LEYLAND HUNDRED 



CHORLEY 



The following is a list of the curates and rectors ' : 

 oc. I 548 Roger Chorley » 

 Henry Croston ' 

 John Green * 



Richard (? Henry) Rothwell 

 James Whitworth (Whitfield) ' 

 Richard Smith ' 

 — Buckley 

 Richard Bullhaugh 

 Henry Welch 

 John Breres, M.A.' (St. John's Coll., 



Camb.) 

 Benjamin Edmundson, B.A.' (St. John's 



Coll., Camb.) 

 James Ryley, B.A.' (St. John's Coll., 



Camb.) 

 Thomas Ellison" 

 Oliver Cooper, B.A." (Peterhouse, 



Camb.) 



1798 

 1846 

 1879 



1880 

 1890 

 1907 



Recfors 



John Whalley Master, B.D." (Brasenose 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 J.imes Streynsham Master, M.A." (Balliol 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 Gilbert Coventry Master, M.A." (Exeter 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 Edward George James, M.A." (St. Alban 



Hall, Oxf.) 

 Thomas Alfred Stowell, M.A.'° (Queen's 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 Robert Crompton Fletcher, M.A." 

 (Sidney Sussex Coll., Camb.) 

 Of these names the most remarkable is that of 

 Henry Welch. He was probably the first ' preacher ' 

 after the Reformation and showed himselfa thorough- 

 going Puritan, for he joined the Presbyterian classis 

 on its formation in 1 646 and signed the ' Harmonious 

 Consent ' in 1648. In 1650 he was approved as a 

 ' godly, painful minister,' " and remained in charge 

 until 1662, when, being unable to accept the re- 

 enforced Book of Common Prayer, he was ejected. 

 Calamy calls him ' a very humble mortified man. 

 Though he did not excel in gifts it was made up in 

 grace. His very enemies had nothing to say against 



him.' '" He is supposed to have remained ministering 

 in scci'et in the neighbourhood, but nothing definite 

 is known. He died before the temporary Indulgence, 

 being buried at Chorley 8 January 1 670-1 ; the 

 register has the note, 'Minister there 35 years.' 



Little is known of the conduct of the services till 

 recent times, but in 1821 there were services on 

 Sunday morning and afternoon, with sermon at each ; 

 also on public festivals and fasts. Prayers were read 

 every Friday ™ and daily during Lent. The Sacra- 

 ment was administered five times a year. There were 

 two curates." 



The increasing population led to the building of 

 St. Gt^orge's Church in 1825. It was built out of 

 the Parliamentary grant (i8i8) of j^ 1, 000,000 for 

 new churches, and cost j([i 3,700. It was a chapel 

 of ease until 1835, when a district was assigned to 

 it." St. Peter's was built in 1850 and received a 

 district two years later"; the income (X103) °f 

 Henry Banastre's charity, already mentioned, is now 

 paid to the vicar, the church being the poorest in the 

 town. St. James's dates from 1879." The incum- 

 bents of all three churches are nominated by the 

 rector of Chorley. Mission churches called St. 

 Mark's and All Saints' were built in 1896 and 1900 

 respectively, and another at Red Bank in 1 908. 



The Wesleyan Methodists built their first chapel 

 in 1792 " ; it was afterwards used for the Mechanics' 

 Institute. They have now four places of worship ; 

 the principal one, that in Park Road, was built in 1 842. 

 The Primitive Methodists had a chapel in 1829, 

 succeeded by the present one in Cunliffe Street in 

 1866; they have also a second one. The United 

 Methodist Free Church dates from 1 866, and the 

 Independent Methodists have a chapel. 



The Baptists had a meeting room in 1 821 ; they 

 built a larger chapel in 1 848. There is also a ' Church 

 of Christ.' 



There are two Congregational churches. The 

 earlier of them, that in HoUinshead Street, was erected 

 in 1792, the founder, who was a minister of Lady 

 Huntingdon's Connexion, having preached in the town 

 at intervals for a number of years. It did not become 

 Congregational till 1805. A dispute between the 

 trustees and part of the congregation in 1836, on the 



1 This list is chiefly from notes of the 

 late J. P. Earwaker and Raines MSS. 

 (Chat. Lib.), xxii, 58, &c. 



A William Whitehead, priest, whose 

 position in the chapel is not known, was 

 buried at Chorley in 1558 ; Mr. Wilson's 

 note. 



2 Buried 26 July 1566; Wilson, 

 Charleys of Chorley, 93. 



' Probably the ' Henry Crosse, priest,' 

 who was curate in 1568; Harl. MS. 

 2 1 1 2, fol. 1 24. 



' He was licensed in 1575, being 

 styled 'clerk' ; Pennant's MS. Acct. Bk. 

 He was still there in 1584. 



* James Whitfield, curate, was in 

 1614 presented to the Bishop of Chester 

 as drunkard, gamester and profane ; Visit. 

 Papers in Dioc. Reg. 



® He was also schoolmaster. He was 

 said to make * clandestine marriages ' ; 

 ibid, 



' He entered St. John's College in 

 1655 ; Admissions, i, 121. A son of John 

 Breres, minister of Chorley, was buried 

 in 1665. The father's name occurs in 

 the visitation list of 167 1, but not in that 

 01 1674. See W. F. Irvine, Ri-uington, 38. 



He 



® He was schoolmaster also, 

 buried 22 Apr. 171 3. 



^ Two of this name graduated at 

 Cambridge, one from Corpus Christi, the 

 other from St. John's (B.A. 171 1). The 

 latter was probably the Chorley curate, 

 for in 1748 John son of James Ryley, 

 clerk, went up to the same college ; 

 Admissions, ii, 186 ; iii, 124. The father 

 was buried at Chorley ii Dec. 1732. 



1» Rector of Hoole 1732-63. He 

 was buried at Chorley 13 Aug. 1763. 

 The Chorley Church papers it Chester 

 begin with his appointment. 



" See Baines, Lanes. Dir. i, 599. He 

 continued to act as curate of the parish 

 church after a rector had been appointed, 

 and died in 1825. He was in 181 1 ap- 

 pointed to the rectory of Otterden in Kent. 



'* Son of Dr. Robert Master, rector of 

 Croston, and presented by the widow. 

 In 1 82 1 there was a sequestration in con- 

 sequence of his non-residence. He lived 

 at Cheltenham for thirty years, 1816-46, 

 and died there. 



'' Son of the Rev. Streynsham Master, 

 rector of Croston. He was appointed 

 Hon. Canon of Manchester in 1854, 



'■* He had been vicar of Rainford, and 

 exchanged Chorley for Thornham in 

 Kent. 



^^ Described as a 'pronounced High 

 Churchman.' 



^'" He was son of the Rev. Hugh 

 Stowell of Salford ; vicar of St. Stephen's, 

 Bowling, i860 J rector of Christ Church, 

 Salford, 1865 j Hon. Canon of Man- 

 chester, 1879. 



*' Archdeacon of Blackburn \ rector 

 of Tarleton 1875-1907. 



^^ Commoniv. Ch. Sur'u. 113. 



'^ Quoted in Nightingale, Lanes. Non- 

 conf. ii, 4. 



2" From the Charity Report (p. 27) it 

 appears that money was left about 1780 

 *for reading prayers every Friday,' The 

 rector now receives ^z 7.s. a year from 

 this benefaction. 



2* Visitation Returns. 



22 Lond,Ga^, 2 Oct. 1835. 



23 Ibid. 18 May 1852. 



24 Ibid. 1 July 1879. 



2^ Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 419. 

 The Independent chapel {1792), Baptist 

 (1821) and Primitive Methodist (1828-9) 

 are also named. 



