AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



PRESTON 



William Gregory Sharrock, born at Preston in 

 1742, became a Benedictine monk. He was conse- 

 crated in 1 78 1 as coadjutor to Bishop Walmesley, 

 with the title of Bishop of Telmessus, and in 1797' 

 succeeded him as vicar apostolic of the western 

 district, acting till his death in 1 809. 1 " 



Thomas Jackson, who took the surname of Calvert 

 in 1819, was born at Preston in 1775. He became 

 Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, Norrisian 

 Professor in the university, and Warden of Man- 

 chester. He died in 1 840. 1 " 



Charles Hardwick was born at Preston in 1817, 

 being son of an innkeeper there. He acquired dis- 

 tinction as an antiquary, and his history of his native 

 town, issued in 1857, has been frequently quoted in 

 the present account. He died in 1889."' 



Robert Cornthwaite, bom in 1 8 1 8, became (Roman 

 Catholic) Bishop of Beverley in 1861, and on the 

 division of the diocese in 1878 was appointed to 

 the Leeds portion. He died in 1890. 



William Dobson, born at Preston in 1820, and 

 educated at the local grammar school, was editor of 

 the Preston Chronicle, and wrote on local antiquities. 

 He died in 1884. 1 " 



Robert Gradwell, son of a Preston alderman, was 

 born in the town in 1825, and after education at 

 Ushaw became assistant priest at St. Augustine's, 

 Preston, and from i860 till his death in 1906 was 

 stationed at Claughton-on- Brock. He was a domestic 

 prelate to Leo XIII. He was of antiquarian tastes, 

 and published a life of St. Patrick and various essays. us 



John Samuel Raven, landscape painter, was son of 

 the Rev. Thomas Raven, minister of Holy Trinity 

 Church in Preston, and was born in the town in 

 1829. He was drowned at Harlech, while bathing, 

 in 1877. 1 " 



Some other worthies are noticed in the accounts of 

 the various townships. 



The church I18 of ST. JOHN THE 

 CHURCH DIVINE stands in the middle of the 

 town, on the south side of Church 

 Street, and is a handsome building in the style of the 

 14th century, erected in 1853-5. The former 

 church which stood on the same site was a low 1 6th- 

 century structure, consisting of chancel, clearstoried 

 nave of four bays, with north and south aisles, and 

 west tower, but before its demolition it had under- 



gone many changes and alterations. In 1644-5 l ^ e 

 decay of the building was such that a levy of £30, 

 which had been previously ordered, but a great part 

 of which had not been paid, was increased by an 

 additional £20. Pews were erected in the 17th 

 century, and a rough plan of the seating c. 1650, 

 showing the pulpit in the middle of the nave on the 

 south side, has been preserved." 9 In 167 1 the 

 interior had ' become foule and uncomely,' and efforts 

 were made to ' adorn and beautify ' it, but the 

 churchwardens were desired to get the work done 

 'as well and as cheap as they could.' In 1680 

 four pinnacles were ordered to be set upon the steeple 

 and ' the weathercock to be placed handsomely in the 

 middle,' and some time before 1682 a clock and 

 chimes were placed in the tower. Towards the end 

 of the 17th century Dr. Kuerden describes the build- 

 ing as ' spacious, well-built, or rather re-edifyed,' 12 ° 

 but during the 1 8 th century the church was allowed 

 to fall into decay to such an extent m that on 

 7 February 1770 the entire roof fell in, and in con- 

 sequence the north and south walls had to be taken 

 down and the nave rebuilt. 123 In 1 8 11 the tower, 

 which had for some time been in an unsafe condition, 

 was pulled down to the level of the church roof, and 

 was left in that state till 18 14, when it was rebuilt. 

 The chancel was rebuilt by Sir Henry Philip Hoghton 

 in 1817. 1 " An account of the building written in 

 1821 1M describes the body or nave as containing three 

 aisles, with the royal arms where the rood formerly 

 stood. ' Two chapels exist, the Lea chapel and 

 Wall's chapel. . . . The mayor has a grand throne 

 erected on the right corner from the altar. . . . The 

 galleries are supported by eight Gothic arches, the 

 pillars of an octagon shape. The front gallery facing 

 the altar contains a well-tuned organ. . . . The spiral 

 pulpit and reading desk is finely constructed of solid 

 oak and supported by four pillars.' A view of the 

 church about 1 845 " 5 shows the walls of chancel, 

 nave and aisles to have been embattled, with lean-to 

 roofs to the aisles, those of the chancel and nave being 

 hidden behind the parapets. The clearstory windows 

 were square-headed and of three lights, but those in 

 the aisles had segmental heads, and the chancel was lit 

 with tall pointed windows of three lights, the mullions 

 crossing in the heads. The tower was lofty and had 

 an embattled parapet with clustered angle pinnacles. 126 



118 Tram. Hist. Soc. (new 8er.), xiii, 

 131. He wrote some tracts. 



118 He published sermons ; Diet. Nat. 

 Biog. ; Wardens of Manch. (Chet. Soc), 

 178-83. 



114 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



116 Ibid. 



116 Liverpool Cath. Annual, 1907. 



117 Did. Nat. Biog. 



118 See T. C. Smith, Rec. of the Parish 

 Church of Preston in Amounderness, 1892. 

 The mediaeval invocation was St. Wilfrid. 

 The rector of St. Wilfrid's, Preston, was 

 defendant in 1342 j De Banco R. 332, 

 m. 149. The church was regularly called 

 St. Wilfrid's, as may be seen by sub- 

 sequent notes, but in the 16th century and 

 later the name is found as Winifred. 



The change to St. John the Divine is 

 said to have been made at the end of the 

 1 6 th century. 



There was in early times a St. John 

 the Baptist's Weind or street (vicia), 

 leading perhaps to lands held by the 

 Knights Hospitallers 5 Cockersand Chartul. 



(Chet. Soc), i, 222,219 ; Kuerden MSS. 

 iii, P7 (1340). 'St. John's Weind' is 

 said to have been the old name of 

 Tithebarn Street. 



119 It is reproduced in Smith, op. cit. 

 247, and in Fishwick's Hist, of Preston, 

 114. A large space at the south-east 

 corner of the nave is marked ' The antient 

 burying place of the Lords of Hoghton 

 and Lea.' This was usually known as the 

 Lea chapel. At the time of the demoli- 

 tion of the old church in 1853 notes were 

 made of several carvings on the backs of 

 the pews. They are given in Fishwick, 

 op. cit. 115, and bearvarious dates (1626, 

 1630, 1694) and initials. Many of the 

 oak panels were elaborately carved. Coats 

 of arms emblazoned on the windows 

 of the church about 1580 are recorded 

 in Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), vi, 271 ; 

 xiv, 204. These have been imitated in 

 the windows of the present church. 



120 Quoted by Fishwick, op. cit. 

 116. 



151 In Nov. 1769 the church was 



8l 



reported to be in imminent danger and 

 the churchwardens were ordered to con- 

 tract for its taking down and rebuilding. 

 The nave roof fell in, however, before 

 anything was done. 



122 At a meeting held 9 Feb. 1770 

 1 the roof and all the pillars on the north 

 side of the church were reported to have 

 fallen down and the rubbish was ordered 

 to be cleared away and a proper person 

 obtained to inspect the present state 

 of the church.* The rebuilding was 

 more or less on the old lines j the esti- 

 mate of cost was ,£ 1,006. 



12a Hardwick, Hist, of Preston y 462, 

 where it is further stated that the quire 

 was renovated in 1823. 



124 Peter Whittle, Hist, of Preston, 55, 

 quoted by Fishwick, op. cit. 117. 



125 Drawn by William Physick. Re- 

 produced in Fishwick, op. cit. 116. 



126 Glynne'B description, undated, but 

 probably written about this time, is as 

 follows : 'A large church originally of plain 

 Perpendicular work, much modernized 



II 



