WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WIGAN 



headed window in each bay, each window subdivided 

 by muUions into three lights. The walls are crowned 

 with an embattled parapet, with urns at intervals on 

 the parapet, and in the west front is the doorway, 

 with a window of semi-Gothic style over it. All 

 the work is very good of its kind, of wrought stone 

 without, and the fittings of oak, while a fine brass 

 chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Galleries put up 

 in 1823 have now been taken away. It has lately 

 been dedicated to St. Aidan. In 1765 the patronage 

 was disputed, but the rector of Wigan established 

 his right, and is the present patron." The church 

 became parochial in 1882." 



The curates in charge and vicars have been as 

 follows" : — 



1609 Richard Bolton " 



1625 Edward Tempest 



1626 Peter Travers 

 1646 John Wright" 



e. 1686 Nathan Golborne" 



1699 Edward Sedgwick 



1704 John Horobin 



1708 Humphrey Whalley 



1 749 Edward Parr 



1763 Thomas Withnell 



1776 Richard Carr 



1 8 1 3 Samuel Hall," M. A. (St. John's Coll. Camb.) 



1833 John Bromilow 



1853 Howard St. George, M.A. (T.C.D.) 



1898 Francis Broughton Anson Miller, M.A. 

 (Trinity Coll. Camb.) 



There is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Higher 

 End, built in 1845, and a Primitive Methodist one 

 in Chapel End. 



If Billinge has afforded some evidence, though 

 questionable, of the existence of a vigorous Protestant- 

 ism in this part of the county as early as 1550, it also 

 affords evidence of the vitality of the ancient faith, 

 the Andertons of Birchley sheltering the missionary 

 priests. One of the earliest to labour here was the 

 Jesuit Roger Anderton, who served from 1645 until 

 his death fifty years later." The present church of 

 St. Mary was built in 1828. A manuscript pre- 

 served in the presbytery contains the Forma Vivendi of 

 Richard RoUe of Hampole.** 



WINSTANLEY 



Winstaneslege, 1212 ; Wynstanesleigh, 1252 ; 

 Wynstanlegh, 1292 ; Winstanislegh, 1293. 



Winstanley is situated on the eastern lower slopes 

 of Billinge Hill, 440 ft. above sea level being reached, 

 on the edge of an extensive colliery district, several 

 coal-mines being found in the township itself. The 

 principal object in the landscape is the mass of trees 

 surrounding Winstanley Hall, the grounds of which 

 occupy nearly one-third of the whole area of the 

 township. The rest of the country is divided into 

 fields, usually separated by thin hedges, and sometimes 

 by low stone walls. The arable fields produce crops of 

 potatoes, oats, and wheat, whilst there are pastures 

 and meadows, with isolated plantations. The sur- 

 face soil is sandy, mixed with clay in places, with 

 sandstone rock not far from the surface. 



The park is bounded on two sides by the roads 

 from Billinge to Wigan and from Haydock to Up- 

 hoUand, which cross at its southern point. The Lan- 

 cashire and Yorkshire Company's Liverpool and Wigan 

 Railway passes through near the northern boundary. A 

 colliery railway goes south-west through the township. 



Withington lies in the north-west corner, and 

 Longshaw on the western boundary ; south of this is 

 Moss Vale. Two detached portions of the township 

 lie within Billinge Chapel End ; one of these is called 

 Blackley Hurst. 



The township has an area of 1,859 3cres,' and in 

 1 90 1 the population numbered 564. 



Thomas Winstanley, an Oxford scholar of some 

 distinction, was born in the township in 1749. He 

 became Camden Professor of History in 1 790 and 

 held other university and college appointments. He 

 died in 1823.'^ James Cropper, 1773 to 1840, 

 philanthropist, was also a native of Winstanley,' and 

 Henry Fothergill Chorley, 1808 to 1872, musical 

 critic and general writer, of Blackley Hurst.' 



The earlier stages of the history of the 

 MANOR manor have been described in the account 

 of Billinge.* There are no materials at 

 present available for tracing the descent in the family 

 of Winstanley, which continued in possession until 

 the end of the i6th century.' Early in 1596 Ed- 

 mund Winstanley and Alice his wife sold the manor 



w mgan Ch. 755. 



88 Ibid. 756 ; Lond. Gaz.S Det 1882. 



89 PTigan Ch. 756, 757. The first 

 who was formally licensed to the cure 

 was Humphrey Whalley, in 1708. Most 

 of the earlier ones, therefore, except 

 during the Commonwealth, were pro- 

 bably curates of Wigan who read the ser- 

 vice at Billinge on Sundays. 



^o He was merely a ' reader ' in 1 609 

 (Raines MSS. xxii, 298), but contributed 

 to the subsidy of 1622 as curate; Misc, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 6;. 



"^ He was a 'very hones^ godly minis- 

 ter, and of good life and conversation, but 

 kept not the fast day appointed by Act of 

 Parliament' ; Common-w. Ch, Surv. 63. 



*^ There is probably some error in 

 Canon Bridgeman's list at this point, as 

 Humphrey Tudor's name does not appear 

 in Bishop Stratford's visitation list of 

 1691. In 1689 Nathan Golborne was 

 •minister' at Billinge, and was 'con- 

 formable' i Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, 

 App. iv, 228. In Stratford's list, he is 

 described as curate of Wigan, ordained in 

 1686. He is probably the Goulburn of 



Canon Bridgeman. He was buried at 

 Warrington 12 Mar. 1691-2. 



^8 While at Billinge he renounced 

 Calvinism, became a Universalist, and 

 left the Established Church. He died in 

 1858 ; Axon, Manch. Annals^ 275. Later 

 he returned to the Church, but was not 

 again beneficed. 



" In 1717 the families in the chapelry 

 numbered 178, ten being 'papists' and 

 fourteen Dissenters (ten Presbyterian and 

 four Quakers). There were ninety-four 

 'papists' in 1767. See Gastrell, Notitia, 

 ii, 253 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new 8er.),xviii. 



*^ The details in this paragraphare chiefly 

 from the Li-uerpool Cath. Annual, 1901. 



^ 1,860, including 29 of inland water ; 

 census of 1 901. 



i» Diet. Nat. Biog. ' Ibid. 8 Ibid. 



* Roger de Winstanley held the manor 

 under the lord of Billinge in 1212 ; Lanes. 

 Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, j6. He was a contributor to 

 aids, &c. in the time of King John ; 

 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R, 205, 230. As 

 Roger de Winstanley, son of Outi, he 

 made grants to Cockersand Abbey : (i) 



87 



Witlow Hurst, the bounds of which were 

 the Syke, Green Lache, Thornhurst Brook, 

 and Kempeabirines ; (2) another piece, 

 the bounds beginning at the road from 

 Northcroft to Sandyford on Budshaw 

 Brook; and (i) another, bounded by Eldeley 

 Brook and Thornhurst Brook to Green 

 Lache ; Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 654-8. The lands were granted by 

 the abbot to William de Burley, by a rent 

 of izd.y and loj. as obit ; William de 

 Whitlow held them in 1268, and James 

 de Winstanley, paying 2s., in ii6i ; ibid. 



^ Adam de Winstanley was in possession 

 in 1252 ; Final Cone, i, 114. By the 

 agreement he appears to have secured a 

 practical enfranchisement of his manor. 

 It was probably Roger his son who made 

 a grant to Cockersand of certain land 

 marked out by crosses ; this had been ex- 

 changed for other land held by Henry de 

 Billinge, and the exchange and donation 

 were confirmed by the lord of Newton In 

 1283 ; Cockersand Chart, ii, 658-60. Ro- 

 ger de Winstanley was a plaintiff in 1292 

 against Henry de Huyton ; Assize R. 



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