A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of the gcntr) remained attached to the Roman 

 Catholic religion ; and Woolston and Rixton pro- 

 vided refuges for the missionary priests in the times 

 of persecution. How the townsmen of Warrington 

 were affected is not so clear. After the Restora- 

 tion congregations of Presbyterians and Quakers were 

 formed, and have continued to the present. James I 

 visited Sir Thomas Ireland at Bewsey in 1 6 1 7 ' in his 

 progress from Scotland southwards. 



The Civil War necessarily affected Warrington 

 through the town's situation on the road to the north, 

 which made it 'the principal key of Lancashire.' 

 Hitherto the people of the district had knovni of war 

 only at a distance,' now they had personal experi- 

 ence of it. The earl of Derby in September, 1642, 

 marched through the town with 4,000 men for his 

 futile attack on Manchester ; ' and at the end of 

 November he was stationed at Warrington, which he 

 made a garrison, in order to secure the passage of the 

 Mersey.' 



Sir William Brereton was defeated on 3 April, 

 1643, at Stockton Heath when advancing to attack 

 Warrington.' Sir William afterwards crossed the 

 Meriey and attacked the town from the west ; but 

 Lord Derby began to set the town on fire, on which 

 the parliamentary forces desisted." Colonel Edward 

 Norris, eldest son of the lord of Speke, was left in 

 command of the king's garrison. He was attacked on 

 22 May by Sir William Brereton, and after six days' 

 siege gave up the town, leaving arms, ammunition, 

 and provisions behind. On Trinity Sunday, 28 May, 

 Sir George Booth, a parliamentary commander, and 



lord of the manor, made a formal entry into the town, 

 and was received by the people with the usual tokens 

 of joy.' The townspeople wxre treated with great 

 leniency by the victors." 



The next five years were uneventful, but the duke 

 of Hamilton's Scottish force on being defeated at 

 Winwick 19 August, 1648, retreated to Warrington, 

 where 4,000 surrendered upon quarter for life — arms, 

 ammunition, and horses being relinquished.' There 

 were skirmishes near the town in 1651 when Charles 11 

 with the Scottish army forced the bridge on their 

 march to Worcester,'" and in August, 1659, part of 

 Sir George Booth's troops, after their defeat at 

 Winnington, surrendered at Warrington to the parlia- 

 mentary garrison." 



The rising of 1745 occasioned the partial destruc- 

 tion of the bridge in order to prevent the Young 

 Pretender from crossing the Mersey there. Some 

 Highlanders are said to have been captured near 

 Rixton, at which point the duke of Cumberland 

 crossed the Mersey in his pursuit." In 1 798 a body 

 of volunteers was raised, on threats of a French inva- 

 sion, but their only active service was in suppressing 

 a riot in Bridge Street in 1799." In 1859 a corps ot 

 volunteers was formed ; it is now known as the 

 I st V.B. Prince of Wales \'olunteers (South L.m- 

 cashire Regiment). 



In 1693 an inquiry was held at Warrington as to 

 certain lands and moneys devoted to 'superstitious 

 uses,' Lord Molyneux, Sir William Gerard of Ashton, 

 William Standish of Woolston, and other gentlemen 

 of the neighbourhood having been reported to the 



1 Metcalfe, Boo* of Knights, 171. 



' The BotelerB had been a military 

 race, and their tenants and dependants 

 would accompany them to the wars. They 

 had sided with Simon de Montfort in the 

 Barons' War, and among the miraculous 

 cures attributed to that popular hero 

 several were reported by Warrington 

 people; Beamont, PVarr. Ch. Noirs (quoting 

 app. to Rishanger, Cbrort. Camd. Soc). 

 The market charter of 1277 was granted 

 to William le Boteler at Rhuddlan ; Sir 

 U'illiam Boteler accompanied Hen. V to 

 France and died at Harfleur in Sept. i+lj;; 

 Sir Thomas Boteler fought at Flodden in 

 151;, and John Mascy of Rixton was 

 kilted at the same battle. 



» Civil fVar Traai (Chct. Soc), 6+, 

 ■66 ; if'ar in Land. (Chet. Soc), 7. 



< Burghall, Civil li'ar in Chts. (Rec. 

 5oc. Lanes, and Chcs.), 239 ; War in Land. 

 15. In the following year many Royal- 

 ists, driven from other parts of the county, 

 took refuge in Warrington ; ibid. 39. This 

 accounts for its description as ' the last 

 hold the Papists had ' in the county ; Civil 

 h^ar Tracts, 101. 



* This was one of the few successes 

 gained by Lord Derby ; it is alleged that 

 it was partly due to the ruse of dressing 

 some of his men in the same style as those 

 of Brereton' s force ; see Civil War Tracts, 

 95, 135 ; also Bur^hal\, Civil War in Ches. 



44- 



^ It was only two days after his repulse 

 at Stockton Heath that Sir William Brere- 

 ton, having received help from Sir John 

 Seaton, who had just captured Wigan, 

 * beset Warrington and fiercely assaulted 

 it, having gotten Sankey bridge, a fair 

 house of one Mr. Bridgcman's, and some 

 of the outer walls, and within a short 

 space of time [they] were likely to have 

 the whole ; which the carl perceiving set 



the middle of the town on fire, protest- 

 ing he would burn it all ere they should 

 have it ; which the Parliament forces per- 

 ceiving, seeing the fire still increasing, to 

 save it from utter desolation, withdrew 

 their forces after they had been there 

 three days and more, and so departed for 

 that time'; Burghall, 45. To this assault 

 probably belongs the story of the attack 

 by the Manchester force, which, marching 

 through Cheshire, crossed at HoUinfarc 

 and made a strong assault on Warrington 

 church and the works about it ; * but the 

 soldiers v^'ithin, defending it with man- 

 hood and great valour,' the attacking forces 

 withdrew, having lost some men ; War in 

 Lanes. 31. 



' Burghall, 56-7 ; Civil War Tracts, 

 101. The terms of surrender were that 

 * the captain and commanders should de- 

 part every man with his horse and pistols, 

 and all the soldiers to pack away unarmed 

 and leave all their arms, ammunition, and 

 provisions behind them.' Shortness of 

 supplies and a defeat of the Cavaliers in 

 Yorkshire, which destroyed the hope of 

 relief, were the reasons for the surrender. 

 Some documents relating to this siege and 

 the later fortunes of the town were dis- 

 covered in 1 85 1 or 1852 in a house at 

 Houghton Green near Winwick ; two of 

 them are requisitions of provisions and 

 men by Colonel Norris, in view of the 

 expected attack ; Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 

 .8-32. 



^ But few Warrington cases appear in the 

 Royalist Comp, Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.). John Bate, who had gone to re- 

 side in the enemy's quarters, but had 

 since taken the National Covenant, was 

 allowed to compound in 1646; i, 152; 

 as also was Anne Fearnley, a widow, 

 whose delinquency was similar ; ii, 

 314. 



^ Cromwell reported : *Wc prosecuted 

 them home to Warrington town ; where 

 they possessed the bridge, which had a 

 strong barricade and work upon it, for- 

 merly made very defensive. As soon at 

 we came thither, I received a message 

 from General BailHe desiring some capitu- 

 lation. To which I yielded. Consider- 

 ing the strength of the pass, and that I 

 could not go over the River Mersey 

 within ten miles of Warrington with the 

 army, I gave him these terms ; That he 

 should surrender himself and all his officers 

 and soldiers prisoners of war, with all his 

 arms and ammunition and horses, to me; 

 I giving quarter for life and promising 

 civil usage. Which accordingly is done ; 

 and the commissioners deputed by me 

 have received and are receiving all the 

 arms and ammunition ; which will be, as 

 they tell me, about 4,000 complete arms ; 

 and as many prisoners : and thus you 

 have their infantry totally ruined,' Baillie 

 was acting under the express orders of the 

 duke of Hamilton ; Ci'vil War Tracti, 

 287-8. 



10 fVar in Lanes. 7 1 j General Lambert 

 was hanging on the flank of the king's 

 army, but unable to check Its progress. 

 A few Scots were captured and sent to 

 Chester, and sentenced to be shot \ Civil 

 War Tracts, 309. After the defeat at 

 Worcester many of the scattered Royal- 

 ists found their way north by Hollin- 

 fare, Warrington Bridge being well guarded ; 

 ibid. 



" Ormerod, Ches. i, p. Ixv ; the battle 

 was fought 19 Aug. 



^2 W. Beamont, Trans. Hist. Soc. ii, 

 184. 



^ Trans. Hist. Soc. vi, 22 ; with a plate 

 showing the uniform and equipmenL For 

 the volunteers of 1803 see Local Gleanirp 

 Lanes, and Ches. ii, 217. 



306 



