AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



PRESTON 



the way, near Myerscough, ' they were overtaken by 

 four horsemen and a man on foot, who demanded 

 whether the prisoner was a priest and attempted to 

 rescue him. A desperate affray ensued, in which the 

 assailants were worsted and Greenlow, one of the 

 horsemen, was taken prisoner. The party then 

 returned to Preston, and Greenlow was examined.' 

 It turned out that he was a seminary priest, a York- 

 shireman named Thurstan Hunt. In the end both 

 the priests were condemned as traitors for their 

 priesthood only, and were executed at Lancaster in 

 the March following. 38 



At the Bishop of Chester's visitation in 1605 

 sixty-eight recusants were presented in Preston town, 

 and nineteen others in the parish, some being de- 

 scribed as arch-recusants. Argument was dealt with 

 after the manner of the time : ' William Urmston, 

 gentleman, a great seducing Papist, seduceth the 

 people very much, and sometimes a crafty subtle 

 lawyer. The churchwardens desire some course may 

 be taken with him that they be not troubled with 

 his subtle arguments.' One William Ridley was 

 ' supposed to have many masses said in his house 

 since the death of the queen, whereunto many 

 have resorted.' 39 



Somewhat later, in 1629 and subsequent years, 

 the following recusants compounded by annual fines 

 for the sequestration of two-thirds of their estates : 

 In Preston Henry Ashton, 3 6s. 8</. ; Alexander 

 Rigby, 2 ; James Walton, 6 ; Grace Wilkinson, 

 $. In Broughton Hugh Crook, William Single- 

 ton and George Wilkinson, 2 each. In Ribbleton 

 John Farington, 6 l$s. \d. In Grimsargh 

 William Hoghton, 10. The following compounded 

 for arrears only, having been induced to conform : 

 Henry Sudell of Preston and Henry Grayson of 

 Fulwood. 40 Richard Hurst, a yeoman of the district, 

 probably of Broughton, was to be arrested for 

 recusancy by order of the Bishop of Chester. 

 The violence of the officers provoked a fight, 

 and one of them afterwards died. Hurst was 

 charged with murder, and it is stated that the judge 

 at the trial, Sir Henry Yelverton, ' informed the 

 jury that the prisoner was a recusant and had resisted 

 the bishop's authority ; and told them that he must 

 be found guilty of murder, as an example.' The 

 jury returned this verdict, but Hurst on his way to 

 execution was offered his life if he would take the 



oath of allegiance. As it contained anti-Catholic 

 clauses he refused, and was accordingly executed 

 29 August i628. 41 



James I was entertained by the mayor and cor- 

 poration during his progress from the north to London 

 in 1617. Arriving at the cross on 15 August he was 

 received by the mayor and corporation and presented 

 with a bowl ; after the recorder's speech the king 

 went to a banquet in the Guildhall. 42 A great 

 pestilence is recorded in 16301. The guild order 

 book of the time states that 1,100 persons and 

 upwards died within the town and parish of Preston 

 from the plague, which began about 10 November 

 1630 and lasted a whole year. 43 



On the outbreak of the Civil War the people of 

 the district in general espoused the king's side. 44 

 One of the powder magazines for the county had 

 been established at Preston in i639. 45 Before the 

 actual outbreak of war Lord Strange in June 1642 

 summoned a muster of the armed force of the county 

 on the moor to the north of the town, 46 and Preston 

 itself was garrisoned by Royalists soon afterwards. 47 

 Early in the following year Sir John Seaton led the 

 Parliament's troops to attack it. They found it to 

 be defended by a brick wall, but made the assault 

 with great courage on 9 February 1642-3, and after 

 two hours' fighting captured the town. The mayor, 

 Adam Mort, died of his wounds ; he had threatened 

 to burn the place, beginning with his own dwelling, 

 rather than suffer it to fall into the power of the 

 Parliament. 48 Mr. Anderton of Clayton, the com- 

 mandant of the garrison, was taken prisoner with 

 several other local men of importance, and some 

 were killed. Various guns and war stores were 

 captured ' and divers were pillaged to a purpose.' 49 

 Rosworm, the famous engineer, afterwards re-fortified 

 the position. 



Five weeks later, 20 March, Lord Derby having 

 learnt that the place was weak because troops had 

 been drawn away to resist him at Lancaster, hurried 

 to Preston and recaptured it for the king. The 

 mayor, Edmund Werden, was in charge of the town, 

 and refused to surrender it ; but assaults were made 

 at three points by Captains Chisnall, Radcliffe and 

 Rawstorne, and after an hour's struggle the place was 

 taken. There was no general plunder, but Lord 

 Derby ' gave command that the houses of those who 

 had betrayed the town before should be responsible 



he doth not answer, for he doubteth of it. 

 And being demanded whether he taketh 

 the queen's majesty to be lawful Queen 

 of England, he saith "In temporal 

 matters," and that he hath done and will 

 pray that God would make her majesty a 

 Catholic. And being likewise demanded 

 whether her majesty ought to be Queen 

 of England, the pope's excommunication 

 notwithstanding, to that he saith he will 

 not answer, nor any more questions.' 



88 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 

 481 ; v, 13 ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1598-1601, 

 p. 485 ; Foley, op. cit. viii, 962. Mid- 

 dleton was admitted to the Society of 

 Jesus just before his execution. 



The cause of the beatification of both 

 priests, also of Richard Hurst, hereafter 

 mentioned, and George Haydock of Cot- 

 tarn, was allowed to be introduced at Rome 

 in 1886 ; Pollen, Acts of Martyrs, 379-82. 



89 Presentments, Chester Dioc. Reg. 



40 Trans, Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxiv, 

 175, &c. To the first class of corn- 



pounders should be added Thomas 

 Richardson of Myerscough, 14 101. 



41 Gillow, op. cit. iii, 487-9, from a 

 contemporary account, reprinted 1737. 



4 * Assheton's Journ. (Chet. Soc.), 36-7. 



48 Abram, Memorials of the Guilds, 42 ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 45 ; 

 Civil War in Ches. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 6. 



44 The Protestation of 1641, which 

 affords a list of the inhabitants of the parish, 

 is remarkable as showing that a large 

 number refused to assent. The names 

 are printed in Fish wick, op. cit. 42531. 



45 Cal. S. P. Dom. 1638-9, p. 387. 

 The small stock there in 1642 was seized 

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

 v, App. 31, 32. 



46 Lord Strange, Lord Molyneux and 

 many of the gentry were present, the 

 whole assemblage being estimated to 

 number 5,000. A large number of them 

 were in favour of the Parliament ; ibid. ; 

 Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 14, 23. 



75 



47 Civil War Tracts (Chet Soc.), 

 66. 



48 War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc.), 23. The 

 troops had crossed by Ribble Bridge, and 

 the main body attacked from the east 

 side ; but a small force went round to the 

 house of correction and entered by Friar- 

 gate Bars. This writer states that the 

 town was captured on the morning of 

 8 Feb., but the more detailed account in 

 Civil War Tracts (p. 74) says it was the 

 following day. 



John Tyldesley of Deane also has given 

 a description of the event ; he adds : ' So 

 soon as matters were settled we sang 

 praises to God in the streets,' and 'the 

 sun brake forth and shined brightly and 

 hot, in the time of the exercise, as if it 

 had been midsummer' ; ibid. 73. 



For the importance of the capture see 

 Broxap, Civil War in Lanes. 635. 



49 Civil War Tracts, 75. For evidence 

 of plundering by the Parliament's soldiers 

 see Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2849. 



