A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



After the Reformation an allowance 

 CHAPEL of 4-O.r. was ordered from the manor estate 

 towards the stipend of a chaplain at 

 Stidd, 50 but this became merely a perquisite of the 

 vicar of Ribchester, 51 who held a service in the 

 dilapidated chapel several times a year. 52 The 

 extra-parochial district has now been formally united 

 to the parish of Ribchester, and service is performed 

 once a month and more frequently in the summer. 



The chapel of ST. SAVIOUR at Stidd 53 stands 

 amongst fields in a pleasant situation about half a mile 

 to the north-east of Ribchester. It is an exceedingly 

 interesting and rather picturesque 54 building sub- 

 stantially of late 1 2th-century date, with subsequent 

 alterations, in plan a plain rectangle 46 ft. 6 in. long 

 internally by 20 ft. 6 in. wide, and with a small 

 south porch. The walls, which are 3 ft. thick, are 

 faced with rubble masonry, but at a later date, 

 probably in the 1 3th century, square buttresses of 

 two stages have been added at each angle, built with 

 dressed stone and with chamfered plinths. The north 

 wall retains all its original 12th-century features 

 unaltered, having two narrow semicircular-headed 

 labelled windows, with Q-in. lights splaying on 



1 12S CENTURY 

 S CENTUHY 

 l5lS CENTURY 

 dl MODERN 

 10 20 JO 



4O 



SCALE or! 



PLAN OF ST. SAVIOUR'S CHAPEL, STIDD 



the inside to 3 ft. 10 in., and between them a door- 

 way, 2 ft. 4 in. wide, now built up, with semi- 



circular head, chamfered jambs, and hood mould 

 with plain zigzag ornament. On the south side a 

 single 12th-century window remains, similar in 

 character to those on the north, but of greater height 

 and widened out in its lower half to a width of 1 2 in. 

 The other windows on the south side are of 15th- 

 century date, each of three lights under a square 

 head. They, however, differ in detail, and were 

 probably not inserted at the same time, that at 

 the eastern end, which is the earlier, having no 

 hood mould but with cusped heads to the lights, 

 the opening going right up under the eaves. 

 The other is slightly lower, with external hood 

 mould and without cuspings, and may be of 16th- 

 century date. The lower part of both windows is 

 now built up. The south doorway is at the western 

 end of the wall, and is a good example of early 13th- 

 century work, probably inserted soon after the original 

 building was finished. It has a pointed arch of two 

 moulded orders springing from moulded imposts, and 

 angle shafts with carved caps. The detail of the 

 carving is transitional in character, but the appearance 

 of the doorway has been spoiled by successive coats 

 of whitewash. On the east side the detached outer 

 shaft has gone. The door is the original oak nail- 

 studded one. A plain open porch 6 ft. 6 in. square 

 has been built at a later date in front of the doorway, 

 consisting simply of two rough stone walls with stone 

 lintel and rubble gable. 



The east window is a modern pointed one of three 

 lights, the mullions crossing in the head, but internally 

 it has a segmental arched head. The gable above is 

 quite plain, and below the window is a dwarf buttress. 

 The east wall, unlike those on the north and south, 

 has a plinth suggesting its entire reconstruction at 

 the time the angle buttresses were added. On the 

 south wall below the easternmost window is a portion 

 of a string 13 ft. in length, detached at each end, 

 between the buttress and the I zth-century window. 



At the west end, high up in the wall, is a late 

 two-light pointed window, the sill of which is 10 ft. 

 above the floor of the chapel, and in the south-west 

 corner a pointed doorway, the threshold of which is 

 8 ft. 6 in. above the floor. On the outside, where 

 the ground has probably risen all round, the height 

 of the door from the ground is only 6 ft. 6 in. Both 



Shireburne, John Shireburne, Richard 

 Walmsley and John Walmsley ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 216, m. 38. The 

 Shireburnes here named were those of 

 Bailey Hall, and the ' manor ' may be 

 that of the Holt family. 



On the other hand the manor of Stidd 

 is named among the Shireburne of Stony- 

 hurst possessions in 1737 and 1777 ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 544, m. 13 ; 625, m. 

 10 d. (16). 



50 This was directed in the sale to 

 Thomas Holt. The tithes of the district 

 seem also to have been paid by custom to 

 the chaplain, but by compositions they 

 became very trifling in amount. 



51 At first there seems to have been a 

 separate chaplain, for one John Moss was 

 there in 1 574. He gave a certificate that 

 Edward Ash had received the communion 

 from him at Stidd Church in Passion 

 week that year. Ash had been sum- 

 moned before the Bishop of Chester for 

 his omission in that matter 5 Chester 

 Consistory Ct. Rec. 



About 1 6 10 Stidd was described as 'a 



donative from the Lord Archbishop of 

 Canterbury ' ; there was ' no minister 

 there resident ' ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App. iv, 9. On 21 Jan. 1616-17 

 Richard Learoyd, B.A., was admitted to 

 the church of Stidd on the presentation of 

 Francis Holt; Act Bk. at Chester, 1579- 

 1676, fol. 65. The vicars of Ribchester 

 were therefore in charge, and the con- 

 venient custom remained in force. The 

 right of patronage or donation was exercised 

 by Francis Holt, but on the decay of this 

 family and the apparent extinction of the 

 manor the vicar of Ribchester seems to 

 have been regarded as the patron, Stidd 

 thus becoming a curacy. In 1650 it was 

 regarded as Mr. Holt's donative, and was 

 worth 6 131. 4</., this sum being paid 

 'to the minister at Ribche.ter, being 

 accounted parson at Stidd.' There were 

 only seventeen families in the parish ; 

 Common-w. Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 170. 



About 1717 Bishop Gastrell found the 

 income to be ^3 19.5. id., being ^2 from 

 Stidd Hall, from three other estates 51., 



60 



tithes (by composition) 1 141. id. In 

 1690 the 'vicar of Ribchester [?was] 

 instituted to Stidd and invested with all 

 the rights belonging to it.' The ancient 

 burial-ground was in use ; Notitia Cestr. 

 (Chet. Soc.), ii, 476-8. 



52 In Gastrell's time it was ' served by 

 the vicar on New Year's Day, Good 

 Friday and some other Sundays in sum- 

 mer time ' ; ibid, i, 478. A century 

 later Whitaker wrote that divine service 

 was performed ' only twice a year ' ; ' nc 

 reading desk was ever erected and prayers 

 are read out of the pulpit ' ; Whalley (ed. 

 Nicholls), ii, 465. 



58 A monograph entitled ' The History 

 of Stydd Chapel and Preceptory near Rib- 

 chester, Lancashire,' by George Latham, 

 architect, was published in 1853. It 

 contains fourteen plates, mostly measured 

 drawings. The letterpress is of little 

 value. 



54 Its 'picturesque beauty' in 1801 is 

 noticed in Whitaker's Whalley, loc. cit. 

 A view of the building is given by T. C. 

 Smith, Longridge, 166. 



