A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The font stands on two raised steps in its original 

 poiiti n, to the west of the third pi-r of the south 

 arcade, near the south entrance. It is of jellow grit- 



stone, octagonal in form, and probably of late I 5 



th 

 or early 1 6th-century date. The sides are plain, but 

 have an embattled moulding at the bottom. There 

 is a flat hinged wooden cover probably of 17th- 

 century date, but it seems to be of the old form, as 

 shown by the marks on the west side of the bowl, 

 indicating a lock by which the cover was fastened 

 down." 



At the west end of the north aisle, near the gallery 

 staircase, is a small stone font, which was formerly at 

 Wij«ell Hall and was brought here for preservation 

 when the hall was pulled down in 1895. 



The pulpit is modern. 



The north and south galleries, removed in 1909, 

 and the old west gallery were all works of the first 

 half of the 19th centur)', but apparently a make-up 

 from old materials, the best work in them being a 

 panelled oak front and two staircases, which appeared 

 to be of considerably older workmanship." ' These 

 parts may have belonged to an 18th-century western 

 gallery in use before the organ was introduced, or 

 they may have been brought with the organ from 

 Lancaster.'" The west gallery, which was erected 

 in I 8 I 2 to receive the organ, is 20 ft. in width, the 

 front being in line with the third piers of the nave 

 from the east. Since 1909 it has stood free at the 

 ends within the line of the nave. The side galleries 

 were carried in front of the piers, that on the north 

 side, however, only occupying one bay of the nave 

 beyond the west gallery, while that on the south 

 occupied two, being in reality two separate galleries 

 erected by the owners of Read and Moreton Halls, 

 with separate staircases from the south aisle. The 

 west gallery front is quite plain, and has the royal 

 arms of George III on a painted board. The side 

 galleries had good panelled fronts with classic entabla- 

 ture and cornice. 



The organ was designed and built for Lancaster 

 Church in 1729, where it remained till 1813, when 

 it was presented to Whalley Church by Adam 

 Cottam. It was improved in 1829 and again in 

 1865. The case is the original 18th-century one, 

 and is a design of much merit. 



The ancient monuments in the church are not 

 numerous. The oldest is a grave slab, now used as a 

 hearth in the vestry. It has a border of foliage and 

 a mutilated inscription which has been deciphered as 

 'Qui me plasmasti tu . .op sit ut exclusate.'" 

 In the north aisle, close to St. Nicholas chantry, is 

 the reputed gravestone of John Paslew, last Abbot of 

 Whalley. It is a flat stone slab with an incised 

 cross, the arms and head of which terminate in 

 fleurs de lis, the intersection marked by a pointed 

 quatrefoil. At the foot the initial I remains, but 

 another letter has been obliterated. On either side 

 the cross is the inscription ' I.H.S. fill Dei miserere 

 mei,' and an incised chalice. The slab is now set 

 up against the wall. At the west end of the south 

 aisle is a stone marking the grave of Christopher 



Smith, last Prior of Whalley, who died in i 539. It 

 be.irs his initials, X.S., with a cross fleury, chalice and 

 paten. 



Attached to the eastern respond of the north 

 arcade in the St. Nicholas chantry is a small brass to 

 the memory of Ralph Catterall, who died in 1515. 

 It bears the figures of Catterall and his wife, the man 

 in armour of the early Tudor period, kneeling at a 

 prayer desk with nine sons behind him, and facing his 

 wife, who kneels at another desk with eleven daughters. 

 The inscription reads : ' Of y' charitie pray for the 

 sowllys of Ralfe Catterall esquire, and Elizabeth, hys 

 w)'fe, whyche bodies lyeth Before this Pellor and for 

 all ther Chylder sowlys whyche Rafe decesyd the 

 xxvi day of deceber ye yere of our Lord God 

 M°CCCCC''XV'', on whose sowlys Jhu. have mere)- 

 Amen.' " On the south wall of the south aisle is a 

 brass to John Stonhewer of Barleyford, co. Chester, 

 who died in 1653, and his wife Jane, with rhiming 

 inscription ; and in the north aisle, attached to the 

 third pill.ir, is a brass to Richard Waddington of 

 Bashall Eaves, who died in 1671, with a long Latin 

 inscription. At the east end of the north aisle, in 

 St. Nicholas chantry, is a stone monument to Thomas 

 son of Thomas Braddyll, who died in 1672, aged 

 ten, and further west a marble monument to various 

 members of the family of Bradhull (or Braddyll) of 

 Brockhall (i 672-1 748). Over the altar, but now 

 hidden, is a brass with a Latin inscription to Stephen 

 Gey (vicar 1663—93) ; and in addition to the monu- 

 ment to Dr. T. D. Whitaker, already mentioned, 

 which consists of a recumbent figure, the chancel 

 contains mural monuments to the Rev. Robert 

 Nowell Whitaker (vicar 1 840-81), Eliza wife of 

 James Whalley of Clerk Hill (d. 1785), Sir James 

 Whalley Smythe Gardiner, bart. (d. 1805), Alice 

 Cottam (d. 181 9), Thomas Brookes (d. 1 8 3 1 ), and 

 William Whalley Smythe Gardiner of Clerk Hill 

 (d. i860) and Eliza first wife of James Whalley. In 

 the nave, high up on the south wall, is an 18th- 

 century classic stone monument to members of the 

 Walsham family (1783-93), and on a pier to the 

 south side a small stone tablet to Robert Hayhurst of 

 Parkhead, who died in 1767. In St. Nicholas 

 chantry is a brass to the Rev. Richard Noble, vicar 

 1822-40. 



There is no ancient glass, but notes of four 

 early 16th-century windows with the arms of 

 Towneley, Nowell, Paslew and Catterall have been 

 preserved.*' 



In a glazed oak case at the west end of the 

 north aisle are three chained books : Jewell's Apology, 

 printed in 161 1 by John Norton, Foxe's Actes and 

 Monuments (ed. 9, 1684), and the Book of Homiliei, 



1593- 



There is a ring of six bells, by C. & G. Mears, 

 1855. These, however, were a recasting of six bells 

 cast in 1 741 by Edward Seller of York, out of four 

 previously existing. From the inscriptions on the 

 1 8th-century peal, which have been preserved, it 

 appears that one of the bells had been recast in 1823 

 by Thomas Mears, but all were injured by a fire in 



^ < All fonti were locked in the 

 Middle Ages, but I have aot found evi- 

 dence of this way of doing it before ' ; 

 Micklethwaite, Report. 



K Prior, Report, 1907. " Ibid. 



»* Tj)-lor-TiJwcll, op. cit. 94. 



^ The brass had been removed from 

 the church before 1659, when it was in 

 possession of Robert Shireburnc of Mitton. 

 It was recovered by Dr. Whitaker when 

 he was writing the History of Richmond- 

 ihire. Visiting Catterall Hall, near Gar- 



3S\ 



stang, he discovered a brass plate, which 

 upon examination he found to be the one 

 missing from Whalley Church ; Taylor- 

 Taswell, op. cit. 6j. Sec also Thomely, 

 Land. Brasses^ 135' 



" Taylor-Taswell, op. cit. 86, 



