A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



oc. 1330 



oc. 134.2 



oc. 1368 



oc. 1508-35 



oc. 1547-53 



The registers begin in 1639, but are imperfect up 

 to 1675. 



In the churchyard to the south of the tower is a 

 circular stone shafted sundial on two circular steps 

 the plate of which is dated July 1746 and bears tie 

 name of the Rev. C. Swainson. Further east is the 

 socketed base of a churchyard cross. The oldest dated 

 gravestone is 1668. 



The patronage is vested in the Dean and Chapter 

 of Christ Church, Oxford. The following have 

 been curates and vicars : — 



William Cortays 186 



Thomas [de Rawcliffe] lsr 



Richard de Sunderland lsi 



Christopher Parkinson 15S 



Ralph Parker 190 



Lawrence Gaiter m 



Lawrence Kemp 1 " 



John Helme 19J 



William Duxbury 1M 



Edmund Shaw 1M 



Thomas Cranage "* 



William Ingham m 



Richard Harrison, B.A." 9 (Brasenose 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 James Butterworth, M.A. 1 * (Brasenose 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 William Bushell, B.A.' 00 

 William Whitehead, B.A. (St. John's 



Coll., Camb.) 

 Christopher Swainson, B.A." 1 (Univ 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 Christopher Hull, B.D. (St. John's 



Coll., Camb.) 

 Charles Buck, M.A."» (St. John's Coll., 

 Camb.) 



oc. 

 oc. 

 oc. 

 oc. 



!552 

 I562 

 I583 

 1605 

 164I 

 1646 

 1648 



• 1675 

 1692 



•735 

 1740 

 1770 

 1790 



1790 Joshua Southward * 



181 5 Robinson Shuttleworth Barton BD 



(Camb.) 

 1822 Robert Studholme 

 1867 William Shillito, B.A (Univ. Gill 



Oxf.) 

 1883 Charles Osborne Gordon, MA 



(Exeter Coll., Oxf.) 

 1892 Edmund Dawson Banister, BA 



(Magdalen HaU, Oxf.) 

 1899 James Thomas Kerby, MA. (Dur.) 

 1911 Thos. Bingley Boss, M.A. (Lond.) 

 WHITECHAPEL, as the oratory in Threlfall 

 was called, existed before the Reformation, as the 

 pedestal of a cross in the churchyard gives testimony j 

 it belonged to the inhabitants, who had at one time 

 used it for divine service, but long before 1581 it 

 had been left alone, the chapel bell being then given 

 to Alexander Hoghton of Lea until such time as it 

 might again be wanted.*" In the Commonwealth 

 time it was again used, an allowance of £50 being 

 made out of Royalist sequestrations. 104 This probably 

 did not long continue. 10 * About 1717 it was re- 

 corded that the chapel had no endowment, and that 

 it was ' served now and then only, out of charity at 

 the request of the people.' *>' A bequest of £60 in 

 1 71 3 led to the schoolmaster becoming also the 

 minister of the chapel, and other sums being given 

 about 1720, augmented out of Queen Anne's 

 Bounty, lands of .£430 value were purchased for 

 securing a minister's salary. A further /400 was 

 given in 1756.*' 8 The income is now J £zo8.' ' 



The church having become ruinous was rebuilt 

 in 1738 and again in 1 89 1. It is known as 

 St. James's.' 10 There is a sundial (1745) in the church- 

 yard." 1 In 1846 Whitechapel became an indepen- 



186 Ormerod, loc cit. Biographical 

 notices of the later curates will be found 

 in Fishwick, op. cit. 



ls In 1 342 Roger son of William de 

 Whittingham enfeoffed Thomas, pariah 

 chaplain of Goosnargh, of all his lands ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. iSco. This is 

 probably the Thomas de Rawcliffe, chap- 

 lain, to whom in 1361 Henry son of 

 Henry de Whittingham granted all his 

 lands; ibid. no. i~$2. 



l ** Ibid. no. 1776. John de Fumes, 

 chaplain, occurs in similar feoffments, 

 1369—70, and was probably in charge of 

 Goosnargh. Later were William de 

 Bispham (138+), Thomas de Mawdesley 

 (1396-9), and Robert Brewnall (1+13). 

 They are not formally styled ' chaplains 

 of Goosnargh.' 



139 He is named in the deed of Roger 

 Singleton in 1508, and in the I'ilir Ecd. 

 loc cit. 



190 Rsines, Cki-.Hti, 242. He was 

 forty-two years of age in 154S, and had 

 a pension of £± from the chantry in r 5 5 j; . 

 He appeared at the bishop's visitation in 

 I ^54. — at least his name is in the list — 

 but not in 1 562. He seems to hare left 

 to act as Thomas Leyland's prime chap- 

 lain, being undoubtedly the Ralph Parkin- 

 son of the story in Foxe's-iVo tu' Affs- 

 a« (ed. Cattiey), viii, 56;-+. He was 

 called his ' servant and executor ' in 

 Leyland's will, and had an annuity of £$ ; 

 Picoope, H'».i (Chet. Soc\ i, 16;. He 

 was buried at Leigh in 1 , 04 ; Reg. 



191 His name occurs as 'parish priest* 

 ia the inventory of church goods in 1552 ; 

 C.tVfc Mm. tChct. Soc, new sex.), i, 5. 



He attended the visitations of 1 548 and 

 1554- 



1M He appeared, but did not subscribe, 

 at the visitation of 1562. He was 

 ordained acolyte in 1555, but there is 

 no record that he proceeded further ; 

 Chat. Ordination Bk. (Rec Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), 85. 



lss In the Chester Consistory Court 

 Records is preserved a letter certifying 

 that Mr. Arthur Hoghton of Broughton 

 and Goosnargh had received 'the holy 

 communion at Easter last in the church 

 of Goosnargh according to the laws of 

 this our English Church.' The letter 

 was addressed to the vicar of Preston 

 by his ' assured friend and fellow servant 

 in Christ's affairs ever to command, Sir 

 John Helme, the under curate of 

 Goosnargh.' 



John Helme, clerk, purchased 3 acres 

 in Whitciaghain in 1579; Pal of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 41, m. 130. 



'** In 1605 it was presented that he 

 stood excommunicate for anything the 

 churchwardens knew, and that he was 

 ' nothing diligent in attending the church ' ; 

 Visit. P. at Chester Dioc Reg. He was 

 'no preacher' ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rip. 

 xiT, App. iv, 9. 



195 He signed the Protestation as curate 

 of Goosnargh ; and was buried in the 

 chancel 29 Mar 1645. 



196 iVW. M:-.s. Acta, i, 265. He 

 moved to Brindle in 1647 ; ibid. 46. 

 The Goosnargh members of the classis 

 of 1646 were T. Cranage, Alexander 

 Rigby and Edmund Turner ; Balnea, 

 Lama. (ed. 1S6S), i, 128. 



2C 4 



'"'A diligent painful minister' in 

 1650; he became incumbent of Rib- 

 cheater in 1656. 



19H Afterwards vicar of Poulton. 



199 He was 'conformable' in 1689; 

 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229. 

 He appeared at the visitation of 1691, 

 showing letters of orders 'as in 1677 

 dec' He had been appointed school- 

 master in 1686. 



100 Also rector of Heysham ; his son 

 was the founder of the hospital. The 

 Goosnargh Church papers in Chester 

 Diocesan Registry begin at this time. 



M1 In 1743 there were prayers and 

 sermon every Sunday in the year and 

 prayers on all holy days j Visit, returns. 

 In 175$ the families were classified 

 thus : Protestants 230, Papists 96, and 

 Protestant Dissenters 2. 



'<" Rector of Heysham. 



* n A letter of his touching his burial fees 

 is printed in Gillow's Haydock Paperi, 75. 



** Fishwick, op. cit. 39 ; there is a 

 view of the present building, ibid. 46. 



*" Common™. Ch. Surv. 1 5 5. Roger 

 Shirebume was the minister at that time, 

 1650-52 ; PlunJ. Mini. Aati. i, 235, 

 244. An allowance of £40 had been 

 voted as early as 1646 ; ibid. 101, 42. 



** Threlfall was merged in G o.aargh 

 in 1658, on the formation of an inde- 

 pendent pariah there ; ibil ii, 265, 2-2. 



" , Gastrei:, Sotina, ii, 427. 



** For details see Fishwick, op. ciL 

 41-7. ''-'-' Minck. Dioc. Dir. 



"° Sentence of consecration was f i > c» 

 9 July 1818. 



~<" Fishwick, op. cit. 47. 



