A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



By the same Act of 1 845 Holy Trinity Church, 

 Downall Green, built in 1 837, was made the prin- 

 cipal church, its incumbent having the title of rector 

 of Ashton, and being endowed with the tithes of the 

 township, from which ^^50 a year was to be paid to 

 the vicar of St. Thomas's." The rector is presented 

 by the Earl of Derby. At Stubshaw Cross is St. 

 Luke's Mission Church. 

 ^ A school was founded in 1588.'' 



A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built here as 

 early as 1821. There are now also places of worship 

 of the Primitive Methodists, the Independent Metho- 

 dists, and the Welsh Wesleyans. 



The Congregational church at Ashton appears to 

 have originated in the occasional preaching visits of 

 the Rev. W. Alexander of Prescot, in 1802 and later. 

 A church was formed in 1824 and a chapel built in 

 1829. It did not prosper, and from 1846 to 1866 

 the condition of affairs was ' very low.' The present 

 church was built in 1867 by Richard Evans and his 

 family ; the old building is used as a school." 



The Society of Friends had a small meeting here 

 from about 1717 to 1835. The place was on the 

 north-west boundary of the township.'* 



On the restoration of the Prayer Book services in 

 1662 the objectors under the ministry of the ejected 

 curate, James Woods, worshipped in a farm-house." 

 A chapel was built at Park Lane in 1697, which still 

 exists, having been altered in 1871. The congrega- 

 tion, as in other cases, gradually became Unitarian. 

 Some of the ministers were of note in their time.'^ 



The dominant family and a large number of the 

 inhabitants adhered to the ancient religion" at the 

 Reformation, but nothing is positively known as to the 

 secret provision for worship until the middle of the 

 17th century, when the Jesuits had charge of the 

 Brynn mission.'' Later there was another chapel in 

 Garswood ; and in 1822 the church of St. Oswald 

 was built in the village ; it is in charge of secular priests. 

 Here is preserved the ' Holy Hand ' of the Ven. 

 Edmund Arrowsmith, of which many miraculous 

 stories are related." Thomas Penswick, Bishop of 

 Europum and vicar apostolic of the northern district 

 from 1 83 1 till his death in 1836, was born at Ashton 

 manor-house, where also he died.""" 



GOLBORNE 



Goldeburn, 1 187; Goldburc, 1201 ; Goseburn 

 (?Goleburn), 1202; Goldburn, 1212 ; Golburne, 

 1242. The 1^ seems to have dropped out finally in 

 the 15th century ; Golborne, Gowborne, xvi cent. 



This township stretches northwards for about 

 2-J- miles from the boundary of Newton to the 

 Glazebrook. Millingford Brook, coming from Ashton, 

 crosses the township and afterwards forms part of the 

 eastern and southern boundaries. The area is 1,679 

 acres.' The surface is highest near the centre, reach- 

 ing about 150 ft. The population in 190 1 num- 

 bered 6,789. 



There is land sufficiently fertile to produce potato 

 and wheat crops, whilst in the south there are clumps 

 of woodland about Golborne Park, continuing all 

 along the western boundary, so that from these quarters 

 Golborne appears to be bowered in foliage. In the 

 north, however, the country presents the characteristic 

 bareness of the other coal-mining districts of the hun- 

 dred. The Pebble Beds of the Bunter series of the 

 New Red Sandstone cover the entire surface of the 

 township. 



The village of Golborne is near the centre of the 

 township, on the north side of the brook. A road 

 from Warrington to Wigan passes through it, and is 

 there joined by another from Newton ; there are also 

 cross-roads between Ashton and Lowton. The London 

 and North Western Company's main line from London 

 to the north passes through the township, and has a 

 station at Golborne ; at the southern end is a junction 

 with the loop-line connecting with the Liverpool and 

 Manchester Railway. The St. Helens and South 

 Lancashire Railway (Great Central) crosses the northern 

 part of the township, and has a station called Gol- 

 borne. 



Lightshaw is at the northern extremity ; Edge 

 Green on the Ashton boundary, and Golborne Park, 

 a seat of the Legh family, at the southern end. 



Cotton-spinning and fustian-making were carried on 

 early last century. There are now cotton-mills, a 

 paper-staining factory and a colliery. A ' glass man ' 

 named Hugh Wright appears on the Recusant Roll of 

 1626.' 



Some interesting field -names occur in a suit of 

 '553> ^-S- Pillocroft, Bromburhey, Pennybutts, and 

 Parpount hey.* 



Golborne is now governed by an urban district 

 council of twelve members. 



At the inquest of 1 2 1 2 it appears that 

 MANORS GOLBORNE was held of the baron of 

 Makerfield in moieties ; one half was 

 held by the lord of Lowton, the other by a family 

 using the local surname.* As in the case of Lowton 

 itself the former moiety reverted to the lords of Maker- 

 field, and no one else claimed any manor there.' In 

 the latter moiety there may have been a failure of 



M Gastrell, Notitia, loc. cit. 



M Ibid. 



" Nightingale, op cit. iv, 52-60. 



3* Information of Mr. J. Spencc Hodg- 

 son. 



95 John Hasleden's house and his barn 

 in Park Lane were licensed in 1689 ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232. 



9' Nightingale, op. cit. iv, 4.+-52. 



97 See the Recusant Roll of 1641 in 

 Tram. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 245. 



»8 Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 360-1. Fr. 

 Thomas Tootell was resident at Garswood 

 in 1663. At Brynn Fr. Waldegrave was 

 serving in 1680. In 1701 both Garswood 

 and Brynn are named ; ibid. 321. In 

 1784 ninety-three persons were confirmed 

 at Brynn, where the Easter communicants 

 numbered 180; the corresponding num- 



bers at Garswood were 39 and 100 ; ibid, 

 324. 



Fr. Cuthbert Clifton probably served 

 Brynn and Garswood as early as 1642 ; 

 he died there in 1675, being regarded by 

 his brethren as ' a pious man, who laboured 

 with fruit for many years in the Lord's 

 vineyard,' and by Roger Lowe, the Puritan 

 undertaker, as 'the great and profane 

 monster of Jesuitical impiety' ; Foley, vii, 

 139 ; Local Glean. Lams, and Ches. i, 196. 

 Some further particulars as to the priests 

 here may be gathered from Lowe's Diary. 



'9 Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1 90 1 . For 

 E. Arrowsmith see the account of Hay- 

 dock. The Holy Hand was preserved at 

 Brynn and Garswood till the erection of 

 St. Oswald's ; Harland and Wilkinson, 

 Lancst Legends^ 41. 



148 



l™ Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. v, 

 259. His father was steward to the 

 Gerards. 



1 Including 10 of inland water. 



" Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 131, no. 318. 



' Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 117. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 73-4 ; two plough- 

 lands were held with Lowton and two by 

 Thomas de Golborne. 



' It thus descended, like Newton, from 

 the Langtons to the Fleetwoods and the 

 Leghs of Lyme; see Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Chet. Soc), i, 138; ii, 96-9; ibid. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 105. 

 According to an extent made 1324-7 one 

 half of Golborne was held by knighf s ser- 

 vice, and the other in socage ; Dods. MSS. 

 cxxxi, foL 33. 



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