A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



nave and west 

 tower, ho\vever, are 



The church, which is dedicated in 

 CHURCH honour of ST. ^SDREK,' is situated 

 on elevated ground at the south-cait 

 end of the village, and consists of chancel with 

 north vestry and organ chamber, 

 tower. Only the chancel and 

 old, the nave having been pulled down in 1816, and 

 the present structure, which is in the Gothic style of 

 the day, erected in the following year.^ When the 

 old walls were demolished their foundations were 

 left in below the floor of the new building, but the 

 width of the nave being increased 9 ft. on each side, 

 they are now wholly invisible.' Some alterations in 

 the south-east corner in 1852, which necessitated 

 the entire removal of the old foundations in that part, 

 showed them, however, to be composed of fragments 

 of a still earlier church, portions of 1 2th-century 

 masonry, together with incised slabs and parts of 

 stone coffins, being found.* Of this earlier structure, 

 however, nothing is known, and the rebuilding of 

 1 81 7 make; it impossible to say anything definitely 

 as to the development of the p'.an. The chancel is 

 of 14th-century date, the roof being of high pitch 

 uith overhanging eaves and covered with stone slates, 

 but the north side is now hidden externally by a 

 modern vestry and organ chamber. The tower 

 belongs to the late 15th or early l6th century, and 

 is centrally placed with the nave. 



The chancel, which is built of gritstone, is 

 39 ft. 3 in. long by 1 8 ft. 4 in. wide inside, and has a 

 three-light pointed east window with plain chamfered 

 mullions crossing in the head, and two smaller hut 

 similar windows in the south side with a priest's 

 doorway, now built up, and a modern two-light 

 window further west. The jambs of the doorway 

 and windows on the south side are moulded, but 

 those of the east window are chamfered like the 

 mullions, and may indicate a later insertion.* A 

 string course with the scroll moulding runs round 

 the chancel both inside and out below the sills, and 

 level with the springing of the arch of the priest's 

 doorway, and it is continued round the buttresses, 

 which terminate in triangular heads. The interior 

 of the chancel is faced with stone and preserves its 

 ancient ritual arrangements. The sedilia are triple 

 under semicircular arches with moulded labels dying 

 into the underside of the string above. The three 

 seats are on the same level, and the piscina, which 

 has two floriated bowls, is part of the composition, 

 being under an arch similar to the other three and 

 adjoining them to the cast. At the east end of the 



north wall is a new two-light window now opcnmg 

 into the vestry, and below it an aumbry.' West of 

 this, at a distance of 9 ft. from the ca.t w.ill, is a low 

 side window, the cpening of which to the chancel is 

 9 in. in width by 16I in. high, with a I J-in. chamfer 

 all round. The window is now filled with a wood 

 door and opens into the vestry, where it is splayed to 

 a width of 4 ft. 3 in., the splay being equal on each 

 side. The sill is 3 ft. 6 in. from the ground, and 

 the opening has a segmental arched head z ft. high. 

 The plinth of the chancel is visible in the vestry, 

 showing that the opening was originally in an outside 

 wall. 



The western half of the north side of the chancel 

 is modern and is open to the organ chamber by 

 two pointed arches of two orders en a modern shafted 

 pier with moulded cap, the arch mouldings dying 

 into the walls at the sides. The roof is of framed 

 spars, plastered between, with curved pieces at the 

 wall plate and near the apex. The chancel arch and 

 arch between the organ chamber and nave are modern, 

 and there is a modern Gothic oak chancel screen. 



The nave is 73 ft. long by 52 ft. 6 in. wide, but 

 extends 4 ft. further west on each side of the tower. 

 The roof is one wide span, with four plain framed 

 principals ceiled between, and there arc five windows 

 of three lights on each side. There are galleries on 

 the north and south sides, but since the erection of 

 the organ chamber and the consequent piercing of the 

 north-east W.-1II of the nave the gallery on the north side 

 stops short some distance from the wall. The south- 

 east corner of the nave is occupied by the Farington 

 chapel, which marks the site of the chantry of St. 

 Nicholas and preserves an ancient right confirmed by 

 Bishop Chaderton in 159 1.' A board in the gallery 

 records that the chapel was repaired, a vault made, 

 and seats erected by William Farington of Wordcn 

 in 1 746. The chapel is now inclosed by a modern 

 screen and measures 20 ft. by 17 ft. It contains a 

 small brass 18th-century chandelier. On the wall 

 above in the gallery are five hatchments belonging to 

 the Farington family. The chapel had originally a 

 window at its e.ist end, but when the nave was widened 

 a door was substituted. The walls of the nave are 

 plastered and there are doors at its western end on 

 both north and south, that on the north side, how- 

 ever, being built up. 



The west tower, which is 16 ft. 6 in. square 

 inside, is open to the church and has a vice in the 

 south-west corner. The tower arch is lofty and of 

 two chamfered orders dying into the walls at the 



' Avice daughter of Henry de Kuerden 

 (about 1 230) gave a rent-charge of id. on 

 her lands for incense at the altar of St. 

 Andrew of Leyland, on the saint's feast 

 day; B.M. Harl. MS. 21 12, fol. 115. One 

 Adam Clayton also left a charge on lands 

 in Cuerden for the maintenance of a light 

 before St. Andrew in the parish church of 

 Leyland ; Raines, Cliantries (Chet. Soc), 

 iSSn. 



In 1349 William del Whithaigh charged 

 his lands in Cuerden with izd. a year for 

 the maintenance of a light of the Blessed 

 Virgin Mary, of the church of Leyland ; 

 Add. MS. 32109, fol. 4°- 



2 It is said to have been designed by a 

 Mr. Longworth, "ho, however, was 'more 

 celebrated as a combatant at Waterloo 

 than as a skilled and competent archi- 



tect ' ; Lanes, and Ches. Aniij. Soc. v, 



^ Hiit. Soc. Land, and Chcs. vii, i S*, 

 paper by Miss Farington, Jan. 25, 1855, 

 who exhibited a 'copy of an elevation 

 taken by some inferior architect just be- 

 fore the old church was pulled down.' 

 The drawing, however, is not reproduced. 



' Ibid. Many of these stones are now 

 deposited within an iron railing at the 

 angle formed by the chancel and nave on 

 tlie south side. 



' The windows at first sight appear to 

 be later insertions, and the upper parts of 

 the walls may have been rebuilt ; but 

 plain windows of this description are fre- 

 quently found in 14th-century work, and 

 the moulded jambs suggest that these are 

 the original ones. 



' The aumbry has rebated jambs, but 

 the door has gone. In 1855, however, 

 it had a 'small pointed arched door, of 

 rude oak, as black as ink, till lately painted 

 over ' ; Hiit. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. vii, 18*. 



"'In 1591 William Farington ob- 

 tained a confirmation of his previous 

 family claims from Bishop Chaderton, who 

 confirms to him and his heirs for ever a 

 right " to sit, stand, and otherw ise repoie 

 themselves therein " while living, and after 

 death to occupy "two several vawtes or 

 toumbes, in the upper of the same lying 

 eastward, to bury the dead bodies of the 

 men, and in the lower standing westward, 

 to bury the dead bodys of the women." 

 7 here was a division between the two seies 

 in the family pew itself till 1816' ; Hiii. 

 i'.i. Lanes, and Ches, \ii, i8.* 



