WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WIGAN 



share to Aline the recluse of Wigan for her mainten- 

 ance. This payment ceased when Sir Robert's lands 

 were forfeited ; whereupon the recluse petitioned for 

 its restoration, and inquiry was made.""" 



William Ford and the widows of James Houghton 

 and Nicholas Standish contributed to a subsidy of 

 Mary's reign as landowners."' The following were 

 returned as freeholders in 1 600 : Gilbert Barrow, 

 Peter Marsh, Oliver Markland, William Foster, Ham- 

 let Green, Charles Leigh, William Burgess, Edward 

 Challenor, John Tarleton, Gilbert Bank, Ralph Mark- 

 land of Meadows ; Thomas Molyneux and E iward 

 Laithwaite of Wigan Woodhouses ; Alexander Ford 

 of Swinley, William and Hugh Langshaw, and 

 William Bankes of Scholes."" William Ford contri- 

 buted to the subsidy of 1628 as a landowner."' 



Wigan people generally were royalists, but William 

 Pilkington was in 1650 singled out as a 'grand 

 delinquent * ; he escaped with a fine of ^^29 5/."® 

 Minor offenders against the Parliament were Robert 

 Baron, William Brown, and William Tempest."" 

 The following 'papists' registered estates at Wigan 

 in 1717 : Nicholas Mather of Abram, Richard 

 Tootell, Thomas Naylor of Orrell, Gilbert Thornton, 

 Thomas Scott, gent., John Thornton, Dr. Thomas 

 Worthington, and Anne Laithwaite of Berwick.'" 



The parish church has been described above. The 

 first additional church in the township in connexion 

 with the Establishment was St. George's, between 

 Standishgate and the Douglas, consecrated in 1781. 

 A district was assigned to it in 1843, and this became 

 a parish in 1864, on the resignation of Sir Henry 

 Gunning, rector, as did the two following : "^ St. 

 Catherine's, Scholes, consecrated in 1841, had a 

 separate district assigned in 1843."' There is a small 

 graveyard attached. St. Thomas's, consecrated in 

 1 85 1, had in the following year a district assigned 

 to it."* The rector of Wigan is patron of the above 

 churches. St. James's, Poolstock, was consecrated in 

 1866, for a district formed in 1863. The patronage 

 is vested in Mr. J. C. Eckersley."' St. Andrew's, 

 Woodhouse Lane, consecrated in 1882, had a district 

 assigned to it in 1871."" The church of St. Michael 

 and All Angels, Swinley, was consecrated in 1878 

 as a chapel of ease to the parish church, and became 

 parochial in 1881."' The patronage of these two 

 churches is vested in the rector of Wigan. 



The various bodies of Methodists have in all eight 

 churches and mission-rooms, the Wesleyans having 

 two, the Primitive Methodists three, the Indepen- 

 dents two, and the United Free Church one. The 

 Wesleyans have also built the Queen's Hall, a large 

 structure opened in 1908. 



A Particular or Calvinistic Baptist congregation 

 was formed in 1795 by seceders from the Countess of 

 Huntingdon's Connexion (St. Paul's) ; "° the chapel 

 in King Street was opened in 1854. There is 

 another chapel in Piatt Lane. 



What provision was made by those who became 

 Nonconformists by the Act of 1662 does not appear. 

 In 1689 William Laithwaite's barn was certified as a 

 meeting-place of the Wigan Dissenters,"" and two 

 years later Roger Kenyon knew of two meeting-places, 

 one held by Mr. Green, the supporter of Presby- 

 terianism in Hindley, and the other by ' dissenters who 

 do furiously dissent from each other.' '"" An ' old 

 English Presbyterian congregation ' is mentioned in 

 1773, and a little later William Davenport, also 

 minister at Hindley, was in charge. He was pro- 

 bably a Unitarian, but after his death the chapel was 

 about 1797 secured for the Scottish Presbyterians, who 

 have retained possession to the present time. Trinity 

 Presbyterian Church was built upon the old site in 

 1877.''' 



The Congregationalists formed a church about 

 1777, probably as a protest against the Unitarianism 

 taught at the existing chapel ; in 1785 they opened 

 a chapel, now St. Paul's Congregational Church. 

 For some time it belonged to the Countess of 

 Huntingdon's Connexion. Becoming ' unhealthy ' 

 in 1839, it was dissolved and reformed.™ A new 

 Gothic church replaced the old building in 1902. 

 A new minister coming to Wigan in 1812 drew a 

 congregation from dissatisfied Nonconformists, and a 

 chapel was opened in i8l8. Hope Congregational 

 Church, opened in 1889, is a short distance from this 

 older chapel, and continues its work."' Silverwell 

 Congregational chapel originated in a secession from 

 St. Paul's in 1867 and continued till 1888, when it 

 was bought by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln- 

 shire Railway Company.'" There is a chapel in 

 Gidlow Lane. 



The Welsh Presbyterians have a place of worship ; 

 the Christian Brethren have two : and the Catholic 



105a inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, no. 137 ; 

 Anct. Petitions, P.R.O. 150-7470. 



1°* Mascy of Rixton D. 



i<" Misc. (Rec. See. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 239-43. Richard Molyneux of Wigan 

 Woodhouses was trustee for lands in 

 Orrell in 1522 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 11, m. 192. Thomas Molyneux 

 was buried at Wigan, 18 Nov. 1611. 

 John Molyneux of the same place fol- 

 lowed ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), i, 279. In the same work 

 (ii, 154) is the inquisition taken after the 

 death of John Lowe of AspuU, who died 

 in 1 61 9, holding lands in Wigan. 



M8 Norris D. (B.M.). 



109 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iii, 

 2175. * It was by his aid that the Earl 

 of Derby got into Wigan ; he helped in 

 its defence, assisted Prince Rupert with 

 hay and money, and told the Earl of 

 Derby that all the Wiganers would go 

 with the Prince to York or Liverpool 

 and turn out the Roundheads ; and when 

 others refused, he went himself.' He 



had an estate of great value, which he had 

 gone to London to underrate. 



11" Ibid, iv, 2913 ; iii, 1804, 201 1. 



1^' Bngl. Cath. Nonjurors, 97, 124, 125, 

 136, 144. At the time of the Oates Plot 

 Dr. Worthington of Wigan and his son 

 Thomas fled into Yorkshire for fear of 

 an indictment ; Lydiate Hall, 125, 126. 

 ♦Old Dr. Worthington ' in 1682 entreated 

 Roger Kenyon to withdraw the warrant 

 out against him ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App. iv, 1 39 ; Dr. Thomas Worthing- 

 ton was with other suspected persons im- 

 prisoned in 1689 ; ibid, 314. 



112 Bridgeman, op. cit. 783 ; Lond. Gaz. 

 I Aug. 1843 ; 28 July 1863. Under an 

 Act obtained in 1904, St. George's will 

 be removed to the east side of the Douglas, 

 The Rev. Benjamin Powell, incumbent 

 from 1 82 1 to i860, was the father of 

 Sir Francis Sharp Powell, bart., M,P, for 

 Wigan from 1885 to the present. 



iw Bridgeman, op. cit. 786 ; Lond. Gaa. 

 iAug.1843; 14 June 1864; I4jan.i868. 

 There is a mission church in Whelley, 



77 



1" Bridgeman, op, cit, 788 ; Lond. Gaz. 

 24 Feb. 1852 ; 14 June 1864 ; 19 May 

 1876. 



1" Bridgeman, op. cit, 788 ; Lond. Gax. 

 I May 1863 J 28 July 1863; 5 Aug. 

 1870. There are two Eckcrsley memo- 

 rial brasses in the church. There is a 

 licensed chapel at Worsley Mesnes. 



"^ Bridgeman, op, cit. 789 ; Lond. Gass. 

 28 Mar. 1871 ; 28 Apr. 1871 ; 13 Apr. 

 1883. The incumbent, the Rev. W. A. 

 Wickham, has given assistance to the 

 editors, 



117 Bridgeman, op, cit. 790 ; Lond. Ga%. 

 5 Apr. 1881 ; 15 June 1883. 



118 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity, 

 iv, 84. For notice of the congregation 

 in 1798 see Rippon, B<j/r. Reg. iii, 21. 



l"i?/jf. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. 

 iv, 232. 



ia» Ibid. 270. 



121 Nightingale, op. cit, iv, 67. 



122 Ibid, iv, 74, 



123 Ibid, iv, 84. 

 "■i Ibid, iv, 88, 



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