BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



MITTON (PART OF) 



CHURCH 



chaplains. 330 Th 

 been carried into 

 Clitheroe obtained 



A chapel of St. John the Baptist was 

 built in Bailey by Robert de Clitheroe, 

 and he obtained the royal licence to 

 grant it with the endowment he provided to Cocker- 

 sand Abbey ; the canons were to provide two 

 intention does not seem to have 

 effect, for in 1338 Henry de 

 a fresh licence from the king 

 authorizing him to alienate two messuages, 4.0 acres 

 of land, &c, in Ribchester and Dutton for the 

 endowment of a chaplain who should celebrate daily 

 for the souls of Robert de Clitheroe and others. 331 

 In 1 548 it was found that the incumbent ' celebrated 

 there accordingly and did minister the Blessed 

 Sacrament to the inhabitants adjoining at such times 

 as the curates of the parish church cannot repair to 

 them for the floods.' 332 Most of the chaplains' names 

 are known, as follows 333 : — 



1 3 34 William de Preston 



oc. 1338 Thomas 334 



oc. 14.03-21 Richard Bradley 

 oc. 1421-62 William Bradley 335 



1468 John Bradley 



oc. 1498 William Barker 



oc. 1500—17 Lawrence Towneley 336 " 7 

 1 5 1 7 Robert Taylor 338 



In 1535 the income was returned as £3 10/. id'. 339 

 The endowment was confiscated on the general sup- 

 pression of chantries, the lands being sold in 1 549 to 

 William Eggleston and others, 340 and no attempt was 

 made, so far as appears, to maintain service in the 

 chapel. The building gradually fell into ruin, and 

 the last remains of it were destroyed in 1830. 341 The 

 east window had been removed to Stonyhurst and 

 placed in its present position there, in a room then 

 used as a chapel. 342 The Priest's House, or Merrick's 

 Hall, now standing in Bailey, is thought to have been 

 the chantry priest's residence. It contains some 

 wood carving : ' Robertus Taylor cantorista hanc 

 fabricam fieri fecit A. Dili M.D.xxiii.' ui 



In Chaigley there was a chantry of St. Chad, but 

 nothing definite is known of its history. It is stated 

 to have been by the roadside opposite a farm now 

 called Chapel House. 344 The Chapel-stead in 

 Chaigley is named in a deed of 1 3 78-9. 346 Richard 

 Shireburne of Stonyhurst in 1 600 was seised of ' the 

 late dissolved chantry of St. Chad in Chaigley and 

 the chantry lands lying in the manors of Aighton, 

 Bailey and Chaigley,' and complained that Roger 



Nowell and Richard Holden had obtained certain 

 deeds respecting the same, which he ought to 

 have. 346 



For the Church of England St. John the Evan- 

 gelist's was built in 1838, near Hurst Green, but 

 within Bailey ; a burial-ground is attached. A 

 district was assigned to it in 1870. 347 It is in the 

 diocese of Ripon. The vicars are presented by the 

 vicars of Mitton. 



The Congregationalists have a small endowed 

 school-chapel at Walker Fold in Chaigley, founded in 

 1792. Over the doorway is the inscription : 'Chaidg- 

 ley Charity School, Established by Miss Ellin 

 Haighton And endowed by Miss Ann Haighton, only 

 daughter of Mr. Richd. Haighton, all of London. 

 The ground bought of Mr. Richd. Haighton of 

 Chaidgley, 1792.' 3 ' 18 



From the account of the Shireburne family it may 

 be gathered that the practice of the rites of the Roman 

 Catholic religion was maintained in the district with 

 more or less regularity during the whole period of the 

 penal laws. 349 Henry Long, a secular priest educated 

 at Rome, 360 the chaplain at the hall from 1666 to 

 1679, was drawn into a controversy with the vicar of 

 Mitton, who had a dispute concerning his revenues 

 with Richard Shireburne, ' the sacrilegious popish 

 patron ' of Mitton, as the vicar styled him. 361 The 

 secular clergy were succeeded by Jesuits about 1 700, 352 

 but from 1 741 to 1752 the Duchess of Norfolk had 

 a Carmelite for chaplain. 353 - On the establishment 

 of the college in 1 794 a larger chapel in the house 

 became necessary. In 1 797 part of the old stabling was 

 fitted up for public use, and this was replaced in 

 1835 by the present church of St. Peter adjoining 

 the college. It is a pleasing example of the early 

 Gothic revival, the architect being J. J. Scoles. 854 

 It has in course of time become richly decorated, a 

 tasteful high altar having been given in 1893. The 

 sacristy contains a number of valuable relics, in- 

 cluding the cap and seal of B. Thomas More, mon- 

 strances and other church furniture ; also rich vest- 

 ments, including a chasuble and cope, part of a gift 

 by Henry VII to Westminster Abbey, and a more 

 ancient chasuble of English make called the Lucca 

 vestment. 355 Mass is also said once a week at St. 

 * Joseph's Schools, Hurst Green. 



The principal endowment 356 is 



CHARITIES that of £80 a year for the Shireburne 



almshouses. 357 In addition about £10 



a year is distributed to the poor from the gift of 



1 Cal. Pat. 1330-4, p. 9. It is 

 )le that there had been an earlier 

 chapel there. 



331 Ibid. 1338-40, p. 30; the chapel 

 is described as ' lately built by Robert de 

 Clitheroe.' 



33a Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 

 211-13. 



333 The list is derived from Whitaker's 

 Craven (ed. Morant, 29), his reference 

 being to ' the registers of York ' and from 

 the Shireburne Abstract Bk. 



334 Towneley MS. OO, no. 1430. 



335 William Bradley, chaplain of the 

 chantry of Bailey, in 1430-1 made an 

 exchange of lands with the patron, 

 Nicholas Clitheroe ; ibid. no. 1221, 1223. 



He had a son John named in some of 

 the deeds in the Shireburne Abstract Bk. 



3M-7 ji e occurs ; n 1500 ; OO, no. 1457. 

 He resigned i n 1 5 1 7 and Taylor succeeded. 



338 Taylor was still chaplain in 1548, 

 being sixty-nine years old j Raines, loc. cit. 



339 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 144. 

 34 ° Pat. 3 Edw. VI, pt. iii. 



341 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 474. 



342 Whitaker, loc. cit. 



343 Gerard, op. cit. 99. 



344 A 'chapel house' existed in 1725 ; 

 Walkden's Diary, 1 1 (quoted by Nightin- 

 gale). See also Stonyhurst Mag. Nov. 

 1887 and the account of Crawshaw. 



345 Shireburne Abstract Bk. 



346 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. exev, 

 S 12. 



34? Lond. Ga%. 25 Feb. 1870. 



348 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. ii, 217- 

 22. An account of the foundation and 

 endowments is given in End. Char. Rep. 

 1899. 



349 The hiding-places in the hall itself 

 are described in Gerard, op. cit. 78. 



19 



350 Foley, Rec. S. J. vi, 398. 



361 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cat/i. 

 iv, 326. 



3 « Foley, Rec. S. J. v, 400. There 

 was also a chapel at Bailey Hall. 



353 Zimmerman, Carmel in England, 372. 



354 Gerard, op. cit. 100. 



355 Ibid. 245—58 ; views of some are 

 given. 



356 An official inquiry was made in 

 1898; the report, issued in 1899, in- 

 cludes a reprint of that of 1826. The 

 details here given are derived from it. 



357 Richard 'Scireburne' had in 1686 

 intended to found an * almshouse or 

 maison de Dieu ' for twenty aged persons, 

 and his son Sir Nicholas in 1706 carried 

 the project into execution. Each of the 

 almspeople was to have .£4 a year and 

 twelve places were appropriated to the 

 township of Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley. 



