A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the arms ofStandishof Standish and Legh of Lyme.' 

 In the roof is a beam now doing duty as a purlin, 

 inscribed thus : — 



[Her]e . . . maister dothh, and mistris both accorde : 

 with godly mindes and zealous hartes to serve the 

 livinge lorde. Anno. i[5]97. Henry Wesle.' 



The landholders contributing to the subsidy levied 

 about 1556 were Sir Peter Legh and Thomas 

 Butler.' Their successors in l6z8 were Sir Peter 

 Legh and Thomas Ireland.' 



The chapel of Burtonwood was erected in 1605—6 

 upon land granted by Thomas Bold of Bold, who by 

 a deed of feofiinent dated 27 September, 1605, con- 

 veyed about I acre of land to feoffees, whom he 

 directed to erect thereon a house of prayer, sufficiently 

 to uphold the same, and to choose a fit person to 

 read divine service and ' teach Grammar Scheie ' there 

 according to the intent of the last will of Thomas 

 Darbyshire of Burtonwood, yeoman, dated 23 January, 

 1602. This testator had bequeathed £60 to trustees 

 for the purpose of founding a chapel at Windybank 

 in Burtonwood. The chapel was built at the com- 

 mon charge of the township,' but in 1650 it was 

 described as inconveniently situated for the use of the 

 township. William Baggaley was the incumbent, 

 elected by the inhabitants ; ' he had £^0 a year by 

 order of the committee of sequestration made in 1646, 

 when there were found to be i 20 families resident in 

 the township.' The report of 1650 was adverse to 

 him, and he was soon removed by the Independents, 

 who brought in Samuel Mather, eldest son of Richard 

 Mather, born at Much Woolton, and the author of 

 in Irenicum.^ Mather was removed in 1662.' The 

 present church of St. Michael is a plain building of 

 brick. The register dates from 1668. The benefice 

 is a vicarage, in the gift of the rector of Warrington. 



In 1690 Peter Gaskill's dwelling, known as the Red 

 House, was licensed as a meeting place for dissenters.'" 

 A Wesleyan church was built in 1850. 



The Passionist Fathers of Sutton in 1886 built the 

 school-chapel of St. Paul of the Cross, the first mass 

 being said on 31 October. In 1898 a resident secular 

 priest was appointed to the mission, and three years 

 later an iron church was opened." 



POULTON WITH FEARNHEAD 



Polton, 1093-4, 1246; Pulton, 1147, I155; 

 Poulton, 1285. 



Femeheued, 1317, 1382-3; Femyhede, 1414; 

 Femehead, I 530. 



Poulton with Fcirnhead is situated in an un- 

 interesting country, flat and devoid of trees. There 

 is nothing picturesque enough to induce the passer-by 

 to revisit the neighbourhood. There are open fields 

 where various crops are cultivated, including potatoes, 

 turnips, clover, and com. On the south the River 

 Mersey forms the boundary, taking a sharp turn here, 

 so that the flat marshy pastures are surrounded by the 

 river on three sides, whilst on the north the canal- 

 like 'cut' of the Mersey Navigation makes this pro- 

 montory of land to all intents and purposes an island. 

 The geological formation consists entirely of the 

 upper mottled sandstone of the bunter series of the 

 new red sandstone. The soil is chiefly alluvial in the 

 south and of clay in the north. 



The two portions of the township are united for 

 all purposes except the maintenance of the roads. 

 Poulton, on the south, contains 703 statute acres. It 

 is traversed by the main road from Manchester to 

 Warrington, and by the Liverpool, Warrington, and 

 Manchester section of the Cheshire Lines Committee's 

 railway, with a station at Padgate. Poulton village 

 stands upon the old highway between Warrington 

 and Bolton, formerly known as ' Padgate,' which has 

 given its name to the brook dividing the township 

 from Warrington. Fearnhead, on the north, was 

 formerly described as a hamlet of Poulton, but in the 

 thirteenth century was part of Woolston." It contains 

 an area of 616J statute acres," with a group of houses 

 at Fearnhead Cross on the highway last referred to. 

 The population of the joint township in 1901 was 

 1,428 persons.'* 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



Industrial schools were erected here in 1 88 1 by 

 the guardians of the Warrington Union. 



The great tithes belong to Leycester's Hospital, 

 Warwick." 



POULTON was given by Count 



MJNORS Roger of Poitou in 1093 or 1094 

 to the abbey of St. Peter of Shrews- 

 bury.'" It had formed part of the count's demesne 

 between Ribble and Mersey." The gift was duly 

 confirmed by Henry I, and about the year 1 147 by 

 Ranulf, earl of Chester,'* and in 1 155 by Henry II.'» 

 At a subsequent date, probably before the end of the 

 twelfth century, the manor appears to have been ac- 

 quired from the abbey of Shrewsbury by Robert 



^ The quartcrings are : — 



A. 1, Standish of Standi«h. 2, Standish, 

 ancient. 3, Radcliffc of Chaderton. 4, 

 Chaderton. 5, Harrington of Westleigh. 

 6, English. 7, Urswick, 8, Verdon. 



B. I, Legh (Corona coat). 2, Legh of 

 Lyme. 3, Butler of Merton. 4, Croft 

 of Dalton. 5, Haydock of Haydock. 6 

 and 7, BoydelL 8, Walton of Ulnea 

 Walton. Coat of augmentation in pre- 

 tence. 



> The will of Henry Wcstle of Sutton 

 was proved in 1613. 



' Mascy of Rixton D. ; the values were 

 respectively jJ6o and ,f66 133. 4J. 



■* Norris D. (B. M.). 



' Inq. ad pios usus taken in 1627 (Harl. 

 MS. 1727, fol. 49), quoted by Baines, 

 I^ncs. (cd. 1836), iii, 684 ; Gastrell, Not. 

 Cesrr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 23-. Edward Ken- 

 nckwas 'reader' at Burtonwood in 1609 • 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxU, 298. The 

 buildmg was not consecrated ; ibid. 198. 



' Commonwealth Ch. Surti. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 52. 



' Plundered Mim. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 92. 



* Wood, Athenae Oxon. ii, 357 ; Calamy, 

 Uonconf. Mem. ii, 355 ; Halley, Lana. 

 Puritanism^ iij 182. 



= Nightingale, Lanci. Nonconf. vi, 76. 

 In 1 68 1 John Jackson was licensed to be 

 schoolmaster and reader of prayers at 

 Burtonwood, being ordained deacon 18 

 Dec. i68i ; Visit. Bk. 1691, Dioc. Reg. 

 at Chester. A Mr. Jackson was school- 

 master here in 1 648-50 ; Admisi. to Gon-v. 

 and Caius Coll. Camh, 230. An account of 

 the chapel and its ministers will be found 

 in Beamont's fVarr. Ch. Notes, 213-24. 



" Nightingale, op. cit. vi, 265. 



'1 Li'verpool Cath. Ann. 



^ See the boundaries of Houghton in 

 Winwick as described in charters quoted 

 in the account of that township. It should 

 be noticed, however, that as late as 1341 



328 



Poulton did not appear as a separate town- 

 ship ; Inq. Non. (Rec. Com.), 40. In 

 1556 the combined townships are called 

 'Woolston with Fearnhead,' but shortly 

 afterwards Woolston and Poulton had 

 separate constables ; Beamont, Lords of 

 IVarr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 470, 472. 



" The Census Report of 1901 gives the 

 combined area as 1,232, including I5acret 

 of inland water, instead of 1,3194 acres. 



" Including Paddington and Padgate. 



" The tithes of Woolston and Poulton, 

 formerly belonging to the abbey of Shrews- 

 bury, were in 1582 granted to Edmund 

 Downing and Peter Ashton ; Pat. 24 Eliz. 

 pt. X. They were then granted to Robert 

 Dudley, carl of Leicester, who gave them 

 to the hospital; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), 

 iii, 6;8. 



" Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 270 (from 

 Shrewsbury Reg.). 



" Ibid. 272. i» Ibid. 277. 



" Ibid. 284. 



