SALFORD HUNDRED 



MIDDLETON 



Name 



Robert Simmonds 57 .... 

 Richard Warburton, M.A. M . . 

 Henry Newcome, M.A. 59 . . 

 Samuel Sidebottom, M.A. m . . 



Francis Pigot, M.A 



Richard Assheton, D.D. 61 . . 



Robert Walker 



John Haughton, M.A. . . . 



James Archer 62 



Charles John Way, M.A. 6J . . 

 Richard Durnford, M.A. 64 . . 

 Waldegrave Brewster, M.A. ** . 

 Thomas Ebenezer Cleworth, M.A. 

 Robert Catterall 



Institution 



8 Nov. 1662 



15 June 1682 



1 6 Sept. 1701 

 26 Mar. 1714 



17 July 1752 

 26 July 1757 



20 Jan. 1801 



1 6 Mar. 1 8 1 8 

 30 Jan. 1829 



21 July 1832 



1 July 1835 



9 Aug. 1870 

 16 Oct. 1888 



2 July 1909 



Before the Reformation the scattered parish was 

 served by the rector, chantry priests, and some six or 

 seven others. 67 The church appears to have been 

 fairly well furnished, possessing an organ and ' regal.' M 

 The visitation list of 1548, however, contains only 

 five names beside the rector's, one of them being 

 that of Thomas Mawdesley, who apparently re- 

 mained there as schoolmaster, though decrepit, 

 till his death. Two of the others reappear in 1554, 

 with two more names; in 1562 there are still 

 six names, but Mawdesley's is the only one of 

 the old clergy ; three years later the rector, newly 

 appointed in 1559, was at Durham, his curate was 

 in charge, and Mawdesley's and one other name 

 appear. 69 After this time it is probable that the 

 rector and one curate constituted the clerical staff, 

 service being maintained at Cockey or Ainsworth 

 Chapel, and perhaps at Ashworth also. 70 Bishop 



Patron 



Sir Ra. Assheton 

 Sir Ra. Assheton 

 Sir Ra. Assheton 

 The Queen 

 Sir Ra. Assheton 

 Sir Ra. Assheton 

 Lord Suffield 



The Crown 

 A. Butterworth 



Cause of Vacancy 



d. R. Simmonds 

 d. R. Warburton 

 d. H. Newcome 

 d. S. Sidebottom 

 d. F. Pigot 

 d. R. Assheton 

 d. R. Walker 

 d. J. Haughton 

 d. J. Archer 

 res. C. J. Way 

 prom. Bp. Durnford 

 d. W. Brewster 

 d. T. E. Cleworth 



Bridgeman about 1630 built a domestic chapel at 

 Great Lever, which appears to have been used by the 

 neighbouring people for a time. 71 The Common- 

 wealth surveyors of 1650 recommended a division of 

 the parish and the building of new churches at 

 Thornham and Pilsworth ; 7I but nothing seems to 

 have been done, and it was not till recent times that 

 any new districts were formed. 



There was an endowed chantry in the church 

 that of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, founded in the north 

 or ' Rector's Chapel ' by Thomas Langley, Cardinal- 

 Bishop of Durham, for a priest to celebrate for the 

 souls of the kings of England, the bishop and his 

 family, and to keep a grammar school free for poor 

 children. At the confiscation the incumbent was 

 celebrating and teaching according to his foundation, 

 the endowment amounting to 6 clear. 73 Another 

 chantry chapel that of St. Chad and St. Margaret, on 



6 7 'A most excellent and extraordinary 

 martyr ' for the system established before 

 the Civil War. He was buried at Middle- 

 ton 27 Mar. 1682. 



58 Act Bks. at Chester. He was edu- 

 cated at Brasenose College, Oxford ; M.A. 

 1669. Was elected fellow of Manchester 

 Collegiate Church 2 May 1684 ; see 

 Raines, Fellows of Manch. (Chet. Soc.), i, 

 p. 193-5. I* ' s stated that guardianship of 

 his children was granted in 1698, and yet 

 the fellowship and rectory were not filled 

 up after his death till 1701. He and his 

 curate were 'conformable' in 1689 ; Hist. 

 MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229. 



59 Eldest son of the respected Henry 

 Newcome, founder of the Nonconformist 

 congregation at Manchester. He was 

 educated at Manchester Grammar School 

 and St. Edmund Hall, Oxford ; M.A. 

 1673 ; rector of Tattenhall in Cheshire 

 1675 to 1701 ; published The Complete 

 Mother, 1695, and Transubstantiation Dis- 

 tussed, 1705 ; see Pal. Note Bk. iii, 91, 229. 

 He was buried at Middleton 22 May 1713. 

 His will is printed ibid, iv, 96. 



60 The queen presented by reason of the 

 vacancy of the see of Chester. Educated 

 at Brasenose College, Oxford ; B.A. 1713 ; 

 Foster, Alumni. Migrated to Cambridge, 

 St. John's Coll. ; M.A. 1718 ; Scott, Ad- 

 missions, St. John's C. iii, 15. He died 

 22 May 1752. The Sidebottoms had an 

 estate in Oldham. 



61 Educated at Brasenose College, Ox- 

 ford, of which he became fellow ; M.A. 

 1751 ; D.D. 1782. He was presented to 

 the rectory of RadclifFe in April 1757, but 

 resigned it on being appointed to Middle- 

 ton. In 1782 he was made warden of 

 Manchester, and Middleton was left to the 

 care of a curate. He was 'censured by 



the inhabitants of Middleton for permit- 

 ting the large old rectory-house and the 

 living generally to fall into a dilapidated 

 state, the gardens and grounds being 

 neglected, on the idle (and probably false) 

 supposition that he was the last of the 

 Asshetons who was likely ever to hold the 

 ancient family advowson, and that its 

 preservation was therefore unimportant ' ; 

 Raines, Wardens of Manch. (Chet. Soc.), 

 171-76. He died 6 June 1800, and was 

 buried at Downham. 



62 He had been curate of the church 

 for fifty years. 



63 Educated at Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge ; M.A. 1822 ; afterwards vicar of 

 Boreham, near Chelmsford. 



64 Educated at Eton and Magdalen Col- 

 lege, Oxford, of which he was successively 

 Demy and Fellow; M.A. 1829; D.D. 

 1870. He was appointed honorary canon 

 of Manchester, 1854; archdeacon, 1867; 

 residentiary canon, 1868 ; Bishop of Chi- 

 chester, 1870. There is a biography of 

 him (1899) by W. R. W. Stephens. 



65 Educated at Trinity College, Oxford ; 

 M.A. 1842. Rector of Llandysilio near 

 Oswestry, previously to his appointment 

 to Middleton. He had been curate of 

 Hawarden for seventeen years, and is de- 

 scribed as ' a High Churchman of the 

 Wilberforce and Hook school ' ; see Old- 

 ham Notes and Gleanings, iii, 57-9. 



68 Educated at St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge ; M.A. 1886. Vicar of St. Tho- 

 mas's, Nottingham, 1884 to 1888. Hon. 

 Canon of Manchester. He died 5 April 

 1909; see biographical notice in Eagle, 

 xxx, 350. 



87 Clergy List of 1541-2 (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 12. One of the assis- 

 tant clergy was the rector's curate, two 



159 



others were paid by Sir Richard Assheton, 

 and another by the widow of John Hoi- 

 croft ; three others are named, but their 

 means of support are not recorded. 



68 Ch. Goods, 1552 (Chet Soc.), 12. 



69 From the visitation lists at Chester. 



70 Only the Chapel at Cockey is named 

 in a clergy list of about 1610 ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 12. In 1620 the 

 rector of Middleton and the curate of 

 Cockey paid to the clergy loan, and two 

 years later the rector, lecturer at Middle- 

 ton, and curate of Cockey again con- 

 tributed ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 54, 66 ; also p. 95. 



71 Note in Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 99. 



72 Commoniv. Ch. Sur-v. 24-25. I 

 78 Raines, Lanes. Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 



i, 119-25. Thomas Langley is thought by 

 Canon Raines to have belonged to the 

 Langleys of Middleton. He owed his 

 early promotion to John of Gaunt, Duke 

 of Lancaster. In the Church after minor 

 benefices he became Dean of York in 1402, 

 Bishop of Durham in 1406, and Cardinal 

 in 1411 ; in the State he rose to be Lord 

 Chancellor, 1405-7 and 1417-24. The 

 chantry at Middleton was founded in 1412, 

 in which year the cardinal visited the place 

 to consecrate the parish church, which had 

 been rebuilt at his expense. He died 

 20 Nov. 1437, and was buried at Durham. 

 An abstract of his will is given by Raines. 

 The licence to endow a chantry at the 

 altar of St. Thomes in honour of St. Mary 

 and St. Cuthbert for a chaplain to celebrate 

 daily for the soul of Thomas late Bishop 

 of Durham was granted in May 1440 ; 

 Cal. Pat. 1436-41, p. 399. In the 

 same year Nicholas Hulme and other 

 trustees granted to Thurstan Percival, 

 chaplain of this chantry, an annual rent 



