A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Institution 



ii Feb. 1369-70 



13 Nov. 1389 

 17 Apr. 1402 



3 May 1403 



31 July 1426. . 



4 March 1455-6 



23 Feb. 1471-2 . 



24 March 1473-4 



20 Sept. 1483 



c. 1522 . . . 

 2 March I 5 5 3-4 



16 Nov. 1557 



17 March 1560-1 



1561 . . . 



21 Dec. 1595 . . 

 9 March 1606-7 



Oct. 1615 . . 



17 March 1635-6 



1 8 Oct. 1662. 



Name Patron 



Roger son of William de Manchester 118 Whalley Abbey 



John Fitheler 119 



John Salley 



Richard Twistfield m Whalley Abbey 



Henry Marland m 



Richard Salley m 



Thomas Brotherton 1M 



John Walton 1 " Whalley Abbey 



William Ashton . . . . . . 



Gilbert Haydock l Whalley Abbey 



Richard Gorstilow w The Queen . . 



John Hampson, M.A. 129 .... Cardinal Pole . 



Huntington 1SO Abp. Parker . , 



Richard Midgeley m 



Joseph Midgeley lsl Abp. Whitgift . 



Richard Kenyon, M.A. 133 .... Abp. Bancroft , 



Henry Tilson, D.D. 184 Abp. Abbot . 



Robert Bath, M.A. m Abp. Laud . , 



Henry Pigot, B.D. m Abp. Juxon . , 



Cause of Vacancy 

 res. R. de Trumping- 



ton 



exch. R. de Manchester 

 d. J. Fitheler 

 res. J. Salley 

 res. R. Twistfield 

 d. H. Marland 

 d. R. Salley 

 res. T. Brotherton 

 d. J. Walton 



d. last vicar 



depr. R. Gorstilow 



depr. J. Hampson 



res. R. Midgeley 

 depr. J. Midgeley 

 d. R. Kenyon 

 res. H. Tilson 

 depr. R. Bath 



118 Ibid, iv, foL 85 ; a priest. A bur- 

 gage in Manchester belonging to Roger 

 son of William, vicar of Rochdale, is 

 named in a deed of 1383 ; Hulme D. 

 no. 7. He was otherwise known as 

 Roger de Lache. See further in the 

 account of the rectors of Radcliffe. 



119 Ibid, vi, fol. 54. ; by exchange for 

 the rectory of Radcliffe. Ellen the sister 

 and executrix of John le Fitheler accepted 

 2OJ. from the Abbot and Convent of 

 Whalley in satisfaction of all arrears ; 

 Add MS. 32104, no. 949. 



120 Lich. Epis. Reg. vii, fol. 88 ; a monk 

 of Whalley. He became vicar of Whalley 

 in 141 1. 



121 Ibid, vii, fol. 8953 chaplain. 



" Ibid.ix,fol.n8i. His seal 



is engraved in Corry, Lanes, ii, pi. vi. 



128 Lich. Epis. Reg. xi, fol. 13*5 a 

 chaplain. His original name was Smith ; 

 Raines, Vicars, 25. A dispute with his 

 executors, Lawrence Helme and Grace 

 his wife, occurred in 1476 ; Add. MS. 

 32104, no. 960. 



" Lich. Epis. Reg. xii, fol. 106 ; a 

 monk of Whalley. 



125 Ibid, xii, fol. 108. 



126 Ibid, xii, fol. 116. The Abbot of 

 Whalley, on 1 8 Nov. 1506, granted the 

 next presentation to the vicarage to 

 Nicholas Towneley and Richard his son 5 

 ibid, xiii-xiv, fol. 926. It is not known 

 whether any presentation was made under 

 this grant. The next vicar known is said 

 to have be.'n nominated by the Abbot of 

 Whalley. 



127 In a return made in 1523 the parish 

 church was stated to be worth 200 ; 

 Gilbert Haydock had been vicar for a year, 

 and his vicarage was worth 20 marks ; 

 Raines, I'ican, 29, quoting Duchy Plead. 

 Hen. VIII, x, R. 7. He was a priest of 

 evil life, having several bastard children, as 

 he names them and a grandchild in his will 

 dated 15 Feb. 1553-4 ; Raines, op. cit. 38. 



128 Act Bks. at Chester Dioc. Reg. He 

 paid his first-fruits 3 Mar. 1553-4 ; Lanes. 

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

 ii, 408. (The later records of these pay- 

 ments are from the same volume.) Gorsti- 

 low was deprived because he had neither 

 resided nor provided a priest to minister 

 in the church ; Raines, Wears, 39. 



Peter Prescott is said to have paid first- 

 fruits for Rochdale on 21 Mar. 1553-4. 

 Nothing further is known of his connexion 

 with this church ; see the account of 

 North Meols. 



The queen claimed the right to present, 

 the archbishopric of Canterbury being 

 vacant, against Sir Henry Stanley and 

 others ; Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton, 

 file I Mary. 



129 Reg. Pole, Add. MS. 6086, fol. 50* ; 

 quoted in Raines, Vicars, 40. He did not 

 appear at the Elizabethan visitation in 

 1559, and was deprived in Mar. 1561. 

 The name is also spelt Hanson, and this 

 vicar may safely be identified with the John 

 Hanson, Archdeacon of Richmond, who 

 was deprived in 1559, and is said to have 

 gone into exile before 1562 ; Gee, Eliza- 

 bethan Clergy, 88, 89, 184. 



180 Add. MS. 6088, fol. 55, quoted in 

 Raines, Vicars, 41. It is supposed that 

 he was never actually inducted. 



181 There is a long biography of him 

 in Raines, Vicars, 42-68. From this it 

 appears that he was a zealous Protestant, 

 who seldom wore the prescribed surplice. 

 He gave a part of the glebe for the new 

 school. See also Due at us Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), ii, 255. 



That his resignation was brought about 

 by his nonconformity to the queen's 

 regulations seems clear from a memoran- 

 dum concerning clergymen who refused to 

 wear the surplice. Among them was 

 ' Richard Midgeley, vicar of Rochdale, a 

 country scholar, yet discreet, sober, and 

 very peaceable, the only first planter of 

 sound religion in this corner of our coun- 

 try in her majesty's time,' who since his 

 first entrance had not used the surplice, 

 yet had ' used his ministry very peaceably, 

 and had at his monthly communions above 

 800 communicants that zealously cried, 

 " Thy kingdom come." ' The writer 

 thought that the vicar would conform, 

 ' or else peaceably give over his ministry.' 

 The date appears to be about I 590 ; Hist. 

 AfSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 602. 



182 The church papers at Chester begin 

 at this point. First-fruits paid 5 Nov. 1595. 

 He was educated at Emmanuel College, 

 Cambridge, and became a more uncom- 

 promising Puritan than his father. The 

 church had no surplice in 1598, and the 

 regular Prayer Book service was cut down 

 to allow of longer sermons ; and in 1605 

 it was found that the communicants sat 



198 



instead of kneeling, the surplice was not 

 worn, the sign of the cross was omitted in 

 baptism, and flesh was eaten during Lent. 

 He was soon afterwards deprived. See 

 the notice in Raines, op. cit. 72-7. 



188 First-fruits paid 7 Mar. 1606-7. He 

 was also a fellow of Manchester, 1602-15, 

 and probably did not reside much at Roch- 

 dale. He was rector of Stockport, 1614-15. 

 See Raines, op. cit. 77-81 ; Earwaker, 

 East Ches. i, 383. He was returned as 

 'a preacher' about 1610; Hist. AfSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 12. 



134 First-fruits paid 13 Mar. 1615-16. 

 He was of Balliol College, Oxford, M.A. 

 1 60 1, at which time he was fellow of 

 University College ; Foster, Alumni. He 

 was promoted to the deanery of Christ 

 Church, Dublin, in 1634, and to the 

 bishopric of Elphin in 1639, but driven 

 from Ireland by the rebellion of 1641 and 

 later troubles. He died near Dewsbury in 

 1656. He was a friend of StrafFord, Laud, 

 and Bridgeman, and no doubt agreed with 

 their policy in Church and State ; see 

 Raines, Vicars, 81-92. A survey of the 

 vicarage estate, made in 1626, is printed, 

 ibid. 83. 



Henry Tilson, a portrait painter, was a 

 grandson of the bishop ; see Diet. Nat.Biog. 



185 First-fruits paid 23 May 1636. The 

 institutions from this time have been com- 

 pared with those in the Inst. Bks. P.R.O., 

 as printed in Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Notes. 

 He was educated at Oxford, but the 

 college is uncertain ; see the notice in 

 W. A. Shaw's Bury Classis (Chet. Soc.), 

 212. He joined the Presbyterian party, 

 and in 1648 signed the 'Harmonious 

 Consent.' Rochdale at this time formed 

 part of the Bury Classis. In 1650 he was 

 described as 'a godly minister and well 

 qualified ' ; Common-wealth Cb. Surv. 1 9. 

 He was expelled for nonconformity in 

 1662, and afterwards ministered to the 

 Dissenters. See Raines, Vicars of Roch- 

 dale, 92-109. 



186 jje was of Lincoln College, Oxford, 

 B.D. 1660 ; Foster, Alumni. Though he 

 was appointed rector of Brindle (1651- 

 172.2) in the Commonwealth period, he 

 was an Episcopalian in principle, as is 

 proved by his seeking ordination in 1654 

 from Bishop Tilson. He reintroduced the 

 surplice at Rochdale, and was ' remem- 

 bered as a whimsical textuary, who in- 

 tended to divert rather than to instruct his 

 hearers.' He conformed to the Revolu- 



