A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



south aisle wall, the latest piece of work in the church, 

 the window mouldings showing distinct Renaissance 

 detail, and it seems that the windows of the Scaris- 

 brick chapel were altered about the same time, i.e. in 

 the second half of the sixteenth centurj-.' 



The church is built throughout of wrought stone, 

 which has been considerably renewed from time to 

 time,' and the chancel contains no trace of mediaeval 

 ritual arrangements. The twelfth-century window 

 in the north wall is 2 ft. lojin. wide inside, with a 

 recessed opening flanked by jamb shafts with bases 

 and scalloped capitals, both modern, carrying a semi- 

 circular arch moulded with a keeled roll between 

 hollow chamfers. It is i o^ in. wide at the outer 

 face with a small bevel at the external angle. The 

 south arcade of the chancel, of late thirteenth-century 

 date, has octagonal shafts with moulded capitals and 

 bases and arches of two plain chamfered orders. In 

 the vestry north of the chancel is a single square- 

 headed light of the fifteenth centur)', looking west- 

 ward into the north aisle, and retaining its original 

 iron stanchions and saddlebars. It has never been 

 glazed, and was always internal, as now, and probably 

 belonged to the mediaeval vestry. The south-east 

 or Derby chapel is enclosed on the north and west 

 by a plain seventeenth-century wooden screen with 

 turned balusters and wrought-iron cresting of fleurs- 

 de-lis. It has a large east window of seven lights, 

 with a low four-centred arch and a transom at the 

 springing line, and plain uncusped lights in the head. 

 In this chapel are three effigies, placed here at a 

 recent restoration, and said to be those of Thomas, 

 first earl of Derby, and his two wives. 



The Scarisbrick chapel, west of the Derby chapel, 

 retains no ancient features ; the two windows on the 

 south show detail similar to those in the Derby 

 chapel, while their tracery is of an earlier type, but in 

 both the stonework is modem. 



The south aisle wall, of eighteenth-century date, 

 retains its plinth and parapet, and the jambs of a 

 blocked doorway at the east end ; the three windows 

 are modem three-light insertions in fifteenth-century 

 style. The north aisle is completely modern, though 

 apparently following the lines of an older building. 

 A few fragments of old work are built into the inner 

 face of its north wall ; a piece of a crocketed sixteenth- 

 century label, and what looks like part of the coarsely 

 worked base of a clustered pier.' Both nave arcades 

 are modern, of fifteenth-centur}- style, and replace the 

 sixteenth-century arcade with octagonal pillars men- 

 tioned above. 



The two towers standing together at the west end 

 of the church form an unusual and not altogether 

 happy composition. The south-west tower is of a 

 type found elsewhere in the neighbourhood, and 

 stands in point of date between the similar towers of 

 Aughton and HalsaU. In plan somewhat irregular, 

 as having been fitted to the lines of an existing build- 

 ing, it is, roughly speaking, a square of I 8 ft. at the 

 base, with buttresses of 4 ft. projection at the external 



angles and a high moulded plinth. There is a vice 

 in the south-west angle. The entrance doorway is 

 on the south side, and is now covered by a modern 

 porch ; the north and east sides have open arches 

 toward the church. Over the entrance doorway is a 

 two-light window of original date with a quatrcfoil 

 in the head. The second stage of the tower forms 

 the transition from square to octagon, and the third 

 or belfry stage is octagonal with two-light windows 

 with quatrefoils in the head in the four cardinal 

 faces, surmounted by a plain parapet, from within 

 which rises the plain octagonal stone spire. The 

 second or western tower is exceedingly massive, 38 ft. 

 square at the base with walls 6 ft. 6 in. thick. It is 

 said to have been built to contain the bells from a 

 suppressed religious house, probably Burscough, and 

 its date (1540-50) and great size go some way to- 

 wards confirming the tradition. It is clear that about 

 this time a tower larger than the existing south-west 

 tower was needed, whether for taking a large ring of 

 bells lately acquired, or for some other reason ; and 

 as the south-west tower was not pulled down, the 

 new one could not be built in the normal position of 

 a west tower, i.e. with its axis on the centre line of 

 the nave, unless its diameter were to be greatly re- 

 duced. This was, as it seems, impossible, which sug- 

 gests that the size was determined by some pre-existing 

 cause, and therefore the tower was built as far to the 

 south as might be, its south wall close up to the 

 north-west buttress of the older tower, and its eastern 

 arch springing with no respond from the inner face 

 of the south wall, quite out of centre with the square 

 of the tower ; but in spite of this the north aisle was 

 overlapped to half its width. The details of the work 

 are coarse, as might be expected ; there is a high 

 moulded plinth, cut away on either side of the west 

 doorway in a manner which suggests that there has 

 been at one time a wooden porch over the entrance. 

 The west doorway has continuous mouldings. In the 

 ground stage of the tower are three-light windows on 

 north and south, the mullions of the north window 

 being modern. There is a vice in the north-east 

 angle, entered from the east, which is the original 

 arrangement ; but before the last restoration there 

 seems to have been an entrance from the west 

 through the jamb of the north window. In the 

 belfry stage are two three-light windows on each face, 

 with mullions intersecting in the head ; a plain em- 

 battled parapet completes the elevation. 



There are a Scarisbrick brass ■* and some Stanley 

 monuments ; also monuments of John Ashton of 

 Penketh, who died in 1707, and Alice wife of the 

 Hon. and Rev. John Stanley, who died in 1737, and 

 others. The registers date from 1557.^ 



There is a peal of eight bells.* It is supposed that 

 some or all of them came from Burscough Priory, but 

 that the inscriptions have been lost in re-casting, with 

 the exception of that on the treble. Nos. 4 to 7 are 

 the work of Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester, and 

 2, 3 and the tenor of Thomas Rudhall. In the spire 



^ Sir Stephen Glynne (op. cit. 9) gives 

 the date 1572. 



* Part of an early cross-shaft is built 

 into the outer face of the east wall of the 

 chancel, towards the north side. 



* Near these is a brass plate with an 

 inscription of 1661, recording the use of 

 part of the aisle as a burial-place of the 

 Mossock family for 385 years 5 a similar 



plate is to be seen in the north aisle of 

 Aughton Church. 



■* Thornely, Lanes. Brasses, 81. 



* A volume containing the entries from 

 1 5 57- 1 626 has been printed by the Lanes. 

 Parish Register Soc. 



* The inscriptions are as follows : 

 Treble, I S de B armig ct E ux me fecerunt 

 in honore Trinitatis R B 1497 ; also 



242 



the date of rc-casting, 1576 ; 2, 1774; 



3. Peace and good neighbourhood, 1774 ; 



4. Wm. Grice p'sh cleric A R 1714 ; 



5. Mr. Henry Hclsby (fWelsby) A R 

 17 '4 ; 6. Archippus Kippax rector (vicar) 

 A R i7'4i /-■ Beni Fletcher, Thos. Moore- 

 crntt, Thos. Aspinwall, Churchwardens 

 1714; Tenor, Thomas Rudhall, Glocester, 

 Founder 17 "4. 



