A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



position on a slight eminence overlooking the wooded 

 slopes of Ribblesdale. 



In 13 + 7 John son of Robert de Langton, kt., 

 and four other principal pari;hioner5 were farming 

 the ' manor ' belonging to the chapel under the 

 abbey for £^0 per annum."" 



In 1459 a commission was directed by the Bishop 

 of Lichfield to the vicar of Prescot to inquire and 

 report about the alleged pollution of the burial yard 

 of Low Chapel by violence and the effusion of human 

 blood. The occasion of the pollution is not stated."""* 

 Four year^ later William Livesey bequeathed his 

 body for burial in the cemetery of St. Leonard of 

 Low, and his best beast for mortjary, directing that 

 light and other emoluments should be paid to God 

 and the church of Low on his burial day without 

 delay or device.'"^ 



In 1526 the chief inh.ibitants of Walton issued a 

 declaration that neither in their days nor their 

 ancestors' were ' dede corse presaunts or mortu.iryes ' 

 ever paid within the town or parish of the Low to 

 the monastery of Whalley, as lately demanded by 

 Abbot Paslew."* The accounts of the abbey for 1536 

 confirm this by recorJing one item of profit only 

 from I-iv.v Church — ' De stipite sancti Lconardi 

 6s. 8a'.'"" In 1537 at the suppression of Whalley 

 the chapel with the tithes belonging to it was valued 

 at £2j I I/. iJ., and the following year was leased 

 with the rcttory of Blackburn in Richard Breame for 

 a term of thirty ye.ir>. In 15 + 7 it pasicJ with the 

 rectory of Blackburn to Archbishop Cranmer and 

 descended with it to his successors.'"' 



In 1552 a chalice, vestment, cope and four bells, 

 one being cracked, were delivered to the curate and 

 church reeves."" The visitation lists record two 

 names as st;r\ing the chapel in 1548 and three in 

 I 5 54, but afterwards only one. 



In I 559 the Earl of Derby, by direction of the 

 Privy Council, ordered the arrest of Thomas 

 Hcavan^on, tlie curate, for having publicly said mais, 

 aided and abetted by more than forty parishioners."" 

 This was during the time of Thomas French's 

 ministration as curate, so that possibly the latter 

 name has been incorrectly recorded. In 1 563 as 

 curate of Low he was one of the signatories to the 

 Act of Supremacy, and in i;6S was admonished 

 before the Earl of Derby as to his future conduct.'" 



It does not then appear how the chapel was served 

 for about thirty years. In 1 592 the curate was 

 censured for leaving the parishioners destitute of 

 service because he was absent. In 160 1 the chapel 

 was served by a reader, and no sermon h.id been 

 preached there for a twelvemonth. In 1622 there 

 was a preacher, but he was unlicensed, did not wear 

 a surplice, come to church on holy days, bow at the 

 N.irae of Jesus, or stand up at the creed."' 



During the Interregnum Richard Redman, the 

 minister, received ^4° * X^'"' froni ^^^ Committee 

 for Plundered Ministers. The commissioners of 1650 

 found 'Law,' a parochial chapel distant 9 miles 

 from the parish church of Blackburn, with the town- 

 ships of Walton and part of Cuerdale, containing 

 over 200 families, annexed to it. The vicars of 

 Blackburn had formerly p.iid the minister £^ per 

 annum, which had been detained for three years, 

 whilst the order of the committee made in 1647 had 

 not been made effective, so that there was no main- 

 tenance and no minister. The inhabitants petitioned 

 that it might be made a parish with competent 

 endowment. The tithe of the chapelry was then 

 worth £1 19 and the glebe £^z per annum.'" The 

 proposal to make Walton and Cuerd.ile a separate 

 parish was still under discussion in 1658."* 



In 1665 the incumbency was v.ic.mt ; in 1671 

 there were nine Papists, and proceedings were in pro- 

 cess against William Farington of Worden and several 

 others for non-payment of church lays, which they 

 subsequently acknowledged. Since the Restoration 

 the chapels of Low and Samlesbury had been served 

 by one curate, and in 1683 were said to be well and 

 constantly served by a curate nominated by the vicar 

 of Blackburn and licensed by the bishop, all the 

 offices being performed every other Sunday for the 

 inhabitants of Walton and Cuerdale at Low Chapel.'" 

 In 16.S9 the curate was in receipt of about ^43 per 

 annum ' by an extraordinary charity of my lord of 

 Canterbury ' and a mainten.ince out of the vicarage of 

 Blackburn.'" .A report made to the Governors of Queen 

 Anne's Bounty in 1 714 states that the number of 

 inhabitants in the chapelry lay ' between four and 

 five thousand souls which daily increase by reason of 

 the great manufacture of linen cloth in those parts' ; 

 there were four or five conventicles of Papists, one of 

 Presbyterians, and one of Anabaptists."' 



a dwelling-hou9c at the Low ; ibid. 1 17. 

 Liter it 15 described at a manor and a 

 grange, where the monks sometimes 

 stayed ; ibii. 119^21. In i345Gcofirev 

 son of John de \\'alton-in-lc-Dale gave 

 them land called * Johanruyding,* adjoin- 

 ing the orchard at their manor of the 

 Low; Townelcy MS. ff'kdl.ey Couch, 

 418. 



^'^ Add. MS. 103"4, folio 2, quoted in 

 Whitakcr, Ifkallty (ed. 18-6^, ii, jir, 



"«■' Lich. Epis. Reg. Skirlaw, ^ ,, foL 

 124 ; Hales, x.i, fol. 124..^. 



I'iTownelcy MSS. C 8, ij (CheL 

 Lib.), foL 850*. 



^'- Hoghton D. FF 3^0. The signa- 

 tories were : George Bannaster, gent., 

 William Wilt;;-., E imund Longler, Ralph 

 Osbaldeston, Thomas Straytbarrri, Artli Jr 

 Esthatn, Thomns W.ackley, Roger Boul- 

 ton. Law. Estham, Edmund Lemmon, 

 Viae Catteraf, John Wooicock, Nicholas 

 Bawmber, Thomas He-.nson, George 

 Diionson, Thomas Ivroll, John Brerys, 

 John Jackion, Alci. Woodcock, and 



Law. Crichlow, all of Walton \ John 

 Woderofe and William Clayton, of C jcr- 

 den \ Law. Thornley and Richard Smith, 

 * of Cuerdale, m t'le parish of the Law.' 



'"' Townrley MS. Whalley, 312. The 

 amount may include 'Purifications at 

 Padiham.' 



'" fVhalUy Couch, iv, 1246. The 

 tithe was collected in Walton and Cuer- 

 dale ; Lambeth MSS. M.sc. voL xiii, 

 no. 21. 



•* Church Goodt (ChcL Soc), 119. 



"" Abram, Blackburn, 73-. Ralph 

 Clayton the informant, who had been 

 actuated by 'myslyke of thcise lewde 

 doyngs,' was to receive adequate protec- 

 tion against the indignation of the people, 



'1' Gibson, Lydiau //j, , 2 io ; Chn. 

 Sheaf [icr. 3), i, 34. 



^^* Presentments at the visitations. 



' ' C:mn:;-:-a.: Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches), 160; \\ hitaker, 

 //'/jj.Vfv (ed. 1876}, li, 328-9. 



"» P.u'.J. .U;«. jIcc;. (Rec Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 242, 264. 



"'Visitation P. at Chester; Lam- 

 beth MSS. ; Abram, Blackburn, 738. The 

 en'Jrjwment was then constituted ai fol- 

 lows : — From the vicar of Blackburn, £^ ; 

 marriage dues, 301.; interest of .Mr. Henry 

 Hoghton's benefaction of j^Jo, 50;.; pro- 

 mised yearly by Chas. Fleetwood (farmer 

 of the Blackburn tithes), 401.; Walton-in- 

 le-Dale promises ^4 yearly ; Mrs. Aishe- 

 ton of Cuerdale contributes voluntarily 

 ,^4 ; Walton township desired to inclotc 

 20 acres of common worth ,^10 yearly 

 for the curat-r, but Mr. Lee of Cfnion 

 opposed It. 



During Mr. Abbot's tenure of tlic 

 curacy Mr. Dandy of Little Walton con- 

 ditionally promised to purcha-e 3 or 4 

 acres of common for the benefice ; Mr. 

 Assheton of Cuerdale undertook to con- 

 tinue his subscription indefinitely if no 

 tithe hay was demanded from him ; ibid. 



"• Lambeth MSS. 



"'Ibid, in Blj.<iu-;, 738. Endow- 

 ment : Out of Blackburn Ticara;e, £4 ; 

 one-si>th of the clear rent of the arch- 



298 



