A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Apostolic Church has a meeting-room. There are 

 two unsectarian mission-rooms. 



The Swedenborgians have a meeting-place called 

 New Jerusalem. 



Something has already been recorded of the loyalty 

 of a large number of the people of Wigan to the 

 ancient faith at the Reformation.*^^ In 1681 there 

 were ninety-one 'convicted recusants ' in Wigan, and 

 an attempt to levy a fine for recusancy — a result of 

 the Protestant agitation of the time— led to a riot.*'® 

 The Jesuits were in charge of the mission. In the 

 time of James II they had a flourishing school and 

 well-frequented chapel, but at the Revolution the 

 excited mob destroyed the buildings and the work 

 was stopped for a short time.*" The Society of 

 Jesus, however, still possesses the ancient property. 

 Fr. James Canell is known to have been there in 

 1696, and died at Wigan 1722.*^^ Fr. Charles 

 Brockholes built a house about i 740, the upper room 

 being designed as a chapel.'^^ Near this a chapel 

 was built in 1785, and enlargement being necessary 

 it was replaced by the present church of St. John 

 in 18 19- It is still served by the Jesuits.*^" The 

 other churches, served by secular clergy, are St. Mary's, 



Standishgate, built in 1818 ;""* St. Patrick's, Scholes^ 

 founded in 1847 and rebuilt in 1880 ; St. Joseph's, 

 1870 ; and the Sacred Heart, Springfield, 1903. A 

 convent of Sisters of Notre Dame is served from 

 St. John's.*" 



The grammar school was founded before 1596. 



PEMBERTON 



Pemberton, 12 1 2. 



Pemberton is cut off from Wigan on the north-east 

 by the River Douglas, and from Ince on the east by 

 another brook running into that stream. Through 

 the township runs eastward the brook dividing Orrell 

 from Winstanley. Going north from this brook on 

 the eastern side are found Hindley Hall, Worsley 

 Hall, Newtown, Laithwaite House, Marsh Green, 

 Walthew House, and Markland * ; and on the 

 western side Tunstead, and Lamberhead Green,. 

 Norley, Kit Green, and Orrell City. To the south,, 

 on the eastern side lie Smithy Brook, Worsley 

 Mesnes, Goose Green, Hawkley,^ and Wheatlees. The 

 lowest ground is that in the Douglas valley ; the 

 surface rises to the south-west, where a height of 



125 E^g^ in the account of Rector Fleet- 

 wood. In 1580 the sons of Ford of 

 Swinley and Markland were being edu- 

 cated beyond the seas, * where they were 

 accustomed and nourished in papistry ' ; 

 Gibson, Lydiate Rally 2i8, 226, 240. 

 For Alexander Markland see Foley, Uec. 

 Soc. Jesus, vt, 147; Douay Diaries, I2, 

 321, &c. For James Ford, ibid. 12, 

 202, &c. 



In 1583 the Bishop of Chester described 

 the 'papists* about Preston, Wigan, and 

 Prescot, as * most obstinate and con- 

 temptuous,' and desired the Privy Council 

 to arrange * to deal severely and roundly ' 

 with them ; ibid. 222 (from S.P. Dom. 

 Eliz. clxiii, 84). 



The story told by John Laithwaite, 

 born at Wigan in 1585, gives a picture 

 from the other side. He was the son of 

 Henry Laithwaite by his wife Jane Bolton, 

 and he and three brothers became Jesuits 

 and two of them laboured in England. 

 He stated, on entering the English college 

 at Rome in 1603, *I made my rudiments 

 at Blackrod under a Protestant school- 

 master, with two of my brothers ; but 

 being a Catholic, our parents removed us 

 and we received instruction at home from 

 a Catholic neighbour for about half a year. 

 At length it was arranged for our attend- 

 ing schools at Wigan until we were older, 

 and that I did for four years or more. 

 My father's family is descended from the 

 Laithwaites, a wealthy family of the 

 middle class. 



' For his faithful adherence to the 

 Catholic religion my father was driven 

 away by the Protestants, and compelled 

 to abandon all his property and posses- 

 sions, and seek an asylum In another 

 county, until at length, by favour of 

 Henry Earl of Derby, he was reinstated 

 in his property, but rather in the con- 

 dition of a serf, totally dependent upon 

 the pleasure and ambition of the carl, 

 who had the power of committing or dis- 

 charging him at will. He was thus 

 enabled to live quietly and securely at 

 home, protected by the earl from the in- 

 sults of the heretics, for the space of two 

 years ; after which, at the earl's pleasure, 

 he was thrown Into Lancaster Gaol, but 

 was liberated after two months, on ac- 



count of corporal infirmity, and returning 

 home with health completely broken, he 

 died a fortnight after. 



* My mother, who is descended from 

 the ancient stock of the Boltons, per- 

 severing in the Catholic faith, about three 

 years after my father's death suffered the 

 loss of her whole property ; but death 

 at length released her from all her tri- 

 bulations.* A Joan Laithwaite, widow, 

 of Pemberton, was ' a recusant and In- 

 dicted thereof in 1590 ; Lydiate Hall, 

 247. 



' I have five brothers, of whom the 

 eldest, upon my mother's death, yielding 

 to the solicitations and threats of many 

 and the dread of the loss of his property, 

 unhappily lapsed into heresy. , . . My 

 second brother is a Catholic, and (as I 

 hear) Is a priest in Spain. My third 

 brother is now a Protestant. In the first 

 or second year after my mother's death 

 he was seized by the pursuivants who are 

 employed to hunt down the Catholics, 

 and was taken before the Bishop of 

 Chester, who endeavoured both by threats 

 and blandishments to entice him to 

 heresy, but in vain, for he preferred 

 torture and death itself to abandoning 

 his religion. But it seems his words 

 were widely different from his actions, 

 for having been discharged from custody, 

 being under age, he was afterwards se- 

 duced by a certain intimate friend and, 

 now, though utterly ignorant, yet he is 

 obstinate, and as he declares, acts by the 

 inspiration of the Spirit. My fourth and 

 fifth brothers were always brought up 

 Catholics ; the younger of them is now In 

 grammar at Douay. I have two sisters, 

 both Catholics ; one married, one still a 

 child. I was always a Catholic* Foley, 

 Rec. Soc. Jesus, iv, 641, 642. The stories 

 of the other brothers fop. cit.) are full of 

 interest. 



ine Recusant Roll of 1641 shows but 

 few names in Wigan township ; Trans. 

 Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xlv, 239. 



126 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 

 128, 132. The bailiffs made a distress 

 on the goods of Anne, widow of Richard 

 Pennington, for a fine of ^100. A great 

 disturbance ensued ; the bailiffs were kept 

 imprisoned in the house for an hour and 



a half, and on venturing into the street 

 were set upon by 'some hundreds,' and 

 the distress rescued, the men hardly 

 escaping with their lives. 



^2? Foley, op. cit. v, 319. 'Some of 

 the fathers resided there and taught 

 several classes, numbering more than a 

 hundred scholars. , . . There were con- 

 stant sermons, which the mayor, or chief 

 magistrate of the town, and his suite were 

 accustomed to attend. . . . The Society 

 had very large chapels in other places,, 

 which were much better attended than 

 the neighbouring Protestant churches.' 

 These sentences are from the Annual 

 Letters of 1685, &c. In 1687 Bishop 

 Leyburn confirmed 1,331 persons. 



Dr. Kuerden passing through Wigan. 

 about 1695, after crossing the Mill 

 Bridge from Scholes, saw 'without the 

 bars, a fair built house lately styled a 

 college, with officers of learning belong- 

 ing to it, but since violently pulled down, 

 and the ruins thereof yet remaining, but 

 neither Romanist master nor scholars are 

 left.' Thence by the bars he passed into 

 MiUgate ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. 

 i, 214. 



128 Foley, op. cit. v, 405. His stipend 

 In 1 70 1 amounted to ^^31 41., of which 

 j^io came from the people ; Ibid. 321. 



129 Ibid. V, 406. His Income in 1750- 

 was ^47 loj., of which ^^18 came from, 

 his family and £6 10s. from the congre- 

 gation ; sixty general confessions were 

 made (for the Jubilee), and the * cus- 

 tomers ' or attendants numbered 300. 

 Bishop Matthew Gibson confirmed 230 

 in 1784, when there were 660 Easter 

 communions ; in 1793 ^^e numbers were 

 285 and 300 respectively. The return 

 made to the Bishop of Chester in 1767 

 shows an increase of 'papists' from 594 

 in 1717 to 1,194 in the main portion 

 of the parish, apart from the chapel- 

 rles ; Trans. Hist. Soc, (new «er.), xvili,. 

 215. 



130 Li'verpQol Cath. Ann. 1901. 



180a For the controversy about it sec 

 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl Cath. iv, 270. 

 1^1 Liverpool Catk. Ann. 190 1, 



1 Ancient spellings : Marclane, 1276 j 

 Marghlands, xvi cent. 



2 Or Hawcllff. 



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