A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



tnen copyhold land in each of the hamlets over 

 2,400 acres in all. 



The land-tax returns of 1788-96 show that the 

 ownership was greatly subdivided. 



Whitworth Chapel was built about 

 CHURCH 1529 by the inhabitants of the hamlet, 

 and was intended to serve Wardle and 

 Healey also. 66 In 1552 it was found to be scantily 

 furnished, 67 and a century later the Parliamentary 

 Commissioners recommended that it should be made a 

 parish church. 68 The church was rebuilt in 1775 68a 

 and again in 1850; it is called ST. BARTHOLO- 

 MEWS. 69 The appointment of the curate was vested 

 in four trustees, but there was no endowment. Bishop 

 Gastrell, in 1717, found that the settled income was 

 6 6s. %d. ; 70 but in 1720 John Starky of Rochdale 

 gave 200 on condition that the patronage should be 

 vested in him, 71 and some other gifts were secured, 

 including 400 from Queen Anne's Bounty." The 

 patronage is now vested in Keble College, Oxford. 

 The following have been curates and vicars since the 

 Restoration : 



c. 1662 Thomas Dewhurst 

 1 Robert Smethurst 



1677 Abraham Butterworth, B.A. (Emmanuel 

 Coll. Camb.) 



1680 Joseph Whitworth 



c. 1699 James Whitehead, M. A. 74 (St. Mary Hall, 



Oxf.) 

 oc. 1717 Jonathan Hanson 



1723 Edmund Holme, M.A. (Brasenose Coll. 



Oxf.) 

 1778 William Currer, M.A. 78 (St. John's Coll. 



Camb.) 

 1 804 Hugh Hornby,M.A. 77 (Christ'sColl.Camb.) 



1829 George Heron, B.A. (Brasenose Coll. Oxf.) 



1830 Richard Parkinson, B.D. 78 (St. John's Coll. 



Camb.) 



1841 Isaac Gaitskell, M.A. (Trin. Coll. Camb.) 

 1877 Edwin Brierley 

 1901 James Ralph Scholfield, M.A. (St. John's 



Coll. Camb.) 



An endowment for a * Protestant schoolmaster ' was 

 given in 17 24. 



In more recent times a number of places of worship 

 have been erected in the township. For the Church 

 of England there are St. Paul's, Norden, 1861 ; * 

 St. Saviour's, Bacup, 1865 ; 81 - and St. John the 

 Evangelist's, Facit, 187 1. 82 The patronage of St. 

 Saviour's is vested in the Church Association ; of the 

 others in the Bishop of Manchester. 



There are Primitive Methodist, Free Methodist, 

 and Congregational churches at Whitworth, 83 and a 

 Salvation Army barracks. 



holding five messuages, &c., in Spotland and 

 Hundersfield, of Robert Holt by knight's 

 service and a rent of 3*. %d. Grace, his 

 daughter and heir, was two years of age ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 10. 



Sir Edmund Trafford in the time of 

 Henry VIII held two messuages, &c., in 

 Rochdale of Robert Holt of Stubley ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 20. 

 They were in Spotland and were sold to 

 Francis Holt in 1564 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 26, m. 136. 



William Strangeways and Eleanor his 

 wife in 1564 sold four messuages, &c., in 

 Spotland and Rochdale, to Robert Holt ; 

 ibid. bdle. 26, m. 242. 



Richard Chadwick died in 1621 holding 

 messuages and lands in Spotland and Hun- 

 dersfield, also a messuage in Manchester, 

 and leaving a son and heir Robert, twenty 

 years of age. The lands were chiefly held 

 of Sir John Byron, but a small part in 

 Spotland was held of John Holt of Stubley; 

 Lanes. Inq. />.w.(Rec.Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 ii, 273. This family was of Spotland Gate; 

 see Manch. Ct. Lett Rec. ii, 195 n. 



Ottiwell Greave in 1569 purchased a 

 messuage in Spotland from John son and 

 heir of Thomas Belfield ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 31, m. 177. Edmund 

 Greave in 1608 died seised of messuages 

 and lands in Spotland held of Theophilus 

 Ashton of Clegg by a rent of ^.d. Ottiwell 

 his son was forty-one years of age ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches), i, 

 126. This estate is called Fernhill ; Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 504. 



One of the Linney family is believed to 

 have lived at the ' Great House ' in Roch- 

 dale, close to which ran the brook called 

 Lothburn ; Fishwick, op. cit. 523-5. 

 Richard Linney died in 1619 holding lands 

 in Hundersfield and Spotland of the king, 

 as of the dissolved Hospital of St. John, 

 by two rents of 6d. each ; also cottages 

 in Rochdale and an acre in Coptrod, this 

 last being held of the king by knight's 

 service ; Edmund, his son and heir, was 

 nine years old ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), 



ii, 113; 111,368. Edmund Linney died 

 25 Oct. 1636, holding much the same 

 lands, and leaving a widow Ellen, and a 

 son and heir Richard, only three years old; 

 Towneley MS. C, 8,13 (Chet. Lib.), p. 748. 



The Smallshaw is named in the Wballey 

 Coucher, iii, 761. It was owned by the 

 Crossleys in the 1 7th century ; Fishwick, 

 op. cit. 508. James Crossleydied in 1623 

 holding two messuages and lands in Spot- 

 land of Robert Holt of Stubley by the 2ooth 

 part of a knight's fee ; James, his son and 

 heir, was four years old ; Towneley MS. 

 C, 8, 13, p. 241-2. 



66 The foundation deed (1532) is printed 

 in Fishwick, Rochdale, 164-7. ^ states 

 that Robert Holt of Stubley and the free- 

 holders gave 50 ' fall ' of land, and that a 

 number of the people built it ; the priest's 

 wages were to be collected by the chapel 

 reeves, who, like the priest, were to be ap- 

 pointed by four trustees. The king (prob- 

 ably as lord of Rochdale) might prohibit 

 service there if he judged it advisable, on 

 account of the poverty of the place. It 

 was confiscated with other chapels in 1 548 

 and bought back from the Crown by the 

 people ; Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 

 277. In 1626 the chapel and chapel yard 

 occupied 25 perches ; Surv. ut sup. 232. 



W Cb. Gds. (Chet. Soc.), 49. John 

 Yate was the priest ; he was still there in 

 1563 and 1565 (Visitation Lists), being, 

 however, ' decrepit.' His will was proved 

 in 1574 ; ibid. 52. During the latter part 

 of Elizabeth's reign the chapel seems to 

 have been served by a licensed 'reader,' 

 the vicar of Rochdale or his curate perhaps 

 officiating from time to time ; see Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 171. About i6ioit is men- 

 tioned as a chapel of ease supported by the 

 inhabitants; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv, 12. The curates had probably other 

 charges ; see the list in Fishwick, op. cit. 

 171, 172. 



68 Commoww. Cb, Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 20. James Stevenson 

 was minister in 1641 and till his death in 

 1649 5 he was succeeded by George Stott, 



212 



who did not approve of the Presbyterian 

 government, and left ; see W. A. Shaw, 

 Bury Classis (Chet. Soc.), 256, 257. John 

 Bullock, a husbandman of Bolton, appears 

 in 1657-8 ; ibid. 221. 



8a A brief ordering collections for the 

 rebuilding was granted in 1772. 



69 Fishwick, op. cit. 167. 



7 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 154. Of 

 this income 5 was the interest on ,100 

 given by James Wolfenden of Hades in 

 Wardle on condition that the curate should 

 be M.A. or B .A. 



71 Ibid, ii, 157. For the Starky family 

 see the account of Tonge in Prestwich. 

 On the death of James Starky in 1 846 the 

 patronage became vested in his kinsmen, 

 Joseph Langton and the Rev. William 

 Hornby. In 1889 the patron was L. 

 Brierley. 



7 a Fishwick, op. cit. 169. 



7 This list is derived mainly from the 

 work just quoted pp. 172-6, where full 

 accounts of the curates, &c., will be found. 

 The benefice has ranked as a vicarage since 

 1866, when the Rochdale Vicarage Act 

 was passed. 



7 4 This curate was appointed by the 

 vicar of Rochdale, but the 'four men* 

 vindicated their right ; see the case stated 

 in Notitia Cestr. ii, 154-6 n. He was 

 afterwards rector of North Meols. 



7* The church papers at Chester Dioc. 

 Reg. begin with this curate. 



7 6 Also vicar of Clapham, Yorkshire. 



77 Also vicar of St. Michael's on Wyre. 



7 8 Afterwards fellow of Manchester. 



7 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 157 ; End. Char. 

 Rep. (1904), 1 6. 



80 Land. Gaz. 10 June 1862. 



81 Ibid. 6 Feb. 1866. 



8a For district, see Land. Gaz. 5 Nov. 

 1867. 



88 Nonconformity existed in the I7th 

 century ; the chapel at Hallfold, erected in 

 1720, was replaced by the present building 

 in 1850. The fluctuating history of the 

 congregation is told in Nightingale, Lanes. 

 Nonconf. iii, 269-79. 



