BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



The chancel being modern has no antiquarian 

 interest. It is built on the old foundations and has 

 a three-light pointed window with traceried head at 

 the east end and two pointed windows of two lights 

 and traceried heads in the north and south walls. 

 The chancel arch was discovered in 1859 in making 

 the connexion between the new chancel and the 

 nave and consists of two chamfered orders springing 

 from moulded imposts. A small piscina, 16 in. wide 

 by 8 in. high, with ogee head, has been built into 

 the north wall 3 ft. from the east end. Externally 

 the roof is much lower than that of the nave, and the 

 chancel is architecturally without any very distinctive 

 features, the gable being quite plain and the height 

 of walling above the windows together with the 

 rather slight projection of the eaves producing a 

 flat appearance. 



The nave is of three bays with pointed arches of 

 two chamfered orders springing from responds and 

 octagonal piers 18 in. in diameter with moulded 

 caps 7 ft. 6 in. from the ground. Over each arcade 

 is a clearstory of square-headed three-light windows, 

 three on each side, with external hood moulds and 

 rounded heads to the lights. The roof is a restora- 

 tion and consists of five principals and spars plastered 

 between, with similar lean-to roofs to the aisles. On 

 the north and south sides the aisles are lit by two 

 three-light windows similar to those in the clearstory, 

 the westernmost, however, owing to the position of 

 the south door, not being opposite one another. 

 The south aisle has a similar window at each end, 

 that at the east being differentiated externally by the 

 character of the termination of the hood mould, which 

 has shields held by an angel. The east window of 

 the north aisle, as before stated, probably belongs to 

 an older building, and is of 15th-century date of two 

 cinquefoiled lights under a square head without a 

 hood mould. The west wall of the north aisle 

 against which the vestry is built is blank. 



The south porch has been rebuilt and is very plain 

 in character with a wide four-centred arch with flat- 

 pitched gable over. In the north-east corner is what 

 appears to be an early font now mutilated, rent away 

 on one side so as to form a seat. 



The font is octagonal and is said to have been 

 given by John Paslew, last Abbot of Whalley. Its 

 sides are carved with the emblems of the Passion and 

 the sacred monograms AO, MR, IHC. 



At the west end of the nave is a gallery containing 

 the organ, approached by a stone stair from the floor 

 of the tower. The gallery front projects only 4 ft. 6 in., 

 however, into the nave, the length of the plain wall 

 space before the first opening of the arcade, the greater 

 part of the organ being situated within the tower. 



The tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses 

 and embattled parapet. The belfry windows are 

 of two lights under a pointed head, with similar but 

 larger windows to the stage below and a single-light 

 window on the south side on the ground floor. There 

 is no vice, the belfry, which contains one bell, being 

 approached only by a ladder. 



chancel had been built without buttresses 

 and with a roof of much lower pitch than 

 that of the nave * ; see Preston Guardian, 

 7 July 1888. 



*' Augtn. Office Misc. Bks. clxx, m. 6 ; 

 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 269, 275, 

 277. 



" Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, lo. 



The fittings all belong to the time of the restoration 

 of 1859, the pew-ends having tall cast-iron poppy- 

 heads, rather disturbing in their effect, and painted to 

 look like wood. On the easternmost pier of the south 

 side is a brass plate to John Cunliffe of Woodhead, 

 who died in 1695, and Mary (Cheetham) his wife, 

 who died in 1677, with coat of arms, and on the west 

 pier on the north side a brass to James Walmesley, 

 who died in 1761. There is a later brass to Thomas 

 Royston, who died in I 809, and his daughter Anne, 

 and in the chancel are modern mural tablets to mem- 

 bers of the family of Lomax of Clayton Hall. In the 

 nave between the clearstory windows are hatchments 

 of the Forts of Read Hall and the Rev. Thomas Wroe 

 Walker of Marsden Hall (d. 1845), to whom also 

 there is a monument in the south aisle. At the west 

 end of the south aisle is a painted board with coat of 

 arms in memory of Elizabeth Cowper, born Lonsdall. 



In the vestry is preserved an old sculptured stone 

 with indistinct letters or numerals and the letter M at 

 the top, probably of early 1 6th-century date ; the two 

 lower groups perhaps form the date 15 12. 



The plate consists of a chalice of about 1600 with 

 engraved pattern below the rim, and a chalice, paten- 

 and flagon of 1887. There are also two pewter 

 plates inscribed ' Altham Chappel 174S,' and a 

 pewter flagon inscribed ' Altham Chappel.' 



The registers begin in 1596. 



The churchwardens' accounts began in 1 732, but 

 have been lost. 



The commissioners of Edward VI took away a 

 chalice, a bell and some vestments.*^ 



The churchyard, which is principally on the south 

 side of the building, was greatly enlarged in 1830 

 and 1900. 



The old stipend of ^^4 *' was increased to ^^ i o before 

 the Civil War, as in other cases ; the parliamentary 

 committee of the county gave ^^30 additional out of 

 the sequestrations,™ and this was in 1650 replaced by 

 £10 a year out of the rectory of Kirkham, sequestered 

 from Thomas Clifton of Lytham.^' On the restora- 

 tion of the old order in 1660 only the ^^lo remained, 

 but fees brought the stipend of the curacy to j/^l I 15/. 

 in 1717.^^ Nathaniel Curzon in 1722 gave ;£200 

 towards the endowment, becoming patron instead of 

 the vicar of Whalley.^' Assistance from Queen Anne's 

 Bounty and other sources has from time to time been 

 given, and the net value is now ;^267 a year.** Earl 

 Howe sold the advowson about 1820,** and the present 

 patron is the representative of the late Mr. William 

 Hallam of Kirkby Stephen. 



As there was no endowed chantry, it is probable 

 that before the Reformation there was usually only 

 one resident priest, though two names are recorded 

 in the visitation list of 1548. In later times the 

 chapelry seems to have shared the services of the curate 

 of some neighbouring chapel, Altham and Church 

 being served together in 1690 and Goodshaw and 

 Altham in 1 7 1 7. Even after the augmentation the 

 curacy was sometimes held by a neighbouring clergy- 

 man, who employed an assistant curate for this chapel. 



*" Common-w. Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc, Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 166. 



'' Plunk. Mini. Accts, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 84. The grant was con- 

 firmed in 1654; ibid. 139. A payment 

 was made in 1652; ibid. 244. A grant 

 of ,^30 was made in 1655 ; ibid, ii, 88, 

 116. An addition of ^20 was made in 



1657 ; ibid. 170. These grants appear to 

 have replaced the ^^50 granted in 1650 ; 

 ibid. 191. 



62 Gastrell, Not'uia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 306. There were two chapelwardens. 

 •8 Ibid. 307. 6-1 Manch. Dioc. Din 



^^ Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 273 ; the pur- 

 chaser was R. T, Wroe Walton. 



