A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



A parish was formed in 1866, wher\ the benefice was 

 called a vicarage.'^^ 



The following have been curates and \ icars : — 



John RaddifFe ''" 

 Lawrence Hey '■• 

 John Martin '" 

 James Metcalte '' 

 Thomas Barker '- 

 William Westby '^ 

 Thomas Hamelton '* 



— Worthington " 



— Postlethwaite "' 

 Giles Clayton 

 Thomas Jollie ^' 

 Elisha Clarkson '* 

 John Taylor "' 

 Nicholas Houghton '"■' 

 John Anderton ^^ 



Ashton Werden, B.C.L.'- (T.C.D.) 

 Charles Pindar, B.A." 

 Richard Longford *• 

 John Adamson " 

 William Wood ''^ 

 William Sharp " 

 Henry Haworth, M.A.** (^t. John's Coll., 



Camb.) 

 Walter Herbert Green, B.A. (Lond.) 

 James Robinsun, M.A.*"^ (Peterhouse, 



Camb.) 

 1909 Harold Hindle Whittaker, M.A. (Dur.) 



There is no other place of worship in the township. 

 In recent times considerable gifts 

 CHARITIES have been made to the poor of Accring- 

 ton, amounting to more than £1503 

 year, and there is another of £zo for Clayton-le- 

 Mo rs. There are also educational and ecclesiastical 

 funds. Official inquiries were made in 1826 and 



1899, the report of the latter, with a reprint of the 

 older one, being issued in 1 900. The following 

 details are taken from it. 



The only ancient charity known was a gift by Mr^. 

 Catherine Cunliffe, who died in 1756, fir Bibles and 

 Prayer-books for Accrington ; it seems to have been 

 extinct before 1826. 



The Accrington Cross Street charity uas founded 

 by Adam Dugdale of Dovecote House, near Liverpool 

 (^100), and others, projert)- being purchased in 1840 

 for j^230, which is now represented by £2,66^ India 

 stock, producing £'j^ 19^. 4*2'. This is distributed in 

 March and December each year in dolc^ of 2/. to a 

 number of poor elderly persons. The surplus of the 

 Accrington Cotton Relief Fund of 1862, amounting 

 to ^420, was invested in a mortgage, producing £21 

 a year ; this is given in food and clothing, maintenance 

 in convalescent homes and pensions, but there is a con- 

 siderable surplus unexpended. Elizabeth Hopwood, 

 spinster, in 1856 left jf 500 for a distribution to poor 

 persons, members of the Church of England, on 

 Christmas Day, at the appointment of the incumbent 

 and wardens of St. James's, Accrington. The will was 

 proved in 1879, ■^"'^ ^^^ income, £i'^ 14/. 4//,, is 

 given on Christmas Eve in doles of 5/. each, William 

 Smith in 181)7 gave j^i,ooo as a Jubilee Poor Fund, 

 for the general benefit of the poor of Accrington ; the 

 income of ^^40 is given partly in pensions, partly in 

 food and clothing and partly in money. James Dux- 

 bury by his will (1892-7) left /^3,ooo to the poor of 

 Accrington, but the bequest docs not take effect during 

 his widow's lifetime. 



For the poor of Clayton-le-Moors Robert Cla) ton 

 Mercer in 1880 bequeathed /25 a year, to be spent 

 in coal, clothing or food. The sum invested now 

 produces j^20 i 2.r. 4//., which is distributed at Christ- 

 mas through the district council in tickets for goods 

 worth o. each. 



«-? Lord. Gaz. II Dec. 1866. 



•* Whiukcr, op. cit. ii, 273. 



*' Clergy List (Rcc. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chcs.], 18. The name occurs In the 

 viiitation lists of i 54S, 1 554., 1 562, 1563 

 and 1 565. He is named as ' preacher 

 there' in 1569; Robert Notueld Money 

 (cd. Groiart), ^8+. 



^0 Pennant's MS. Acct. Bk. at Chester 

 Dioc. Reg. 



'* Visit. Returns ; he did not wear the 

 Burplice. T:ic will of Nichol.is Hindlcv 

 of Altham was proved before him in May 

 1592. 



'' Mr. Earwakcr's note. 



^ Whitakcr, loc. cit. 



'■• Ibid, i said to have been curate of 

 Marsdcn 1608-9. 



'■* Named as curate of Accrington. In 

 1619 the curate of Alcham (not named) 

 was reported for not preaching ; Visit. 

 Returns. 



^^ Miic, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.}, 

 i, 68. 



^' He was the son of James Jollie of 

 Droylsden and bom in 1629. Educated 

 at Trinity College, Camb., he settled at 

 Altham when he was only twenty years 

 of age. He was called *an able divine' 

 in 1650 ; Common'w. Ch. Surv, 166. He 

 tried to avoid the conflict of Presby- 

 terian and Independent at that time. The 

 Church Book shows that he formed a sort 

 of inner society to which he specially 

 ministered. At the Restoration he refused 

 f:o conform and suffered expulsion and 



imprisonment and much persecution till 

 1688. He afterwards ministered to the 

 Nonconform s' I of the district from Wy- 

 mondhouics in Pendleton, where he built 

 a house and chapel. See Nightingale, 

 Lanes. Acnconf. ii, 1 87-90 (with portrait) j 

 Joliie's Note Bk. (Chct. Soc), containing 

 pedigree and church book ; Whitaker, op. 

 cit. ii, 272 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. It is an illus- 

 tration ot the * unpromising sphere ' in 

 which he laboured from 1649 that in 

 1 661 his churchwardens complained to 

 the Bishop of Cheater that he took upon 

 him authority as their minister, without 

 any reason so far as they knew ; thit he 

 neglected his duty, 'reftising the Lord's 

 Supper to all the parishioners except three 

 families ad the baptizing of our chil- 

 dren ' ; that he would not use the Book 

 of Common Prayer, and would not bury 

 the dead, so that this had to be done 

 without any ceremony; Whitaker, loc. 

 cit- 



^^ Also served Padiham. 



""^ Afterwards served Church also. He 

 was 'conformable* in 1689 ; Hht. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 228. He was still 

 at Aitham in 1696 (Visit. Returns) and 

 in 1705 \ Notitia Cestr, ii, 308. The 

 church papers begin at 1694, but take 

 Altham and Accrington as one curacy. 



^ Notitia Cestr. ii, 303, 308. Altham 

 at that time was served with Goodshaw ; 

 the curate preached at the former chapel 

 once a month ; ibid. 306. Houghton had 

 thus been curate of Altham for some yea'5 



1 cforc I 7^1, when he was nominntcd to 

 Accrington also by the vicar of Whalley. 

 *^ He was son of Stephen Anderton, a 

 member of the Lostock family, who lived 

 at Hardhill, Clitheroe. He became a Bene- 

 dictine at Lambspring in 1709. Rur;ning 

 away from his monastery he became ;i 

 Protestant, returned to England and 

 married, being curate of Ncwchurch in 

 Pendle and Altham with Accrington. To 

 Altham he was nominated by Nicholas 

 Curzon and to Accrington by the vicar of 

 Whalley. This double nomination con- 

 tinued as long as the curacies remained 

 united in fact, i.e. till 1804. Andcrton's 

 descendants claimed the manors of Los- 

 tock, Scc.f as will be found in the account 

 of them. 



82 Vacant by the death of J. Anderton. 



** Vacant by the resignation of A- 

 Werden. 



" Vacant by the death of C. Pl.idar. 

 Longford served Altham, &c., by an as- 

 sistant curate. 



8^ After the death of R. Longford 

 Accrington was separated from Altham, 

 John Adamson, who held Par iham also, 

 being nominated to Altham by the Hon. 

 G. A. W. Curzon. 



^ Mr. Wood had been assistant curate 

 of Altham since 1804. 



8' Incumbent of Christ Church, Glai- 

 son, 1846-8. 



^ Vicar of Padiham 1896-1905. 



89 Vicar of Fence 1SS7, rector of West 

 Bridgford 1894. 



416 



