A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of Duxbury, with many quarterings of wliich only a 

 few are decipherable ; (2) Standish, quartered with 

 Or on 2 bend between three martlets sable three 

 boars' heads of the field.' 



On the north chancel wall are two helmets,' 

 probably used in the funerals of the Standish family, 

 and the chancel also contains mural monuments to 

 Peter Brooke (d. 1685), Sir Thomas Standish (d. 

 1756), Sir Frank Standish, bart. (d. 1S12), Frank 

 Hall Standish (d. 1840),^ and Mary daughter of 

 Wm. Standish (d. 1845). 



There is a ring of eight bells cast by John Warner 

 & Sons in 1896. Previous to this the bells were six 

 in number, three having been hung in 1763, one in 

 1832, one in 1800 and one at a date unknown. 

 These were recast and rehung with two additional 

 ones. Three of the bells bear the original inscrip- 

 tions ■• and the others have the makers' name and 

 date. 



The plate consists of a silver cup, cover paten and 

 flagon of 1 770-1, the cup and flagon inscribed 

 'The gilt of Dame Catherine Standish to Chorley 

 Church 1770'; a breadholder of the same year 

 inscribed 'Chorley Church 1771 ' ; ani a cup and 

 cover paten of 1 793-4, the cup inscribed ' John 

 Cloudsley and James Mason, Church Wardens, 

 Chorley Church, 1795' 



The registers begin in 1548' and the church- 

 wardens' accounts in 1828. 



No.hing is positively known of 

 ADFOIVSON the first erection of a chapel of ease 

 at Chorley, but it may be observed 

 that no chapel is mentioned in a petition of 135;, 

 when William de Exeter, then rector of Croston, 

 desired the king to allow Roger de Farington to 

 alienate an acre of his land so that a tithe-barn 

 might be built at Chorley.'' Yet soon afterwards, 

 in 1362, one of the plague years, there was a chapel 

 there, for the inhabitants desired the bishop that it 

 might be dedicated ; the bishop allowed that all 

 sacraments and sacramentals might be administered 

 therein. The rector of Croston, William de Hunt- 

 low, at the same time agreed to find a chaplain.' 

 The chapel is mentioned .igain a few years later, 

 when a place was reserved for William de Chorley 

 according to a deed already quoted. In 1393-4 

 there was an affray there. '^ The gift of relics in 



1443 is the only incident recorded in the next 

 century. There is a c.isu.il reference to the use of 

 the church as a court-house in 1538.' 



No endowed chantry was founded in it, but it was 

 well furnished in 1552, when the king's commis- 

 sioners seized the 'ornaments,' including a Bible.'^ 

 It had before the Reformation been fully supplied 

 with clergy, for in the visitation list of 1548 there 

 are four names assigned to it ; only one, Roger 

 Chorley, appe.irs in the list of 1 554, and he remained, 

 alone so far as is known, till 1563, when he became 

 vicar of Preston. Henry Croston, one of those 

 named in 1548, reappears in 1565 as the only clergy- 

 man in charge." Thus the chapel continued to be 

 used for service, and one minister sufficed for it until 

 the end of the i8th century, this number not being 

 increased even in the time of the Commonwealth. 

 It may have been that the schoolmaster gave assist- 

 ance in the church also.'^ 



The first notice of any endowment occurs in the 

 survey of 1650. A cottage and half a rood of land 

 belonged to the church. Henry Banastre, late of 

 Hackney, had (in 1625) given j^200," and Ralph 

 Lever of Chorley £,10, to maintain a 'preaching 

 minister' there; lands at Clitheroe had been pur- 

 chased. An augmentation of j{^ 18 a year had been 

 made by order of the county committee.''* From the 

 phrase quoted it may be inferred that the curate wai 

 usually only a 'reader ' ; about 1610 it was recorded 

 that there was 'no preacher ' there." 



In 1720 the income was ^^33 61. a year; ;^20 

 was paid by the rector of Croston and £() 6s. came 

 from the Clitheroe estate.'" In 1793 the rector of 

 Croston, who had ahvays nominated the curates in 

 charge, procured an Act of Parliament making Chorley 

 an independent rectory, as has been stated above. He 

 retained this new rectory till his death, when one of 

 his sons was appointed. The Act provided that the 

 great and small tithes of Chorley and the great tithes 

 of Bretherton, Mawdcsley and Bispham should be 

 annexed to the new rectory, and the j^20 formerly paid 

 by the rectors of Croston ceased. The rector of 

 Chorley was to pay a fourth part of the old Crown 

 rent ofj^45 1 4/. 4a'. due from Croston." The net 

 value of the rectory of Chorley is now stated to be 

 ^^626 a year.'* The patronage has been surrendered 

 to the Bishop of Manchester, who now collates. 



^ There was formerly much heraldic 

 and other glass in the church, including 

 the arms of the families of Chamock, 

 Ferrers of Groby, Anderton of Clayton, 

 Anderton of Anderton, Anderton of Los- 

 tock, Anderton of Euxton, Brown of 

 Brinsop, Worthin^ton of Blainsco', Clay- 

 ton, Gerrard, Gillibrand, Chorley, Walton 

 and others ; ibid. All this glass has dis- 

 appeared. 



' Barritt, the antiquar)', wrote : * In 

 the chancel are mural monuments, stan- 

 dards and funeral trophies to the memory 

 of the Standish family. Upon one of the 

 trophy urns is a singular circumstance. 

 Instead of the close- beavered helmet ot 

 the hor?e-mounted knight is the scuLl:ird 

 or skull cap of the leader of a company 

 of pike men or halberdiers.' 



' The monument has a long inscrip- 

 tion. 



* The inscriptions arc : 



^a) * I beare my part in consorti' 

 pleasing sound, 



But when alone I summon to the 

 ground.' 



(b) ' The day is over ; 

 Cease from labour, 

 I call to rest.' 



(c) *Our voices do with cheerful sound 



The hills and valleys echo round.' 

 ^ The older registers are in three 

 volumes : (i) 1548 to 1653 ; (ii) 1653 to 

 170S ; (iii) 1709 to 1768. In the second 

 volume is a rough plan of the church 

 without the tower, showing * the burial's, 

 pewes, and seates of seuvrall persons 

 within the Church of Chorley,' made by 

 Edward Wyke in 1655 ; Wilson, Chorteyi 

 of Chorley, 1 8. 



' Inq. p.m. 29 Edw. Ill (znd nos.), 

 no, 57 ; there would be no necessity to 

 mention a chapel. The jurors returned 

 that it would not be to the king's loss if 

 the alienation were made. Roger held 

 his land in Chorley of the Duke of Lan- 

 caster by the rent of a rose. 



' Lich. Epis. Reg. V, foU 45. Though 



I46 



technically a chapel of case to Croston, 

 it was often called a ' church ' 



* Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle. i, 

 file 7, no. 36. ' Duchy Plead, ii, 96. 



'" Ch. Good! (Chet. Soc), 129. 



" These details are from the visitation 

 lists at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



" Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 67. 



" From the Charity Report it appears 

 that this was given to maintain 'an able 

 and suffitier. t prcnching minister of God's 

 word . . to preach and teach the people 

 there according to the ecclesiastical laws 

 of this realm.' 



" Commor:w. Ch. Sur'v. (Rec Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 113. 



" Hilt. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. iv, 

 1 1. 



""' Gastrell, Noiitia Ceitr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 363. There were two chapel-wardens 

 and two assistants. 



" Ibid. ; note by Canon Raines. 



" Manck. Dioc. Dir. 



