AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



GARSTANG 



Before the Reformation the vicars appear to have 

 been, as a rule, canons of Cockersand ; one or two 

 became abbots, but nothing is known of them further. 

 The services of the church, its chantries, and the 

 chapels at Garstang and Pilling would normally 

 require five priests, or a nominal staff of six should 

 the vicar be non-resident or only occasionally resident. 

 In the visitation list of 1554 six names appear, but 

 in that of 1562 only two are given, the non-resident 

 vicar and the curate, who appeared but did not 

 subscribe. 96 The story during the remainder of 

 Elizabeth's reign is unknown ; probably the vicar or 

 a curate was in sole charge. The religious people in 

 general probably remained Roman Catholic. An 

 incident in 1 600 shows the popular sympathies. The 

 Bishop of Chester having sent a pursuivant to arrest 

 ' some obstinate recusants ' in and near Kirkland, the 

 vicarage was attacked during the night by a number 

 of armed men and shots were fired at the house to 

 intimidate the vicar and pursuivant. 97 



In view of the state of the people, one of the four 

 ' King's Preachers ' had already been stationed at 

 Garstang, 98 and later the famous Puritan Isaac 

 Ambrose held the office there. In 1619 Anne wife 

 of John Butler of Kirkland was presented to the 

 Bishop of Chester ' for being of bold, insolent and 

 offensive behaviour in maintaining of popish supersti- 

 tion and making choice of popish recusants to be her 

 servants ' ; and two of the gentry, Edward Kirkby 

 and Bartholomew Jackson, did ' offensively keep 

 argument in maintaining of popery and disgracing of 

 the profession of the Gospel, especially on the Sabbath 

 day.' " 



Under Bishop Bridgeman an effort at improvement 

 was made, for a curate of Pilling is named in 1639. 10 

 Even under the Commonwealth the only resident 

 ministers were the vicar and the curate of Pilling, 

 and the latter had been silenced. 101 Isaac Ambrose 

 is the only vicar of eminence, and after his expulsion 

 in 1662 the list contains no name requiring com- 

 ment, except that of the non-resident Wroe. The 

 parish was not neglected. 102 The diary of Thomas 

 Parkinson, curate 17235, shows that 'prayers were 

 then said in the church on all Wednesdays and 

 Fridays, and all saints' days and holy days throughout 



the year.' The communicants were numerous, being 

 236 on Good Friday and 285 on Easter Day, I723. 103 

 Soon afterwards the vicars appear to have resided, so 

 that with curates at Garstang and Pilling the normal 

 staff" was raised to three. 



In 1755 the churchwardens made a religious census 

 and recorded 461 Protestant families, 154 Papist, 

 and 1 8 Dissenters. 104 The number of ' Papists ' 

 in the parish reported to the Bishop of Chester 

 increased from 230 in 1717 to 837 in ij6j. lMa 



There were two chantries. The principal was 

 that of St. Mary, at the altar on the south side of 

 the church. It was founded by Margaret Rigmaiden, 

 one of the daughters and co-heirs of John Lawrence 

 of Ashton near Lancaster, for a priest to celebrate 

 for the souls of her ancestors, a stipend of 5 6s. 8</. 

 being allowed out of her hereditary lands. Her 

 heir John Rigmaiden about 1547 refused to pay the 

 stipend, and so the chantry ceased. 105 This refusal 

 was probably due to a desire to save the endowment 

 from confiscation ; if so it did not succeed, for in 

 1606-7 a grant was made by the Crown of ' Ashton's 

 lands ' belonging to a chantry in Garstang Church. 106 

 The other chantry was that of the Brockholes family, 

 which may have been the one they were bound to 

 maintain by the tenure of Claughton. Nothing 

 but a stipend of 40^. belonged to it ; Henry Hey 

 was the incumbent in I547. 107 



Official inquiries into the charities 

 CHARITIES of the parish were made in 1824 and 

 iSgS. 108 Apart from several small 

 educational endowments, amounting in all to ji33, 109 

 the poor receive money doles out of a gross total of 

 82 i6t. 3</. available. 



Elizabeth Caton of Cabus in 1728 left 30 for 

 money or cloth for the poor of the whole parish. 

 John Caton of Claughton in 1720 left 40 for the 

 poor, and Christopher Caton of the same place in 

 1721 left another 40 for the poor of Claughton. 

 With these sums Round Meadow in Forton was 

 purchased, and in 1824 part of the rent was spent 

 in cloth at Martinmas and part in money at Christmas. 

 Margaret Blackburn of Scorton in Nether Wyresdale 

 in 1718 bequeathed ^50 to the poor of this township 

 and 40 ' for the learning of poor children.' 110 John 



96 Visit. Lists at Ches. Dioc. Reg. 

 The church 'ornaments' remaining in 

 1552 were scanty; Fishwick, op. cit. 

 8 1-2. 



97 Cal. S. P. Dom. 1598-1601, pp. 

 466-7. Over ninety persons were sum- 

 moned before the justices. 



98 This is evident from the story ; see 

 also Cal. S. P. Dom. 1633-4, p. 467. 



99 Visit, presentments at Chester. 

 Several persons were in trouble in 1624 

 for taking part in a funeral in which the 

 corpse was set down at crosses by the 

 wayside, with ' obeisance to the same in 

 superstitious manner,' and was ' buried 

 without the minister's aid or any prayers 

 made" ; Fishwick, op. cit. 274. 



100 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 124. The vicar was non-resident, 

 holding Lancaster also. Ambrose was 

 king's preacher from 1635, and resided 

 at Garstang till his appointment to Pres- 

 ton ; Fishwick, op. cit. 163. 



101 Common-w. Ch. Sur-v. i 50. The visit, 

 list of 1691 shows a vicar (non-resident), 

 a curate and a second curate at Pilling. 



lu * In 1680 the churchwardens reported 



'many Papists, or reputed for to be, and 

 some Quakers' ; Visit. Ret. 



103 Parkinson, Old Ch. Clock (ed. 1880), 

 1889; at Eastertide 1724 the com- 

 municants numbered about 740. See 

 also Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 532. 



104 Visit. Ret. at Chester. 



1Wa Trans. Hist. Soc. (new er.), xviii, 

 217. 



loi Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 1 99 ; 

 there was no plate. 



106 Pat. 4 Jas. I, pt. xiii. 



107 Raines, op. cit. 201. An inquiry 

 was made into the matter in 1561. 

 John Rigmaiden, then aged thirty-six, 

 produced the will of Margaret Rigmaiden, 

 dated 19 June 1516. She directed her 

 trustees to set aside 8 marks a year ' to 

 hold and keep therewith a sufficient and 

 able priest to read and sing in the said 

 church of Garstang continually for ever, 

 in manner following : That is to wit, to 

 say mass three days in every week, and 

 Placebo and Dirige with three lessons 

 every ferial day, the commemoration, 

 Pasch time and octaves precipue only 

 except ; and also every year to make a 



299 



solemn obit with note and mass of 

 Requiem in like wise for my husband's 

 soul, my soul, all our parents' and friends' 

 souls ; and also help to maintain and 

 keep divine service in the said church 

 every Sunday and holy day at matins, 

 masses and evensong in his surplice as oft 

 as there shall happen to be company to 

 do the said service with note." Her son 

 Richard Rigmaiden was the first priest 

 appointed ; on his death John Pye suc- 

 ceeded, and dying was followed by Thomas 

 Lawrenson (1543), who was cantarist for 

 two years or more. It was then that 

 John Rigmaiden, deceased, refused to pay, 

 and Lawrenson died in Holborn of the 

 plague about 1550 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Special Com. 33. 



108 The report of the 1898 inquiry, 

 issued in 1899, contains also the report 

 of 1824. 



109 The Sunday school attached to the 

 parish church has also a small endowment. 



110 The will declares, ' though I ex~ 

 elude no sort of poor from partaking of 

 my charity, yet still I would have poor 

 Catholics preferred before others.' 



