AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



PRESTON 



whole parish. 1 " Together with Roger's other posses- 

 sions the advowson reverted to the Crown in I ioz." 8 

 It was included in the grant of the hundred to 

 Theobald Walter about 1191, 143 but claimed by the 

 Abbot of Sees. By a compromise made in 1 196 the 

 advowson was resigned to Theobald, but the rector 

 was to pay 1 o marks yearly to the Prior of Lancaster." 4 

 After King John's accession the advowson reverted to 

 the Crown," 5 and as part of the honour of Lancaster 

 descended to the earls and dukes. 



Thomas Earl of Lancaster in 1 3 1 6 had leave to 

 appropriate the rectory, 146 but his purpose, whatever 

 it may have been, does not seem to have been carried 

 further I47 ; and it was not till July 1 400 that an 

 appropriation was made by Henry IV in favour of 

 the new collegiate church of St. Mary at Leicester, 

 known as the college of Newark ; a vicarage was to 

 be endowed and a sum of money distributed annually 

 to the poor. 148 After the confiscation of such colleges 

 in 1 546-8 the rectory remained in the Crown 149 

 until 1 607, when it was sold to Sir Richard Hoghton, 

 the advowson of the vicarage being included. 150 His 

 family, retaining the rectory, sold the advowson of 

 the vicarage in 1828 to Hulme's Trustees, 151 the 

 present patrons. 



About 1222—6 the value of the rectory was esti- 



mated at 50 marks, 152 and in 1 297 at double that 

 sum, 163 this agreeing with the Valor of 1292. 154 

 Within thirty years, however, owing to the havoc 

 wrought by the Scottish invasions, the taxation was 

 reduced to 35 marks. 155 The ninth of sheaves, &c, 

 assessed in 1 341, shows a recovery. 150 In 1527 the 

 rectory was thought to be worth £42 a year and 

 the vicarage £zo, n7 and this estimate is almost the 

 same as that of the Valor of 1 5 3 5 16S ; it appears, 

 however, that the vicar had to pay the ancient 

 10 marks rent to the Abbess of Syon, who had taken 

 the place of the Abbot of Sees. 159 After the sale of 

 the rectory in 1607, a rent of £45 y. id. had to be 

 paid to the Crown by the lay rector, but in 1650 

 the value of the tithes was estimated as £309. I60 



The vicarage about 1620 had an annual value of 

 j£66. 161 In 1650, on account of the 'distracted, 

 troublesome times,' it was not worth so much, but the 

 vicar, one of the leading Puritan divines, had ^50 

 from the Committee of Plundered Ministers and 

 another £50 from the duchy revenues, as one of the 

 four itinerant preachers. 16 ' The vicar in 1705 

 certified that he had £53, but the true value was 

 nearly double, though part was precarious. 163 The 

 income has greatly increased in modern times and is 

 now returned as £802 net. 164 



141 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 290. 



142 This is an inference from the later 

 history, but the matter is not clear, for 

 Roger's grant, including Preston, was 

 confirmed by John when Count of Mor- 

 tain, i.e. before 1193 ; ibid. 298. 



149 Ibid. +34-5. To justify Theobald 

 Walter's claim Preston must have been in- 

 cluded among the ' advowsons of churches' 

 not recorded by name. 



144 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 6. The monks, described as 

 tenants, retained the church of Poulton, 

 but surrendered Preston. Each clerk 

 presented to the church was to promise 

 to pay the 10 marks annuity. 



145 From the list of rectors it will be 

 seen that John presented in 1201 and 

 1202. 



146 Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 512. He 

 may have intended to bestow it on 

 Whalley Abbey. In a later petition from 

 the abbey to the Archbishop of York the 

 abbot and monks state that they have 

 obtained the church, so far as a layman 

 could give it, from Henry Earl of Lan- 

 caster, and pray for its appropriation to 

 their house, undertaking to pay a vicar 

 £20 a year 5 Whitaker, Whalley (ed. 

 Nicholls), i, 168-9. The abbot's initial 

 is printed as C. 



147 In 1354 it was found that it would 

 not be to the king's injury that the 

 advowson of the church of Preston — in- 

 cluding, it would seem, the whole rectory 

 worth ,£loo — should be appropriated to 

 St. Mary's Collegiate Church at Leicester ; 

 Inq. p.m. 28 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 2. 

 The scheme was not carried through, as 

 the Dukes of Lancaster continued to 

 present to the church. 



148 Cal. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 341. The 

 New College (or Newark) was founded in 

 1355 ; Cal. Papal Letters, iii, 585. 



The appropriation was in 140 1 con- 

 firmed by Boniface IX; ibid, v, 411 ; vi, 

 1 10. 



In 1520 the Dean and Chapter of the 

 New College of our Blessed Lady of 

 Leicester demised to Richard Hesketh for 

 twenty-five years the parsonage of Preston 

 with its demesne and glebe land and the 



chapel of Broughton at a rent of £40 and 

 37s. Thomas Hesketh, brother and heir 

 of Richard, afterwards demised it to Sir 

 Alexander Osbaldeston at a rent of 

 £52 35. id. for the use of Thomas's son 

 Robert; Towneley MS. DD, no. 231. 

 Robert Hesketh in 1 53 I procured afresh 

 lease from the college for a term of forty 

 years at the old rent of £40 and 371. ; 

 ibid. no. 384. Various disputes arising 

 out of these and other grants are related 

 in Smith, op. cit. 14-19. 



149 Certain possessions of Newark 

 College at Preston seem to have been 

 granted with other church property to 

 Richard Venables and others in 1549 ; 

 Pat. 3 Edw. VI, pt. ix. The rectory with 

 the advowson was probably leased for 

 short terms, judging from the changes of 

 patrons. In 1569-70 Christopher Ander- 

 ton of Lostock transferred to John Bold 

 of North Meols the advowson of Preston ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 225, m. 7 ; 227, 

 m. 5 d. Thurstan Anderton in 1592 

 granted the same to Henry Bold, who in 

 1596 transferred it to Richard Hoghton ; 

 De Hoghton D. 



150 Pat. 5 Jas. I, pt. xiii. The rectory 

 of Preston and the advowson of the 

 vicarage were included in the Hoghton 

 properties in 1616; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 317, m. 7. 



The De Hoghton D. show that 

 Thomas Hoghton had in 1587 procured 

 a lease of the rectory from the Crown. 



141 Smith, op. cit. 6. It appears from 

 a fine of 1772 that the rectory and 

 advowson of Preston were in that year 

 sold or mortgaged to William Shaw, jun., 

 by Sir Henry Hoghton ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 387, m. 114. 



152 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 120. 158 Ibid. 298. 



1 54 Pop: Nieh. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 307 ; 

 £66 135. \d. 



155 Ibid. 327 ; £23 6s. id. The pension 

 payable to the Abbot of Sees is not 

 mentioned. 



166 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 37. 

 The inquiry was made at Preston. The 

 borough, which was excepted, was worth 

 7 marks and the rest of the parish 28 



marks and zod. The several townships 

 paid as follows : Ashton, £1 1 6*. id. ; 

 Lea, £2 6s. id. ; Broughton, £3 131.4^.; 

 Barton, £■} 6s. id. ; Haighton, £1 is. \d.; 

 Grimsargh, £1 10s. ; Brockholes, 

 £1 11. id. ; Elston, £1 is. isA. ; Ribble- 

 ton, £1 is. id. ; Fishwick the same ; in 

 all, £1 8 151. 



The reasons given why the ioo marka 

 was not reached were that the excepted 

 revenues were considerable (tithe of hay 

 j£io, other small tithes 15 marks, obla- 

 tions, &c, 5 marks, glebe 25.S.), and that by 

 the destruction wrought by the Scots and 

 other insupportable charges daily increas- 

 ing there were waste lands in the parish 

 causing a loss of 28 marks to the tax ; in 

 aU, £43 $s. 



157 Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 5, 

 no. 15. 



155 Valor Ecct. (Rec. Com.), iv, 169 ; 

 the rent received by Newark College was 



159 Ibid, v, 262 ; the net value was 

 j£i5 41. The manse and garden were 

 valued at 2s., the vicarial tithes at 

 £7 is. 4-d.y and the oblations and Eastei 

 roll at £14 i6j. %d. 



160 Commonzv. Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 144-5. In 1670 a 

 rent of ^45 was paid to the Crown for 

 the rectory by Sir Richard Hoghton and 

 Edward Rigby ; Pat. 22 Chas. II. 



161 Commoniv. Ch. Suri>. 146. 



162 Ibid. The endowment of the vicarage 

 included cottage and barn, with i£ acres of 

 glebe, small tithes of the whole parish, 

 and the corn tithes also in Ribbleton, but 

 in some cases a prescriptive rent limited 

 the amounts payable. 



A terrier of the glebe lands of the vicar- 

 age made in 1663 and a table of Eastei 

 dues of about the same time are printed 

 in Smith, op. cit. 12. 



168 Gastrell, Notitia Cesfr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 461. The vicar paid £4. to the curate 

 of Broughton. 



164 Manch. Dioc. Dir. The old vicarage 

 was in the street so called, off Tithebarn 

 Street, to the north of the church. The 

 present house, at Eastcliff, was built in 

 1846. 



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