A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Instituted 

 2 I July I 570 



31 May 1 395 . 

 27 Oct. 1604 

 27 Jan. 161 1-12. 



c. 1650 . . 

 25 July 1677 . 

 I 7 Feb. 16S4-5 . 

 21 Oct. 1689 

 25 Jan. 1719-20 



1891 



Name Presented by 



John Shireburne, B D.' .... John Fleetw:)oJ . 



John \\'hi:e, M..\> 



Thurstan Breres, B.D.' .... Rlc. FlectwooJ 

 James Langley, M.A.* .... „ 



William Rothwell, M.A.' . . . 



John R:shton, M.A." Edw. Fleetwood . 



George Walmesley, M.A.' ... „ 



Thomas Armetriding, B.A.* ... „ 



Christopher Sudell, M.A.' . . . Henry Fleetwood . 



j-Edward Shakespear, M.A.'" ... 



Thomas Baldwin, M. A." . . . . Robert Harper, &c. 



Thomas Baldwin, M. A.". . . . John Baldwin . . 



Thomas Baldwin, LL.B."' . . . Thos. Baldwin. . 



Nicholas Rigbye Baldwin, M.A." . N. R. Baldwin . 



Gardner Baldwin, M.A." . . . . G. Baldwin . . 



Thomas Rigbye Baldwin, B.A."=. . T. R. Baldwin . 



Octavius de Leyland Baldwin, B.A." R. Baldwin. . . 



Cause of Vacancy 

 d. T. Buckley 

 [d. J. Shireburne] 

 res. J. White 

 d. 'I". Breres 

 d. J. Langley 

 d. W. Rothwell 

 d. J. Ri^hton 

 d. G. Walmesley 

 d. T. Armetriding 



res. Chr. Sudell 



d. T. R. Baldwin 



The list of rectors and vicars does not call for 

 comment. The change from non-resident rectors to 

 resident vicars was no doubt an advantage to the 

 people at first, but in course of time the vicars too 

 sometimes evaded residence. Before the Reformation 

 there appears to have been a staff of six or seven 

 priests serving the parish church," with its chantry, 

 and the chapels at Euxton and Heapey. Five of 

 them, including the vicar, appeared at the visitation 

 of 1554, and though only three are recorded in the 



list of 1 562,^* five names appear in the following 

 year, headed by the recently appointed vicar." In 

 1565, however, the vicar and his curate were the 

 only clergy there,^' and when the vicar was resident 

 he docs not always seem to h.ive considered a curate 

 necessar}'." The chapels of Euxton and Heapey 

 were probably served only irregularly, if at all, until 

 the time of the Commonwealth. In recent times, 

 of course, great changes have been made. In 1782 

 Richard Balshaw gave a capital sum of X^*-'° ^^^ ^^^ 



* He paid first-fruits 31 Aug. ii^^o. 

 He was alio rector of Brindle (q.v.). The 

 records in the Bishop of Chester's registry 

 hare been used for this and later institu- 

 tions. 



2 First-fruits paid 12 Nov. 1595. The 

 institutions from this time have been com- 

 pared with those recorded in the Institu- 

 tion books, P.R.O., as printed in Lanes, 

 and Che%. Antiq. Soc. i, ii. In 1596 John 

 Charnock. was in charge of Leyland, being 

 described as *a sufficient, religious and 

 able minister of the Word of God * 5 Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R.279, m. 13 d. Mr. White 

 therefore was not resident. 



In 1598 it was presented that the vicar 

 did not wear the surplice, and did not 

 make the sign of the cross in baptism ; 

 Visit. P. at Chest. Dice. Reg. The same 

 report was made in 1601 (ibid.), and this 

 puritanism may have led to his resignation. 



^ First-fruits paid 8 Feb. 1604-5. ^^ 

 was described as * a preacher* about 1610; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Reft. x'lVy A^p. iv, lo. 



■* First-fruits paid 5 Oct. 16 12. He 

 was a Puritan, and in 1619 was presented 

 to the Bishop of Chester for not wearing 

 the surplice, omitting the sign of the cross 

 at baptism, and leaving out parts of the 

 services ; Visit. P. at Chest. Dioc. Reg, 

 Though he then promised to conform, he 

 readily accepted the Presbyterian discipline 

 in the time of the Commonwealth, and 

 iftai a member of the classis. From the 

 papers in the Chester registr)' it appears 

 that Langley was presented and instituted 

 in July 161 1, and again in the following 

 January. 



^ At the time of the Commonwealth 

 Survey (June 16^0) Vicar Langley was 

 * Ijtely dead,' and the benefice was vacant ; 

 Surity, 105. Nathaniel son of William 

 RothwcU, vicar, was baptized at Leyland 

 20 June 16^1. The vicar was registrar 

 from his .'ippointment until i6^6, when 

 he wi» * displaced/ and it is said (on the 



authority of Walker's Sufferings of the 

 Clergy) that he had to endure much per- 

 secution and hardship until the Restora- 

 tion ; Leyland Reg. 24, 2:;. 



Hewas buried at Leyland 16 Sept. 1676, 



eOf Caius Coll., Camb. ; M.A. 16—, 

 per liter as regias, He was the son of 

 Nicholas Rishton, and entered the college 

 in 1659, though he does not seem to have 

 graduated in the ordinarj' course ; Venn, 

 Adrr.issionSy 248. 



"i Educated at Jesus Coll ., Camb. ; M.A. 

 1679. He was * conformable ' in 1689; 

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

 He died the same year, being buried at 

 Leyland on 10 Sept. 



" Son of John Armetriding of Euxton ; 

 educated at St. John's Coll., Camb.; B.A. 

 1683 ; R. F. Scott, Admissions^ ii, 77. 



5 He became rector of North Meols 

 (q.v.) in 1733, resigning Leyland. 



'° He became rector of North Meols 

 (q.v.) in 1735, and thus had to be pre- 

 sented to Leyland and instituted a second 

 time. 



'* The patrons were Robert Harper, 

 George Jervls Tapps and Walter Chet- 

 wynd. Baldwin was educated at Jesus 

 Coll., Camb.; M.A. 1709. He was chap- 

 lain to the Earl of Cholmondeley, curate 

 of Westhoughton, and rector of one me- 

 diety of Liverpool. In 1748 he purchased 

 the advowsons of Leyland and North 

 Meols. He bequeathed the former advow- 

 son to his younger son, Thomas Baldwin, 

 rectcrofSteeplcBumpstead,EBsex,ini752. 

 See Farrer, North Meohy 84 ; Pal. Note Bk. 



i, 53-4- 



^2 Younger son of the preceding vicar, 

 as stated in the preceding note. Educated 

 at Pcterhouse, Camb.; M.A. 1742. He 

 was a king's preacher. 



'8 Son of the last vicar, also educated at 

 Peterhouse ; LL.6. 1768; was vicar of 

 Whalley 1776-1809. There was another 

 Thomas Baldwin (M.A. Cantab. 1-6S), 



8 



who was curate of Haslingden 1779-83 ; 

 he wrote a narrative of a balloon excursion 

 from Chester in 1785 ; N.and Q.(Ser. 3), 

 iii,427. 



'^ Brother of the last vicar, also edu- 

 cated at Pcterhouse, of which he was a 

 fellow; M.A. 1771. At one time he was 

 curate of Great Crosby; also of Haslingden 

 and Newchurch in Roasendalc, He 

 was a king's preacher. 



''* Nephew of the last vicar, being son 

 of William Baldwin, attorney. Educated 

 at Brasenose Coll., Oxf. ; M.A. 182^. 



'^ Son of the last vicar. Educated at 

 Sidney-Sussex Coll., Camb. ; B.A. 1845. 



'^ Brother of the last vicar. Educated 

 at Brasenoie Coll., Oxf.; B.A. i860; 

 vicar of Heapey 1874. 



'8 The Clergy List of 1542 (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), p. 17, records four 

 priests, in addition to the vicar and chan- 

 try priest ; but three were paid by Sir 

 Henry Farington. The visitation list of 

 1548 (Dioc. Reg, Chest.) gives seven 

 names, but mortuus is written against one 

 of them. The other six again appear in 

 1554, but one of them, late the chantry 

 priest, seems to have gone away to Win- 

 wick. 



1^ The old vicar and curate and the 

 chaplain at Euxton. 



^" A curate at Heapey and another, 

 whose name does not occur in earlier or 

 later lists, were the additional clergy, 



^^ The same curate, John Worden, ap- 

 pears in all the lists, i 548 to i 56 5. 



^ There is no sign of a curate or addi- 

 tional preacher in the list of contributors 

 to the subsidies of 1622-39 ; Misc. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 67-123. The 

 chapels at Heapey and Euxton were with- 

 out curates in i6io; Hist, MSS. Com* 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 11. There wjs a 

 curate, however, from 1676 to 1682; 

 Leyland Reg, 61, 71, There was no clergy- 

 man but the vicar at the visitation of 1691 > 



