A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Hazelhurst" and Oakenclough " were other vac- 

 caries." The messuage called Brooks was in 1720 

 sold by Richard Blackburne 

 and Elizabeth his wife to 

 Robert Lawson of Lancaster." 



William Gamett of Lark 

 Hill, Salford, acquired a lease 

 of the manor or forest from 

 the Crown and greatly im- 

 proved the district, converting 

 wild lands into meadow and 

 pasture. He built Bleasdale 

 Tower, and was high sheriff 

 of the county in 1843. At 

 his death in 1863 he was 

 succeeded by his son William 

 James, who continued the 

 work of improvement, and, 



dying in 1873, was followed by his eldest son, 

 Mr. William Gamett of Quernmore, who served as 

 high sheriff in I 879. l6 



More than half the area of the moorlands remains 

 uninclosed. The pasture rights have been purchased 

 from the duchy by the landowners. 



The chapel at Admarsh existed in the 

 CHURCH time of Elizabeth," but is of unknown 

 origin and invocation. In 1 6 10 it was 

 described as ' a chapel, without service, in the king's 

 chase,' and the stipend was said to be detained by 

 Robert Parkinson, commissary of Richmond. 18 In 

 1650 it had 'neither minister nor maintenance,' and 

 the people were declared to be ignorant and careless, 



Parkinson of Fair- 

 snape. Gules on a 

 cheveron between three 

 ostrich feathers argent as 

 many mullets sable. 



knowing nothing of the worship of God, but living in 



ignorance and superstition.'" Nothing seems to have 



been done at that time, but in 1689 Richard White 



of Chipping had the Bishop of Chester's licence to 



preach in Admarsh Chapel," and in 1702 Christopher 



Parkinson of Hazelhurst gave £$ 101. a year for the 



wages of a minister." In 1717 there was 'scrv;ce 



every first Sunday in the month and no other.' " 



Afterwards an augmentation was obtained, and from 



1 74.9 there seems always to have been a curate in 



charge. The church was rebuilt in 183;, and called 



St. Eadmor"s n ; it was restored and enlarged in 1 897. 



The vicar of Lancaster is patron. The following 



have been curates and vicars " : — 



1 749 John Penny 



1 764 John Braithwaite 



1 767 Thomas Smith " 



1778 Joseph Stuart 



182; James Bleasdale 



1828 Osborn Littledale 



1833 William Fenton 



1837 James Robinson 



1846 Henry Short" 



1 8 5 1 David Bell, M.D. (Glas.) " 



1855 William Shilleto, B.A." (Univ. Coll., Oxf.) 



1 864 Robert Charles Colquhoun Barclay, B.A. 



(T.C.D.) 

 1 89 1 John Frederick Heighway Parker" 



The above-named Christopher Parkinson also be- 

 queathed money to pay a schoolmaster ^ioa year." 



The once-existing charities have failed ; they 

 amounted to less than £\ a year." 



and heir of Henry Parkinson) and Richard 

 Parkinson (brother of Henry). This 

 Richard was grandfather of Canon Parkin- 

 son of Manchester. See his Old Church 

 Clock (ed. 1880), pp. xii, lxxv-lxxvii. 



John Clifton of Fairsnape and Thomas 

 his son were burgesses of the guild of 

 1662; Preston Guild R. 142. See the 

 account of Clifton in Kirkham. 



13 This also was held by Parkinsons ; 

 Ducatus Lane, iii, 275. So also was 

 Stake House ; ibid, ii, 42. 



u Ibid, iii, 294, 363. 



u In 1622 the vaccaries appear to have 

 been Falsnape (Fairsnape), Blindhurst, 

 Hazelhurst, Brooks, Calder and Oaken- 

 clough, with land called Scoring Moss ; 

 Pat. 20 Jas. I, pt. iii. 



In 1670 John Sturraker paid £2 • 

 year rent for Oakenclough, Peter Black- 

 burne £2 111. for Brooks, Richard Par- 

 kinson £2 1 is. id. for Falsnape and 

 John Fanahaw £2 for Calder ; ibid. 22 

 Chas. II, pt. ii, no. 1. 



u Piccope MSS. (Chef- Lib.), iii, 

 206, from 2nd-3rd R. of Geo. I. at 

 Preston, 



16 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 540 ; 

 Burke, Landed Gentry. 



17 Raines in Gaitrell's Notitia Cestr. 

 (Chet- Soc), ii, 438. 



" Hist. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. iv, 8. 



19 CcTT.-tw. Ch. Sur-v. (Rec Soc 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 126. 



*° Stratford's Visitation List, 1691,31 

 Chester. 



" Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 437-8 ; Parkin- 

 son gave a rent-charge of £4 a year for a 

 'preaching minister who should officiate 

 monthly.' 



» Ibid. 



90 The name Admarsh was perhaps 

 thought to be connected with Eadmer, 

 the rnend of St. Anselm and historian of 

 his time. 



*' Ch. Papers at Chester Dioc Reg. 



'* Richard Parkinson, named in a 

 former note, ' who had twelve children, 

 engaged the Rev. Mr. Smith to become 

 a permanent resident in his house and 

 teach his children and officiate in the 

 chapel, giving him for his labours board 

 and lodging and £12 a year' ; Old Church 

 Clock, p. xiv. 



M Afterwards rector of Stockton Forest, 

 Yorks. 



87 Afterwards vicar of Goole. 



,fl Afterwards vicar of Goosnargh. 



m Mr. Parker has assisted in the com- 

 pilation of this list. 



,0 End. Char. Rep, for Lancaster, 1903. 

 Formerly the curate of the chapel wai 

 often the schoolmaster also. 



31 Ibid. Richard Blackburn in 1743 

 gave £50 for the poor. The capital 

 passed to John Lawson and A. R. Ford, 

 and in 1826 the interest, £2 101., was 

 still paid. Nothing is now known of it- 

 Thomas Parkinson in 1728 left £10 to 

 the poor -, interest of 91. a year was paid 

 by Henry Parkinson down to 1794, when 

 his heirs were two daughters married to 

 John Garner of Crookhall in Cockerham 

 and to William Taylor of Borwick ; a 

 moiety of the interest was paid by William 

 son of John Gamer down to his death in 

 1817, when the entire legacy failed. 



A dole of £1 3 j. 9$</. was in 1826 

 received from Brabin's charity, of which 

 an account is given under Chipping. It 

 is now applied to the school there. 



I42 



