WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WINWICK 



curate "' specially appointed to Newchurch until 

 1749, when a grant was about to be made from 

 Queen Anne's Bounty. The church was rebuilt in 

 1743, a plain brick structure. This was burnt down 

 in April 1903, and has been rebuilt in the Norman 

 style. A communion cup is believed to be an old 

 chalice altered."' The registers 1599-1812 have 

 been printed by the Lancashire Parish Register 

 Society, 1905. 



In 1 845, under the Winwick Rectory Act, a separate 

 parish was created for Culcheth and Kenyon, the 

 incumbent being styled rector of Newchurch and 

 receiving the tithes."* The Earl of Derby is patron. 



The following is a list of the curates in charge — the 

 most noteworthy being Thomas Wilson, afterwards 

 Bishop of Sodor and Man — and the rectors : — "° 



oc. 1563 Henry Abram 



oc. 1599 William Pennington"' 



oc. 1 6 1 1 Richard Mallory 



oc. 1 6 1 7 James Whitworth 



oc. 1622 — Hopwood 



oc. 1627 John Burton wood '" 



oc. 1630 H. Atherton 



oc. 1635 Thomas Hall, 'incumbent' 



oc. 1636 Richard Wilson, 'curate of New- 

 church ' 



oc. 1639-40 Robert Gee"' 



oc. 1645-54 William Leigh™ 



oc. 1654 J°hn Bird 



Jan. 1657-8 Thomas Potter "° 



Feb. 1686-7 Thomas Wilson, B.A. (T.C.D.)'" 



Perpetual Curates 



Jan. 1748-9 John Hilton, B.A. (Brasenose Col- 

 lege, Oxford) "' 

 Aug. 1772 Hugh Grimshaw 

 Apr. 1783 Robert Barker 

 Feb. 1785 Thomas Heyes, M.A. (Oxford) '" 



B.A. 



Aug. 1 8 16 Joseph Jones, M.A. 

 June 1841 John Healy 

 Apr. 1842 Joseph Wilding Twist, 

 (Queen's College, Oxford) 



Rectors 



Feb. 1 845 Frederick Augustus Bartlett'"' 



Sept. 1855 Wm. Henry Strong, B.A. (T.C.D.) 



June 1862 Robert William Burton, M.A. 



Mar. 1 864 Wm. Faussett Black, D.D. (T.C.D.) 



May 1 897 Eugene Walter Whittenbury Kaye 



The church of All Saints, Glazebury, was erected 

 in I 85 I, and had a district assigned to it in 1878."* 

 The Earl of Derby is the patron. 



There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist 

 chapels at Glazebury, and an Independent Methodist 

 one at Twiss Green. 



After 1662 those who were attached to the Pres- 

 byterian worship"^ were ministered to by one Thomas 

 Risley, of the local family. He was fellow of Pem- 

 broke College, Oxford, and though he was, on the 

 Restoration, ordained according to the Anglican rite, 

 he refused to conform further, and was ejected in 

 1662. A chapel was built by him at Risley in 

 1 707,™ and has continued in use to the present time. 

 As in most other cases, Unitarian tenets prevailed In 

 the latter part of the 1 8 th century ; but in 1836, after 

 appeal to the Court of Chancery, the Unitarian minis- 

 ter and congregation were ejected, building a new 

 chapel for themselves at Croft, and Risley was given to 

 the Scottish Presbyterians, who still use it."' 



After the Elizabethan settlement of religion a large 

 number of the people remained steadfast to the ancient 

 faith,"' and with the connivance and assistance of the 

 Culcheths and Urmstons it is probable that the mis- 

 sionary priests were able to minister here from time 

 to time, but no records exist until 1670, when Fr. 

 John Penketh, S.J., was resident."' The succession 



1^ Bishop Gastrell about 1720 found 

 that nothing belonged to the church but 

 the interest of ^50, given by some one 

 anknown ; jf 50 a year was allowed by 

 the rector ; Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 269. 



^"^ Lanes, and Cies. Antiq. Soc. xxi, 172 

 (with plate). 



^'^ Notitia Cestr. ii, 270 n. 



^'^ This list, compiled from the parish 

 registers and documents at Chester, is 

 mainly due to Mr. J. Paul Rylands. See 

 also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 1 80, 

 and introduction to printed Registers. 



^ Raines MSS. xxii, 64. 



'"7 Previously at St. Helens. 



"* For the Gee family see Local Glean. 

 ii,30i. 



129 1 A very godly minister, of good life 

 and conversation,' though he had not ob- 

 served the day of humiliation appointed by 

 Parliament in June 1650 ; Commonivealth 

 Ch. Surv. loc. cit. He seems to have 

 been in charge in 1645 i Pl''nd. Mins. 

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

 ('Mr. Lee ') ; and in 1648 he signed the 

 'Harmonious Consent.' He was trans- 

 ferred to Gorton in 1657 ; ibid, ii, 183. 



"" Ibid, ii, 2 14. He had been minister 

 at Ashton. He continued as curate of 

 Winwick after the Restoration, and was 

 buried there 12 Nov. 1671. 



"' Bishop Stratford's Visitation List, 

 1691. He was 'conformable' in 1689; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229. 



^^^ He was the first of the perpetual 

 curates of Newchurch ; but had been 

 licensed to the curacy of Winwick in 

 1742. The church papers at Chester 

 Dioc. Reg. begin at this point ; among 

 them the following is preserved : (13 Jan. 

 1748—9) — 'Whereas the curacy of New- 

 church in the parish of Winwick is shortly 

 intended to be augmented by the Gover- 

 nors of the Bounty of Queen Anne, I do 

 hereby nominate John Hilton, clerk (the 

 person employed by me in serving the said 

 cure), to be curate of the said chapel of 

 Newchurch, and do allow him ;^5o per 

 annum. — Thos. Stanley.* 



^^^ In 1804 he gave the following ac- 

 count of Newchurch : ' 340 houses, with- 

 out any village or hamlet or any family 

 of distinction. About 155 Papists of the 

 lower class with a public place of worship 

 and a resident priest at Culcheth Hall of 

 the name of Barry. About 70 Presby- 

 terians of the lower rank of people, having 

 a licensed meeting-house and a teacher of 

 the name of Aspinal qualified according to 

 law, without any school for religious in- 

 struction, and whose number I believe to 

 be upon the decline.' Heyes was curate of 

 Westhoughton also, and resided there, 

 Newchurch having no parsonage house. 

 There was a resident curate, with service 

 twice every Sunday and two sermons ; 

 'sacrament every first Sunday in the 

 month, communicants about 40.' In 

 1814 a house was built by subscription, 



for the minister's residence. These de- 

 tails are from the Bishop's Registry at 

 Chester. 



issa Afterwards of St Olave's, York. 



1" Lend. Ga:i. 29 Nov. 1878. 



^^^ In 1634 Robert Downing of Risley 

 had been presented * for receiving the cup 

 standing, and refusing the bread unless 

 out of another man's hands and not the 

 minister's ' ; Beamont, Pf^inivick, 42. 

 William Leigh, the minister under the 

 Commonwealth, was chosen by the Puritan 

 rector and the people of Culcheth j Com- 

 monivealtb Cb. Surv. loc. cit. 



^^^ An account of him is in Loca^ 

 Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 122. 



^^' Ibid, and Nightingale, Lanes. Non. 

 conformity, iv, 252—61. The succession 

 of ministers is given. 



1*8 See the recusant roll in Trans. Hist. 

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



"9 Foley, Records S.J. v, 346. The 

 Jesuits were usually in charge. Edward 

 Scarisbrick was at Culcheth in 1701 with 

 a stipend of ^9; — Smith in 1 721, Thomas 

 Maire about 1750, Thomas Walmesley in 

 1784, in whicll year thirty-five were con- 

 firmed ; and — Carter in 1793 ; ibid, v, 

 321-5. 



In 1767 it was reported to the Bishop 

 of Chester that two priests were living at 

 Culcheth— (Roger) Leigh, S.J., and Wil- 

 liam Dicconson; Trans. Hist. Soc, (new 

 ser.), xviii, 215 i Foley, op, cit, vii, 

 449. 



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