A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



bound to preach once a month at Whitwell. There 

 were six chapelivardens."" 



The vicar of Whalley used to present the curates, 

 but in 172Z (Sir) Nathaniel Curzon augmented the 

 endowment by ;C^°°> ^°d the patronage was then 

 assigned to him.'" It descended in his family till 

 about 1 840, when it was sold.'" It has passed through 

 several hands and is now held by Mr. E. H. Jackson. 

 The net annual value of the benefice, declared a 

 vicarage in 1866,"' is now ^^228."* 



The church of Sr. MART MJGDJLENE stands 

 on high ground in a commanding position at the 

 north end of the town and consists of chancel 1 2 ft. 

 by 1 8 ft. with north vestry and south chapel, clear- 

 storied nave 80 ft. by 1 8 ft. with north and south 

 aisles 14 ft. 6 in. wide and western tower and spire 

 1 3 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. 

 Only the east wall of the chancel with perhaps some 

 parts of its north and south walls and the lower parts 

 of the tower are ancient, the rest of the church having 

 been rebuilt in the Gothic style of the day in 1828 '" 

 and the upper part of the tower, together with the 

 spire, erected in 1 844. Nothing, therefore, can be 

 said about the development of the plan, the oldest 

 parts of the structure now remaining dating only from 

 the 15 th century. There was, however, formerly a 

 Norman arch between the nave and quire,'" but 

 this was removed in 1828, when the old building 

 was talcen down. The arch was preserved with the 

 intention of erecting it as an entrance gateway to the 

 churchyard, but this was never done and the arch 

 itself has disappeared.'" The extent of the 12th- 

 century building is entirely conjectural, and 

 whether it was succeeded by a second building before 

 the erection of the 15th-century church, which was 

 evidently of much the same extent as the present 

 structure, is also a matter of surmise.'" 



The chancel window is of five lights with cinque- 

 toiled heads and tracery over, but the wall has been 

 raised and a modern single-light window introduced 

 above. Externally the extent of the old waUing is 

 plainly visible, including the angle buttresses, that on 

 the north being set square and the southern one 

 diagonally. In the south wall of the chancel is a 

 piscina with trefoiled head, but all the fittings and 

 decoration are modern. The chancel proper, which 

 has blank walls on either side, is now the sanctuary, 

 the quire stalls and modern chancel arrangement 

 being continued westward into the first bay of the 

 nave. In the south wall of the vestry to the north 

 of the chancel is a mutilated piscina with cusped 

 floreated bowl, now in a square opening, the vestry 

 occupying the site of an earlier chapel.'" It is 

 separated from the north aisle by a stone arch under 

 which, occupying portions of both vestry and aisle. 



the organ is now placed. On the south side of the 

 chancel is a similar chapel. 



The nave is very lofty and consists of six bays with 

 an arcade of pointed arches on each side springing 

 from tall octagonal piers, behind which, over each 

 aisle, is a gallery carried on iron pillars. The 

 clearstory has six two-light traceried windows on 

 each side and is finished externally by an embattled 

 parapet. The aisle walls terminate in a straight 

 parapet. 



The lower original part of the tower has square 

 buttresses of five stages with a projecting vice in the 

 south-east corner and pointed belfry windows of two 

 trefoiled lights with tracery, hood moulds and stone 

 louvres. The west door is pointed, of two hollow 

 chamfered orders with external label, above which is 

 a modern window of three lights with cinquefoiled 

 heads. On the north and south the walls are plain 

 except for a square window to the ringing chamber. 

 The old embattled parapet was removed in 1844 

 and the tower carried up several feet in octagon form, 

 with a clock in the four principal sides,"" and the 

 angles occupied by pinnacles from which spring 

 flying buttresses supporting the spire. The tower 

 arch is of two chamfered orders continued to the 

 ground without impost. It is now filled in with a 

 modern wood screen. 



In the chapel at the east end of the south aisle are 

 two mutilated effigies which were discovered at the 

 time of the rebuilding,'" being those of a man in 

 armour and a lady in a kirtle. The man's head is 

 covered with a basinet and rests on a helmet, that of 

 the lady resting on cushions supported by angels. 

 There is also a good 18th-century table tomb with an 

 inscribed brass to John Harrison of Mearley, who 

 died in 1 7 1 8, and part of the old oak churchwardens' 

 seat. A brass plate on one of the modern pew-ends 

 in the first bay of the south aisle is inscribed ' The 

 South Quire, the property of John Oddie 1787.' 



Built into the north wall of the nave is an old 

 stone with the arms of RadclitFc, inscribed below 

 ' RadclifTe Maga Mearly ' and on the opposite 

 wall is a brass plate in memory of John Webster of 

 Clitheroe, who died in 1682, which is engraved with 

 a horoscope.'" 



There are some fragments of old glass preserved in 

 the east windows of the vestry and south chapel. 

 The modern glass of the chancel window contains the 

 armorial bearings of the successive lords of Clitheroe. 

 All the fittings are modern, the pulpit, which is oi 

 Caen stone, dating from 1 909. 



There is a ring of eight bells cast in 1844 by 

 C. & G. Meats. 



The plate consists of a chalice of 1681 inscribed 

 'poculum sacramentale Anno Dom. 1688. Willm. 



"" Gastrcll, op. cit. ii, 319-20. The 

 Archbishop of Canterbury still paid 

 j^ii loj. and the duchy ^^ os. i^ti. 

 net ; j^5 a year came from lands and the 

 rest from fees. 



Ill Ibid. 



11^ Ibid, in notes ; Whltaker, op. cit. 

 ii, 92. 



H8 Lond. Ga<s. 27 Nov. 1866. 



"* Manch. Dioc. Dir. 



11* The architects were Rickman Sc 

 Hutchinson of Birmingham ; Whitaker, 

 fThalUy (ei. <i, 1876), ii, 83. 



'16 Ibid. (ed. 3), 284. 



'" There is a representation of it on 



the title-page of * An address delivered on 

 the ceremony of laying the fir3t stone of 

 the parochial church of Sl Mary Magda- 

 lene, Clitheroe, May 1 1828,' by the 

 Rev. J. T. Allen. The capitals are 

 illustrated in Whitaker, Whalky (ed. 4), 

 ii, 84. 



'^^ Illustrations of the church before 

 1828 show a building under one roof, there 

 being no external distinction between 

 chancel and nave. There was no clear- 

 story, but dormer windows had been in- 

 serted on the south side. 



U9 'The north chapel was appropriated 

 to Great Mearley, but has no monuments 



of the Radcliffes, many of whom arc 

 buried there ' ; Whitaker, WhalUy (ed. 3), 

 284. 



'*■' The clock was inserted at a later 

 date, the spaces being originally left 

 open. The spire was not completed 

 till 1846. 



121 They arc illustrated in Whitaker, 

 WhalUy (ed. 4, 1876), ii, 84. 



'^^ It is illustrated in ibid. (ed. 3), 

 284. Whitaker speaks of * the judicioui 

 Webster, who though he had the sagacity 

 to detect the absurdities of witchcraft, 

 was yet a dupe to the follies of judicial 

 astrology.' 



