LEYLAND HUNDRED 



PENWORTHAM 



John Aspinall, who sold it to John Barton. About 

 1810 it was purchased by Lawrence Rawstorne of 

 Hutton, and has descended to the present patron, his 

 namesake. 



In 1 29 1 the value of the church was estimated at 

 £20,1 but fifty years later at only 20 marks, the 

 difference being accounted for by the glebe of the 

 church, worth 40^., and the tithe of hay, &c., 7 marks, 

 belonging to the altarage.^ It should be observed 

 that Brindle was included in this valuation. The 

 gross value of the rectory in 1535 was ^^ 3 6 11/. loa'.^ 

 The tithes were valued at ^1 74 a year in 1650, and 

 j^6o a year was paid out of them to the minister.* 

 The value of the incumbency had risen to about 

 j^ioo by 1720,^ and is now returned as £izj.^ 



The following have been curates and incumbents,' 

 styled vicars since 1868 : — 



oc. 1542-63 Ralph Garstang' 

 Thomas Spode 

 William Duxbury 

 George Clark 

 Matthew French ' 

 Nicholas Bamford 

 Nicholas Peele i" 

 Roger Wright 

 Nathaniel Bradshaw ^^ 

 John Jacques 

 James Chrichley ^^ 

 William Seddon i' 

 Thomas Robinson 

 Bradshaw 



-91 



oc. 1580- 



•599 



1599 

 oc. 1600 

 oc. 1 60 1 

 oc. 1607-21 



1625 

 oc. 1634-40 

 oc. I 64 1 

 oc. 1647 

 oc. 1650 



1653 

 1654 



oc. 1676-88 



1689 



1696 



Henry Rycroft 1* 

 Peter Gregory ^^ 

 James Butterworth l' 



? 



1712 



1725 

 1753 



794 

 1802 



1809 

 1814 

 1819 



Ralph Loxam '' 

 Edward Martin 

 William Loxham, M.A.^* (Brasenose 



Coll., Oxf ) 

 James Barton 

 Robert Atherton Rawstorne, M.A." 



(Brasenose Coll., Oxf) 

 James John Hornby, M.A.^" 

 Thomas Selkirk 

 William Birkett, M.A.^i (Brasenose 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 James Taylor Waring 

 Robert Atherton Rawstorne, M.A.^^ 



(Brasenose Coll., Oxf.) 

 Robert Atherton Rawstorne, M.A.^^ 



(Brasenose Coll., Oxf.) 

 William Edward Rawstorne, M.A.^* 



(Christ Ch., Oxf.) 

 Daniel Holland Stubbs 

 Augustus Manley Winter, M.A. (Hert- 

 ford Coll., Oxf.) 

 Oliver Burton, M.A. (St. John's Coll., 

 Camb.) 

 There was no endowed chantry at Penwortham, but 

 there seem, nevertheless, to have been three or four 

 resident priests in the parish before the Reformation,^^ 

 one of whom would serve Longton Chapel. After the 

 Reformation only one ' curate,' the incumbent of the 

 parish church, appears in the visitation lists.^' As the 

 Fleetwoods quickly became Protestant the starveling's 

 wage they paid him cannot be ascribed to hostility to 

 the then newly-established order. About 1610 

 Penwortham was described as 'an old priory in the 

 possession, by inheritance, of Richard Fleetwood, 



1826 

 •831-3 



1852 

 1858 



1894 



1909 



^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249. 



2 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 40. The 

 details were : Penwortham, yTz u. 6d. \ 

 Farington with Howick, £-2. 6j. %d. ; 

 Hutton, ;^2 i6j. 3*^.; Longton, ^^4 %s,iid.\ 

 and Brindle, ;^l. 



^ Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 233. 

 The chief revenue was derived from 

 tithes, those of grain amounting to 

 ;^2 5 Oi. iO(/., of hay, hemp, &c., zSj. %d., 

 and of lambs, &c., 231. 4^^,, small tithes 

 and Easter roll ^^5 115. There were also 

 pensions from Kirkham Church, 235. 4^/.; 

 North Meols, 6j. %d, 5 and the vicarage 

 of Leyland, 40J. 



The gross revenue of Evesham 

 from Penwortham and Leyland was 

 ;^ii4 i6j. lOi/., of which only ^^63 u. \od. 

 was sent to the abbot ; the net remainder, 

 after payment of various fees and rents, 

 was ;^29 1 8 J. 7^., which was therefore 

 returned as the value of the cell of Pen- 

 wortham. 



In a return made a few years earlier 

 (1527) the value of the priory or cell was 

 estimated at £l^ \ Duchy of Lane. 

 Rentals, 5/15. 



The Abbot and convent of Evesham in 

 1539 demised the manor and rectory of 

 Penwortham to John Fleetwood for 

 ninety-nine years at a rent of ;^99 5^. 3^/., 

 but allowance was to be made of the 

 pension of Richard Hawkesbury, late 

 prior or cuitos of the cell. The lessee 

 was to maintain the chancel, and to find 

 *an honest and sufficient priest' to serve 

 the church ; Pentvortham Priory, 79-83. 



* Commoniu. Ch, Sur'v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 105. No tithes were 

 paid from the demesne lands at Pen- 

 wortham. 



5 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr, (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 387. There were four churchwardens 

 and four assistants. 



^ Manch. Dioc, Dir. 



7 Many of the names given were taken 

 from the old registers by Mr. W. A. 

 Hulton ; some of them may have been 

 assistant curates or curates of Longton. 

 Other names are from Baines, Lanes. 

 (ed. Croston), iv, 210, and Raines MSS. 

 (Chet Lib.), xxii, 80, 92. 



^ He is probably the Ralph 'Grange* 

 who was in 1541-2 paid by John Fleet- 

 wood, farmer of the rectory ; Clergy List 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 17. As 

 ' Garstang ' the name appears in the visi- 

 tation lists of 1548, 1554, 1562 and 

 1563 ; in the last year he was described 

 as * curate of Longton,' and was ordered 

 to be cited ; Lists at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



3 Rector of North Meols 1599-1614, 



**• Mr. Peele, 'lecturer' at Penwor- 

 tham, contributed in 1622 towards the 

 recovery of the Palatinate ; Misc. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 67. 



"*Mr. Bradshay, preacher,' did not 

 contribute ship-money in 1635 j ibid. 

 109. 



12 Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 51. An order was made 

 that ^50 a year should be paid him out 

 of the impropriate rectory, sequestered 

 from John Fleetwood, a 'delinquent.' 



1^ He was commended as * a godly, 

 preaching minister,' and had been placed 

 in charge by Mr. Fleetwood, 'with the 

 consent of the rest of the parish ' ; Com- 

 monnv. Ch. Sur-v. 105. 



*^ Rector of North Meols 1684 to 

 1688. 



" He appears in the 1691 visitation 



ss 



list. In 1689 he was * conformable ' to 

 the government ; Hist. AdSS. Com. Rep, 

 xiv, App. iv, 230. 



'^ His will was proved at Chester in 

 1704. 



^^ Rector of North Meols from 1708 

 till his death in 1726; buried at Pen- 

 wortham. 



's This is the first appointment in the 

 papers at the Diocesan Registry, Chester ; 

 the curacy was vacant by the death of 

 Edward Martin. 



^^ See later note. 



^^ He was nominated by the attorneys 

 of James Barton, then living at Benares. 



^^ Afterwards rector of Haseley, Oxon. 

 In reply to the visitation questions in 

 1821 it was stated that service was held 

 on Sunday morning and afternoon, with 

 sermon at each (of late) ; the sacrament 

 was administered six times a year ; there 

 was service also on the great festivals and 

 prayers were read on Ash Wednesday. 

 The incumbent resided in the parish. 



22 Rector of Warrington 1807 to 1832, 

 rector of South Thoresby, Lines., 1807 

 till his death in 1S52. 



^3 Son of the preceding incumbent. 

 He became vicar of Balderston in 1858, 

 archdeacon of Blackburn 1885. 



2*' Cousin of the preceding incumbent. 

 He had been rector of Galby 1845-50, 

 and vicar of Ormskirk 1850-3, hon. canon 

 of Manchester 1870. 



^^ The curate and three others are 

 named in the visitation list of 1548, in 

 1554 the curate and one other, in 1562 

 the curate only. 



26 The ornaments remaining at Pen- 

 wortham and Longton in 1552 are 

 described in Church Goods (Chet. Soc.), 



