A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Nelson of FalrhursL 

 Or a croii patonce sahlf^ 

 01-cr all a bendlet 

 gults. 



HinaUrc, who rendered 40./. yearly.' In later timci 



the Banastrej of Bank held land in the township of 



Lord Muunteagle"; Henry 



Finch died in 1 641 holding 



10 acres of Lord Morlcy ' ; 



and other land was held of 



the lords of Leylandshire.* 



The freeholders named in 

 1600 were Robert Mawdesley, 

 Gilbert Nelson and William 

 Sharpies'; but the only 

 landowner in the subsidy roll 

 of l6z8 was William Maw- 

 desley.* A number of the 

 inhabitants suffered the seques- 

 tration of their property under 

 the Commonwealth, mostly 

 on account of religion ' ; Hugh Waterforth had his 

 forfeited and sold.* A large number of yeomen 

 'Papists' registered estates in Mawdesley in 171 7.' 

 In I 789 the princip.il contributors to the land tax 

 were the heirs of Alexander Kershaw and those of 

 Mr. Hc^keth.'" 



In the reign of Elizabeth there was a dispute as to 

 turb.-.ry in the town fields of Croston and Mawdesley." 



For the Church of England St. Peter's was built 

 in 1S40," and has since been enlarged ; the rector 

 of Croston presents. 



There '.^ as a Wcslcyan chapel built in 1844," and 

 replaced in 1905 by a larger edifice. 



A school was founded by Thomas Crook of Abram 

 about 1690." 



The adherents of the Roman Catholic religion 

 remained numerous after the Reformation," but no 



particulars arc available as to means of worship. The 

 church of SS. Peter and Paul was built in 1830-1. 



BISPHAM 



Bispcham, I 288 ; Byspam, I 292 ; Byspaym, 1 294 ; 

 Bispham, 1324. 



This small township forms the southern corner of 

 the parish. The Douglas is the boundary on the 

 south-west, while on the north the Bentley brook 

 forms most of the separation from Mawdesley. The 

 surface rises almost continuously from below the 

 25-ft. level near the Douglas to about 150 ft. 

 above the ordnance datum at the eastern border. 

 There are two small hamlets — Bispham Green and 

 Grimshaw Green — in the north and south respec- 

 tively. The area is 92 6 J acres," and the population 

 in 1 90 1 numbered 321. Roads go north through 

 the township from Wrightington to Ruftbrd and to 

 Croston, crossed by a road from Ormskirk. 



The hearth tax of 1666 has a record of only 

 thirty-two hearths ; the largest house in the town- 

 ship, belonging to the Earl of Derby, had four 

 hearths." 



The history of the manor of BISPHJM 

 My/XOR is very obscure. It was held of the lords 

 of Leylandshire, by whom in former 

 times the place appears to have been considered a 

 hamlet or appurtenance of Chorley," though the 

 boundaries were separated by a distance of 5 miles 

 at least. In 1288 it was found that Amery de 

 Bispham held the place of William de Ferrers by the 

 service of 40;/. yearly." Soon afterwards it passed, 

 probably by marriage, to the Dalton family, who took 



including Eglics Meadow, Risheriding", 

 l.ongflatt and Ktnchcde ; Towncic)' MS, 

 CG, no. 1166. 



' A.7';rf. In^. anJ £\tr'::-, i, 270. 



' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 37. 



^ Ibii. xxix, no. 49, Thomas son 

 and heir of Henry was thirty years of 

 age. 



Tli> ni3? Finch of Mawdesley, yeoman, 

 had two-thirds of his estate sequestered 

 for recusancy only, and in 16^^ petitioned 

 to be allowed to contract for it ; Rcjalist 

 C- •-. Tdplrl, ii, ^19. 



Mr. r.;IlQv,, in BM. Dkr. cf Er.^J. 

 Ci-.r/i. (:i, 2;(', writes thus: * The 

 Finches of Mawdesley suffered very 

 heavily in fines for their recusancy. 

 Henry Finch, gent., his son Thomas and 

 grandson Henn- appear in the rolls dur- 

 ing the reigns of Charles I and Charles 

 n. . . The ancient family residence 

 at Mawdesley still contains the chapel 

 and priests' hiding-places used during 

 the times of persecution. The house is 

 very cid, and contains many mementoes 

 of the days of persecution, including the 

 skull of ^^'^iiam Ha\dock, the monk of 

 Whallcy .^bbey, executed in 1537,' as it 

 is belicYcJ. James Finch, one of the 

 fam'ly, -was prior of a Carthusian monas- 

 tery in .Austria, and on its suppression 

 retired to Fernyhalgll near Preston, 

 where he died in 1S21, * the last of the 

 Engash Carthusian monks,' according to 

 his epitaph. 



^ See Inq. p.m. of Gilbert Ne'son. 



^ Misc. 'Rec. Snc. Lnncs. and Ches.), 

 i, 2+4. \S'.i;i3m Sharpies paid ^10 m 

 1631 on refusing knighthood ; ibid. 214. 



* Ibid. 166. Wl.liam Ma%\ dcs'.ey also 

 refused knighthood ; ibid. 214. 



' Some examples have already been 

 given. Thomas Ruttcr's house and land 

 had been sequestered for his recusancy, 

 but in 1651 h;9 widow Elizabeth peti- 

 tioned for the reversal of the order j she 

 was 'ever a good Protestant,' and had 

 five children, * all likely to starve unless 

 the sequestration were taken off' ; Cal. 

 Car. for Ci'nf. iv, 2687. Robert Turner 

 in 1649 desired to compound for his 

 offence of assisting the king's forces 'in 

 the first war*; ibid, iii, 1952. 



^ index of Royaliiti (Index Soc), 44. 

 He was afterwards allowed to compound, 

 paying a fine of ,£'19; Cal. Com. jor 

 Comp. iv, ■t.lT,z. Richard Waterworth 

 son of Hugh had desired to com- 

 pound in 1649. He had been in arms 

 for the king, and his father's estate, 

 transferred to him, had been sequestered 

 for recusancy ; ibid, iii, 1953. 



° Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Caih. 

 Aii-jarin, 107, &c. Their names 

 were : Hugh Ayscough, Thomas Barrett, 

 William Eccleston, Thomas Finch of 

 Lane End, James Finch, Thomas Fisher, 

 Hcnr)' Fisher, Ellen widow of Thomas 

 Harris-n, John Lund (whose will has 

 some severe remarks as to his Protestant 

 wife), James M.-.vdesey, Margaret 

 Mawdesley widow, Edward Nelson (who 

 paid a chief rent of iji. i^. to Maxi- 

 milian N'elson of Fairhurst), Margaret 

 Blackburne widow (daughter of Richard 

 Xelson}, Richard Rutter, Elizabeth 

 Rutter widow, William Sv.arsbrick, Anne 

 widow of Matthew Turner and Thomas 

 Turner their son. 



In 1720 a messuage in Mawdeslev, 

 iate the inheritance of Richard Nelson 

 and afterwards of Richard Blackburne of 



100 



Scorton Mill, was sold to William Stan- 

 field; Piccope MSS.(Chet. Lib.), iii,p. 206, 

 from R. 4 of Geo. I at Preston. "iThewill 

 of Richard Nelson of Mawdesley (1750), 

 whose son and heir was named Edward, 

 was enrolled at Preston ; ibid. p. 366 

 from R. 27 of Geo. II. 



"• Land tax returns at Preston. 



" Lanes, and Clies. Rec. (Rcc. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 273. 



'^ A district chapelry was formed for 

 it in 1843; Lend. Gaz. 4 April. The 

 benefice was declared a rectory in 1866 ; 

 ibid. 3 April. 



" Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 

 243- 



'* Gastrcll, Notiiia Cistr. (Chet. Soc.}, 

 ii, 360; the building was 'a poor 

 thatched cottage' ; the master 'must be 

 a Protestant.' 



" The list of recusants in 1628 is 

 printed in Misc. (Rcc Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 175. 



'^ The Census Rep. of 1901 gives 929 

 acres, including 3 of inland water. 



" Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9. 



'*In 1332 'Chorley with Bispham" 

 was the name of the township ; Exch. 

 Lay Subs. (Rcc. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 48. In 1383 Bispham is called a hamlet 

 of the vill of Chorley ; Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 376. 



" Lanes. Inj. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 270. The right of 

 William de Ferrers may be the ' manor of 

 Bispham ' mentioned, without any record 

 of tenure, as held by the Shireburne 

 family in the i6th century ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 3. 



Of the Bispham family practically 

 nothing is known. It was perhaps the 



