A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



enlarged in 1^2 and greatly altered in 1887. A 

 second church was opened in Grimshaw Street in 

 i8oS, ls7 and this was rebuilt in 1859. A third, the 

 result' of a secession from Cannon Street, was built in 

 Lancaster Road in 1863, a beginning having been 

 made two years before. 1 '" 



The Baptist church in Fishergate has sprung from 

 a small meeting which can be traced back to 1782. 

 A church was formed in the following year, with the 

 concurrence of the Particular or Calvinistic Baptist 

 Church in Prescot Street near the Tower of 

 London. 190 A building was erected in Leeming 

 Street, now Manchester Road, in 1 7 84-5, m and 

 services went on there until about 1856; the old 

 building was sold 192 and the present one in Fisher- 

 gate was opened in 1858. 193 A division in the 

 congregation had in 1 S 5 4 led to the foundation of a 

 church in Pole Street, 194 which had a continuous 

 history until 1 90 1, about which time the congre- 

 gation dissolved. The trustees afterwards reopened 

 the building, known as Carey, the new church being 

 formed in 1905 or I9o6. 19S The General Baptists 

 had a mission in the town from 1825 till about 

 1 840 ; they are thought to have used Vauxhall 

 Chapel. This building, which had had various 

 uses, 198 was acquired about 1S45 by a body of 

 Baptists who clung to Calvinistic tenets when the 

 denomination in general was relinquishing them 1B ' ; 

 in 1853 a division led to the building of a small 

 chapel, called Zoar, in Regent Street, 198 from which 

 the congregation has migrated to Great Avenham 

 Street. The Tabernacle, St. George's Road, is 

 another small Baptist church which has existed for 

 about thirty years. 



The Presbyterian Church of England has a place 

 of worship in St. Paul's Square, opened in l878. 1M 



The Unitarian church in Preston, as in many 

 other places, represents the old Nonconforming 

 congregation, which had a more or less secret 

 existence from the Act of Uniformity of 1662 till 

 toleration was granted at the Revolution.* 00 The 

 chapel, near the east end of Church Street, was built 

 about 1717 by Sir Henry Hoghton of Hoghton. 

 The doctrine is said to have been Arian or Unitarian 

 from an early period of its history. 201 



The Society of Friends can be traced back to 

 1680. 2 " 2 Their meeting-house between Friargate 

 and Back Lane was acquired in 1784 and rebuilt in 

 1797 and 1847. The district and county meetings 

 of the Society are held in it. 203 There is a Free 

 Gospel church dating from 1858, 204 and the Salvation 

 Army has stations. The New Jerusalem Church in 

 Avenham Road began in 1844. 205 The Catholic 

 Apostolic Church, or Irvingites, after meeting in 

 various rooms acquired in 1882 a small church in 

 Regent Street 206 originally built by the Particular 

 Baptists. 207 Some minor religious efforts failed to 

 secure a permanent standing. 208 The Mormons also 

 failed to establish themselves. 209 



In spite of the large number of faithful adherents 

 of Roman Catholicism known to have lived in Preston 

 during the times of persecution there is here, as 

 elsewhere, the greatest obscurity in the story of their 

 worship, 210 though rooms may have been secretly 

 used for mass even in the town itself, particularly in 

 the Friargate district. 211 It was here that the first 

 St. Mary's Chapel was built in 1 761. It was 

 demolished by the mob during the election contest 



l -~ : Nightin^.ile, op. cit. 1,48-60. The 

 rirst minister, William Manning Walker, 

 had been the minister of the Unitarian 

 congregation. Another notable pastor 

 was Richard Slate, 1826-61, author of a 

 L fe of Oliver Hey-wood, &c. 



^ Nightingale, op. cit. i, 60-66. 



1(1 W. Sh^w, Fishergate Baptist Ch. 

 (Preston, 1883). It is an error to regard 

 these Baptists as belonging to the 

 Arminian or General denomination. 



190 Some of the Preston Baptists were 

 members of this congregation, which 

 dates back to about 1635. 



191 The cause appears to have been a 

 struggling one; it was 'in a low con- 

 dition' in 1794 ; Rippon, Reg. 7. 



191 St. Saviour's Church stands on the 

 site of it ; see above. The (Harris) 

 Institution was used for service pending 

 the erection of Fishergate Church. 



198 The Fishergate congregation was 

 augmented by a small Scotch Baptist 

 church formed about 1829. Hardwick 

 (quoting Baines) calls them Sandemanians ; 

 they had a room in Church Street and 

 from 1845 occupied a small chapel in 

 Meadow Street. 



194 xhis section acquired a chapel 

 called St. Mark's, built in 1826 for the 

 Calvinistic Methodists of Lady Hunting- 

 don's Connexion, who had previously met 

 in Cannon Street ; Baines, Lanes. Dir. 

 1825, ii, 488. 



195 This and other information as to the 

 Biptists is due to the Rev. Dr. Whitley, 

 minister of the Fishergate Church. 



196 It was built originally for the New 

 Connexion of Methodists about 18 14, but 

 was in 1819 sold to a 'body of semi- 

 Episcopalians,' and called St. Paul's ; the 



service followed the form of the Estab- 

 lished Church, but the minister was not 

 ordained ; Baines, op. cit. Afterwards 

 the Wesleyans had it, then the Baptists 

 and others. 



197 Hardwick (quoting Baines) states 

 that this congregation sprang up in 1833 

 and met in Cannon Street. 



191 Hardwick, Preston, 482. 



199 Hewitson, op. cit. 537. 



K " The celebrated Nonconformist, Isaac 

 Ambrose, formerly vicar, resided in the 

 town from 1662 till his death in 1664. 

 There is evidence of other Nonconformists 

 living and preaching there -, Nightingale, 

 op. cit. i, 9, 68. In 1689 licences for 

 two Nonconformist meeting-places were 

 granted ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv, 232. 



John Turner, the minister in 1715, 

 who was ' a Calvinist of the most strict 

 and rigid form,' actively assisted the 

 government forces during the Jacobite 

 occupation of the town, he and his con- 

 gregation being employed by General 

 Wills as scouts ; Nightingale, op. cit. i, 

 11. 



801 Hewitson, op. cit. 515-17. Mr. 

 Nightingale, however, brings evidence to 

 show that Unitarianism did not prevail 

 till about 1770 ; op. cit. i, 22-3. 



202 A meeting-place was registered in 

 1689 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 

 231. The registers begin in 1660 and 

 the minutes of the Fylde (now Preston) 

 monthly meeting in 1700 ; Fishwick, op. 

 cit. 172. George Fox visited Preston 

 several times, but it is not recorded that 

 he preached there. 



003 Hewitson, op. cit. 517-19. 



""Ibid. 536. 



IO4 



906 Ibid. 535. >«Ibid. 537. 



207 Zoar Chapel, named above. 



9118 The Countess of Huntingdon's Con- 

 nexion and the Methodist New Connexion 

 have been mentioned. Hardwick (op. cit. 

 483) states that a Primitive Episcopalian 

 Chapel was built in Gorst Street in 1837 

 for Mr. Aitkin's New Christian Society. 

 Nothing is known of this now, and there 

 may have been some confusion with the 

 original of St. James's Church. 



J ° 9 Ibid. 538. 



910 Mass appears to have been said it 

 Cottam, Tulketh, Broughton and Fish- 

 wick. 



211 The story that a chapel existed there 

 as early as 1605 is not supported by any 

 definite evidence. It could not have re- 

 mained in use during the Commonwealth 

 period. 



In 1689, however, we learn that 'the 

 soldiers unstated the Popish chapel,' so 

 that one had been opened, perhaps in the 

 time of James II ; Hewitson, Bellingktm 

 Diary, 73. 



The Jesuits served the Preston mission. 

 'Mr. Gray,' i.e. Gilbert Talbot, after- 

 wards Earl of Shrewsbury, was in charte 

 in 1701, with a salary of £10 ; Foley, 

 Rec. S. J. v, 320. A house at the lower 

 end of Friargate was used about that time 

 and is supposed to have been that pur- 

 chased by Fr. Alexander Leigh in 1733 i 

 it was called Greystocks and St. Mary's 

 is on the site of it. The first chapel of 

 the name was built in 1761. 'The 

 greatest caution was used j the chapel was 

 built behind the front houses in Friargate 

 so as to be quite shut out from view. 

 The mysterious building was carried on in 

 the name of Mr. Clifton of Lytham, and 



