A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the poor.' 14 In this way the distinction between 

 Garstang Churchtown and Garstang Market-town 

 became established, and now the latter is known as 

 Garstang absolutely, the former being Churchtown. 



In 1679 a charter of incorporation 

 BOROUGH was granted by Charles II, constitut- 

 ing a free borough of Garstang with 

 bailiff and burgesses. The charter appointed William 

 Spencer the first bailiff, the office to be an annual 

 one, and named the seven burgesses, who held for 

 life. A common seal was allowed, and the market 

 and two fairs, with court of pie powder, were ratified 

 and extended. 16 Freemen were elected and a town 

 hall was built. 17 The corporation was dissolved in 

 1886 under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1883, 

 and the Garstang Town Trust was then formed to 

 manage the property, viz. the town hall, with offices, 

 warehouse and cottage, market tolls, piccage and 

 stallage ; fair tolls ; furniture of the town hall ; two 

 constables' halberds, a silver-topped staff, the common 

 seal and documents. The gross income is about 

 50 a year ; any balance over expenses is to be 

 applied to the establishment of a library or other 

 institution for the benefit of the inhabitants. 18 



In 1654 Jane Hodgkinson, widow, of Garstang, 

 desired to compound for the two-thirds of her estate 

 sequestered for recusancy. 19 Roger Green and Richard 

 Richardson registered estates in 1717 as 'Papists.' 20 

 In 1437 the inhabitants obtained a 

 CHURCH licence for one year for the chapel of 

 Holy Trinity in Garstang." This is 

 supposed to refer to a chapel in what is now called 

 Garstang. No clear evidence of its continuance is 

 forthcoming n till 1 646, when the Committee of 

 Plundered Ministers made a grant of $o a year 

 from Royalists' estates in order to provide a minister 

 for ' the chapel of the Market town of Garstang.' w 

 Bishop Gastrell in 1717 found that it had no endow- 



ment, but was 'supplied by the vicar.' 24 In 1734 

 the churchwardens reported that service was ' seldom 

 performed ' there. 25 It was rebuilt on a new site in 

 1770, and some endowments were obtained. It is 

 now called St. Thomas's, and has been enlarged and 

 restored. 26 A separate district was assigned to it in 

 1 88 1, 27 and the vicars are presented by the vicar of 

 Garstang. The net value is ^197. The following 

 have been in charge 28 : 



1723 Thomas Parkinson 29 



1736 John Sutton, B.A. (Trin. Coll., Camb.) 

 c. 1738 John Hunter 30 



1762 James Fisher sl 



1773 John Moss 32 



1800 William Wayles Thornton, B.D. (Em- 

 manuel Coll., Camb.) 



1822 James Pedder, M.A. 33 (Christ's Coll., 

 Camb.) 



1835 William Armitstead 



1879 George Boys Stones, M.A. (St. John's 

 Coll., Oxf.) 



A school was built in 1756, the lord of the 

 manor, Sir Edward Walpole, granting a piece of 

 land at the north end of the great street of Garstang 

 at a rent of is. 6d. zt 



John Wesley visited Garstang in 1765 and 1770, 

 but the Wesleyan Methodist chapel was not built 

 till l8l4- 35 He preached in the Congregationalist 

 chapel, 86 which is of unknown origin, but the lease 

 had thirty years to run in 1823." A fresh beginning 

 was made by the Congregationalists in 1829, and 

 the chapel was altered and improved in 1868. A 

 graveyard is attached. 38 



Roman Catholics during the time of the penal 

 laws were served by the missionary priests harboured 

 at a number of the houses in the district, such as 

 Dimples in Barnacre S9 or Bowers House in Nateby. 40 

 They had a chapel in the town from 1784 until 



this to the terror of the people and disturb- 

 ance of the peace ; Assize R. 45 1, m. 2. 

 It does not appear that they found him. 



15 Cal S. P. Dom. 1595-7, P- 347- 

 The market was to be kept (on Thursday) 

 on the street way and the fairs were to 

 be held on 29 June and n November; 

 Fishwick, op. cit. 59. The revived market 

 became popular, and is noticed by 

 'Drunken Barnaby.' Blome in 1673 

 says there was ' a great market for corn, 

 cattle, yarn and fish on Thursdays ' ; 

 Brit. 135 (quoted by Baines). 



16 The charter is printed by Fishwick, 

 op. cit. 59 ; here also may be seen the 

 seal (ibid. 68) and extracts from the 

 town's books (61-7). The annual meet- 

 ing of the corporation used to be held on 

 29 September. The weekly market on 

 Thursday was continued by the charter 

 and the fairs were extended to two days 

 each, viz. 28-9 June and 10-11 November. 

 The June fair has long been discon- 

 tinued, but the Martinmas fair (affected 

 by the change of style) is held still on 

 22-3 November for cattle and horses. 

 A market-house was built in 1843 and 

 the Thursday market continues. There 

 is no authority that a charter of incorpora- 

 tion was granted in 1314, but ' burgages ' 

 occur in Kirkland. 



An additional fair instituted in 1830 

 to be held on 12-13 April has ceased to 

 exist ; ibid. 68. 



17 It was rebuilt 1755-64 ; Baines, 

 Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 534. 



18 End. Char. Rep. for Garstang, 1899, 

 pp. 213. There are eleven trustees 

 two ex officio, viz. the guardians of the 

 poor for the parish, four elected by the 

 parish council, one nominated by the 

 Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian 

 Society a noteworthy case and four 

 co-optative, appointed by the other trustees 

 to serve for seven years. It is added that 

 several of the old freemen were living and 

 were exempt from the fair and market tolls. 



19 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 231. 



20 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non- 

 jurors, 142. 



21 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 409. 



22 Robert Beck, draper, of Manchester 

 in 1556 left 161. 8^. towards the buying or 

 making of a chalice for ' the chapel of Gar- 

 stang ' ; Piccope, Willt (Chet. Soc.), i, 84. 



23 Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 24. It is called ' the chapel 

 of Garstang' in 1648 ; ibid. 63. Thomas 

 Smith in 1648 signed the ' Harmonious 

 Consent ' as ' preacher at Garstang 

 Chapel,' but he had removed to Cocker- 

 ham by 1650. Edward Lawrence was 

 there in 1656; Fishwick, op. cit. 137. 

 In 1650, 'the chapel at Garstang market 

 being two miles distant from the parish 

 church and in the high road between 

 Preston and Lancaster,' the people of the 

 neighbourhood desired it to be made a 

 parish, with a minister and a ' competent 

 maintenance ' ; Commoniu. Ch. Surir. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 150. 



312 



24 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 412. 



25 Visit. Ret. at Chester. In 1743 

 service was performed every Sunday after- 

 noon, excepting those days when the 

 sacrament was administered at the parish 

 church ; ibid. 



26 The title being defective, the chapel 

 was not consecrated until 1848 ; Notitia 

 Cestr. ii, 413. Some details are given by 

 Fishwick, op. cit. 100 i. A descriptive 

 account is given in Hewitson, Our Country 

 Churches, 477-81. 



27 Land. Ga-z. 1 8 Jan. 1 88 1. 



28 This list is mainly derived from 

 Fishwick, op. cit. 102-4, where further 

 details may be found. 



29 Parkinson, Old Church Clock (ed. 

 1880), 187-90. 



30 Afterwards curate of Pilling. 



31 Afterwards vicar of Garstang. 



32 Hewitson, op. cit. 481. 



33 Afterwards vicar of Garstang. 

 4 End. Char. Rep. 



35 Hewitson, op. cit. 492. 

 86 Fishwick, op. cit. 124, citing R. 

 Allen, Methodism in Preston. 



37 B. Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. i, 

 196. 



38 Ibid. 191-203 ; Hewitson, op. cit. 

 482. The cause was injured by the 

 secession of the more extreme Calvinists in 

 1828 ; see Nateby. 



39 See Tyldesley Diary, 94, 158. 



40 Ibid. 59. In 1687 Bishop Leyburn 

 had at Nateby Hall confirmed 1,052 

 Roman Catholics ; ibid. 22. 



