A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



ancient chapel continued in use until the Reforma- 

 tion, for John Crosse in 1 5 1 5 made a bequest to 

 * the priest that sings afore our Lady of the Key.' "* 

 The same benefactor established the chantry of 

 St. Katherine, the priest of which was also to * teach 

 and keep a grammar school* ^^^ By this means the 

 endowed staff was raised to four priests. A house 

 was provided for them, with a garden adjoining."* 

 The church, consisting of a nave and a chancel of 

 about equal lengths, with a tower at the west end, 

 a south porch, and an aisle on the north side,"* had 

 four or five altars — the high altar, St. Nicholas's 

 (perhaps the same), St. John's, St. Katherine's, and 

 the Rood altar.'^ The chapel of St. Mary of the 

 Key, which was a separate building standing on the 

 river bank, a little to the west of St. Nicholas's, also 

 had its altar.'" There is no means of deciding how 

 many priests and clerks were employed, but the size 

 of the chancel indicates a considerable staff. 



The suppression of the chantries and the change of 

 religion made a great difference. St. Nicholas's chapel 



continued to be used, and one of the old chantry 

 priests, John Hurdes, was placed in charge in 1548 ; 

 he appeared at the visitation in 1554, but not in 

 1562."® At the abolition of the ancient services in 

 1559 it is uncertain what took place at Liverpool ;"* 

 Vane Thomasson was curate in 1563,"** and next 

 year the Crown allowed the old stipend of one of 

 the chantry priests for the payment of a minister to 

 be nominated by the burgesses/" In 1590 the 

 minister was * a preacher,' ^" and the corporation 

 afterwards took pains to secure a preacher or an 

 additional lecturer."^ 



In 1650 the Commonwealth surveyors found that 

 the Committee of Plundered Ministers had assigned 

 to the curate of Liverpool all the tithes of the town- 

 ship and j^"!© from the rectory of Walton ; the 

 duchy rent of £\ \^$. was also paid to him ; the 

 curate had, on the other hand, by the committee's 

 order, to pay j^i 1 10/. to the wife of Dr. Clare, the 

 ejected rector of Walton."* Shortly afterwards, in 

 1658, Liverpool was made an independent parish,'** 



7»* Church Goodsy 1552 (Chet. Soc), 98. 



7^ Raines, Chantries, 84. ; Valor Eccl, 

 (Rcc. Com.), V, 221. Humphrey Crosse 

 was the incumbent in 1534. and 154S, 

 celebrating for the louls of his founder and 

 heirs, with a yearly obit at which 3J. ^d. 

 was distributed to the poor, and teaching 

 the grammar school. The endowment 

 amounted to £^ 15J. lod. For a dispute 

 concerning this foundation 9tt Duchy Plead* 

 (Rec. Soc, Lanes, and Ches.), i, 156. 

 John Crosse's will \% printed in full in 

 Church Goods, 97, 98. 



?*^ Raines, op. cit. 85. 



An account of the chantry lands after 

 the confiscation is given by Elton, op. cit. 

 97, 98 5 see also Trans, H'tst. Soc. (new 

 »cr.), iii, 165 ; and Gregson, Fragments 

 (ed. Harland), 348-50. 



The ornaments of the chapel in 1552 

 are detailed in Church Goods, 96. 



TS5 A south elevation is given in En- 

 field's Liverpool. The spire and the 

 upper atory of the tower were additions 

 to the original building. Perry's plan of 

 1769 shows that there were then two 

 aisles on the north side, but one of these 

 had been built In 1697, with an addition 

 in 17x8 ; Picton, Memorials, ii, 58. The 

 principal changes were : A weat-cnd gal- 

 lery, erected in 1681 ; an organ, provided 

 in 1684; the boarded ceiling, painted and 

 starred in 1688 ; the churchyard wall on 

 the east and south, built in 1690 } a spire, 

 built in 1745 ; the churchyard extended 

 in 1749 ; a new organ procured in 1764 ; 

 and in 1774 the whole body of the church 

 was rebuilt in its present form, the in- 

 terior, which must have been very irre- 

 gular, being entirely transformed, and the 

 exterior walls being made uniform ; ibid, 

 ii, 57-9. The following is Enfield's de- 

 scription of the old building: *In its 

 structure there is no appearance of mag- 

 nificence or elegance. The body of the 

 church within is dark and low ; it is irre- 

 gularly though decently pewed ; it hat 

 lately been ornamented with an organ. 

 The walls have been repaired and sup- 

 ported by large buttresses of different 

 colours and forms, and a spire has been 

 added to the tower* j Liverpool, 41. 



The Corporation arranged the order of 

 precedence in the pews j Munic. Rec. i, 

 103, 2IO, 329. 



The old peal having been reduced to 

 a single bell, three more were ordered 

 in 1628, but were not satisfactory, and 



changes were made in 1636 and 1649; 

 Munic. Rec. i, 2ii, 212. A new peal 

 was procured in, 1725, the number being 

 increased to six. Their ringing brought 

 about the ruin of the tower. The pre- 

 sent peal consists of twelve bells, cast in 

 18 1 3 ; an account of them will be found 

 in Mr. Henry Feet's Inventory of the 

 Parish Churches of Liverpool. Mr, Peet 

 has kindly given other information re- 

 specting the churches. 



A clock was set up in 1622, on the 

 motion of the curate ; Munic. Rec. 1, 212. 



Notes of the arms in the windows, 

 taken in 1590, have been printed in Trans. 

 Hist. Soc. xxxi'i, 253, with an account of 

 Captain Ackers, by Mr. J. P. Rylands. 



After the fall of the tower and spire 

 on 1 1 Feb. 1810, the present tower witli 

 its open lantern-spire was built. It stands 

 at the centre of the west end, instead of 

 at the south-west corner like the former 

 one. The church now retains no traces 

 of antiquity, being in a dull modern 

 Gothic style, and is chiefly interesting for 

 the many monuments of iSth and 19th- 

 century date. The spire is, however, a 

 creditable piece of work for its date. 



'^^ St, Katherine's altar is mentioned 

 in 1464 ; Munic. Rec. i, 23. 



^^7 This building, ceasing to be used 

 for divine worship, was purchased by the 

 corporation, apparently for 201. ; it be- 

 came the town's warehouse, but later was 

 used as the schoolhouse, and so continued 

 until the 1 8th century, when it was de- 

 molished ; Elton, op. cit. 103, Ii2-i8, 



At the west end of this chapel was an 

 image of St. Nicholas, *to whom seafaring 

 men paid offerings and vows ' ; see Blome, 

 op. cit, and Pal. Note-book, iii, 1 19. 



7fi8 The corporation seem to have con- 

 tinued to hold and regulate the chapel ; 

 Elton, op. cit. 99-104. Many details 

 will be found in Picton's Munic. Rec. 



The clerk, Sir John Janson, in 155 1 

 went away to Spain ; one Nicholas Smith 

 was clerk in 1555 ^ Elton, op. cit. 1 00, 1 04. 



7*' The priest in charge, Evan Nichol- 

 son, appointed in or before 1555, was still 

 there in 1559, but does not appear in the 

 Visitation List of 1562 ; Munic. Rec. i, 97. 



760 Visitation List. It is possible that 

 Vane (Vanus) Thomasson was the Evan 

 Nicholson of 1555. 



In 1564 Master Vane Thomasson, cu- 

 rate of Liverpool, and one of the wardens 

 appeared before the Bishop of Chester, and 



44 



were enjoined to ' charge the people that 

 they use no beads ' ; the curate was to 

 minister the sacrament and sacramentals 

 according to the Book of Common Prayer ; 

 Erasmus's 'Paraphrate must be procured ; 

 and ' all manner of idolatry and supersti- 

 tion' was to be immediately 'abolished 

 and utterly extirpated ' ; Raines, op. cit. 

 9Z, quoting the L,iher Correct, at Chester. 



7'' Elton, op. cit. 104. The amount 

 allowed was £^ lyi. 5</. a year. 



7«a Lydiaic Hall, 249; quoting S.P. Dom, 

 Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. 



""In 1 591 the mayor and burgesses 

 paid j^4 to ' Mr. Carter the preacher,' in 

 consideration of *hii great good zeal and 

 pains ' in his ' often diligent preaching 

 of God's word amongst us more than 

 he ii bound to do, but only of his mere 

 good win'; Picton, Munic. Rcc. i, 102. 

 In 1621 a stipend of ^30 < year was 

 promised to ' Mr. Swift to be a preacher 

 here' ; in 1622 James Hyatt, afterwards 

 vicar of Childwall and Croston, was ap- 

 pointed ; and in 1629 an arrangement was 

 made with clergy of the neighbourhood to 

 preach week-day sermons j ibid, i, 197, 

 198, 200. 



The authorities were in the 17th cen- 

 tury inclined to the stricter Puritan side, 

 as this insistence on preaching suggests j 

 but in 1602 the portmoot inquest pre- 

 sented the curate ' for not wearing his 

 surplice according to the King's injunc- 

 tions* ; and in 1610 it was 'agreed' that 

 he should wear it ' every Sabbath and 

 every holiday at the time of Divine ser- 

 vice.' The clerk also was to wear one ; 

 ibid, i, 102, 196. 



Laud's reforms apparently did not reach 

 Liverpool. In 1623 it was ordered by 

 the corporation that, as the place where 

 the first and second lessons were usually 

 read was 'more convenient for the read- 

 ing of Common Prayer than the place in 

 the chancel where it hath formerly been 

 read, in respect the same place is in the 

 middle of the same church and in full 

 audience and view of the whole congre- 

 gation,' the whole service should be read 

 there J ibid, i, 198. In 1687 Bishop Cart- 

 wright had to command the churchwarden 

 to 'set the communion table altarwise 

 against the wall ' ; Pal. Note-hook, iii, 1 24. 



'<'■' Commoniuealth Church Survey (Rcc. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 84 ; Flund. Mini. 

 Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 1. 



1^^ Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 215, 224. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



