A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Name Patron 



John de TopclifFe '^ Whalley Abbey 



Bro. John de Walton "^ . . . . „ 



Bro. Robert de Newton '^ . „ 

 Bro. William de Selby'' ... 



Bro. Robert de Xormanvllle '^ . „ 



Bro. John de Tollerton '\ . . „ 



Bro. John Sawley'^ „ 



Bro. Ralph Clitheroe " .... 



William Dinckley ^ . . . . 



Bro. John Seller"' Whalley Abbey . . 



Bro. Robert Parish " ... „ 



Edward Manchester, B.D., alias „ 



Pedley « 



George Dobson -^ . . . . . The Queen 



Robert Osbaldeston, M.A. -^ . . Archbp. of Canterbury 

 Peter Ormerod, B.A." .... 



William Bourn, M.A/' ....■,,, ^^^ , 



I Arch Dp. of Canterbury 



William Walker, M.A.^' . . . 



William Moore *^ Lord Protector 



Stephen Gey, B. A.'-"* Archbp. of Canterbury 



Richard White, M.A.^ .... 



James Matthews, B.A." .... ,, 



\\'illiam Johnson, M.A.^^ ... „ 



Thomas BalLlv\In, LL.B."'* ... „ 



Cause of Vacancy 

 d. W. Wolf 



d. J. dc Walton 

 Tc=. R. de Newton 

 res. W. dc Sclby 

 res. R. dc Normanville 

 res. J. de Tollerton 

 d. J. Sawlcy 

 res. R. Clithcroc 

 d. W. Dincklcv 

 d. J. Seller 

 res. R. Parish 



d. last vicar 

 res. G. Dobson 

 d. R, Osbaldeston 



[ d. P. Ormerod 



d. S. Qcy 



d. R. White 

 d. J. Matthews 

 res. W. Johnson 



'^ Lich. Epi'. Reg. ii, fol. 115^; a 

 chaplain. He was no doubt the same 

 Jolin de Topc.iffc whc had been ousted 

 for a time by the pope's nominee. He ts 

 named as vicar in several local deeds, (..^'. 

 {f'hdlUy Couch. i\, 1082-3 ('342'3)- ^^ 

 October 1',4'^t tcirij: intirm, Brother John 

 He Walton (his successor) was made his 

 coadjutor ; Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. \zzb. 



'^ Ibid. 5 one or two monks of the 

 house were to reside with him. He was 

 1 priest and the tirst of the scries of 

 ni'-'nk-vicars. 



■'* Ibid. fol. iz+i ; a priest. 



'■' Ibid. fol. 129 ; a priest. He was 

 chosen abbot in or about 1379. 



^^ Ibid, iv, fol. 9oi ; a prie5t. 



" Ibid, iv, foL 92^. 



*' Ibid, vii, fol. loii. John Sawley is 

 perhaps the same as John Bradford, to 

 whom Tollerton, aged and infirm, wished 

 to resign it in 14.11. The pope had dis- 

 pensed Bradford from the irregularity due 

 to his illegitimacy, and sanctionc i the 

 appointmen t, pro\ ided there was no 

 simony. The Abbot of Sawley was to 

 inquire into this ; Ca'.. Papal Letters^ vi, 

 276. 



Sawlev is named as vicar in 1425 ; 

 Farrer, Cli:/:--':". C: R. 216, 222. John 

 Sawley, as vicar, maic a will, the Abbot 

 of Whalley being executor in 1429 j Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 2, m. 2. 



'^ Lich. Epis. Reg. ix, foL 116. He 

 was elected abbot. His family name was 

 Slater. 



^ Ibid, xi, fol. 36^. It is :. t stated 

 that he was a monk, 



^■"^ Ibid, xii, fol. i 22 ; a priest. 



^■^ Ibid, xiii-xiv, fol. 34 ; a clerk. He 

 is not described as 1 monk, but that he 

 was one appears from f^alor EccL f, zy.. 

 He is stated to have been a monk of the 

 abbey, and copied one of their documents ; 

 Whitaker, op. cit. I, 87. Robert Paris 

 a.'ijs Birch, chaplain, was buried 14 June 

 1572. 



A monk na-r.?: Parish of Sawley was 

 excepted from the king's pardon in 15 ;~, 

 having apparently sided with the abbot 

 and resumed occupation of his monastery 



during the Pilgrimage of Grace ; I., a'ui />, 

 Hen. Vlll. x\\ (i), lou i (2) 291 00- 



*^ Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 36. In 

 April 1537 the prifjr, almost eighty years 

 of age, desired that he might be one of 

 the two priests the abbey was bound to 

 keep within the parish church ot WIi iile\', 

 with a stipend of /"6 or ^"j ; L. and P. 

 Hen. yill, xii (7), 840. The king 

 agreed \ ibid. 399. Christopher Smith, 

 formerly prior of Whalley, was buried 

 there 4 July 1539; Reg. 



Edward Manchester was a Cistercian 

 monk, perhaps of Wiialley, educated at 

 the house of his order at Oxford — St. 

 Bernard's, now St. John's — and graduating 

 B.D. in It 36. On the destruction ol his 

 monastery he wns reduced to poverty, 

 and resumed his farailv name of Pedley ; 

 W-o.l, Aihtn. Oxon. (ed. i) i, 688. He 

 held the vicarage through the various 

 changes of his time, being spared the last, 

 for he was buried at Whalley 5 Dec. 1558. 

 He is described in the register as egregiui 

 preJicator, 



8' Act R>-s. at Chester Dioc. Reg. 

 Dobson had been one of the assistant 

 priests at Whalley, his name appearing 

 in the visitation lists of 1548 and 1554. 

 He was buried at Whalley, as vicar, 

 z;' May 1583. 



«5 Act Bks. at Chester ; the Whalley 

 church papers at Chester begin with this 

 vicar. 



A Robert Osbaldeston graduated M.A. 

 at Oxford in 1577 ; Y otttr, Alumni. This 

 vicar of Whalley was Dean of Blackburn 

 in 1587; Towneley MS. GG, no. 989. 

 His will was proved at Chester. 



^ Act Bks. at Chester. He was 'a 

 preacher' ; Hist. M^S. Com. Rep. xiv, 

 App. iv, 10, 18. He had been master of 

 the grammar school. For his will see 

 Asskxtons Diary (Chet. Soc), 69 ; he left 

 ^10 to the repairs of his church. His 

 books were valued at j^ 1 3, and he appears 

 to have been ' a little of an usurer.' 



-' Act Bks. at Chester. The institu- 

 tion books P.R.O. begin with this vicar ; 

 the entries have been printed in Lanes, 

 and Ches. Antij, Notei. 



William Bourn or Burn had the recom- 

 mendation of Ralph Assheton ; Jim. M>^S. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 49. He was vicar 

 in 1639; Misc. (Rcc. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 123. 



*'■' lie was a member of the classis in 

 1646 as minister of Wli.ilicy. In 1650 

 he was called * an able and orthodox 

 divine' ; Commonzu. Ch. Surv. 163. 



8» Plund. Aims. Acctu (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 44. Moore was there in 

 1659 ; ibid. 289. He published a book 

 called The Grand Enquiry in 1657, and 

 having conformed at the Restoration was 

 in 1663 preferred to the vicarage of Roth- 

 well ; Whitaker, Whalley^ i, 21 v Whit- 

 aker calls him 'a judicious and able divine ' 

 See Manch. Guard. N. and Q. no. 1045. 



"" The name is spelt aho Gca and 

 Jay. He wa3 educated at Magdalen Hall, 

 Oxf, ; B.A. 1662; Foster^ Alumni. He 

 was constantly resident in his parish. 

 In 1689 he was reported to be * conform- 

 able ' ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv, 230. Soon afterwards he laid an in- 

 formation against his * cousin ' Thomas 

 Braddyll for assessing unfairly ; ibid, 

 250-3. He died 8 Oct, 1693 and has a 

 monument in the church. He left his 

 estate to his wife Dorothy and made her 

 the guardian of his only child Martha ; 

 Raines in Notida Cestr. ii, 301. 



" He was educated at Emmanuel Coll., 

 Camb., and had been vicar of Chipping 

 1672-92. 



w Educated at Trin. Coll., Dublin. Ac- 

 cording to Whitaker (op. cit. 214) he 

 was a needy man, who sold preicntationi 

 to the chapelries and minor offices and 

 alienated six or seven of the curacies 

 under the Act i Geo. I, cap. 10. 



" Educated at Magdalene Coll., Camb.; 

 M.A. 1737. He was engaged in many 

 disputes with his parishioners and with 

 the Archbishop of Canterbury as patron, 

 but succeeded In all. He retired to Prescot, 

 where he died in 1792. See Whitaker, 

 op. cit. 214-17 ; r.C.H. Lanes, iii, 361. 



** He succeeded his father as vicar of 

 Lev land in 1802 and ceased to reside at 

 Whalley. 



358 



