WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



tages at Lowton.'*^ Newton had an ancient poor's 

 stock, spent in providing linen, and other benefac- 

 tions.*' A legacy by James Berry in 1836 has 

 failed." 



For the township of Culcheth as a whole, most of 

 the ancient charities have been united ; ^ the Blue 

 Boy Charity continues.^™ For Newchurch with Ken- 



WINWICK 



yon are funds for the poor, &c. ; *<" at Risley the 

 almshouse has failed,^*"* but John Ashton's Charity, 

 founded in 183 1, produces £^1 loj. a year, distri- 

 buted in money doles.*"* 



At Southworth-with-Croft a calico dole is main- 

 tained,*"* Ashton in Makerfield has charities for 

 linen, woollen, apprenticing boys, &c,*"* At Hay- 



» For Lowton Richard France left ^5 

 to the poor, and in 1828 51. was paid as 

 interest by the overseer of Lowton. 

 Nicholas Turner, by his will of 1712, 

 charged the Little Meadow in Golborne 

 with 20J. for linen for the poor ; this also 

 was still paid in i8z8 ; and like the pre- 

 vious sum was added to the Lowton half 

 of Leadbeater's Charity. So also was 

 £2 I Of. derived from tenements purchased 

 with a bequest of Elizabeth Byrom, 

 widow, in 1738. The overseers in 1828 

 had j^22 loj. derived from the rents of 

 two cottages, which sum had been devoted 

 to the poor, but was then applied to the 

 debt incurred in rebuilding the cottages. 



In 1900 these charities had been united 

 with the Lowton share of the Leadbeater 

 Charity, and were administered under the 

 scheme of 1892, the objects permissible 

 being almost the same as those in Gol- 

 borne. The payment of ^s, out of the 

 rates had been disallowed by the auditor 

 in 1846, and thus France's Charity has 

 lapsed. 



^' James Low in 1634 and others sub- 

 sequently contributed various sums, which 

 together amounted to ^^273 by 1733 ; 

 sixty years later the total was ^^288, laid 

 out upon the workhouse, and the interest 

 was spent on linen for the poor. In 1825, 

 interest having fallen into arrear, it was 

 agreed that the capital should be considered 

 j^400, and in 1827 ^20 was paid as in- 

 terest. Robert Bankes in 1747 left £4.0 

 for the poor, and the interest in 1828 was 

 added to the foregoing charity. — Bro- 

 therton left ^^50 to found a bread charity 5 

 and Mrs. Legh left j^ioo, which with ^^50 

 (probably the last-mentioned sum) was in 

 1800 in the hands of Thomas Claughton, 

 tmstee of Thomas Legh of Lyme during 

 minority, by whose bankruptcy the capital 

 was endangered. A sum of ^^5 had been 

 paid out of the estate of William Brown 

 Brotherton to the eldest poor widow in 

 Newton ; the estate having been sold 

 about 1 821 to Thomas Legh, the payment 

 has been since discontinued. 



The workhouse was sold in 1856, when 

 j^288 was invested in consols, this being 

 held to be all that was legally chargeable. 

 The income, ^^8 51. 8^., is distributed in 

 tickets for clothing. The Bankes Charity 

 was still continued in 1900 by Mrs, Bankes 

 of Winstanley Hall, and distributed with 

 the foregoing. The other charities had 

 been lost, no dividend apparently having 

 been paid out of Thomas Claughton's 

 estate. 



^^ This was a bequest of ^50 for the 

 benefit of poor communicants at Newton 

 Chapel. The executors paid interest for 

 some time, but the residuary legatee, on 

 coming of age, refused to pay, 



^ The amalgamation took place under 

 a scheme of the Charity Commissioners 

 in 1898. There were six different foun- 

 dations : — 



i. Twiss Green School, founded by John 

 Guest of Abram, Adam Shaw and Christo- 

 pher Bordman assisting. A lease of 1808 

 stated that the purpose of the school was 

 instruction in the English language and 

 in the precepts of the Christian religion. 



ii. Thomas Shaw gave £So to the poor, 



iii. John Risley gave £bo to the same. 



iv. William Smith in 1626 left lands in 

 Culcheth called Gregory's Land to a Ralph 

 Bate, the interest on ;^6o being payable 

 to the poor. In 1828 the fields were 

 called Shnckshots. 



V, Ambrose Yates in 1722 left his 

 tenements at Twiss Green to his cousins 

 Henry and James Bate for the benefit of 

 the poor. The property, called Quakers, 

 was in 1828 in the possession of Thomas 

 Bate of Macclesfield as heir-at-law of 

 Henry Bate. 



vi. Mrs. Anne Clough left ^^40 for the 

 poor, and Thomas EUames Withington of 

 Culcheth Hall gave ^^50 consols to the 

 official trustees. 



The yearly payment of j^3 for Smith's 

 Charity in 1861 was redeemed by John 

 Clare, owner of the land, who paid j^78 

 to the official trustee ; and the real estate 

 of the Yates Charity was sold in 1887 for 

 ^500 ; in each case the money was in- 

 vested in consols. 



By the new scheme all these charities 

 are administered by the same trustees ; 

 the Twiss Green School is managed as a 

 Church of England Sunday and day school, 

 and the dole charities are distributed to 

 various ways, but chiefly in small gifts in 

 the poor. 



Richard Garton by will in 1670 

 charged £^ a year for the poor on lands 

 called Radcliff Meadows in Kenyon ; the 

 rent, after a short discontinuance through 

 inadvertence, is paid to the same trustees. 



1** Henry Johnson by his will in 1727 

 left various amounts of South Sea Stock 

 for the education at Twiss Green School 

 of poor Protestant children, and providing 

 them with clothing and books. In 1828 

 the income was ;^32 i6i., and nine boys 

 were provided for. A sum of ;^i55, then 

 in the hands of a John Cockshott, cannot 

 be traced, but the capital of the charity, 

 invested in consols, now brings in 

 j^25 ys. 4J, a year, sixteen boys (not 

 necessarily members of the Church of 

 England) benefiting. 



101 Anne Withington gave ;^ioo in 

 1868 for the use of the poor ; the interest 

 is distributed by the rector. The same 

 benefactor, as Mrs. Anne Boulton of 

 Aughton Rectory, gave ;^300 London and 

 North-Western Debenture Stock for the 

 schools and for the curate of Bury Lane. 

 The stock has been divided, the interest 

 of part being paid to the Church of Eng- 

 land school, and the rest of the capital 

 applied to the endowment of Glazebury 

 ecclesiastical parish, which has grown out 

 of the Bury Lane curacy. 



Mary Lucy Black in 1893 left money 

 towards the payment of the organist's 

 salary at the parish church ; and the ^4 

 interest is so applied. 



102 John Risley (? 1702) directed an 

 almshouse to be built, and in 1828 six 

 houses were used rent free by as many 

 poor families. The occupants, however, 

 have long claimed a freehold in them, the 

 property passing from time to time by 

 delivery of the keys, in consideration of a 

 cash payment. 



131 



William Ashton, who died !n St. Croix 

 in the West Indies in 1814, left j^io.ooo 

 for the poor of Risley. Many difficulties 

 arose, and it was uncertain whether the 

 testator's assets were sufficient to do more 

 than discharge his debts j hence John 

 Blackburne, lord of the manor, after 

 spending a considerable amount in the 

 endeavour to secure this benefaction, 

 seems to have ceased his effiarts, and 

 nothing resulted, 



"" A scheme was made by the Charity 

 Commissioners in 1891, but seems to have 

 been a dead letter. The money is distri- 

 buted in doles at Michaelmas. 



^"^ Thomas Gerard in 1723 gave a cot- 

 tage and croft to Thomas Stanley on a 

 1000 years* lease, and seven years later 

 the latter gave it to the trustees of the 

 poor's stock of Croft. In 1828 there 

 were three cottages, Arkenshaw, Round 

 Thorn, and the Smithey ; the overseers 

 managed the property and disposed of the 

 rents, some jQ^ to ^y, in calico and linen 

 for the poor. None of the cottages are 

 now standing, and part of the land has 

 been sold ; the gross income is now only 



^I 16.. 



The Rev. Robert Barker of Winwick 

 in 1797 proposed to give ;^io5 for the 

 benefit of the free school in Croft ; but it 

 does not appear that the money was ever 

 paid. Richard Speakman of Winwick 

 gave j^20 for the purchase of books for 

 the same school ; the money was given 

 to the Rev. Geoffrey Hornby, rector, and 

 so used by him. After his death pay- 

 ments ceased. 



^^5 This charity began in 1588 with a 

 sum of £10 given by Robert Birchall for 

 shirts and smocks for the poor of Ashton ; 

 he also gave ^^4 for the repair of the foul 

 ways of the township, which was after- 

 wards added to his former gift. Various 

 other benefactors appeared from time to 

 time, and investments were made in land 

 which in 1828 produced an income of 

 £^1 Hi. spent in linen for distribution 

 each January. The land bought included 

 the Two Makerfields, Two Lower Over- 

 fields, and the Overfields next the Lane. 



A woollen stock charity was founded 

 by the will of Thomas Harrison 1692, to 

 which others added, and land called the 

 Two Stubshaws was purchased in 1720. 

 Other sums were given afterwards and 

 buildings were erected, producing a rent 

 of ^24 15J. a year in 1828. The trustees 

 also had 30J, a year by the gift of Cathe- 

 rine Wallis, and lOi. from George 

 Latham ; lOj. was paid to the Incumbent 

 for a sermon on St. John's Day, 



An apprentice stock charity was 

 founded in 1704 by James Pilkington 

 devising his tenements in Blakeley for 

 this purpose ; and others gave various 

 sums for the same object, and the Fleece 

 Inn and other properties were added, ^^26 1 

 being borrowed from the school stock. 

 James Burn in 1782 charged his tene- 

 ment called Stubshaw Cross with 421. a 

 year for bedgowns and petticoats. A sub- 

 sequent owner becoming bankrupt, the 

 purchaser refused to pay the 425, on the 

 ground that the gift was void in law- 



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