A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the south side of the chancel had no endowment, 

 but is supposed to have been built by the lords of 

 the manor, who subsequently used it as their own. 74 



The grammar school appears to have been coeval 

 with the Langley chantry, 1412 ; it was continued 

 after the Reformation, and re-endowed by an old 

 pupil, Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, in I 572." 

 The schoolhouse built after the re-endowment still 

 stands, and is of the usual type, with a schoolroom in 

 the middle in one story, lighted by large five-light 

 mullioned and transomed windows, and living-rooms 

 in two stories at either end. The roof is of low 



pitch, and covered with stone slates without parapets 

 or copings, but on each gable-end is a small finial. 

 The walling is of stone rubble, with wrought stone 

 quoins and window dressings, and the windows are all 

 square-headed with chamfered mullions, and labels 

 formed by the weathered string-courses which run 

 round the building. 



In addition to the school the 

 CHARITIES parish possesses several charities r6 ap- 

 plicable generally for the relief of 

 the poor and for apprenticing children." The town- 

 ship of Middleton has some benefactions for the 



MIDDLETON : THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



of 8 marks out of the manor of Cuerdley; 

 Raines D. (Chet. Lib.). 



On 10 Mar. 1442-3 Henry Pendlebury, 

 priest, was admitted to the newly-founded 

 chantry of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, 

 on the resignation of Thomas Pevall 

 (FThurstan Percival), last chaplain, and 

 took oath to observe the statutes ; Lich. 

 Epis. Reg. ix, fol. 126. A Thurstan 

 Percival was vicar of Leigh in 1474. 



In 1496 Lawrence Smith was the chap- 

 lain of the chantry of Middleton; Towne- 

 ley MS. CC, no. 637. He gave evidence 

 about 1514, in the Cockey Moor Examina- 

 tions, being then seventy-four years of age 

 and having been chantry priest for thirty- 

 six years ; p. 12. 



In 1535 and again in 1548 Thomas 

 Mawdesley was the cantarist. He con- 

 tinued to act as schoolmaster after the 

 suppression of the chantry, on a stipend 

 granted by the duchy, and appeared at 

 the visitations of 1563 and 1565, being, 

 however, decrepit. His will, made in 

 1554, is printed by Canon Raines; it 

 shows that the old man he was then 

 sixty had a great love for the church and 

 his own part in it, for he left his property, 

 among other things, ' to mend and uphold 

 the free school,' and willed specially that 

 the priest who should sing mass for his 

 soul, and the souls of his parents and 

 others, should ' uphold the free school at 



Middleton according to the foundation' 5 

 he left money for the high altar and the 

 maintenance of the rood light. 



The revenue, which in 1535 was re- 

 turned as 4 131. 4^. (Valor Eccl. [Rec. 

 Com.], v, 226), was derived from a rent 

 issuing from the Jervaulx Abbey lands at 

 Cuerdley, and another rent from Sedbergh. 



? 4 Raines, op. cit. 122. 



" 5 See the section on ' Schools ' ; End. 

 Charities Rep. for Middleton, 1901, pp. 8- 

 20 ; and Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xiii, 

 184-92, where there is a drawing of it. 



78 An inquiry into the charities of Mid- 

 dleton was held on 3 and 4 April 1900, 

 and the report here summarized was 

 printed the following year, and includes 

 that of 1828. It referred only to the por- 

 tions of the parish not included within 

 the county boroughs of Bolton and Bury. 

 The portion within Bolton is Great Lever, 

 which does not appear to have had any 

 special endowment, but shares in the 

 Guest and Hopwood Charities, which apply 

 to the whole parish. The other townships 

 not dealt with Pilsworth, Birtle-with- 

 Bamford, and Ashworth likewise appear 

 to have no special charities, at least none 

 are recorded in the report of 1828. 



7 > John Guest in 1653 left a rent- 

 charge of ^3 151. a year each to a num- 

 ber of parishes, including Middleton, but 

 the estate proving insufficient an Act of 



1 6O 



Parliament was obtained providing for the 

 investment of ,500. The capital sum 

 appears instead to have been divided 

 among the parishes concerned, and the 

 share allotted to Middleton and Radcliffe 

 together, augmented by other contribu- 

 tions, was invested in lands in Buerdsill 

 and Castleton, and the income divided 

 equally between the parishes. The Mid- 

 dleton moiety, which in 1828 was ^9, 

 was distributed in linen cloth, the several 

 townships sharing in proportion to their 

 contributions to the church rate. The 

 land, consisting of 1 1 acres in Castleton, 

 is now let at 14 a year, and the share of 

 Middleton is 6 141. net, distributed in 

 the old proportions. The part for the 

 township of Middleton (191. 6d.) is com- 

 bined with the receipts from other bene- 

 factions, and the total sum, 32 13*. 8^., 

 distributed in clothing, flannel, &c. A 

 similar course is followed in other town- 

 ships. 



John Stock in 1692 gave various rent- 

 charges of land, &c., in Northampton- 

 shire for a weekly distribution of bread at 

 Middleton Church, and for the appren- 

 ticing of poor boys or girls of his own kin, 

 or born within the hamlets of Middleton, 

 Pilsworth, Hopwood, and Thornham. 

 The net income in 1828 was 22 u., 

 of which 15 I2s. was set apart for the 

 bread charity and the remainder paid in 



