A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



„r„r„„ The earl y histor y of the church or 



CHURCH JLLHJLLOTVS*> kobscure. It appears 

 to have been a parish church reduced to 

 the condition of a chapel after its grant to Lancaster 

 Priory. A chapelry it remained until the 17th 

 century, being so described in the Church Survey of 

 1650." Both before and afterwards Bispham is 

 found more or less clearly recognized as an independent 

 parish," and one Richard Higginson, citizen of 

 London, ' out of a pious sense of the great blindness 

 of the parishioners,' having rebuilt the church, offered 

 in 1658 to provide a free school and to settle £40 a 

 year 'towards the maintenance of such godly and 

 painful preacher of the Gospel as shall be from time 

 to time settled there.' M The church appears to have 

 been but irregularly served, either then or after the 

 Restoration, when it again became a chapel under 

 Poulton, being so described at the bishop's visitation 

 in 1677. Ten years later, however, it was called 

 'the parish church of Bispham.'" No Act of 

 Parliament seems to have been obtained. 



That the patron of Poulton concurred in, or more 

 probably obtained the separation which gave him an 

 additional piece of patronage, is shown by the gifts 

 of Richard Fleetwood, which in 1717 constituted 

 the greater part of the endowment. The certified 

 income at that time was only £8 a year.' 6 The 

 present income is said to be £200 a year." Mr. C. H. 

 Fleetwood-Hesketh is the patron. 



The church stands at the north end of the village, 

 and is a stone building erected in 1 883 on the founda- 

 tions ,8 of an older structure. It consists of chancel, 

 with organ chamber on the north and vestry on the 

 south side, wide aisleless nave, south porch and west 

 tower. The building is of a rather plain Gothic 

 style with rough stone facings and blue slated roof, and 

 the tower, which is 61 ft. high, has angle pinnacles. 

 No authentic record has been preserved of the old 

 church, but that a structure of some importance 

 stood here in the 12th century is evident from the 

 Norman doorway which still remains within the 

 south porch. The church as rebuilt by Richard 

 Higginson is said to have consisted of a chancel," 

 nave, south porch and a low but strong west tower and 



to have been constructed of red sandstone from Fume*. 

 It had a double gabled roof supported at the junction 

 of the gables by a row of black oak crooks, or piers, 

 down the centre," and the east window was of three 

 narrow lights. The pews were of black oak, and there 

 was a gallery at the west end. This building, how- 

 ever, was unroofed and gutted in 1773, practically only 

 the tower and the Norman arch being left untouched 

 and a new wide aisleless nave erected. The chancel 

 seems at the same time to have been cither curtailed 

 or pulled down altogether. The 1 8th-century church 

 finally gave place in 1883 to the present building 

 No sufficient evidence exists to enable us to trace 

 the development of the old plan, but the position of 

 the tower, which is considerably to the south of the 

 centre line of the nave, suggests that the mediaeval 

 building was a narrow aisleless church, occupying 

 approximately the south half of the present nave, its 

 south wall being in the same position. The position 

 of the Norman door further suggests that the mediaeval 

 church was largely a rebuilding of the 12th-century 

 one, a tower being added on the west end, and in later 

 times the structure being enlarged northward by a 

 widening of the nave. During the demolition of 

 1883 the head of a three-light window, apparently 

 belonging to the 17th-century building, was found 

 in one of the walls, and it is now built into the 

 north wall of the porch. The Norman arch appears 

 to have stood untouched till 1883, when it was 

 pulled down, the stones numbered, and rebuilt again 

 in its original position. It had been long covered 

 with whitewash, and when this was removed it was 

 discovered that the stones forming the middle order 

 had carved upon them the signs of the Zodiac." 

 The crab, the bull, the virgin could be easily 

 recognized, the scales and the scorpion were less 

 distinct, and the rest were almost defaced. The 

 arch consists of three orders, the inner one being 

 quite plain and the outer carved with the cheveron 

 ornament. The two outer orders spring from circular 

 shafts with cushion capitals and moulded bases. Un- 

 fortunately in the rebuilding the whole of the stone- 

 work was rechiselled and the Zodiacal carving was 

 entirely recut. 3 ' 



*> This dedication is witnessed in 1530 

 by the will of George Allen of Rossall ; 

 Fishwick, Poulton (Chet. Soc), 126. 



al In the charters it is sometimes 

 called the ' church ' and sometimes the 

 ' chapel ' of Bispham ; e.g. Lane. Ch. 

 i, 117, 124. It was the former in 1196 j 

 Final Cone, i, 6. In a grant by William 

 le Boteler apparently early in the reign 

 of Henry III. Bispham is distinctly 

 called the mother church of Layton ; 

 Lane. Ch. ii, 436. 



" Commonw. Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 151. It was then 

 considered to have been a parish church 

 in former times, with two townships, and 

 the inhabitants desired that they might 

 again be made a parish and have a 

 competent maintenance allowed, the 

 minister at that time having only the 

 Easter dues, worth about £5. 



83 For example, in 1 646 ' the rectory of 

 All Hallows in the Chapelry of Bispham ' ; 

 Plund. Mini. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 28. " Ibid, ii, 221. 



as In the record of the gift of £10 a 

 year by Richard Fleetwood ; Ch. Papers 

 at Chester. 



In 1686 a return of 'the minister and 



churchwardens of the parish of Bispham ' 

 to the bishop's articles of inquiry gives 

 some interesting particulars. The fabric 

 of the church was 'in good repair and 

 decency * ; there were a stone font, with 

 cover, a communion table, with carpet 

 and linen cloth, two cups and a flagon, 

 and a fair surplice. There was neither 

 vicarage house nor glebe land. The 

 minister resided and was of sober life, 

 bidding and observing holy days and fasts. 

 The schoolmaster instructed his scholars 

 in the catechism of the Church of 

 England. The parish clerk was ' chosen 

 by the minister and approved by the 

 parish.' Similar replies were made in 

 later years. In 1725 Mr. Albin ad- 

 ministered the sacrament five times a year. 



K Gastrell, Notitia Cctlr. (Chet Soc), 

 ii, 398 ; land given by Richard Fleetwood 

 was worth £$ a year, Easter dues £3, 

 and in 1687 a rent-charge of £10 had 

 been given by the patron. There were 

 four churchwardens, two chosen by the 

 minister and two by the parish. It is 

 noteworthy that Gastrell says nothing as 

 to the former dependence of Bispham on 

 Poulton or as to the patronage. 



» Manch. Dioc. Dir. Augmentations 



244 



were granted by private benefactors and 

 Queen Anne's Bounty, invested in the 

 purchase of Layton tithes ; Fishwick, 

 Bispham, 27. 



* 8 With an extension eastward. 



w 'Mr. Fleetwood's own chancel' is 

 mentioned in 1705. 



80 Fishwick, Hiit. of Bispham, 28. 

 Thornber, however, in his Hist, of Black- 

 pool, 320, states that 'a row of semi- 

 circular arches supported on three plain 

 round pillars ran from the chancel to the 

 font,' and says his description of the 

 church is based on the authority of two 

 parishioners who had worshipped in the 

 old building. But there may be some 

 confusion here with Whitaker"s account 

 of Poulton Church {RichmonJihirt, ii, 

 441-2). Thornber further states, however, 

 that the new roof in 1773 was formed 'by 

 raising the walls with the materials of 

 the displaced pillars.' 



81 There are fourteen stones, the two 

 springers being carved with • cheveron 

 ornament. 



n The carvings are very good specimens 

 of modern sculpture, but the loss of the 

 original 12th-century work ii greatly to 

 be deplored. 



