SALFORD HUNDRED 



ROCHDALE 



stones with good 17th-century lettering. It was 

 closed for burials in 1858. 



CHRIST CHURCH (the parish church) stands on 

 high ground on the west side of the town in a posi- 

 tion commanding a fine view down the valley west- 

 ward towards Burnley. 63 It was built between 1830 

 and 1832, and consists of chancel, nave, with north 

 and south aisles, and west tower. The chancel, how- 

 ever, is new, having been added in 1886, the original 

 building, which is in the Gothic style, having been 

 designed, according to the custom of the day, with a 

 small square east end. The interior is very lofty 

 and has galleries over both aisles and at the west end. 

 Considering the time when the church was erected, 

 its architecture, though poor, is rather better than the 

 usual Gothic of the period. 



There are twelve bells, one by Thomas Mears, 

 1836, and the rest by Taylor of Loughborough, 1897 

 (eight ringing bells and three chimes). The old bell 

 is fixed stationary. 



The church plate, which is common to Christ 

 Church and St. Mary's, consists of two chalices, a 

 paten and flagon of 1832, two chalices and three 

 patens of later date with the Birmingham marks. 



The registers begin in 1666, but the first entries 

 are fragmentary on loose sheets pasted in. There are 

 some quaint entries by the Rev. Henry Crabtree 

 (1662-85), w ^ frequently added astrological com- 

 ments. 94 The registers are in a very dilapidated con- 

 dition. The first volume begins with burials and 

 baptisms for 1678, and the years 1666 and 1667 

 follow, the volume containing entries up to 1758. 

 The second volume comprises the years 1675 to 1709, 

 and the third 1729 to 1812. Many of the entries 

 are on loose sheets, now very much decayed and 

 mildewed. The registers require a thorough over- 

 hauling. 



The churchwardens' accounts begin 1720. 



A chapel probably existed at 

 4DPOWSON Todmorden by I5OO; 95 though it 

 was but scantily furnished in 1552, 

 that may have been due to its confiscation by the 

 Crown as a chantry. 96 It was repurchased by the 

 inhabitants for 6j. 8^. 97 Soon afterwards the chapel- 

 yard was used for burial. 93 As there was no endow- 

 ment it was probably difficult to find a curate, 99 and 

 only fragmentary notices occur before i64O. 100 The 

 Commonwealth Commissioners in 1650 recommended 



that the chapel should be made a parish church. 101 

 After the Restoration the people seem to have been 

 largely Nonconformists, the Quakers being very 

 numerous. About 1706 the curate had an in- 

 come of 16, of which 14 was from the people's 

 contributions ; the clerk begged wool through the 

 chapelry for his maintenance. 102 Canon Raines states 

 that John Welsh, curate from 1713 to 1726, was 

 * very successful in reclaiming Dissenters.' los The 

 benefice became a vicarage under the Rochdale Vicar- 

 age Act of 1866 ; the Bishop of Manchester presents 

 the incumbents, of whom the following is a list since 

 the Restoration : 104 



1662 Henry Crabtree 

 ? Thomas Ingham 



Thomas Grimshaw 

 00.1695 Daniel Pighells (Pickles) 



1699 Robert Whitehead, B.A. (Brasenose Coll., 



Oxf.) m 



1 704 Robert Butterworth (Jesus Coll., Camb.) 

 1713 John Welsh 

 1726 Joseph Sutcliff 

 1731 William Grimshaw 107 

 1742 Robert Hargraves, B.A. 

 1770 John Crosse, B.A. (St. Edmund Hall, 



Oxf.) 



1775 Joseph Atkinson 

 1819 Robert Seatle 

 1821 Joseph Co well 



1846 John Edwards, M.A. (Lincoln Coll., Oxf.) 

 1864 Anthony John Plow 

 1868 Rennell Francis Wynn Molesworth, 108 M.A. 



(Brasenose Coll., Oxf.) 

 1875 William Augustus Conway 109 

 1883 Edward James Russell, 110 M.A. (St. Mary 



Hall, Oxf.) 

 1910 Charles Paul Keeling, M.A. (St. John's 



Coll. Camb.) 



More recently, in connexion with the Church of 

 England, St. Peter's, Walsden, has been erected ; it was 

 consecrated in 1848 ; the Crown and the Bishop of 

 Manchester present alternately. 111 



A school was founded at Walsden in 171 3. m 

 There are several Methodist churches at Tod- 

 morden and Walsden, the Wesleyans, Primitive 

 Methodists, and United Free Methodists all being 

 represented. 



93 It was illegally used as the parish 

 church for twenty years, and an Act of 

 Parliament had to be obtained to legalize 

 the marriages celebrated therein ; Fish- 

 wick, loc. cit. 



94 As for instance : ' 1685, November 

 ist, James son of James Taylor of Tod- 

 morden. He was born 2nd October, near 

 sun setting, and also near a full moon, 

 which is sure sign of a short life ' ; see 

 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. v, 350. 



95 Fishwick, op. cit. 177. 



96 Ch. Goods. (Chet. Soc.), 49 ; Robert 

 Turnagh was the priest there. He ap- 

 peared at the Visitations of 1548 and 

 1554, but not in 1562 or later. 



9 ' Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 277. 



98 Fishwick, loc. sup. cit. 



99 The curate in 1590 was a preacher, 

 but ' insufficient ' ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxi, 

 47. Todmorden is named in 1 6 10 among 

 the Rochdale chapels of ease maintained 

 by the inhabitants ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App. iv, 12. 



100 Gilbert Ashley occurs in 15 90; Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 1 8 1. 



101 Common-wealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 19; the fixed stipend 

 was 6s. 8</. only. The ministers of this 

 period were : 



Robert Towne, described as ' anti- 

 noniian,' banished by the Classis in 1 648 ; 

 W. A. Shaw, Bury Classii (Chet. Soc.), 53. 



John Hill, 1647, to whom, as 'a godly 

 and orthodox divine,' a payment of ,40 

 a year was ordered out of the sequestered 

 tithes of Lord Byron; Plund. Mint. Accts. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 60. 



Francis Core, 1650; 'scandalous in 

 life and conversation ; ' Cb. Surv. 



William Norcott, 1654 ; Fishwick, 

 loc. cit. 



Thomas Somerton, 1658; 'he had 

 been a blacksmith or farrier and preached 

 strange doctrines ' ; Raines in Not. Cestr. 

 (Chet. Soc.), ii. 148, 149. 



102 Ibid, ii, 147-51 ; of a hundred 

 families in the chapelry there were fifty 



233 



Quakers, twenty Presbyterians, and thirty 

 Anabaptists. These figures may refer to 

 persons only. 



108 Ibid, ii, 150, 151, where an account 

 is given of the attempt to recover a levy 

 for the curate's stipend in 1719. 



104 This list is taken mainly from 

 Fishwick, op. cit. 182-8, where full 

 accounts of the incumbents will be found. 



los The church papers at Chester begin 

 at this point. 



lu ' He was of Christ's College, Cam- 

 bridge, and became incumbent of Ha- 

 worth in Yorkshire. He was one of the 

 leading preachers of the Methodist revival 

 of the time. He died in 1763. There 

 is a notice of him in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



108 Afterwards rector of Washington, 

 Durham. 



109 Previously incumbent of Heap, Bury, 

 no Previously a vicar of St. James, 



Heap ; Hon. Canon of Manchester. 



111 For district see Lond. Gass. 4 July 

 1845. ua Notitia Cestr. ii, 153. 



30 



