St. John's College, Cambridge, 

 in 1639, and took the M.A. degree in 

 1664 ; Admissions to St. John's Col, i, 

 44- 



