LEYLAND HUNDRED 



CHORLEY 



is difficult to account for. 

 wide and 15 in. high and 



height above the floor 

 The opening is i^ in. 



has a semicircular head and a projecting stone 

 bracicet. It is now used as a reliquar}' to contain the 

 reputed bones of St. Lawrence and is glazed flush with 

 the plaster of the wall, which makes it very difficult 

 to distinguish the bones.' The chancel contains 

 six seats, replacing old square pews, belonging to the 

 Parkers of Astley Hall, but has no quire stalls, the 

 quire and organ being placed at the west end of the 

 north aisle. Glynne mentions two stone brackets in 

 the east wall, but these are apparently now covered 

 up by the modern reredos erected in 1902. The 

 chancel arch, 1 2 ft. 6 in. wide, is pointed and con- 

 sists of two plain chamfered orders with label, 

 springing from chamfered imposts ; the label termi- 

 nates in modern carved corbels, and the jambs, which 

 are also chamfered, go down to the ground without a 

 base. Externally the north wall of the chancel 

 preserves its original rough masonry with chamfered 

 plinth nearly at the ground level, but the east wall 

 has been entirely rebuilt. The south aisle of the 

 chancel, including the transept, is 33 ft. long by 

 1 7 ft. 4 in. in width. 



The east end of the nave gable, where it shows 

 above the chancel roof, exhibits the original rough 

 stone masonry and has a plain stone coping with the 

 remains of a Sanctus bell-turret with trefoiled head. 

 Internally the nave is without interest, the work being 

 entirely modern, consisting of a north and south 

 arcade of four pointed arches on octagonal piers. The 

 roof is divided into six bays by plain wood principals 

 and ceiled with plaster, and has two large stone 

 dormer windows on each side inserted in 1902, at 

 which date the interior of the building was renovated. 

 There is a small original single-light window at the 

 east end of the north side behind the pulpit to the 

 north of the chancel arch. The aisles, which are 

 22 ft. 6 in. wide, are continued some distance west- 

 ward of the nave in front of the north and south 

 walls of the tower and are respectively 64 ft. 9 in. 

 (north) and 68 ft. 6 in. (south) in length. The west 

 tower is of three stages and has a slightly projecting 

 vice in the south-east angle entered from the out- 

 side, and forming externally a wide shallow buttress 

 weathering back to the wall at the belfry stage. The 

 west face has two diagonal buttresses of four stages 

 and of unequal projection, with moulded and cham- 

 fered plinths. At the top of the first stage of each 

 buttress is a shield bearing in an engrailed border 

 three boars' heads two and one,^ and m the stage 

 above a niche with trefoiled head and crocketed canopy 

 and octagonal bracket. The west door and window 

 are modern restorations, but the hollow string course 



which runs between the buttresses on the west side 

 ot the to\\cr under the sill of the window is ancient, 

 and retains its original carved ornaments, four-leafed 

 flowers, heads and leaves. The west window is of 

 four lights under a pointed head, with rose tracery 

 of poor design. There is a clock on the north and 

 west fronts at the level of the top of the buttress, 

 above which is a string course. The belfry stage has 

 a two-light pointed window with labels on each face, 

 the lights having trefoiled heads, with a quatrefoil 

 above, and stone louvres, and finishes in a string 

 course and embattled parapet, with angle pinnacles 

 surmounted by iron vanes. The tower arch, which 

 is a plain chamfered pointed opening springing from 

 moulded imposts, has been rebuilt and is open to the 

 ringing chamber, with a modern glazed screen to the 

 nave. 



The fittings are almost wholly modern. There 

 are, however, two interesting old pews and some 

 fragments of ancient glass. The Jacobean oak pew 

 top belonging to the Parker family, now standing at 

 the west end of the south aisle, formerly was on the 

 north side of the chancel, and was part of the old 

 square oak pews now removed. It measures 6 ft. 6 in. 

 by 6 ft. and is now fixed over a portion of the 

 modern seating, and consists of a heavy classic en- 

 tablature supported by six twisted posts with Ionic 

 caps, a very good specimen of the work of the period. 

 The Standish pew is at the east end of the south side 

 of the nave, projecting partly in front of the chancel 

 arch, and is 4 ft. high, square panelled in oak, and 

 with an elaborate canopy against the wall on the 

 east side surmounting two recessed seats divided 

 by Ionic columns supporting a light entablature, 

 the frieze of which has good strapwork panels. 

 Above is a shield of twelve quarters, the arms of the 

 Standish family of Duxbury with helm, crest and 

 mantling, flanked by carved figures and surmounted 

 by a pediment, the whole a very good specimen of 

 early Jacobean or late Elizabethan oak work. 



The ancient arms of Standish of Duxbury' are on 

 a stone placed high up in the north wall of the 

 chancel aisle, with the inscription below, ' This stone 

 replaced here when the church was enlarged i860.' 

 It was formerly on the outside. 



One old oak bench end remains at the east end of 

 the north aisle, and has the date 1 67 1 and the 

 initials J. C, being part of the pew formerly belong- 

 ing to the family of Crosse of Shaw Hill. The 

 rest of the seating and the other fittings are modern. 



In the north window of the chancel (a modern 

 coloured window with figures of St. Lawrence and 

 St. Alban) are preserved, in the upper part, two 

 pieces of heraldic glass bearing the arms of (l) Standish 



' When Barritt, the Manchester anti- 

 quary, visited Chorley about the end of 

 the 1 8th century the recess had a door 

 which was opened when the relics were 

 shown, but there is no means now of 

 seeing them except through the glass. 

 Barritt wrote : ' They (the bones) are 

 represented to be human, but plainly 

 appear to belong to some large quadruped. 

 My good friend. Dr. Ferriar, without 

 hesitation pronounced one in particular 

 to be the uppermost joint in one of the 

 hind limbs of cither horse or cow 

 species,' The relic which Thomas 

 Tarleton, vicar of Croston, in 1443 cer- 

 tified that James Standish of Duxbury 



had given to Chorley Church was part of 

 St. Lawrence's head ; it had been brought 

 from Normandy by Sir Rowland Standish 

 brother of James and Jo.in his wife, and 

 it was bestowed for the worship of God 

 and St. Lawrence and the profit of the 

 building ; also that the people might 

 pray for the benefactors (Baines citing 

 Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 239). The bones 

 now seen are not part of a head, and 

 their origin is quite unknown. The 

 original relics would be destroyed at the 

 Reformation, and had they escaped then 

 it is impossible to suppose that strict 

 Puritans lilce Hyett the rector and 

 Welch the curate would have tole- 



rated them during their long tenure of 

 office. 



- These have been perhaps erroneously 

 described as the arms of William Booth, 

 Bishop of Lichfield. Similar arms (gules 

 three boars' heads couped argent tusked 

 or within a border engrailed argent) 

 occurring in a window in the churcli 

 at the end of the i6th century arc 

 those granted to John Wight of LondoH 

 in 1588 ; but it seems impossible to trace 

 any connexion between this family and 

 Chorley ; Lanes. Ch. Notes and Trickings 

 of Arms made tn 1 564. to 1598 (Hist. 

 Soc. of Lanes, and Ches. xlli [vi, new 

 ser.], 264). 



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