A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Instituted 



3 June 1351 



29 Aug. 1386 

 16 June I 390 



3 A P r - *395 

 14 Apr. 1402 



1462 . 



c. 1492 . . 

 ? 1522 . . . 



23 Feb. 1540-1 

 1559 . . 

 13 Jan. 1584-5 

 10 Oct. 1614. 



24 July 1618 

 10 Jan. 1633-4 



1659 . . 



Name 



William de Langley 43 . 

 William de Preston 44 . 

 William de Ferriby 45 . 

 Robert Collan 46 . . 

 Robert de Hopwood a 

 John Barton 4S . . . 

 Mr. Edmund Ashton 49 

 Mr. John Claydon 50 . . 

 Robert Assheton 51 . . 

 John Assheton b * . . 



Patron 



Duke of Lancaster 



Ralph de Barton . 



Ralph de Barton . 



Ralph de Barton . 



The King . . . 

 Richard Barton 



Edmund Hopwood 



Cause of Vacancy 

 res. R. de Cudworth 

 d. W. de Langley 

 res. W. de Preston 

 d. William 

 d. R. Collan 



[ Edward Assheton 53 . . 



Abdie Assheton, B.D. 54 . 

 William Assheton " . . 

 ? Thomas Johnson, M.A. 56 . 



d. J. Barton 



d. J. Claydon 

 res. R. Assheton 



Will. Assheton . . . . d. J. Assheton 



Robt. Holt, &c. 

 Ralph Assheton 



d. E. Assheton 

 d. A. Assheton 

 d. W. Assheton 



48 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 128* ; a clerk. 

 Henry Duke of Lancaster presented for this 

 turn by reason of the forfeiture of John de 

 Ainsworth, possessor of the manor of 

 Middleton. In 1366 and again in 1371 

 William de Langley had leave of absence 

 for a year ; ibid, v, fol. 136, 24*. He is 

 supposed to have been a member of the 

 family of Langley (or Longley, as it was 

 usually spelt) in Middleton, and nearly re- 

 lated to the Langleys who acquired Age- 

 croft and Prestwich by marriage, acting as 

 trustee for a settlement in 1352; Final 

 Cone, ii, 132. He died 1 1 July 1386. 



44 Lich. Epis. Reg. vi, fol. 5253 chaplain. 

 In June 1389 William de Preston, rector 

 of Middleton, was empowered to nominate 

 general attorneys during his absence be- 

 yond the limits of the Duchy of Lancas- 

 ter ; Towneley MS. CC, no. 342. 



44 Lich. Epis. Reg. (note by Mr. Ear- 

 waker). He is no doubt the ' Sir William, 

 last rector,' who died at York 23 Mar. 

 1394-5,33 appears by the institution of 

 his successor. 



To William de Ferriby, B. Can. L., 

 Boniface IX granted in 1389 provision of 

 a canonry of Lincoln, &c., notwithstand- 

 ing that he held the parish church of 

 Whiston in the diocese of York ; Cal. 

 Papal Letters, iv, 345. Four years later 

 William Ferriby, priest, of the diocese of 

 York, obtained a dispensation to hold two 

 benefices with cure of souls ; ibid, iv, 465. 



46 Lich. Epis. Reg. vi, fol. 59^ ; a priest. 

 He died at Easter, 1402. 



Robert Collayn, chaplain, was a feoffee 

 of the manor of Middleton in 1370; 

 Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 1 30. 



V Lich. Epis. Reg. vii, fol. 88 ; a clerk. 

 The king presented on account of the 

 minority of Richard son and heir of Ralph 

 Barton. Hopwood was still rector in 

 1443 and 1448; ibid, ix, fol. 126; Kuerden 

 fol. MS. 79 (C). According to Mr. Harland 

 he was a son of Geoffrey de Hopwood, 

 and occurs as rector down to 1457 : 

 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 479. 



48 Lich. Epis. Reg. xii, fol. 100 ; the 

 bishop on 20 Mar. 1461-2 directed the 

 Archdeacon of Chester to inquire as to 

 the patronage of Middleton, 'a certain 

 Richard Barton having presented Sir John 

 Barton, priest.' For the reason of the 

 inquiry see the account of the descent of 

 the manor. 



John Barton, rector of Middleton, was 

 a feoffee of Thomas son and heir of 

 James Chetham of Nuthurst, about 1480 ; 

 Clowes D. He was rector in 1487 ; ibid, 

 no. 139. 



49 In the Examinations touching Cockey 

 Moor (Chet. Soc. Misc. i), about 1514, 

 Oliver Isherwood, parish priest (or curate) 



of Middleton for 37 years fifteen under 

 John Barton, and twenty-two under Ed- 

 mund Ashton describes how he and other 

 ' good priests ' sat at Radcliffe Church to 

 hear the confessions of the people of Ains- 

 worth during Lent, and minister to them 

 the sacrament of the altar, the rector's 

 deputy at the same time receiving the 

 dues ; p. 10. 



Edmund Ashton was probably a son of 

 Sir Ralph Ashton. He studied at Cam- 

 bridge ; Grace Bk. A (Luard Mem.), 119. 

 His brass in the chancel, formerly in the 

 rector's chapel, states that he died 20 Aug. 

 1522 ; Thornely's Brasses, 147 ; see also 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), vi, 259. 



* Rector in 1534; Valor Eccl. The 

 contemporary John Clayden, who was 

 fellow of Manchester, appears to have been 

 a different person ; Raines, Fellows of 

 Mancb. (Chet. Soc.), i, 39-41. 



John Claydon or Clayden was also 

 master of Attleborough College in 1524 

 and 1534 ; L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, 57 j 

 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 318. Also 

 incumbent of ' Ratingdon,' diocese Lond., 

 which was, in 1541, vacant by his death ; 

 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, 331. His will 

 is in P.C.C., F. 23 Alenger. 



81 Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 38 ; a 

 chaplain. Sir John Byron and other feoffees 

 of Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton had 

 made a grant of the next presentation to 

 Edmund Hopwood and Gervase Strick- 

 land ; the latter having died, the former 

 alone presented. Robert Assheton was also 

 rector of Radcliffe from 1537. He is 

 said to have died in 1563 ; Baines, Lanes. 

 (ed. Croston), iii, 430. 



62 Also rector of Radcliffe ; paid first- 

 fruits 29 Nov. 1559; Lanes, and Ches. 

 Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 11,409, 

 where art printed the payments of first- 

 fruits down to 1659. He was buried at 

 Middleton 9 Oct 1584. 



"Church P. at Chester Dioc. Reg. 

 Edward Assheton paid first fruits 10 Nov. 

 1584. He was brother of the patron fui 

 that turn (William Assheton of Clegg in 

 Rochdale), but owing to some informality 

 was instituted a second time in 1614. In 

 1 60 1 the rector and curate did not wear 

 the surplice, and in 1605 the rector did 

 not always do so ; Visit. P. at Chester. 

 He was buried at Middleton 8 July 1618. 

 See the account of him by Canon Raines 

 in Cbet. Misc. (Chet. Soc.), v (i), 42-5 ; an 

 abstract of his will is given. An Edward 

 Ashton, B.A., of St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge, was incorporated at Oxford in 

 1572 ; Foster's Alumni. 



64 From this time the institutions have 

 been taken from the Institution Books, 

 P.R.O., as printed in Lanes, and Ches. 



158 



Antiq. Notes. The patrons for this turn 

 were Robert Holt, John Greenhalgh, and 

 Robert Hey wood. 



Abdie Assheton (son of John, a preced- 

 ing rector) was baptized at Middleton 

 I Nov. 1563 and buried there 13 Nov. 

 1633. He was elected fellow of St. 

 John's College, Cambridge in 1589, and a 

 life of Dr. Whitaker, master of the col- 

 lege, has been attributed to him ; Baker, 

 Hist, of St. John's Coll. (ed. Mayor), i, 

 291, 1 86. There is a long account of 

 him by Canon Raines in the Langley 

 Autobiog. (Chet. Misc. vi), 14-16 ; see 

 also N. and Q. (5th ser.), xii, 436. 



55 Paid firstfruits on the same day. He 

 was a brother of the patron. 



In 1650 it was reported that he sup- 

 plied the cure 'very weakly,' giving 'no 

 satisfaction to his congregation ' ; he did 

 not expound chapter or psalm or catechize 

 the youth of the parish ; Commoniv. Cb. 

 Suri>. 23. He refused to take part in the 

 Bury Classis. According to Adam Martin- 

 dale (Autobiog. Chet. Soc. 59) he was 'an 

 honest, humble man, considering his high 

 birth, but accounted an exceeding mean 

 preacher.' He was buried at Middleton 

 24 Sept. 1659. His epitaph describes him 

 as ' eminent in learning, orthodox in judg- 

 ment, singular in piety, and admirable for 

 his patience, meekness, and all other 

 Christian virtues.' See the biography in 

 Shaw's Bury Classis (Chet. Soc.), ii, 209- 

 1 1, where his will is printed in full. 



His son William, baptized at Middle- 

 ton 17 June 1642, entered Brasenose Col- 

 lege in 1658, and became fellow in 1663 ; 

 M.A. 1665; D.D. 1674. He held various 

 ecclesiastical benefices, becoming rector of 

 Beckenham in 1677 ; he was also a pre- 

 bendary of York. He proposed an assurance 

 scheme for the maintenance of clergymen's 

 widows and others, and induced the Mer- 

 cers' Company to take it up, but it failed. 

 He was also the author of numerous pub- 

 lications, including Toleration Disapproved 

 and Condemned and Possibility of Appari- 

 tions, a result of De Foe's story of Mrs. 

 Veale's ghost. He died in 1711, and his 

 Life was written by the Rev. T. Watts. 

 See the account in Baines, Lanes, (ed. 

 1836), ii, 606-10 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. 



56 Previously rector of Halsall. The 

 name is given from Baines, Lanes, (ed. 

 Croston), iii, 403 ; in the account of 

 the following rector it is stated that Robert 

 Simmonds was * elected by the people,' but 

 refused by the Classis on account of many 

 previous acts of insubordination ; and that 

 a Mr. Folgate was appointed, who before 

 the Classis posed as a rigid Presbyterian, 

 but in his parish as willing to adopt some 

 of the forbidden ceremonies. 



