AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



ST. MICHAEL- 

 ON-WYRE 



The plague of 1 349-50 visited the parish, taking 

 off many of the people. 15 Sir Richard Kighley of 

 Inskip was one of those who fought at Agincourt, 

 being killed in the battle. 2 The Reformation was 

 long resisted by a number of the people here as 

 elsewhere in the Fylde. 3 In the Civil War the 

 principal squires — Butler and Kirkby — lost sons in 

 the cause of Charles I ; but men were raised also 

 for the Parliament, 4 and around Elswick there was 

 sufficient Puritanism to stir the people to the build- 

 ing of a place of worship. The Jacobite rising of 

 17 1 5 brought disaster to the Butlers of Rawcliffe, 

 but in 1745 the parish seems to have been untouched 

 by the invasion. 



To the ancient tax called the fifteenth St. 

 Michael's contributed ^6 4/. when the hundred paid 

 £56 4/. 8</., 6 and to |ioo leviable on the same 

 district for the county lay of 1624 this parish would 

 contribute £10 12/. 2d. 6 



The church of 

 CHURCH ST. MICHAEL 1 

 stands close to the 

 left bank of the River Wyre, 

 which bounds the church- 

 yard on the north side, the 

 west end facing on to the 

 road immediately south of the 

 bridge. It consists of a chan- 

 cel 33 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 8 in. 

 with north vestry, nave 

 45 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 8 in., 

 south aisle 15 ft. 10 in. wide 

 extending the full length of 

 nave and chancel, short north 

 aisle 8 ft. 3 in. wide, and 

 north chapel 24 ft. 8 in. by 

 12 ft. 9 in., south porch and 

 west tower 1 3 ft. square, all 

 these measurements being in- 

 ternal. 



The building is substanti- 

 ally of 1 5th and early 1 6th- 

 century date, but there may 

 be portions of an older struc- 

 ture in the north wall of the 

 chancel and at the west end 



of the south aisle adjoining the tower, the masonry 

 of which may date from the 13 th century. The 

 evidence of the building, however, is not sufficient to 

 make it possible to trace the development of the 

 plan or to arrive at any conclusion as to the extent 



and appearance of the earlier structure, except that 

 its length must have been about the same as that of 

 the present building. On the north chancel wall 

 the older masonry, which is of red sandstone, in- 

 cludes a buttress 2 ft. 6 in. wide with a 10 in. 

 projection, and at the west end of the south aisle 

 the fragment of old walling, which is 3 ft. 6 in. 

 wide and stands 6^ in. in front of the later wall, 

 has been pierced by a pointed window 2 ft. 9 in. 

 high and 1 2 in. wide, now built up. The present 

 plan is that of the 15th-century building, but there 

 is said to have been a restoration or partial rebuild- 

 ing in 1 549, 8 when the tower is said to have been 

 erected and new bells purchased. The tower seems 

 to have been rebuilt or refaced in 1 6 1 1 by Henry 

 Butler, whose arms and initials together with the 

 date are carved on the north-west merlon of the 

 parapet facing west. The north chapel, originally 



the chantry of St. Katharine, was repaired in 1797, 

 and in 1854 the church was reseated and some resto- 

 rations carried out, the old square pews being 

 taken away and the whitewash removed from the 

 arches and columns of the nave. 9 



u Engl. Hist. Rev. v, 529; fourscore 

 men and women was the Archdeacon of 

 Richmond's estimate. The jury appear 

 to have allowed 201. out of the 5 oi * 

 claimed for probates. 



' Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 116. 



3 This appears in the township histories, 

 but the only residents who in 1630—2 

 compounded for the two-thirds of their 

 estates liable to sequestration for recusancy 

 were Thomas Kirkby of Rawcliffe (by 

 an annual payment of £5), Leonard 

 Clarkson of Woodplumpton (£3), and 

 Robert White of Great Eccleston 

 (£8 131. $d.) ; Tram. Hist. Sac. (new 

 «er.), xxiv, 176-8. 



A list of recusants in 16 10 is printed 

 in Fishwick's St. Michael's (Chet. Soc), 

 12-14. A large number of the people 

 refused to make the Protestation of 1641 ; 



ibid. 16-17. An annotated list of the 

 convicted recusants c. 1670 will be found 

 in Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), v, 166, 180-2, 

 1 go— 2, 204—6. 



* War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc), 42. The 

 same chronicler shows that the royal and 

 parliamentary troops crossed the parish 

 from time to time ; e.g. 38, 67. 



5 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 19. 

 The details were : Upper Rawcliffe, 

 %s. %d. ; Out Rawcliffe, £1 6s. ; Great 

 Eccleston, 16s. \d. ; Elswick, 191. 4-d. ; 

 Inskip with Sowerby, 101. 4-d. ; Wood- 

 plumpton, £2 31. 4-d. 



6 Ibid. 23. The details were : Upper 

 Rawcliffe, 141. iofi. ; Out Rawcliffe, 

 £2 4s. t&d.; GreatEccleston,^i ^s.\^\d.\ l 

 Elswick, £1 131. °\d- ; Inskip with 

 Sowerby, 17s. id. ; Woodplumpton, 



£1 iv- *¥■ 



261 



Extracts from Subsidy Rolls 1523-80 

 are printed in Fishwick, op. cit. 9-1 1 ; 

 they give the names of the principal 

 residents. 



7 The invocation appears in Domesday 

 ' Michelescherche.' It had then one 

 plough-land. The distinguishing phrase 

 'upon Wyre' is found in 1216. 



8 Fishwick, op. cit. 62. The state- 

 ment seems to be based only on the fact 

 that in 1549 Thomas Singleton by 

 his will left 401. 'towards the churche 

 and buyldinge of the steple of Seynct 

 Mychaells.' The later notes to Glynne's 

 Churches of Lane. 24 give the date of re- 

 building as 1525. 



9 Some work was apparently done in 

 1809 and 1 81 1, these dates being on 

 spout heads on the south side of the 

 building. 



