A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



There are mural monuments to the Rev. B. T. A church has existed here at least 



Hasle.vood, rector (d. 1876), Jonathan Openshaw of JDl'Oll'SON from the end of the 12th century.*" 

 Hothersall (d. 1882) and the Rev. F. E. Perrin, Like the manor, the advowson be- 



rector (d. 1 S S 5). longed to the Lacys, lords of Clitheroe.-' 1 and descended 



In the south-east corner of the north chapel is the to the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster, and so to the 



base of an old cross. In the north chapel also is an Crown. In 1546 the rectory was granted to the 



ancient tombstone now bearing an inscription dated newly -created bishopric of Chester, in part exchange 



1689. for other lands, 22 and a vicarage was ordained to 



There is a ring of six bells by Mears of White- which the bishop collated. 23 The rectory is now in 



chapel, all dated 1821, but hung in the following the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the 



year. In 1650 the 'curlew' was rung at 4 a.m. and Bishop of Manchester collates to the vicarage. 24 

 8 p.m. It is still rung in the evening. 16 In 1292 the value of the rectory was taxed as 



The plate consists of a chalice of 1777, another of £22 a year, 25 but owing mainly to an incursion of 



I 81 5, and a plated flagon and paten made by Richards the Scots it decreased within the next thirty years to 



of Birmingham, 1826. £i2, 26 at which it remained in 1 341 . : '" In 1535 



The registers begin in 1598. The first volume the income was estimated at ^39 15/. 6d., including 

 (1598-1694) has been printed by the Lancashire the value of the rectory-house and glebe. 28 The Par- 

 Parish Register Society. 17 The churchwardens' liamentary Commissioners in 1650 found that the 

 accounts begin in 1650. 18 There was formerly a Bishop of Chester had leased the tithes to the inhabit- 

 parish library, dating from 1 684, but it was dispersed ants for the nominal value of the rectory, out of 

 more than fifty years ago. 19 which he had paid 20 marks to the vicar. 29 This 



The churchyard lies principally on the north, south stipend was greatly increased soon afterwards, out of 

 and west sides of the church, and is entered through the sequestered revenues of the bishopric of Chester, 30 

 gates, near the south-east corner, from the village. but after the Restoration the vicar's income would 

 It was enlarged in 1870 when the old burial-ground return to its former level. However, about 1718 

 was closed. To the south of the chancel is a stone Bishop Gastrell found that the vicar had nearly /30 

 sundial raised on six square steps, the plate of which a year 31 and that there was also £5 6s. %d. reserved 

 is missing, but the shaft, which is probably of 1 7th- ' for a priest serving within the church of Rib- 

 century date, forms a very picturesque feature in the Chester.' 32 The vicars have for forty years been 

 exterior view of the building. The oldest dated styled rectors. 33 The income is now returned as 

 gravestone is 1696. ^242. M 



The following have been rectors and vicars : — 



Rectors 



Instituted Name Patron Cause of Vacancjr 



c. 1 200 .... Richard 35 



c. 1 240 .... Drogo 36 



25 Feb. 1243-4 • Guy de Russelon 37 The King 



16 T. C. Smith, Ribchester, 104. The destruction caused by the Scots, owing to the tithes of Dutton were reserved towards 

 clock was placed in the tower in 18 13, which ten fewer ploughs were used in the the maintenance of the vicar of Rib- 

 but one had been there from 1650 or parish. che6ter ; Chester Consistory Ct. Rec 

 earlier. * Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 262. 31 Notitia, loc. cit. 



17 Vol. xxvi, 1906. Transcribed and The house and glebe accounted for 38 The benefice was declared a rectory 

 edited by J. Arrowsmith. £8 5*. io</., the tithes of corn ^20, in 1867 ; Lond. Gaz. 1 Mar. The usual 



18 Many items are extracted by T. C. other tithes £2 16s., Easter dues, &c, style of the incumbent is ' rector of Rib- 

 Smith, Ribchester. £i 1 3s. id. The outgoings came to 6s. Chester and vicar of Stidd.' 



19 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), only, for procurations and synodals. 84 Manch. Dioc. Dir. 



ii, 471 ; Smith, op. cit. 214-19, who ^ Commontv. Ch. Suru. (Rec. Soc. s5 He attested an early grant of part of 



states that the founder, Bradley Hayhurst Lanes, and Ches.), 168. A detailed Hothersall ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 19 



of Dutton, was curate of Macclesfield survey of the house and glebe lands is Hud. 



1671-82 (Earwaker, East Chit, ii, 505), printed ibid. 197-202. Some more Ellis the clerk of Ribchester occurs 



and died about 1685. profitable arrangement seems to have early in the 13th century ; Whalley Couch. 



20 In a grant of the moiety of Rib- been made, for in 1656 an allowance of (Chet. Soc), iii, 870 ; Final Cone, i, 51. 

 Chester made by Robert de Lacy before £yo a year out of the tithes was ordered 86 In 1246 it was recorded that Drogo 

 1 193 the ' gift of the church of the same to be made to the incumbent; Plund. rector of Ribchester had been drowned 

 town ' was expressly reserved to the Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), from a horse in the Ribble, accidentally, 

 grantor ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and ii, 130, 152, 207. as was supposed. The horse was drowned 

 Ches.), ii, 18;. 30 In 1659 it was ordered that £60 also, and i8<£, the value of its hide, roust 



21 See the account of the rectors. should be paid to the vicar out of the be paid to the sheriff; Assize R. 404, 

 23 Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. v ; Ormerod, tithes; ibid, ii, 288. m. 20. 



Chet. (ed. Helsby), i, 97. 81 Notitia Cestr. (Cher, Soc), ii, 471. In 1243, perhaps after the death of 



28 The vicar's stipend was 20 marks. The sum was made up of the 20 marks Drogo, the king (in right of his ward, 



2i The patronage was transferred to the paid by the bishop, the Dutton tithes Edmund de Lacy) claimed the right to 



Bishop of Manchester in 1859 ; Lond. £13, small tithes £9 izs., and surplice present to the church of Ribchester, then 



Gaz. ; Aug. fees £3. vacant, the other claimants being the 



25 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 307. There were five churchwardens, one ' Prior of Dutton ' and Walter Moton. 



26 Ibid 327. chosen by the vicar out of three nominated The prior, no doubt the master of Stidd, 



27 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 38. to him, and the other four by the said he claimed nothing in the advowson ; 

 The township of Ribchester contributed 'Twenty-four men' of their respective Cur. Reg. R. 131, m. 18, 17. 



/4 16s id Alston the same, and Dutton quarters. The clerk was chosen by the 3 ' Cal. Pat. 1232-47, p. 420. He was 



/2 6s id The apparent decrease of heir of Hoghton Tower. a relative of the king's, who presented in 



value 'was attributed in part to the A list of Easter dues and surplice fees right of his ward, and had many pre- 



omission of the tithe of hay, &c, and in 1682 is printed in Smith, op. cit. 90-.. ferments ; see the account of Preston 



other dues belonging to the altarage of In a lease of the rectory granted by Church and Cal. Papal Utter, 1, 224. 



the church, £4. in all, but chiefly to the Bishop Gastrell in 1724 it is stated that He was in minor orders only ; ibid. 242. 



40 



