SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



Institution Name 



27 Sept. 1722 . Samuel Dunster, D.D. 137 .... 



3 Aug. 1754 . Nathaniel Forster, D.D. 138 . . . 



12 Nov. 1757 . James Tunstall, D.D. 13 * . . . . 



10 April 1 762 . Thomas Wray, D.D. 140 . . . . 



6 July 1 778. . Richard Hind, D.D. 141 . . . . 



2 8 July 1 790. . Thomas Drake, D.D. 1 " . . . . 



14 Jan. 1820 . . William Robert Hay, M.A. 143 . . 



2 8 Dec. 1839. . John Edward Nassau Molesworth, 



D.D. 144 



1877 . . Edward Craig Maclure, M.A. 145 . . 



1890 . . James Maurice Wilson, D.D. 146 . . 



31 Oct. 1905 . . Arthur Frederic Clarke, M.A. 147 . . 



During the mediaeval period there is little to record 

 of the history of the church. 148 The vicars were men 

 of no more than local note ; for two short periods 

 monks of Whalley held the benefice. 149 Though 

 there were chapels of the Holy Trinity lso and 

 St. Katherine 1M at the south and north sides of the 

 chancel, there does not seem to have been any regu- 

 larly endowed chantry. 151 In 1541 there were, in 

 addition to the vicar and his curate, seven priests in 

 the parish, some no doubt serving the chapels of ease 

 at Littleborough, Milnrow, and Whitworth. 153 The 

 church seems to have been well furnished. 164 Eight 

 names appear in the Visitation List of 1548, but the 

 vicar and two others died before 1554, when four of 



Patron 



Abp. Wake . . . 



Abp. Herring . . 



Abp. Hutton . . 

 Abp. Seeker 

 Abp. Cornwallis . 



Abp. Moore . . 

 Abp. Sutton 



Abp. Howley . 



Bp. of Manchester 



Cause of Vacancy 



d. H. Pigot 

 d. S. Dunster 

 d. N. Forster 

 d. J. Tunstall 

 d. T. Wray 

 d. R. Hind 

 d. T. Drake 

 d. W. R. Hay 



d. J. E. N. Molesworth 

 prom. E. C. Maclure 

 res. J. M. Wilson 



the old clergy and two new ones were recorded. In 

 1563 the vicar, an assistant who did not stay long, 

 and the three chaplains, two of them 'decrepit,' 

 appeared, while two years later the staff had been 

 increased by one name. 1 * 5 



Gilbert Haydock, vicar from about 1522 to 1554, 

 was one of the scandal-giving clergy of the time, 

 having acknowledged, though illegitimate, offspring ; 

 his successor had to be deprived for not attending to 

 his duties, and Hampson, vicar at Elizabeth's acces- 

 sion, though a conscientious man, was non-resident. 

 Hence the people more readily attended to the active 

 minister who was appointed just after his deprivation, 

 and who for nearly thirty-five years laboured among 



tion. He founded two scholarships at 

 Wadham College, Oxford, and endowed 

 Brindle School. See the full account in 

 Raines, op. cit. 109-44 ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 230 ; also O. He/wood, 

 Diaries, ii, 276, 290. The dispensations 

 to hold Rochdale with Brindle were granted 

 by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 

 king on i Oct. and 10 Oct. 1662. 



"7 He was of Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge ; M.A. 1700, D.D. 1713, and be- 

 came Prebendary of Salisbury in 1717. 

 He translated Horace, and was satirized 

 in the Dunciad. At Rochdale he built ' a 

 very good new house ' as vicarage. Of a 

 volume of sermons supposed to be his, 

 Canon Raines remarks : 'They contain 

 no controversial matter, and there is more 

 absence of Christian doctrine in them 

 than might have been expected.' See 

 Raines, op. cit. 144-67 ; Diet. Nat. Bicg. 



138 Educated at Pembroke and Corpus 

 Christi Colleges, Oxford, of which latter 

 he became fellow; M.A. 1739, D.D. 

 1750. He was chaplain to Bishop Butler, 

 and became a canon of Bristol in 175$. 

 He was a scholar and preacher, also F.R.S. 

 He resided very little in Rochdale, where 

 he was regarded as a miserly pluralist. 

 See Raines, op. cit. 167-82 ; Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. a list of his works is added. 



139 Educated at St. John's College, 

 Cambridge; M.A. 1731, D.D. 1744. 

 See Raines, op. cit. 182-97, where a list 

 of his works will be found ; also Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. 



140 Educated at Christ's College, Cam- 

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

 1747, D.D. 1762. Soon after coming to 

 Rochdale he obtained the Act allowing 

 the vicars to grant building leases. He 

 was a charitable and good man, a peace- 

 maker, active in catechizing the young, 

 'a consistent Churchman, and a Tory of 

 the Pitt school ' ; see Raines, op. cit. 

 197-225. 



141 Educated at Christ Church, Oxford ; 

 M.A. 1736, D.D. 1750. He was also 

 vicar of Skipton in Yorkshire, and a 



prebendary of St. Paul's. See Raines, op. 

 cit. 225-47. 



148 Educated at St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, of which he was elected fel- 

 low ; M.A. 1771 ; D.D. 1784. He ac- 

 quired the esteem of his parishioners, who 

 erected a memorial over his grave. See 

 Raines, op. cit. 247-83 ; R. F. Scott, 

 Admissions to St. John's Coll. iii, 167, 696. 



148 Educated at Christ Church, Oxford; 

 M.A. 1783. He entered the Inner Tem- 

 ple, and was called to the Bar in 1788. 

 Ten years later he was ordained, but 

 always remained the magistrate rather 

 than the clergyman. He was chairman 

 of the bench responsible for the ' Peterloo 

 Massacre ' of 1819, and this naturally 

 made him unpopular in Rochdale. He 

 was frequently absent, being also rector of 

 Ackworth and Prebendary of York. See 

 Raines, op. cit. 284-325. 



144 Educated at Trinity College, Oxford ; 

 M.A. 1817, D.D. 1838. His efforts 

 caused ' the resurrection of the Church in 

 Rochdale.' He was engaged in constant 

 warfare, the church-rate disputes troubling 

 his early years as vicar ; disputes with 

 the Bishop of Manchester and some mo- 

 derate ritual changes, including robing 

 the choir in surplices, the later ones. The 

 Vicarage Act was passed in his time. See 

 Raines, op. cit. 325-76, where a list of 

 his publications is given ; also Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. 



His son, William Nassau Molesworth, 

 incumbent of St. Clement's, Spotland, and 

 Hon. Canon of Manchester, who died in 

 1890, was author of a History of England 

 from 1830 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. 



145 Of Brasenose College, Oxford ; M.A. 

 1858 ; Dean of Manchester from 1890 

 till his death in 1906. 



148 Of St. John's College, Cambridge, of 

 which he was fellow ; M.A. 1862. Arch- 

 deacon of Manchester, 1890 ; Resi- 

 dentiary Canon of Worcester, 1905, when 

 he resigned the vicarage and archdea- 

 conry. 



"7 Of Trinity College, Oxford ; M.A. 



I 99 



1874 ; Hon. Canon of Manchester, 1905; 

 formerly vicar of Cockerham, 1881-1905, 

 and Archdeacon of Lancaster, 1895-1905. 



148 A dispute as to a kneeling-place in 

 the church in 1475 was settled by John 

 Byron as arbitrator ; Raines, Vicart, 26. 



149 In 1402-3 and 1472-83. 



160 A deed of 148^,7 regulating the 

 appointment and duties of the 'Trinity 

 priest,' chaplain of the brotherhood of the 

 Holy Trinity, is printed in Raines, Vicars, 

 1 20- 1. The chapel was afterwards the 

 property of the Butterworths of BelnelJ, 

 and was sold to James Dearden in 1823 ; 

 ibid. The goods taken by the Crown from 

 a chapel at Rochdale may have belonged 

 to this brotherhood ; Raines, Chantries, ii, 

 270. 



181 The altar of St. Katherine is men- 

 tioned in a deed of 1514 ; Raines, Vicars, 

 28. 



153 About 1370 there was a chaplain of 

 Our Lady in Rochdale Church, but the 

 lands appropriated to his use, having been 

 taken without the royal licence, appear to 

 have been seized by the Crown. A cer- 

 tain Cecily de Bromley bequeathed a mes- 

 suage and 2 acres to the service of a 

 chantry chaplain in the time of Edward III; 

 L.T.R. Memo. R. 163, m. 13. Thomas 

 son of Henry Huetson in 1371 gave land 

 called the Bankhouse, valued at 31. a year, 

 to God and B. Mary, for a chaplain cele- 

 brating divine service in Rochdale Church ; 

 ibid. R. 1 66, m. 113. An inquiry into 

 the matter made in 1370 will be found 

 in Chan. Inq. p.m. 45 Edw. Ill, no. 64. 



St. Mary Croft is named in a Holt of 

 Stubley deed in 1621 ; Raines MSS. vi, 

 217. It was situated in Spotland ; ibid. 



', 153- 



158 Clergy List (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 13. 



Church Gds. 1552 (Chet. Soc.), 48. 

 The three altars were fully provided for j 

 the church had a ' pair of organs,' and 

 there were five great bells. 



16S These details are from the visitation 

 lists preserved at Chester. 



