BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBURN 



There is a silver chalice of Newcastle make, 1809, 

 with the mark of Langlands & Robertson, and a 

 silver-gilt communion set of Birmingham make 1894, 

 consisting of chalice, flagon, paten and bread holder, 

 the bequest and in memoriam of Thomas Haworth. 

 There is also a plated paten. 



The registers begin in 1560. 



The parochial chapel of St. Law- 

 ADVOWSON rence has been mentioned under the 

 date 1390 on the occasion of John 

 Nowell rendering homage and service to his chief 

 lord Thomas Hesketh before a gathering of friends 

 and neighbours. By his first will, made in 1521, 

 Thomas Hesketh founded a chantry in the chapel of 

 St. Lawrence at Harwood and endowed it with lands 

 to the value of £\ 6s. SJ. per annum to support an 

 able priest to pray and say mass and other divine 

 services there." It was dedicated under the invoca- 

 tion of St. Bartholomew, and was erected at the 

 east end of the south aisle. Richard Wood was the 

 chantry chaplain in 1534. ; the endowment produced 

 j^4 ys. 8(j'., of which 6s. id. was distributed 

 among the poor on the anniversary of the founder's 

 death. The year following the chantry was assessed 

 by the subsidy commissioners at 8/. I ^d. for the tenth 

 and ys. 3^a'. for the subsidy." The commissioners 

 of 1546 certified that Richard Wood, priest, was 

 incumbent of the chantry ; he had licence to christen, 

 marry and bury and to minister the sacraments to the 

 neighbouring inhabitants, who numbered 400 ' house- 

 linge people.' The endowment produced £^ 1 js. ^d. 

 per annum." 



The Bishop of Chester's visitation lists show three 

 priests at Harwood in 1548 and 1554. Richard 

 Wood was still the curate, but Richard Dean had 

 succeeded him before 1563 and subscribed to the 

 royal supremacy. Dean's was the only name in that 

 visitation list. He was still curate in 1565," and 

 died in I 578. William Herries succeeded and con- 

 tinued until his death in 1 62 1 ." John Nowell occurs 

 in 1627. His successor Richard Hargreaves was sus- 

 pended in 1 63 1 for having made clandestine marriages, 

 for drunkenness and for being ' a common ale-house 

 haunter.' " William Kippax, his probable successor, 

 occurs in 1638, and in 1646, on the institution of 

 the Lancashire Presbytery, Richard Worthington, 

 minister of Harwood, is found a member of the third 

 or Blackburn classis. At the visit of the commis- 



sioners in 1650 there was no minister ; the mainte- 

 nance consisted of £^ per annum paid out of the 

 issues of the duchy of Lancaster ; the population con- 

 sisted of about 200 families with the inhabitants of 

 Tottleworth and Rishton town, who desired to be 

 annexed to Harwood Church and to be made a parish 

 with competent maintenance provided for a minister. 

 The matter was still under consideration in 1658.*'' 

 Mr. Sandford is said to have been ejected in 1662 

 under the Act of Uniformity, but the name does not 

 occur locally. Thomas Bentley was the first minister 

 after the Restoration, and continued to serve the cure 

 until his death in 1674. William Coulton, B.A., 

 curate of Blackburn Church in 1682, served this 

 chapel and Darwen for some years prior to 1688, 

 when he obtained the joint curacy of Low 

 Church and Samlesbury. In 1684—5 reports were 

 made to the Primate Bancroft touching the endow- 

 ment and maintenance of the minister," which 

 resulted in an augmentation of ^^6 per annum, since 

 increased. 



From 1688 to 1690 Edward Sherdley, described 

 as a ' conformable ' minister,'" held the joint cures of 

 Harwood and Langho with a maintenance of j{[3 5 

 per annum. His successor John Barlow of Church 

 Kirk held the joint curacy until 1706, conducting 

 the service here in the morning and at Langho in the 

 afternoon, save occasionally in winter, when short days 

 and the badness of the ways might hinder the conduct 

 of both services. In 17 14 the maintenance was returned 

 to the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty as 

 £1^ 15/. 6d. per annum. A benefaction of j(^200 in 

 1735, made by James Whalley, with a similar grant 

 from Queen Anne's Bounty, increased by another ^^200 

 in 1772 to meet a benefaction of ^^lOO made by 

 Richard Cottam and William Aspden, and another 

 j^ioo from Mrs. Pyncombe's trustees, almost trebled 

 the value of the living,'"' which is now given as j^430 

 a year." The vicar of Blackburn presents. The 

 ancient invocation of the chapel has long been 

 changed to that of the Hesketh chantry, St. Bar- 

 tholomew. 



The following have been curates of Harwood : — 

 oc. 1505 Edward Hesketh " 

 oc. 1534-54 Richard Wood" 

 oc. 1563-78 Richard Dean 

 1578 William Herris 

 1621 John Nowell 



« Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 

 p. 606. 



« Falor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), v, 230. 



** Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc, old aer. 

 lix), 145. Theendowmentcomprised tene- 

 ments in Oswaldtwistle, Croston, Wigan 

 and Ashton-in-Makerfield. That in 

 Ashton was sold to Christopher Anderton 

 of Little Bolton, gent., who sold it in 

 1564 to Thomas Gerard of Brynn, kt. ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 215, m. 6 d. 



The utensils consisted of a silver chalice 

 of 8 oz., a vestment of tawny camlet and 

 another black, two bells weighing 8J cwt. 

 worth 821. 6d. 



" Visit. Bks. at Chester ; Cha. Sheaf 

 (Ser. 3), i, 34. 



*^ About 1 610 it was said to be 'main- 

 tained by the king,' but no minister's 

 name is given ; Hist. MSB. Com. Rep. xiv, 

 App. iv, 9. 



" Abram, Blackturn, 546 ; from Harl. 

 MS. 2103, fol. 85. 



"'8 Commoniv. Church Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches. i), 161 ; Plund. Mins. 

 Accts. ii, 242. 



^' The annuity of ,^4 6s. id. given by 

 Edward VI or Queen Elizabeth was col- 

 lected with difficulty from the chancellor 

 of the duchy ; it was unknown who held 

 the principal which yielded 42^. given hy 

 the ancestor of Mr. Thomas Cockshutt ; 

 marriage and other dues produced ^^2. 

 There were obstacles in the way of the 

 inclosure of 30 acres of common which 

 had been awarded irregularly. The in- 

 habitants promised six fifteenths yearly, 

 making ,^10, which the lords of the 

 township would make binding upon the 

 existing tenants' successors ; Mrs. Fleet- 

 wood promised ,^2, and a subscription of 

 ^zo per annum from Mr. Hesketh of 

 Rufford was hoped for. 



In a petition to the primate the inhabit- 

 ants state the value of tithe collected in 

 the chapelry as J^6o per annum ; they 



343 



plead that, being much decayed of late in 

 their estates, they are unable to increase 

 the maintenance of Mr. Coulton, who 

 serves the chapelry well, but cannot con- 

 tinue much longer without an additional 

 maintenance ; Abram, Blackburn, 548-9, 

 from Sancroft Trust Bk. vol. i, at the 

 vicarage house, Blackburn. 



^0 Hht. MSS. Com, Rep, xlv, App. iv, 

 229. 



*"a Abram, op. cit. 550-1, where full 

 particulars of the more recent augmenta- 

 tions are given. 



^^ Manch, Dioc. Dir. 



52 Edward Hesketh, chaplain in the 

 chapel of St. Lawrence the Martyr in 

 Great Harwood, occurs in a feoffment ; 

 Add. MS. 3210S, fol. 301^. 



'''^ In 1550 Henry Ramsbottom, priest, 

 appears to have had some chantry or office 

 at Harwood ; Clitheroe Ct. R. 4 Edw. VI 

 (Halmote of Accrington). He occurs also 

 at Haslingden, 



