A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Institution Name Patron Cause of Vacincy 



13 July, 1721 . Thomas Atherton, M. A.' . . . . Thomas Heys .... d. of R. Hindley 



20 Feb. I 73+5 • Thomas Plumbe, B.A.' .... John Plumbe .... d. of T. Atherton 



20 Dec. 1769 . William Plumbe, B. A.' .... Thomas Plumbe . . . d. of T. Plumbe 



6 June, 1786 . George Vanbrugh, LL.B.' . . . Thomas Plumbe . . . d. of W. Plumbe 



15 Aug. 1834 William Henry Boulton, M..A. ' . . R. Boulton res. of G. Vanhrugh 



4. Aug. 1885 . Charles Warren Markham, M.A." Sir R. Tempest-Tempest, d. of W. H. Boulton 



24 Nov. 1896 . Roger Francis Markham, M. A. . . Sir R. Tempest-Tempest . d. of C. W. Markham 



The story of the rectory in the sixteenth and mediately afterwards it appears as if Moorcroft lost the 



seventeenth centuries is of some interest. Brian rectory. From his later history he seems to have been 



Moorcroft, presented in 1528 by the administrators a Protestant, and was perhaps already married, but 



of the estate of James Bradshagh, found his title his removal was due to the right of patronage reas- 



challenged by Master Thomas Donington,^ who serted on behalf of the crown." Kirkby received the 



alleged a presentation by William Browne and others, benefice, but Moorcroft must have been reinstated on 



in virtue of a deed of James Bradshagh's dated i 5 1 5. the accession of Elizabeth." 



Another dispute occurred after Brian's death, for in In 1563 the same names occur as in 1554, but 



'535 William Bradshagh had granted the next pre- Rector Moorcroft was at Windsor, and the curate 



sentation to George Kirkby of Aughton and others, being ill had to be excused. The rector made his ap- 



and less than a year afterwards he sold the patronage pearance in 1565, but the curate was again sick," and 



to Bartholomew Hesketh, who also became lord of he was buried in the following February." 

 the manor ; ' and Thomas Kirkby was presented by John Nutter, rector of Sefton, &c., was presented 



the former and Edward Moorcroft by the latter.' by the queen in February, 1576-7;" probably he 



In 1 541-2 the clergy at Aughton, besides the paid little attention to this small parish. In 1592 it 



rector, who may have been non-resident, were his was reported at the visitation that there was no 



curate and two others, paid by Thomas Starkie and ' sufficient ' Bible ; the first tome of the Homiliei 



Alice Hervey.'" At the visitation in 1554 Edward and Jewell's Apology and Reply were lacking; there 



Moorcroft was still rector, and Thomas Walsh was were no perambulations, and no collectors for the 



his curate ; the other priests had disappeared. Im- poor.'^ 



* Thomas Heys, executor of the last Thomas Garrett, the incumbent of Altcar. dog had a matter against them he would 



rector, presented Thomas Atherton, vicar Mr. Vanbrugh died in 1847. His bene- take part with the dog!' See Pal, of 



of Chipping, who resigned that benefice, faction is described among the charities. Lane, Plea R. 146, m, 5 ; Sessional Papers, 



The rector was buried at Aughton 15 Nov, * Richard Boulton, of Olive Mount, 20 Hen, VHI, bdle, 2 ; and Assumption, 



'734 i *'" proved at Chester I7H- Wavertree, as patron for this turn, pre- 21 Hen, VIII, bdle, 3, 



^ Thomas Plumbe was the second son sented his son William Henry, The new Brian Moorcroft was aged fifty-seven 



of the patron. He was of Brasenose Coll. rector was educated at Trinity Coll. in 1 542, according to depositions in the 



Oif. ; B.A. 1723 ; ToitcTyA/umni Oxoti. Oxf. ; M.A. 1834. In 1840 he added Starkie case. 



He was buried in the church 2 Dec. a piece of the glebe to the churchyard. ^ Aughlon D. (Patchett), n. 44 ; Pal, 



1769. He was also rector of Mobberley, In 1867 Christ Church was founded, of Lane. Plea R, 162, m, 2, 15. 



Cheshire, from 1733 till his death, being built largely by the money provided ' The Caveat to the bishop on behalf 



» William Plumbe, brother of the by .Mr, Boulton and his friends. He was of the Heskeths is entered in the Lich- 



patron, was also educated at Brasenose ; an Evangelical in his views, of a genial field registers, xiii-xiv, fol. 8. 



B.A. 1767 J ibid. In 1785 a certificate and benevolent disposition, and the The king also intervened, presenting 



was issued for the sequestration of the parishioners, on the completion of his Thomas Kirkby on a claim that the 



rectory for a debt of ^840, which James fifty years' ministry, subscribed for a new patronage belonged to the duchy of Lan- 



Clegg had recovered against Mr. Plumbe ; clock for the church tower and a silver caster, and that Henry VI had presented 



Newstead, y^B^Aftjn. A suit in which the communion service for the church. He one Thomas Litheriand to the rectory; 



rector was plaintiff (1777) seems to be was a justice of the peace for the county. Duchy of Lane, Lib, Edw. VI, n, 23, 



commemorated by some verses, 'The He died in April, 1885. m. id.; Duchy of Lane, Pleadings, 



luxuriant Plumb-tree lopp'd,' m the same • Charles Warren Markham, of Mag- Edw. VI, xxiv, K. 2 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea 



volume i p. 59, &c. In 1776 the rector daleneCoU. Camb. (M.A. i860), had R. 188, m. 9. No hint is to be found in 



bought a Presbyterian chapel standing in held the benefices of Owston, Tong, and the Lichfield registers of this right, or of 



Temple Court in Liverpool, known as the All Saints, Saxby, in succession. He was the existence of Thomas Litheriand. 



Octagon; he named it St. Katherme's, also a justice of the peace for Lindsey Thomas Kirkby is no doubt the chantry 



and officiated there till his death, being a in Lincolnshire. He died in 1896. The priest of Sefton who occurs in several 



popular preacher ; Brookes, Lnerf„ol, present rector, of Trinity Coll. Camb. lawsuits ; Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 



350-1. He died 25 May, 1-S6, at Fare- (M.A. 1894), is his son. i, ii3n. 

 ham, Hants. ' Thomas Donington, B. Deer, was 10 Clergy List (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and 



George Vanbrugh, of Queens' Coll, canon of York and Southwell; he died Ches ) p 17 



Camb. (LL.B, 1783), became one of in 1532, See Le Neve, Fasti, iii, ,89, For' the ornaments of the church in 



the kings preachers ,n 1812 and pre- ^z 3,, cb. Goods (Chet, Soc), pp, 



bendary of WeUs in 1825; he was also Donington was formally instituted to ito-i2 



^h.'^Luh " ^R^l,''" °l w' n"""^' "'' ,'^"^'"°° ''>• C"<iinal Wolsey, as legate • a n Lib, Pat. Edw, VI and Mary, xxiii, 



tneH thl^ I ^\ . /• I- r latere,' and had, it would appear, obtained fol, .A, The cause of vacancy was slated 



h5 .o„M r°^' ,^"^1 ^^^°? u' P"""""". but on the Feast of the to be the death of Brian Moorcroft, the 



he could not conscientiously retain the Assumption, when prepared to say mass claim of Edward being ignored, 



^aXT^ ' u"t" 'I" /""• r'^ r"* "*" ^'°"^ °^ ^°''' "" °""='' " Moorcroft, howevef, is said to have 



whichhewas unable, through advancing by Brian Moorcroft. The latter was 'refused to appear' at the Visit. in .559 ; 



fn^f; th''"?' r ?.: ■• • '""^ ''•^P'"" °' ^'^"' Molyn.u., rector of Gee, Eli.. Clergy. Perhaps hhad'n'o 



ing in Ais act an instance of disinterested- Sefton, described as a great ' ambrasiater ' been actually refnstated, ^ 



ness and of personal sacrifice to prmciple of inquests and juries, and a 'right "Visit Lists at Chest 



in strict accordance with the liberality troublous man, meddling more to worldly » Aughton Reg Thomas Walsh was 



and benevolence by which his whole life matters and causes than ghostly,' and a aged 45 in ,553 ^ 



had been distingi^ished. "The parishioners maintainer of Moorcroft in this affair. 1* The reasons for the vacancy and the 



foT/n o'f thdresTe'em •' L^:Sc " ' ""'' '/'"" TV''^ °™'"^''" ^^ ^ Presentation by thrcrolnareTot^ven 



2TFeb is I Another eT<f'"' Trt\'".^ ""'' ^'' ='^""' '^^"""'^ a resignation by Edward Moorcroft seeml 



ta ned in a poem tailed 'The T T "-T ^"""' ^"^ " P""'"'" 8™''^'= "gainst a probable cause for the former. 



tamed ,n a poem called The Pastor, by the rectors of Sefton and Aughton : ' if a >« Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), x, .84, 



290 



