A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Instituted 



14 June I 729 



24 Sept. 1765 



2 Aug. 1768 



14 July 1784 

 19 Oct. 1789 



Mar. 1S47 



15 Sept. 1885 



Name 

 William Crombleholme m . 

 Robert Oliver, M.A." . . 

 Anthony Swainson, M.A." 

 Charles Buck, M.A. 7 ' . . 

 Hugh Hornbv, M.A. r5 . . 

 William Hornby, M.A. 71 . 

 Phipps John Hornby, M.A. 74 



Patron 

 Edw. Crombleholme 

 Richard Whitehead . 



John Swainson 

 Joseph Hornby 

 William Hornby . . 



Came of Vacancy 



d. R. Crombleholme 

 d. W. Crombleholme 

 res. R. Oliver 

 d. A. Swainson 

 res. C. Buck 

 d. H. Hornby 

 res. W. Hornby 



This list of clergy does not call for any comment, 

 though one or two of the early rectors were men of 

 eminence. The service of the parish church, chantries 

 and chapelries before the Reformation would require 

 a staff of at least five priests. The list of 1548 does 

 not seem to have been preserved,' 6 but in 1554, and 

 again in 1 562, three names are entered in the Bishop 

 of Chester's visitation list. 77 Afterwards there were 

 apparently only the vicar at the parish church and the 

 curate at Woodplumpton. 78 Copp chapel was added 

 in 1723. A religious census was made in 1755, when 

 the vicar and churchwardens recorded the 367 families 

 in the parish (apart from Woodplumpton) thus : 

 Church of England, 297 ; Protestant Dissenters or 

 Presbyterians, 26 ; Quakers, 3 ; Papists, 4 1.' 9 



There were two endowed chantries. One was 

 founded by John Boteler of Out RawclifFe (d. 1534) 

 at the altar of St. Katharine in the north aisle of the 

 church. 80 The priest was to celebrate for the souls 

 of the founder md others and to teach a grammar 

 school. The clear revenue at the confiscation in 

 1547-8 was £5 10/. 8/, derived from lands in 

 Great and Little Eccleston, Esprick and Staynall 

 Mil]. 61 The other chantry, of the B.V. Mary, was 



founded by William Kirkby of Upper Rawcliffe, and 

 had an endowment of £4. 13/. lo</. n A gift of 

 land in Great Sowerby, made by Thomas Urswick in 

 1423 for the support of a chaplain in the parish 

 church, 83 may have become merged in the general 

 endowment. 



The old grammar school was destroyed with the 

 chantry, and the next schools were not founded till 

 the beginning of the 1 8th century. 



Official inquiries as to the endowed 

 CHARITIES charities of the parish were made in 

 1824 and 1898, and the report of 

 the latter 84 contains also a reprint of the former 

 report. It appears that the gross income is £303 a 

 year, but £104 is devoted to the schools and £67 to 

 ecclesiastical purposes. It is singular that there .ire 

 no funds for apprenticing children and no almshouses. 

 For the whole parish there is an ancient bread 

 charity of £2 yearly, distributed after morning 

 service at the parish church on the second Sunday of 

 the month in ' cobs ' of bread. 



For the poor of Great Eccleston there are sums of 

 £3 ijs. 6<i. from the benefactions of William 

 Quaker," Jonathan Dobson 8e and William Fyld, 87 



Richard Crombleholme had been curate 

 of Hambleton 1706-17 (q.v.). For his 

 epitaph and will see Fishwick, op. cit 

 73, 120. 



69 In 1730 there was * communion four 

 times a year at least ' ; Visit. Ret. In 

 1742 the report was * Lord's Supper six 

 times in the year ' ; ibid. 



70 Educated at Worcester and Merton 

 Colls., Oxf. ; M.A. 1734 ; Foster, Alumni 

 Oxtm. He was schoolmaster of Preston, 

 curate of St. George's in that town, and 

 Wear of Warton. 



71 Educated at Worcester Coll., Oxf. ; 

 M.A. 1767 ; Foster, Alumni. For an 

 account of him see Hcwitson, Our Country 

 Churches, 44 v 



7V Educated at St. John's Coll., Camb.; 

 M.A. 1 78 1. Became curate of Warton 

 in Kirkham in 1789. 



73 Younger brother of the patron, from 

 whom he obtained the advowson. Hugh 

 Hornby was educated at Christ's Coll., 

 Camb. ; M.A. 1790. He was incumbent 

 of Whitworth near Rochdale 1804-29. 



' * He was the only son of the preceding 

 vicar, and was educated at Christ Church, 

 Oxf.; M.A. 1836. He was appointed 

 Hon. Canon of Manchester in 1850 and 

 Archdeacon of Lancaster in 1870. He 

 died 20 Dec 1899. 



" Archdeacon of Lancaster 1909. He 

 is a younger son of the late Archdeacon 

 Hornby ; educated at Balliol Coll., Oxf. ; 

 M.A 1879. He has afforded information 

 to the editors on several points. 



' 6 The record of church goods in 1552 is 

 printed by Fishwick op. cit. 63. 



" Chester Dioc Reg. One of the 

 three, Christopher Thompson, is noted as 

 extra ; see Chester Ordin. Bk. (Rec Soc), 

 10S, and the account of Winwick. 



78 This was the case in 1622 ; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 68-9. 

 7J Visit. Ret. 



80 The altar existed before the chantry 

 and St. Katharine's aisle is named in the 

 will of Alice Boteler, widow, 1504 ; she 

 left zoJ. for the light burning there ; 

 Fishwick, op. cit. 55. 



81 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 217. 

 Neither of the chantries is mentioned in 

 the Valor Eccl. of 1535. William 

 Harrison was the priest of the Boteler 

 chapel in 1548 and fifty-four years old. 

 There is a fuller account by Fishwick 

 loc. cit., it being shown that this chantry 

 was founded about 1528. 



In 1 548 the king allowed Thomas Cross 

 a pension of £4 131. iod. in respect of the 

 late chantry; Add. MS. 32106, no. 890. 



82 Raines, op. cit 220. Thomas Cross 

 (afterwards vicar) was incumbent and 

 forty years of age. It was part of his 

 duty to ' assist the curate ' of the parish. 

 From the full account in Fishwick (op. 

 cit 58-62) it appears that this chantry 

 was founded before 1505, and that 

 William Richardson, Edmund Clarkson 

 (there in 1526) and Thomas Cross had 

 been the chantry priests. William 

 Kirkby, the reputed founder, died about 

 that time. 



83 Add. MS. 32106, fol. 309, no. 384. 

 Lord Derby's rental of 1522 (quoted 

 below) shows that 141. was paid yearly. 



At an inquiry made in 1561 it was 

 stated that lands in Claughton called 

 Mickle and Little 'Tirlaweys' (Terle- 

 ways) of the yearly rent of 6i. had been 

 given by Dame Ellen Urswick (see Upper 

 Rawcliffe) to St. Michael's Church. The 

 tradition was that she had intended to 

 give them to Garstang, but someone had 



266 



remarked that it would be more meri- 

 torious to give to the other church, 

 ' because St. Michael must weigh her 

 eon!/ and so she changed her mind ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Special Com. 33. 



The land was secured for the church 

 (see Ducatus Lane. [Rec. Com.], ii, 283), 

 and now yields £46 a year. It wai 

 formerly the custom to have a dinner 

 for vicar and wardens out of the fundi on 

 5 November, on which day a sermon 

 'against popery ? was preached; the rest 

 was applied to the church rate. The dinner 

 and sermon are things of the past, and 

 the net receipts are given to the church 

 expenses account ; End. Char, Rep. In 

 1796 it was ordered that the balance, 

 after paying for the dinner and a quart of 

 ale for each participant, should accumulate 

 for the purchase of an organ j Porter, 

 Fyldt y 465. 



w Issued in 1899. 



85 By his will, dated 1748, he left two 

 messuages and a close called the Tows 

 Field in Great Eccleston to support two 

 poor widows of the township. The sale 

 produced ^58, which is now held bj the 

 trustees of Copp SchooL The interest, 

 £1 19J. 6d. t is distributed by the clerk of 

 the parish council in money doles to 

 poor widows, the number not being 

 limited. 



M Jonathan Dobson the elder about 

 1760 left £20 for the poor. This sum 

 also is held in part by the Copp School 

 trustees, but part was lost through the 

 failure of Pedder's Bank, Preston, and 

 i8j. is paid as interest It is distributed 

 in doles at the same time as Gualtrr'i 

 charity. 



87 By his will in 17 19 he left 1 rent- 

 charge of 40J. a year on land called the 



