A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



\\'llliam Banastre contributed to a subsidy in 

 1 542-3 for his lands in Tarlcton.' The hearth tax 

 return of 1666 records seventy-three hearths but 

 only three dwellings had as many as three hearths.' 

 The land tax return of 1798 shows that the land 

 was much divided ; Charles Croft, William Bamford 

 and the heir; of Peter Legh were among the chief 

 contributors.' 



The old chapel o{ ST. MJRl'* is 



CHURCH situated at the south-east end of the 



vilbge on high ground not far from the 



bank of the Douglas, opposite to Bank Hall. It is 



supposed to stand on the site of the earlier chapel of 



St. Helen. The building Is the one erected in l 7 1 9,* 



and is a plain parallelogram 47 ft. 9 in. by 2 1 ft., 



with a semi-octagonal apsidal east end 12 ft. by 8 ft. 



There is a small belfry tower and cupola at the west 



end, together with a vestr}' and porch, these apparently 



having been added at the beginning of the List 



century, the stonework of the tower bearing the date 



1824. The building is of brick and has a stone 



slated roof. The walls were originally roughly 



plastered externally and the plaster yet remains 



attached in fl.i^c-, but the brickwork is now 



generally exposed. There are four scniicircubr-hcadcd 



winJ.oA, on each side and two in the ap^c, the c.jt 



wall of which, ho\\evcr, is blank. Bct'\cen the 



windows are small triangular brick pro c tions 



an>Aering to buttresses and the end gables ha\c stone 



copings and urn ornaments. Though very plain and 



^i^lple the design is not without a certain merit. 



The apse has a dentilled cornice and on the wall 



between the windows Is a good spout head with the 



arms of Banastre of Bank and the date 1719. 



Internally the building preserves all its original 



features though much dilapid.itcd. There is a gallery 



with well-dcsigneJ front on the south and west sides, 



appro.iched by a good staircase at the wcit end and 



supported by square fluted wood posts. The seating 



consists of rough benches at the west end and square 



pews 4 ft. high at the c.ist. The floor is flagged and 



the roof partly ceiled. The reading de^k is in the 



middle of the north wall, but a modern oak pulpit 



has been erected at the ea t end. The channel arch 



is semicircular and without moulding, and there is a 

 good I 8th-century circular font on a fluted pedestal. 

 There is a brass in the floor to Eliza Cook, d. 1768. 

 Service is held in the chapel only once a yc.ir, the 

 building being used ordinarily as a mortuary chapel. 

 There were originally two bells in the turret, but 

 one of them has been removed to the new church. 

 The one remaining is dated 1824. 



The new church of the HOW TRIS1T7' was 

 built in the centre of the village in 1886 and consl t. 

 of chancel, nave with north and south aisles, and wc^t 

 tower. The tower, however, is incomplete and 

 roofed with the nave. The building is of stone with 

 blue slated roofs and in 14th-century Gothic style. 

 The plate consist; of a chalice, inscribed ' T. H. 

 1 744 — This chalice is given by Thomas Harrison of 

 Tarleton for the use of Tarleton Chapel' — a chalice 

 dated 1836, and a p.itcn and large flagon of 1883. 

 There are also a silver-plated paten and four silver- 

 plated almsdishes of 18S6. 



The registers begin in 1719. The burials are 

 complete to the present time, but the baptisms are 

 wanting for the year 1757* and the marriages from 

 1756 to 1S21. 



There was at Tarleton an ancient 

 JOrOirSOX chapel, known as St. Helen's,' in 

 which a priest named George Dandy 

 about 1525 founded a chantry for his soul and all 

 Chritlan souls.' There being 'an arm of the sea' 

 between Tarleton and the parish church the priest 

 was often compelled to minister the blessed sacrament 

 to the people there. The endowment, derived from 

 lands in Tarleton, Brctherton, Ulnes Walton and 

 Lonf^ton, was £^ I I/, in all, but 20/. ^d. was in 

 reversion at the date of confiscation." In the chapel 

 yard was a hermitage, occupied at that time by one 

 Hugh Dobson, who had been professed hermit of the 

 order of St. Anthony about 1530, when fifty years of 

 age, at Tadcaster before Dr. Bainbridgc, suffragan of 

 the .Archbishop of York.'" 



The chapel was sold to Sir Thomas Hesketh, who 

 at once pulled it down," and Tarleton remained 

 without a pl.icc of worship until the time of the 

 Commonwealth, when a small building was erected 



disinhcritrd because Richard GillibranH, 

 '.in unconscionable pcrs^-n,' haying 

 knowledge of writing divers )ianJ«, had 

 deli\ lei a fal'c deed to ilenrj- lianas'rc. 

 The accused man replied that he had had 

 occasion (o go to the house of his brother 

 Robert Gillibr.in J, ^ and there he saw a 

 p.ci.c of parchniciu written on but having 

 no seal, which seemed to be very ancient j 

 and his brother said it seemed to belmg 

 to Mr. Banastre of the Bank, and that 

 bc:ore it came to his hands it had spices 

 " lapt " up in it. There was ccntained 

 in the same the liberty of fishing granted 

 either to tb.e said Mr. Banastre or to 

 some of his ancestors,' and the deed was 

 accordingly given up. See Duchy of 

 Lane Plead. Lliz. Uzxvii, H 9. 

 ' Sjbs. R. Lanes. 130, no. 126. 



* Ibid. 250, no. 9. 



' Returns at Preston. 



^ Gastre;! in his .V:.-::;j, corroborated 

 by Canon Raines, cal!e:i it St. James's, 

 but the ncme was usually sai i to be 

 St. John's. 



* The petition of Thomas Hcjketh, 

 .M's. M. Legh, the rector of Croston and 

 I ventT-th'ec freeholder! of Tarleton to the 



Ilisiiop o|Xh:'ter m I ~ I S asks for a licence 

 to erect 'a new chapel i6)ds. in length 

 and 7 yds. in breadth.' These are the in- 

 ternal dimensions of the exiitin^ building. 



* .Memorandum 1757 : 'The dark of 

 the chapel negli;:ently omitted delivering 

 in an account of christening! in this year.' 



' It existed In the first part of the 13th 

 century \ Cockeriand Ckartul. ii, 462. 



In pleadings in 1557 it was asserted 

 that Richard Banastre {d. 1548) had built 

 the chapel with the licence of the Pope 

 and the Bishop of the diocese as a chapel 

 of ease, the people being often prevented 

 from going to the parish church * by the 

 r:s"ng of the great waters and rivers there.' 

 The chapel and yard were claimed as part 

 of the inheritance of Banastre of Bank. 

 See Duchy Plead, iii, 236. 



' Raines, Chantrin (Chet. Soc), 173. 

 From the Ulnes Walton court roll it 

 appears that the founder had in 1 503 been 

 the chaplain. Robert Smith of Liverpool, 

 scholar, was accused of having broken 

 into St. Helen's Chape!,Tarleton, in 1530, 

 and stolen certain property of William 

 Wilcocks, chaplain there ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Assize R. 10. 



118 



John Robinson waa chaplain in 1533 j 

 L'Ines Walton Cojrt R. 



In the P'alor Eccl. of 1535 the foundi- 

 tion of the chantry is attributed to Geor^.c 

 Dandy and Richard Banastre ; Henry 

 Fariiigton was then chaplain ; v, 232. 



An account of the founding is given in 

 Duchy Plead, iii, 245-9 > 't '• stated that 

 George Dandy died about 1528, and had 

 a brother Henry, who had a son Robert 

 Dandy, aged about sixty in 1557. 



Thomas Wilding, aged about fifty, v m 

 the chaplain in 1547 ; ten years later he 

 was chaplain to William Kirkby of Raw- 

 cliffc \ ibid, iii, 248. 



" Raines, loc. cit. The chapel had only 

 a chalice and two vestments, 



'"Duchy Plead, iii, 235-40. One 

 deponent had known three hermits in 

 successive occupation — James Piper, 

 Robert Halworth and Hugh Dobson. 

 The hermit had half an acre of land an! 

 half an acre of meadow as an endowment. 



" Ibid. It can have been the site ol 

 the chapel alone that was sold, as in 

 1583 all the lands of the chantry were 

 sold by the Crown to Thuritan Ander- 

 ton ; Pat. 25 Eliz. pt. i. 



