A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



deacon of Cleveland, created some sensation by his pronounced latitu- 

 dinarianism." There is no reason to suppose that men like Sterne did not 

 ' perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of 

 England ' with decency and decorum ; but there was need of a strong 

 influence from outside to quicken spiritual fervour.*' 



Nevertheless at no time were the spiritual activities of the Church 

 altogether neglected. To the time of Sharp belong the returns known as 

 ' Notitia Parochialis,' which show that many Yorkshire clergy were alive 

 to the dangers of the time.*" The vicar of Pontefract complained that the 

 chapel at Knottingley was turned into a meeting-house.*^ At Heptonstall, 

 Nonconformity was on the increase : the curate could not obtain the small 

 annual stipend due to him from the vicar of Halifax, and depended 

 entirely on the charity of a diminishing congregation.*' Luddenden Chapel, 

 also in Halifax parish, was without a curate ; this the churchwardens attri- 

 buted to the decay of the woollen trade, which doubtless had its effect on 

 the vicar's stipend, but did not prevent Nonconformists from building chapels." 

 Some clergy complain of the lack of parochial libraries, as at Hawnby in 

 Bilsdale ; " the rector of Treeton said that there was 'scarce a book in the whole 

 parish but what are in my own library.'" On the other hand there was a 

 good library at North Grimston, the bequest of Archdeacon Thurscross ; " 

 and a vicar of Stainton-in-Cleveland had left his books for the use of his 

 successors." Sharp consecrated new chapels-of-ease to Thornhill and 

 Flockton (1699),"-' and to Kildwick at Silsden (i/ia).'" Blackburn, in 

 person or by deputy, consecrated the chapel of Ripponden, in Halifax parish 

 (1737)," and the important churches of Holy Trinity at Leeds (1727),'' and 

 St. Paul at Sheffield (1740).'^ There was no lack of rebuilding during 

 the 1 8th century. In 1707 Sir John Bland of Kippax paid for the 

 rebuilding of the steeple of St. Giles' at Pontefract."" Tinsley Chapel 

 was rebuilt and furnished in 17 10 by the Hon. Thomas Wentworth," 

 the ruined chapel of High Worsall, in a detached part of Northallerton 

 parish, was rebuilt in 171 9." A brief was granted in 1728 for the 

 rebuilding of Yarm Church." The fine church of Kirkleatham was 



" See Whitaker, Richmondshhe, i, 90 seq. 



" William Mason, the friend of Gray and Horace Walpole, rector of Aston, near Rotherham, 1754-97, 

 Precentor and Canon of York, and Prebendary of Driffield, should not be forgotten. Although irreproachable 

 in faith and morals, he was, like Herring, essentially of his age ; and the spirit of the delightful humour shown 

 in his letters to Walpole (printed in the footnotes to Cunningham's edition of Walpole's correspondence) is 

 eminently secular. He us;, however, constantly resident at Aston, and was evidently much esteemed by 

 his friends and parishioners. 



'" Lawton, op. cit. Introd. pp. xi, xii. 



" Ibid. (Not. Par. no. 653), 147. « Ibid. iJi, 



"Ibid. 133. 



"Ibid. (Not. Par. 1057), 519. Hawnby is apparently the 'Hornby' mentioned by Wesley, Journal 

 (7 July 1757). where the lord of the manor had turned the Methodists out of their houses, and forty or fifty 

 of them were living in some little houses which they had built at the end of the village. 



" Ibid. 237. 'Thank God, the whole living is worth more than thirty pounds.' 



" Ibid. 2 76. Timothy Thurscross, Archdeacon of Cleveland and vicar of Kirkby Moorside 163 5-8, was 

 a worthy representative of the Laudian school of churchmen, see York. Diaries (Surt. See), 420 seq. 



" Lawton, op. cit. (Not. Par. no. 1058), 502. 



"■^ Ibid. 160. 



" Whitaker, Hist, and Jutij. Craven (ed. Morant, 1878), 219. 



^ Lawton, op. cit. 134. u Ibij. 9,. 



"Ibid. 222 ; the church had been built twenty years before. See history of the dispute about the 

 presentation in Hunter, Hahamshire (ed. Gatty), 273, 274. 



« Lawton, op. cit. 149. " Ibid. 216. " Ibid. 497. " Ibid. 510. 



