BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



Apart from the 1 3th-century detail of the chancel 



and other parts of the building, the chief interest of 



the church lies in its woodworlc and ancient furniture 



of many dates and styles. The quire stalls have 



already been described, but in addition to these, 



which are not really part of the original furniture of 



the church, there is other 15th-century woodworli; in 



the chancel screen, the screens to the chantry chapels, 



and in the so-called ' mediaeval pew.' The chancel 



screen is a 15th-century rood screen of great value, 



and though there have been large renewals impairing 



to some extent the authenticity of the original work, 



enough remains to make it still of great interest. It 



appears to have been shortened at the bottom at the 



time of its restoration in 1 864. i'' The screen has 



seven openings, each with cusped arches in the head, 



two to the middle wider opening, which is without 



doors. It once carried a loft which must have been 



of considerable size, as there was an altar in it.^' The 



screens to the chantry chapels are of less interest, but, 



though much patched, retain a good deal of original 



work. 



Although there are many scattered fragments there 

 does not appear to be any pew work in place so old 

 as the award of places by Sir John Towneley, of 

 which Whitaker preserves the story, assignmg it to 

 the year 1534, but the four places allotted by him 

 are still occupied by four very noteworthy pews.''' 

 The easternmost on the south side of the nave adjoin- 

 ing the reading desk, known as the ' mediaeval pew,' 

 is a small low, irregularly shaped inclosure with oak 

 door, the greater part of the work of which is 

 mediaeval, but probably made up and added to in 

 the 17th century. Whether it is in its original 

 position or was only placed where it now stands at 

 the time it was altered is uncertain. The date 

 1610, which occurs on the next pew to the west, 

 probably gives the date of both, and the more ancient 

 work which each contains probably once formed part 

 of the former St. Anton's ' cage,' for which this is 

 the most likely site.'' The pew to the west of this, 

 called ' St. Anton's cage,' is an extremely interesting 

 piece of work measuring 9 ft. square. It is of many 

 dates, several being recorded in the inscriptions, and 

 its curious and highly ornamented Renaissance 

 inclosing screen which is dated 1697 is a singu- 

 larly late example of a ' cage.' ^^ The pew 

 formerly belonged to the manor of Read, and the 

 first inscription, in Gothic characters, is ' Factum 

 est per Rogerum Nowell, armigerum anno dm 

 M°CCCCC°XXX°IIII.' This inscription is on the 

 eastern side and taken in conjunction with Sir John 

 Towneley's decision seems to imply that the original 

 pew was made in accordance with it.^' On the 

 western side is another similar inscription, probably 

 indicating an enlargement, ' Factum per Rogerum 

 Nowell arm. M^CCCCCCX.' On a carved panel 

 on the north side is the date 1697 with the initials 

 R.N.R. (Roger Nowell, Read), which is no doubt 

 the year when the elaborate upper portion with its 



carved Renaissance top panels and cornice was 

 added. The ' cage ' has been a fruitful source of 

 contention, originating in the dispute about sittings 

 in 1534 which Sir John Towneley was called upon 

 to decide,22 and as late as 1 800 the owners of Read 

 and Moreton Halls quarrelling as to the ownership, 

 recourse was had to law, when it was decided that 

 the pew be divided into two portions. The division 

 still remains and the two doors by which the cage is 

 entered on the north side bear the initials I.F.R. 

 (John Fort, Read) and I.T.M. (John Taylor, 

 Moreton) and the date 1830. 



Opposite ' St. Anton's cage ' on the north side of 

 the nave is the low ' Starkie pew ' measuring 6 ft. 4 in. 

 by 5 ft., a very fine example of Renaissance carving 

 dated 1702, and with the initials W.R.S. Till 

 1909 it was closed in on the north and west sides by 

 other pews, and much of its elaborate detail was thus 

 lost. It now stands free, and a smaller pew, which 

 stood immediately to the west and had a handsomely 

 carved front dated 1644, has been removed.^' It 

 bore a small brass plate with the arms of Whitaker 

 and the inscription 'Vicar's pew 184Z,' but the 

 real vicar's pew is at the west end of the south aisle. 



There were also till 1 909 four other square pews 

 of later date and less interest on the north side of 

 the nave, the first of which had a small portion of 

 the upper part carved, the second was known as the 

 churching pew, and the third had a brass plate 

 recording that it belonged to the Whalleys of Clerk 

 Hill. Some original old oak benches remain on the 

 south side of the nave, the foremost of which, the 

 seat appropriated to the use of the inmates of the 

 almshouses, has at one end the arms of Adam 

 Cottam and the words ' Alms Houses.' There 

 were formerly a variety of small brass plates attached 

 to the pews throughout the church with the names 

 and dates of the proprietors, most of them belonging 

 to the first half of the 19th but a few to the end of 

 the 1 8th century. The nave and aisles were uni- 

 formly seated in 1909. 



The churchwardens' pew formerly stood near the 

 south door, but was removed to its present position 

 under the gallery in the south-west corner of the 

 nave about 1898. It measures 7 ft. 3 in. by 5 ft. 

 and contains eight sittings assigned to the church- 

 wardens who represented the eight townships charge- 

 able with the repairs of the fabric. The pew is 

 dated 1690 and on the panel behind each seat inside 

 are the name of the township and the initials of the 

 churchwardens at the time the pew was constructed.^^ 

 The initials are repeated on two shields on the 

 exterior. The churchwardens' staves of office are 

 still attached to the seats. 



At the west end of the north aisle, but at one time 

 close to the churchwardens' pew, is the constable's 

 seat, a pew measuring 5 ft. by 4 ft. 3 in., dated 1 7 14. 

 It was removed to its present position in 1909 from 

 the west side of the south doorway, where it had 

 stood since a previous removal. 



'* Micklethwaite, Report; Taylor-Tas- 

 well, op. cit, 39. 



" Micklethwaite, Report. Tfie cut- 

 tings in the stonework of the chancel 

 arch for the insertion of the rood loft 

 may still be seen. 



'8 Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



«» Ibid. 



i" Taylor-Taswell, op. cit. 50. 



2* * There is a tradition that when 

 Nowell brought this pew from Read the 

 abbey authorities would not allow it to 

 be placed in the church, and as Nowell 

 declined to take it back again it was 

 stowed away in a barn at Nethertown, 

 near the present railway station, where it 

 remained seventy years' ; ibid. 50. 



353 



" ' These two pews — the Starkie pew 

 and the one adjoining — now occupy the 

 site of the pew assigned in 1534 to Mr, 

 Catterair ; ibid. 59. 



2< On the west side : Whalley, H. H. ; 

 Read, R. H. ; Wiswell, R. T. ; Pendle- 

 ton, S. H. On the east side : Coldcoats, 

 R. M. ; Simonstone, D. S. ; Padiham, 

 R. H. ; Hapten, T. S. 



45, 



