SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



Robert Leigh and Sir Richard Clayton were the 

 chief contributors to the Land Tax in ijgg. 39 



Dame Mabel de Bradshagh in 1338 

 CHURCH gave an endowment for a chantry priest 

 in the chapel of ST. CATHERINE, 

 then newly-built. The chaplain was to say divine 

 service daily, making special mention of the founder 

 at mass. The lord of Blackrod was to have the 

 nomination. 40 The names of several of the can- 

 tarists are known. 41 At the suppression in 1548 the 

 foundation was ascribed to James Harrington, and 

 the priest, Ralph Forster, was stated to be celebrating 

 according to his duty ; his income, derived from lands 

 in Blackrod, was 4. 1 3/. 6</. 42 The chapel perhaps 

 remained in use after the loss of its endowment, for 

 the inventory of 1552 shows that it was fully, though 

 coarsely, furnished. 43 Its fate after the accession of 

 Elizabeth is unknown, 44 but ^4 appears to have been 

 allowed by the duchy to the minister, representing 

 the chantry endowment. 4j By 1 706 the stipend had 

 increased to 2 1. 46 Sixty years later the building was 

 enlarged, and galleries have been added since. 47 A 

 separate ecclesiastical district was assigned in i858. 48 

 The income is now stated to be .718, and the vicar 

 of Bolton presents the incumbents, who are styled 

 vicars. 49 The following is a list of them : 



oc. 1604 Robert Haslam 50 

 oc. 1619 Richard Barker 51 

 1646 Gerard Brown, 

 lege, Oxford) 



B.A." (Brasenose Col- 



1654 Thomas Isherwood M 



1668 Bolton 44 



1682 Kiel (?) Edmondson s5 

 oc. 1696 Stones 



c. 1701 Christopher Tyrer, B.A. 56 (University Col- 

 lege, Oxford) 

 Peter Shaw 



1722 Nathan Pierpoint 



1727 James Bankes, B.A. 67 



1774 Thomas Shaw 



1777 Joseph Bowes, B.A. (St. John's College, 

 Cambridge) 



1788 Stephen Ellis 



1 800 William Marsden, B.D. 68 (Brasenose Col- 

 lege, Oxford) 



1837 Charles Johnson Snape, B.A. 59 (Queens' 

 College, Cambridge) 



1 846 Peter Walsh Browne, M.A. 



1 86 1 Francis Richard Swallow 



1877 Ralph Calvert Williams Croft, B.A. 60 

 (Trinity College, Dublin) 



1900 George Worsley Coleman, M.A. 61 (Jesus 

 College, Cambridge) 



A grammar school was founded in 1568 by the 

 trustees of John Holme, and is now joined with the 

 slightly earlier one founded at Rivington. 62 



There is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. 



Formerly there was a meeting of the Society of 

 Friends in Blackrod. 68 



89 Returns at Preston ; together they 

 paid over a quarter of the tax. 



40 Lich. Epis. Reg. iii, fol. 52. The 

 licence of the prebendary of Bolton had 

 been obtained. The endowment con- 

 sisted of two messuages, 62 acres of land, 

 8 acres of meadow, and 10 acres of wood 

 in Blackrod, with appurtenances, including 

 turbary. The chaplain was to have charge 

 of the chalices, books, &c., and was to pay 

 to the parish church of Bolton all great 

 tithes, &c., according to custom. Should 

 the chantry fall vacant after Easter and 

 before the collection of autumn fruits, the 

 new chaplain should receive the moiety of 

 such fruits, together with four oxen and 

 two horses and a plough. 



The royal licence to alienate in mort- 

 main was granted in 1335 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1334-8, p. 122. 



41 Henry de Wakefield, 1349 ; Raines, 

 Chantries (Chet. Soc.), i, 128. On his 

 resignation in 1376 John le Archer was 

 admitted ; Lich. Epis. Reg. iv, fol. 88. 

 In 1499 Hugh Holme was admitted in 

 place of James Culcheth, deceased ; ibid, 

 xiii, fol. 232. Hugh Holme was there in 

 1535 ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 226. 



The patrons were the Bradshaws and 

 Harringtons. On the division of the 

 estates the chapel, as already stated, be- 

 came part of the Hoghton share. In 

 Aug. 1542 Sir Richard Hoghton claimed 

 to present to the 'free chapel of Black- 

 rod ' (Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 34 

 Hen. VIII), but it appears that Sir Alex- 

 ander Radcliffe and others had presented 

 in the preceding June, George Robinson 

 being then instituted on the death of Hugh 

 Holme ; Raines, Chantries, loc. cit. (from 

 Chester Consistory Records). Sir Richard's 

 claim appears to have been justified, for 

 in Oct. 1 543 his nominee was instituted 

 Ralph Forster ; ibid. 



42 Ibid. 125-9. The chapel is described 

 as 'standing upon the King's Street be- 

 tween Lancaster and London,' and 5 miles 

 from Bolton Church. 



The chantry lands were in 1553 sold 

 to Edward Spany of Tunstall in Norfolk, 

 and he at once sold to Thomas Fleetwood, 

 of whose property an account has been 

 given above ; Pat. 7 Edw. VI, pt. xi ; 

 deed recited in Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 272, 

 m. 6. The ' Chantry Fields ' were in 

 1882 in the possession of the Marquess de 

 Rothwell ; Hampson, Blackrod, 35. 



43 Cb. Gds. (Chet. Soc.), 31, where it is 

 treated as if a separate parish church ; three 

 small bells and a hand-bell were the town's 

 property. The ornaments were sold for 

 8j. $d. ; Raines, Chantries, ii, 276 ; for 

 two of the bells ; ibid. 274. 



44 No curate is mentioned in the Visita- 

 tion list of 1563 ; the next curate, 'no 

 preacher,' known occurs about 1590; 

 S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxi, no. 47. No name 

 is given. In 1592 the churchwardens had 

 not exhibited any presentments ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xiii, 57. 



45 Commonwealth Cb. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 33. The commis- 

 sioners recommended that Blackrod should 

 be made a parish church. Half the tithes 

 were in 1648 ordered to be paid to the 

 minister ; Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 62. Nothing was 

 decided as to the separation of Blackrod 

 from Bolton ; ibid, ii, 226. 



46 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 15-17. The Duchy rent is given as 

 4 4$. i$J., and ^16 6s. 6d. was the 

 interest of the chapel stock. There was 

 one warden. 



47 Raines, loc. cit. (in notes). 



48 Land. Gats, z Aug. 1858. 



49 Manch. Dioc. Dir. 



60 Visitation List at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



61 Ibid. No curate's name occurs in 

 the clerical subsidy lists of the time. 



52 He was a Royalist, but after being 

 ejected from Mottram near Stockport 

 (Earwaker, East Ches. ii, 128-30), ap- 

 pears to have conformed to the Presby- 

 terian discipline, and was in charge of 

 Blackrod from the end of 1646 to 1651, 

 when he moved to Cockerham and after- 

 wards to Burton in Kendal, conforming in 

 1662 ; Bury Classis (Chet. Soc.), 18, &c., 

 219-20. In 1650 he was described as ' a 

 painful, godly, and orthodox minister, and 

 a man of pious life and conversation' j 

 Commonwealth Ch. Suri>. 34. 



68 William Hilton seems to have in- 

 truded himself during the vacancy ; Bury 

 Classis, i, 127. 



Thomas Isherwood (Christ's Coll. 

 Camb.) was ordained to Blackrod in 1654 ; 

 ibid. 136, &c. He was vicar of Eccles 

 1671-8. 



54 Note by Mr. Earwaker. At the visi- 

 tation in 1671 it was presented that there 

 were fourteen Papists, and that the Rigbys 

 were Quakers. 



45 Ibid. The curacy appears to have 

 been vacant in 1689 and 1691. 



86 The Church P. at Chester Dioc. Reg. 

 are available from this point. 



5 7 One of this name was B.A. 1727. 

 Brasenose Col. Oxf. ; Foster, Alumni. 



58 Became vicar of Eccles. 



59 From this time the curates and vicars 

 are stated to have been presented by the 

 vicars of Bolton ; see Hampson, Blackrod, 



57- 



60 Previously incumbent of Walmsley. 



61 Previously vicar of Great Marsden, 

 1882, and of St. Augustine's, Bolton, 1893. 



62 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 16 ; End. Char. 

 Rep. for Bolton, 1 904. 



68 It was addressed by Roger Haydock 

 in 1674. 



303 



