WEST DERBY HUNDRED winwick 



Instituted Name Presented by Cause of Vacancy 



7 June 1781 . Geoffrey Hornby ™ Earl of Derby .... d. J. Stanley 



19 Dec. 1812 . James John Hornby, M.A. " . . „ .... d. G. Hornby 

 — Nov. 1855 . Frank George Hopwood, M.A. " . „ .... d. J. J. Hornby 



20 April 1890 . Oswald Henry Leycester Penrhyn, „ • , . . d. F. G. Hopwood 



M.A." 



As in the case of other benefices the earlier rectors 

 were probably married ' clerks,' enjoying the principal 

 part of the revenues of the church, and paying a 

 priest to minister in the parish. Two sons of Robert, 

 rector in 1232, are known. After the patronage had 

 been transferred to the Stanleys the rectory became a 

 ' family living,' in the later sense. 



In the Valor of 1535 the only ecclesiastics men- 

 tioned are the rector, two chantry priests at Winwick, 

 and a third at Newton." The Clergy iw/ of 1 5 4 1 -2 " 

 shows three others as residing in this large parish, in- 

 cluding the curate, Henry Johnson, paid by Gowther 

 Legh, the rector's steward. The list is probably 

 incomplete, for at the visitation of 1 548 the names 

 of fourteen were recorded — the rector, his curate, 

 Hugh Bulling, who had replaced Henry Johnson ; 

 the three chantry priests and two others just named, 

 and seven more. By 1554 these had been reduced 

 to six — the rector, his curate, Richard Smith, two of 

 the chantry priests still living there, but only two of 

 the others who had appeared six years earlier. In 

 1562 a further reduction is manifest. The rector. 

 Bishop Stanley, was excused from attendance by the 

 bishop ; three others appeared, one being a surviving 

 chantry priest, but the fifth named was absent. In 

 the following year the rector was again absent ; the 

 curate of Newton, the former chantry priest, did not 

 appear ; but the curates of Ashton and Culcheth 

 were present, and another is named. The improve- 

 ment was only apparent, for in 1565 the rector, 

 though present, non exhibuit, and only two other 

 names are given in the Visitation List, and they are 

 crossed out and two others written over them. It 

 seems, therefore, that the working staff had been 

 reduced to two — Andrew Rider and Thomas Collier." 



How the Reformation changes affected the parish 

 does not appear, except from these fluctuations and 

 reductions in the staff of clergy. The rector was not 

 interfered with on the accession of Elizabeth ; his 



dignity and age, as well as his family connexions, 

 probably saved him from any compliance beyond em- 

 ploying a curate who would use the new services. His 

 successor became a Douay missionary priest, suffering 

 imprisonment and exile. Though the rector in 1590 

 was ' a preacher ' he lived in Cheshire, and his curate 

 was ' no preacher ' ; nor were the two chapels at 

 Newton and Ashton any better provided." The list 

 drawn up about 16 10 shows that though the rector, 

 an Irish dignitary, was * a preacher,' the resident 

 curate was not ; while at the three chapels there were 

 ' seldom curates.'" 



The Commonwealth surveyors of 1650 were not 

 quite satisfied with Mr. Herle, for though he was 

 'an orthodox, godly, preaching minister,' and one of 

 the most prominent Presbyterians in England, he had 

 not observed the day of humiliation recently appointed 

 by the Parliament. They recommended the creation 

 of four new parishes — the three ancient chapelries, 

 and a new one at Lowton." After the Restoration 

 two or three meetings of Nonconformists seem to 

 have been established.™ In 1778 each of the four 

 chapelries in the parish was served by a resident curate, 

 paid chiefly by the rector, except Newton, paid by 

 Mr. Legh." 



The great changes brought about by the coal 

 mining and other industries in the neighbourhood 

 have ecclesiastically, as in other respects, produced a 

 revolution ; and by the munificence of Rector J. J. 

 Hornby — a just munificence, but rare — the modern 

 parishes into which Winwick has been divided are 

 well endowed. 



There were two chantries in the parish church. 

 The older of them was founded in the chapel of the 

 Holy Trinity in 1330 by Gilbert de Haydock, for a 

 fit and honest chaplain, who was to pray for the 

 founder by name in every mass, and say the com- 

 mendation with Placebo and Dirige, every day except 

 on double feasts of nine lessons. The right of pre- 



7» Eldest son of Edmund Hornby of 

 Poulton and Scale Hall. He is said to 

 have served in the Navy in his early 

 years ; in 1774 he was sheriiT of Lan- 

 cashire ; P.R.O. List, 74. Afterwards 

 he was ordained, and having married a 

 sister of the Earl of Derby was presented 

 to Winwick. He died in 181 2, and was 

 buried at Winwick. One of his curates, 

 the Rev. Giles Chippendale, who had lost 

 an arm in the naval service, was said to 

 have been with him in the same ship ; 

 Beamont, op. cit. 68. 



His son Sir Phipps Hornby had a 

 distinguished career in the Navy. 



T^ Second son of the preceding rector. 

 Educated at Trinity Coll. Camb. ; M.A. 

 180Z. 



An attractive sketch of his character 

 is given by Mr. Beamont (op. cit. 71-80). 

 As rector, his most conspicuous act was 

 the procuring, in conjunction with the 

 Earl of Derby as patron, of the Winwick 

 Church Acts of 1841 and 1845, by 

 which Croft, Newton, Culcheth (New- 

 church), Lowton, Golljorne, and Ashton 



became separate parishes, each being en- 

 dowed with its tithes ; and two other 

 chapelries were formed. Thus the glebe 

 of Winwick and the tithes of Houghton 

 were all that was left of the ancient en- 

 dowment of the parish church. Besides 

 this Mr. Hornby contributed liberally to 

 the erection of churches in the detached 

 portions of his parish, and rebuilt the 

 chancel of his own church at a cost of 

 ^£■6,000. He died 14 Sept. 1855. 



'" Educated at Christ Church, Oxf. ; 

 M.A. 1840; Foster, Alumni Oxon. In 

 this year he became incumbent of Knows- 

 ley and chaplain to the Earl of Derby ; 

 canon of Chester, 1866. He had mar- 

 ried in 1835 Lady Eleanor Mary Stanley, 

 daughter of Edward, Earl of Derby. He 

 died at Winwick ii March 1890. 



7s The new rector is a cousin of the 

 patron. He was educated at Balliol Coll. 

 Oxf. ; M.A. 1852 ; incumbent of Bicker- 

 staffe, 1858; vicar of Huyton, 1869, 

 and canon of Liverpool, 1880. Foster, 

 Alumni Oxon, 



'i* Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220. 



120 



?s Published by the Rec. Soc. Lanes. ' 

 and Ches. 15. It should be stated that 

 Henry Johnson's name does not occur in 

 the later lists, so that the remarks in 

 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), iv, 355, are 

 baseless. The other priests probably 

 served Ashton and Culcheth, 



^^ From the Visitation lists, 1548-65, 

 preserved at the Ches. Dioc. Reg. 



7' Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 248 (quoting 

 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxiv, 4). In 1598 

 the curate did not wear the surplice, and 

 again in 1622 there was neither Bible 

 nor surplice ; Raines MSS. xxii, 182, 

 188 (from Chest. Act Bks.). 



'8 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13. 



7* Commontvealth Ch. Surv. 46-50. 



^'^ In 1669 several persons were pre- 

 sented to the Bishop of Chester for hav- 

 ing unlawful conventicles in their houses, 

 Oliver Taylor of Holcroft Hall being 

 one ; Visit. Papers, at Chester. See also 

 Hist. MSS. Cam. Ref. xiv, App. iv, 231, 

 232. 



81 Return by Rector Stanley in the 

 Dioc. Reg. Chester. 



17 



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