BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



RIBCHESTER 



Instituted Name 



zg Aug. 1775 . . John Griffiths, B.A 



37 July 1776 . . John Atkinson 67 ' 8 



II July 1798 . . Isaac Relph 69 



23 Apr. 1800 . . James Quartley, M.A. 70 . . . . 



14 Apr. 1829 . . Boulby Thomas Haslewood, B.A. 71 . 



RECTORS 



. Frederick Eugene Perrin, M.A. 72 . 

 Francis John Dickson, M.A. 73 

 Evan Harries 74 



. John William Brooker 



Patron 



Bp. of Chester 



Cause of Vacancy 



d. J. Heber 



1876 . 



1 8 Aug. 1885 . 



1 1 May 1892 . 

 7 Jan. 1908 



The early rectors were often officials of the Earls of 

 Lancaster or the kings, holding Ribchester as one of 

 numerous preferments and resigning it after a brief 

 tenure for some more lucrative benefice. It is 

 unlikely that many of them were resident, and pro- 

 bably for this reason they seldom occur in local deeds. 

 After the rectory came into the possession of the 

 Bishops of Chester the vicars appointed were usually 

 resident, but the stipend was small, and the position 

 of the incumbents was probably no better than that 

 of the former curates of the absentee rectors. Some 

 of the vicars held other preferments. Before the 

 Reformation there were probably three or four 

 resident priests, 75 the parish church with its chantry 

 and the chapels at Longridge and Stidd having to 

 be served. The visitation list of 1548 gives four 

 names, including the rector's, but Stidd had no 

 doubt ceased to be used. 76 The church goods taken 

 away by the commissioners of Edward VI in 155 23 

 were a pix of silver gilt, a cross, a cope and five 

 vestments. 77 In 1554, when the Bishop of Chester 

 was rector, only one name appears, 78 and the same 



Bp. of Manchester 



d. J. Atkinson 

 d. I. Relph 

 d. J. Quartley 



d. B. T. Haslewood 

 d. F. E. Perrin 



res. E. Harries 



is the case in 1 562. 79 A single minister appears thence- 

 forward to have sufficed for the parish until about 

 I7oo, 80 though during the Commonwealth period 

 there was a second one at Longridge. 81 Mr. Ogden, 

 vicar at the end of the 1 7th century, had a resident 

 curate. 82 In 1731 the churchwardens notified to the 

 Bishop of Chester the existence of Quakers, Popish 

 and Presbyterian Dissenters and Anabaptists. 83 



The priest of St. Mary in Ribchester Church 

 appears to have been an established institution before 

 1349, w ^ en a rent-charge of zs. on lands in Dutton 

 was made in his favour by Henry de Clayton. 84 Ten 

 years later a small sum was left to the priest singing 

 at St. Mary's altar. 85 This was no doubt the altar 

 on the south side of the church. In 1407 Sir Richard 

 Hoghton obtained the royal licence to refound or at 

 least to endow a chantry at her altar on the north 

 side of the church. 86 The endowment, derived from 

 lands in Ribchester, Dutton, Chipping and Goosnargh, 

 was unusually liberal, the net income of the chantry 

 priest in 1547 being 10 ijs. 4^. 87 Robert 

 Whittingham was the first priest, I4O9 88 ; Ellis 



* 7 ' 8 He was appointed one of the king's 

 preachers in Lancashire in 1786. He was 

 also curate of Walton-le-Dale, where 

 there is a tablet to his memory. 



69 He had been curate of Ribchester for 

 twenty-two years before being appointed 

 vicar. He is said to have been drowned 

 in the Ribble ; Smith, op. cit. 156. 



70 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), iv, 103. 



71 Educated at Peterhouse, Camb. ; 

 B.A. 1818. On his appointment, he 

 being ' an Evangelical and active clergy- 

 man,' the Congregationalists gave up their 

 services ; Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. 

 ii, 113. He 'was in many respects 

 a model parson, and was highly esteemed 

 by his parishioners, although it is to be 

 regretted that the old parish library was 

 allowed to become gradually dispersed, 

 and the numerous Roman antiquities dis- 

 covered during his incumbency to be irre- 

 coverably scattered" ; Smith, op. cit. 157. 



72 Educated at Trinity Coll., Dublin ; 

 M.A. 1848. 'He succeeded in accomplish- 

 ing many urgently needed reforms ' ; ibid. 



73 Educated at Trinity Coll., Camb. ; 

 M.A. 1873. Rector of Bispham 1876-85. 



74 Educated at St. Bees. Vicar of Christ 

 Church, Pendlebury, 1881-92. 



75 In a purely local deed of 1423 

 William Wile and Robert Whittingham, 

 chaplains, were trustees, while John Els- 

 wick, the rector, and Thomas Sedill, 

 chaplain, were witnesses ; Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 1234. 



76 The details given are from the viii- 

 tuion lists at Chester. 



77 Augm. Off. Misc. Bks. clxxx, m. 22. 

 ?B James Moor ; he had been there in 



1548 also. 79 Viz. the vicar's name. 



80 There is, for instance, no sign of an 



assistant either lecturer or schoolmaster 

 in the clerical subsidy lists, 1620-39, 

 in Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 55, &c. 81 See the account of Longridge. 



83 Ogden himself and several other 

 vicars were non-resident, but from 1682 

 there seems usually to have been a resi- 

 dent curate at Ribchester and another at 

 Longridge from about 1700. There is a 

 list in Smith, op. cit. 158-9. William 

 Felgate, the curate in 1689, was 'con- 

 formable ' to the government ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 230. 



88 Visit. Returns. 



84 Add. MS. 32106, no. 175. 



85 John del Lee, smith, gave a rent of 

 6</., charged on his lands, to God, St. 

 Mary of Ribchester and all Saints and to 

 the chaplain perpetually singing at the 

 altar of our said Lady St. Mary in the 

 church of Ribchester. Should the rent 

 fall into arrears the 'governor or parochial 

 chaplain or procurator ' of the church 

 might distrain ; ibid. no. 317. 



Among the Shireburne deeds was a 

 bond sealed in 1545 in the parish church 

 of Ribchester before our Lady's altar ; 

 Shireburne Abstract Bk. 



88 The writ of Inq. a.q.d. was issued 

 in July 1406, but the inquiry did not take 

 place till a year later. It was then 

 reported that it was not to the king's loss 

 that Sir Richard Hoghton should assign 

 to the chaplain of the perpetual chantry 

 in honour of the B. V. Mary in a certain 

 chapel on the north side of the parish 

 church of Ribchester various messuages, 

 lands and rents in Ribchester, Chipping, 

 Goosnargh, Hothersall and Aighton, in 

 part satisfaction of 10 granted by Sir 

 Richard to the chaplain in virtue of the 



43 



king's licence. In Ribchester nine mes- 

 suages, 41 acres, &c., were held of 

 Katherine Lynalx by a rent of 1 7 </., and 

 7 acres of pasture were held of Robert 

 Townley by zs. rent ; Inq. a.q.d. file 438, 

 no. 26. 



The royal licence referred to was given 

 in May 1406 ; the chaplain was to cele- 

 brate for the good estate of the king and 

 Sir Richard Hoghton, for the souls of 

 their ancestors and others (including John 

 de Osbaldeston and William Moton, 

 chaplains) ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 364. 

 The grant of the lands by Katherine 

 widow of William Lynalx, lady of Rib- 

 chester, is in Kuerden's fol. MS. p. 247. 



The lands of the chantry seem at a 

 little earlier date (1397) to have been held 

 by the above-named William Moton ; 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 455 (fol. 323). 



87 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 196-9. 

 There was no plate. The field-names 

 recorded include Hichough, Bankheys, 

 Stonyfurlong, Withinlache, Priestmeadow, 

 Orley, Atough, the pasture called Eyerley 

 and Avergate. The quit-rents payable 

 for Ribchester lands were i6d. to Sir 

 Richard Hoghton for Atough and is. 6d. 

 to Robert Lynalx for the third part of 

 another tenement. 



It should be noticed that in 1535 the 

 gross income was returned as ^4 131. 4^. 

 only ; 31. yd. was due to the king for 

 puture ; Valor Eccl. (Kec. Com.), v, 263. 



88 Add. MS. 32106, no. 365. Sir 

 Richard Hoghton appointed, and the right 

 of presentation remained with his descen- 

 dants. The advowson of the chantry of 

 Dutton at Ribchester was one of the 

 rights of Alexander Hoghton in 1498 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 66. 



