LEYLAND HUNDRED 



STANDISH 



Mr. Hoghton are joint lords of Charnock.) You 

 next come to . . . bridge, and having passed Blain- 

 scough Brook you shortly after meet with a road 

 on the right hand leading to Chorley. Passing 

 over the ford into Duxbury there are two halls called 

 Burgh, one belonging to Mr. Alexander Rigby, the 

 other to Justice Crook.' And again : 'Having passed 

 a mile from Wigan to the Bear's Head, keeping the 

 right hand road you pass over a little rill by Jolly 

 Mill, about a quarter of a mile. You leave on the 

 right a road with a stone bridge over Douglas Water, 

 leading from Standish to Blackrod, and the church 

 and town of Standish, passing by another mill called 

 Worthington Mill, and shortly after by Worthington 

 Hall, belonging to merchant Thomas Clayton. Half 

 a mile further you leave a fair-built fabric, also 

 belonging to the said merchant, called Adlington 

 Hall. Passing by a little bridge over the Perburn 

 Brook, having gone through the watery lane, leaving 

 Coppull Hall a little on the left and going easterly 

 till you meet the oblique road from Manchester to 

 Preston.* 



The church 1 of ST. WILFRID 

 CHURCH stands on high ground at the north-east 

 end of the village, and consists of 

 chancel 37 ft. by 22 ft. with north and south 

 ckapels, nave 60 ft. by 22 ft. with north and south 

 aisles 14 ft. 9 in. wide, west tower 1 1 ft. 6 in. by 

 10 ft. 6 in. with stone spire, and south porch 

 14 ft. by 10 ft. 6 in. with chamber over, all these 

 measurements being internal. 



Of the original building which existed prior to the 

 1 6th century little now remains. In 1544 it was 

 found to be ' in grete ruyne and decaye,' and orders 

 were given for re-edifying it under heavy penalties, 

 but nothing seems to have been done for some jears 

 after. The present church, with the exception of 

 the east end of the chancel and the tower, belongs to 

 the rebuilding by Rector Moody in 1582-4, the 

 contract and agreement of which is dated October 

 1582,^ but it is possible that these refer to a final 

 effort to complete a buUding which may have been 

 in process of erection for many years previous, as in 

 1539, 1557 and in 1558 there is record of moneys 

 having been bequeathed either for the repair or re- 

 building of the church.' Whatever the exact date 

 of the rebuilding, however, it appears to have been 

 completed by about 1585, the work then done 

 including the whole of the present nave and aisles,^ 

 south porch and the greater part of the chancel. 

 The old tower, which was square below and 

 octagonal above with an embattled parapet and 



spire, was left standing till 1867, when it was pulled 

 down and the present tower and spire built. The 

 east end of the chancel, which projects 10 ft. 6 in. in 

 advance of the east end of the aisles and is contracted 

 in width to 1 8 ft., appears to have been rebuilt, most 

 likely late in the 15th century, the reconstruction 

 of the chancel having been possibly then begun but 

 not proceeded with." Whether or not the east end 

 of the chancel preserves any portion of an older 

 mediaeval building it is difficult to say, and all that 

 can be stated with any degree of certainty is that in 

 the 15 th century the church was the same length as 

 at present and consisted of a chancel, nave with high 

 pitched roof and west tower, and that there was a 

 north aisle." There was probably also a south aisle, 

 but this is not certain. In 1799 a new east window 

 was Inserted, and two years later the north and south 

 windows of the chancel were renewed. The building 

 underwent a restoration in 1859, when the old 

 square pews with which it was then filled were 

 removed and the present seating erected. There 

 were also galleries at that time on the north and 

 west sides, and these were pulled down. Previously 

 to this the lead roof seems to have been renewed and 

 other external work done.' 



The church is built of local gritstone in even and 

 regular courses, but at the eastern end of the north 

 side and in some other parts there are fragments of 

 yellow and red sandstone, probably remnants from 

 the earlier building. The walls throughout have 

 embattled parapets, and the roofs, which are of very 

 flat pitch and therefore not seen, are covered with 

 lead. 



The walls of the nave and chancel are continuous 

 and of the same height, the division being marked 

 externally only by octagonal staircases rising on either 

 side as turrets with stone domed tops above the 

 roofs. The aisles of the nave and chancel are also 

 continuous and externally without distinction of 

 division. The nave and chancel are lofty, with a 

 continuous range of wide four-light clearstory 

 windows with four-centred heads, and the line of 

 battlement is varied by a wider merlon surmounted 

 by a pinnacle over the middle clearstory window of 

 the chancel, the second and fourth windows of the 

 nave and over the east chancel window. The 

 parapets on the east end of the north and south 

 aisles are differently treated, that on the north side 

 being stepped, while on the south the line follows 

 the flat pitch of the lean-to roof All the tracery of 

 the windows is modern, of late Gothic character, with 

 apparently little or no attempt to carry out the 



' See ' Notes on the Parish Church 

 of St. Wilfrid, Standish," by William 

 Frederick Price, in Tram. Hist. Soc. 

 xix-xx (new ser,), 238-86, which has 

 been used in the following description. 



^ Trans. Hut. Soc, xxii (new ser.), 51. 

 Robert Charnock of Astley is there stated 

 to be content to 'take upon himself the 

 charge and oversight of the building and 

 setting up of the church of Standish for 

 and on behalf of the whole parish accord- 

 ing to such proportion and time for the 

 mason work as is agreed upon and set 

 down in a pair of indentures . . . made 

 betwixt the said Robert Charnock on the 

 one part and Lawrence Shipwaie, free- 

 mason, upon the other part.* See also 

 Baines' Land. (ed. Harland, 1870), ii, 168. 



' Tram. Hist. Soc. xix-xx (new sen), 252. 



* The Standish chapel in the south 

 aisle of the quire is said to have been 

 built in 1589, but there is no architec- 

 tural evidence to indicate that it was an 

 addition to the building as originally 

 designed. The date 1589, however, 

 occurs on the roof of the nave, so it may 

 be that the work of rebuilding progressed 

 very slowly and occupied some seven or 

 eight years. 



' It has been suggested that the 

 chantry of Our Lady had its altar at the 

 extreme end of the chancel, but from 

 what is stated below this seems to be 

 erroneous. The altar existed before the 

 chantry, but its position is not indicated 

 in the deeds. 



183 



The date 1 5 1 1 is cut in the stone 

 near the bottom of the south chancel 

 wall, but whether this has given rise to 

 the reputed date or vice versa is question- 

 able. The figures are, however, either 

 entirely modern or have been recut in 

 recent times. 



^ The reports of the Chantry Commis- 

 sioners make it clear that there was a 

 north aisle in the old church in 1548 ; 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. ibid. 



' On the lead of the main roof are 

 the names of the rector (Rev. W. H. 

 Brandreth) and churchwardens and the 

 date 1847, and the same date occurs 

 on the spout heads on the north 

 side. 



