A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Bishop Cotes's time, had thus conformed to the 

 Elizabethan statutes and continued to hold his bene- 

 fice. In the following year five names appear, two of 

 them being new. In the margin is the record — 'They 

 took oath according to the statute,' i.e. acknowledging 

 the queen's supremacy, the formal act of separation 

 from the ancient sj-stem.' One of the five, John Barber, 

 curate of Rixton, appears to have repented quickly, a 

 note stating that he had ' fled.' In I 565 the rector 

 and two others appeared ; these two were survivors of 

 the 1548 clerg)', one being the schoolmaster.* 



Warrington thus fared better than other parishes in 

 the neighbourhood in maintaining a staff of three 

 clergy, there being only one chapel to serve in addition 

 to the parish church. The school stipend was, of 

 course, a means of supporting one beside the rector. 

 At HoUinfare chapel the new services were probably 

 not kept up regularly. As to the parish church the 

 visitation of 1592 showed that the chancel was ' in 

 great decay '; there were wanting Bible, Communion 

 Book, Jewell's Reply and Apology, a 'comely table 

 covering and table cloth,' and surplice.' An improve- 

 ment no doubt took place as time went on, the Stuart 

 bishops and the puritan ministers of the seventeenth 

 century bringing it about. The later rectors, with 

 one or two exceptions, do not call for remark.' 



There were three chantries established in the parish 

 church, and another at HoUinfare. St. Mary's 

 Chantry was endowed or re-endowed by Sir Thomas 

 Boteler, apparently the Sir Thomas who died in 1522.' 

 By his will, carried out by his son Sir Thomas, he 

 founded also the grammar school, the master of which 

 was the priest at a second chantry.' Richard Delves, 

 rector from i486 to i 527, founded the chantry at the 

 altar of St. Anne.' The chantries were suppressed in 

 1548, but the school was preserved.' 



A house of Austin Friars, the only one in the 

 count)-, was established near the bridge.' Its church. 



the Jesus Church, was probably the popular one, being 

 situated near the centre of the town. The friars had 

 an oratory on the bridge. The property was con- 

 fiscated by Henry VIII and granted to Sir Thomas 

 Holcroft.'" Nothing now remains of the buildings." 

 It is supposed that the church was used for worship, 

 at least occasionally, down to the Civil Wars." 



The site of the house was partly explored in 1886, 

 and from the remains then found a plan of the 

 church was drawn up by Mr. William Owen." It 

 shows a quire 58 ft. long by 24 ft. wide, an oblong 

 crossing typical of a friars' church, with screens to 

 east and west, a nave 86 ft. by 27ft., and a very 

 large north transept 62 ft. by 44 ft. The evidence 

 for some part of the plan is slight, but there seems 

 no doubt that Mr. Owen is correct in his reading 

 of it, which has been confirmed, as to the size of 

 the transept, by recent excavations. The details 

 point to c. 1280 for the earliest work, and the large 

 north transept seems to be little, if at all, later than 

 the rest of the building. The crossing was doubtless 

 surmounted by an octagonal tower as in other friars' 

 houses. Part of the tile pavement of the quire was 

 uncovered, and is illustrated in Mr. Owen's paper, 

 being a very good specimen of its kind, dating prob- 

 ably from the early years of the fourteenth century. 

 The shaped tiles of the central panel are specially 

 interesting, though not so elaborate as those in the 

 well-known Crauden chapel at Ely. Part of this 

 pavement was taken up and is preserved in the War- 

 rington Museum. Of other parts of the friary 

 nothing has been found except the north end of a 

 buttressed building south-east of the church and about 

 I 20 yards distant from it. It is 15 ft. wide, but its 

 length and purpose cannot at present be determined. 

 The principal charity of War- 

 CHyiRlTIES " rington, apart from the grammar 

 school" and the bluecoat school," 



^ It is the only note of this kind in the 

 deanery. 



* These details are from the visitation 

 lists preserved in the Chest. Dioc. Reg. 



• Tram. Hilt, Soc. (New Ser.), x, 191. 

 There had been no perambulations and no 

 monitions for collectors. A register chest 

 and book were wanting also. The mention 

 of the * houseling board 'in 1580 (see above) 

 shows that the altars had been taken awa\'. 



* Sec notes above on Yates and Owen. 

 ' rulor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 219. 



Robert Hall was chaplain ; the income was 

 j^\ loj. 6d. The same chaplain remained 

 to the end ; in 1548 he was described as 

 ' of the age of scvent)- years, a man decrepit 

 and lame of his limbs.* The revenue 

 was derived from various small tenements 

 in Warrington and the neighbourhood ; 

 Raines, C'jnr. (Chet. Soc), 1,59-61. He 

 had a bequest of bot)ks from Randle Pole 

 in 15 + 5, including the Pino, which was 

 * to remain in Master Boteler's chapel at 

 Warrington* ; ibid. p. 60 note. 



That the chantry was of ancient date is 

 at least suggested by the record of 'land 

 called "St. Mary's Land*' belonging to 

 the church of Warrington,' situate on 

 the Heath in 1+65 5 Warr. in 1465, 

 p. 58. A messuage in Church Street was 

 bequeathed by Katherine Fisher to the 

 maintenance of a chaplain celebrating 

 before the cross in the parish church ; ibid. 

 96, 102. Thus there seems to have been 

 a Rood altar. 



• Fa/orfff/. loc. cit. The founders were 

 Sir Thomas Boteler and Dame Margaret, 

 widow of the late Sir Thomas, and his 



executors ; also Sir Richard Bold and other 

 teofFees. The schoolmaster-chaplain was 

 Richard Taylor ; of the gross income of 

 £\^ 2j. 9^J. a distribution to the poor 

 of +21. 9^. was made on Sir Thomas's 

 anniversary. 



This chantry is not mentioned in the 

 text ol Canon Raines' book, loc. cit., but 

 in the notes he gives extracts from the 

 «ill and the foundation deed. The latter 

 provided elaborately for the anniversary 

 to be kept 00 27 April, ' for the souls of 

 the said Sir Thomas and his ancestors and 

 his heirs, and for the soul of Dame Mar- 

 garet Boteler after her decease.' 



Eight priests and ten singmg clerks or 

 scholars were to say the office and mass 

 for the dead ; the bellman was to announce 

 the celebration through the streets, and 

 the clerk was ' to cause three long peals 

 to be rungen with all the bells in the 

 steeple except the sanctus bell.' 



Robert Wright in 1 54.8 had an endow- 

 ment of 21J. id. a year as 'stipendiary' 

 priest of Sir Thomas Boteler's foundation; 

 Raines, ii, 251. 



'• FalrjrEcd.loc.ch. Thegross rental was 

 £7, out of which 20J. was distributed in 

 alms at the anniversary of the founder, and 

 I 21. 4^. paid in rents. William Caterbank 

 was the chaplain in 1535, and Robert 

 Halghton or Aughton paid firstfruits on 

 appointment in 1536; Lanci. and Chei. 

 Recs. ii, 4.07. In 1547 the royal commis- 

 sioners found him celebrating and distri- 

 buting according to his foundation. This 

 chantry had a chalice and eight vestments. 

 Its lands were at Norton in StafFs. and 



Great and Little Worley ; Raines, op. 

 cit. 63-5. In 1 5 5 3 Robert Aughton had a 

 pension of ^5 ; he died about that time ; 

 Ch. Gds. 59. For a grant of St. Anne's 

 Chantry see Pat. 3 1 Eliz. pt. vii. 



The Mascy chapel, of unknown foun- 

 dation, has been treated of by Mrs. A. C. 

 Tempest in Trans. Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), 

 V, 97-104. 



* For an account of the school see 

 article on 'Schools.* 



' The prior in 1400 complained that one 

 Thomas Graner of Manchester had not 

 properly constructed a horologium for him 

 at Warrington ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. i, 

 m. 25*. 



l»Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt.iv (18 June, 

 1540). 



" For the history see 'Religious Houses'; 

 alsoW. Beamont, A^arr. Friary (Chet. Soc). 



Accounts of the glass, tombs, &c., have 

 been published by Messrs. Beamont and 

 Rylands (1878). 



'* Beamont, Warr. Ch. Notes, 131. 



1' Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), v, 175. 



^■*The following details are from the 

 End, Char. Rep, for Warrington 1899, in 

 which is reprinted the report of 1828. 



" The income of the grammar Khool 

 is about j^2,ooo. 



" This charity has an income of ^1,500 

 from real estate and ^536 from invest- 

 ments ; the income exceeds the expendi- 

 ture by over ^300 a year, to that the 

 fund is not so beneficial to the town as it 

 might be. The first acquisition of land 

 was the Gallows Acre in Warrington in 

 1674 ; on this the school was built. 



