A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Hawarden, widow, daughter of Bryan Lea ; Ralph 

 Howard, tanner ; John Longworth, whose wife 

 Margery was a daughter of William Holland ; and 

 Thurstan Scott.' 



The largest contributors to the land tax ol 1787 

 were Mrs. Bold and Bamber Gascoyne, together pay- 

 ing a fourth of the whole, Philip AfBack, and the 

 Ravenhead Copper Co. 



A dispute concerning a plot called Bold's Acre and 

 WIndyates in Sutton, between Richard Bold and 

 Peter Stanley of Bickerstaffe, has some points of 

 interest. Stanley claimed in right of his wife, heir 

 to the Athertons of Bickerstaffe. The plot was 

 owned half by one party and half by the other, ' a 

 great byland or sparth ' being the mere between the 

 two portions. William Watmough, aged seventy, 

 deposed that the lane called Chester Lane, leading 

 from Sutton to Chester, was at the east end of Bold's 

 Acre, and that Ritherope brook \vas at the west end 

 of it. There had formerly been a marl pit on the 

 Bold share. Richard Dyke had dwelt with John 

 Bold, the former occupier of GifForth House, to which 

 Windyates was appurtenant, and when he was sent to 

 plough • he was warned not to hurt the balk, as it 

 was a mere between two lords' lands." 



In connexion with the Established Church, the 

 following places of worship have been erected in re- 

 cent times : — St. Nicholas's Church was built by 

 King's College, Cambridge, and a parish formed in 

 I 848, the patronage being vested in the college.' A 

 chapel of ease. All Saints', was erected in 1 893. 

 St. John the Evangelist's, Ravenhead, was built in 

 1870 ' ; the patron is the vicar of St. Helens. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a church in Sutton, 

 and the United Methodists one at Marshall's Cross. 



The Congregational church at Peasley Cross was 

 begun in 1 864-5 ; in 1869 it was associated with 

 the St. Helens congregation, and the two have since 

 been worked together.' 



The Salvation Army has barracks. 



It is possible that in the severest periods of the per- 

 secution of the Roman Catholic Church ' mass was said 

 at times in the houses of the Hollands and others ; but 

 the earliest distinct notice is that of a chapel at Raven- 

 head Hall, in 1 7 16.' A mission w.is begun at Peasley 

 Cross in 1862, St. Joseph's Church being built in 

 1878. The Passionists have a house at Sutton called 

 St. Anne's Retreat. In 1 849, John Smith, a native 

 of the place who became a successful railway con- 

 tractor, built a church here, and added land for a 

 monastery, which he gave to Fr. Dominic, who intro- 

 duced this order into England. The church was 

 opened in 1S53, one of the sermons being preached 

 by Fr. Ignatius Spencer.' 



ECCLESTON 



Eccleston, 1280 ; Ecdiston, 1285. 

 Eccleston is situated between two extremes, the 

 green woods of Knowsley Park on the west, and the 



smoke-laden environs of St. Helens on the east. 

 The country is of an undulating nature and princi- 

 pally dedicated to agriculture, fields of rich and fertile 

 soil being predominant. The crops raised arc 

 chiefly potatoes, oats, and wheat on a clayey soil 

 which alternates with peat. Eccleston village lies in 

 a hollow, and an adjacent colliery shows that farming 

 is not the only source of revenue of the inhabitants. 

 The geological formation consists mainly of the mid- 

 dle coal measures with a small area of the gannistcr 

 beds on the western side in Knowslej- Park j whilst 

 the lower mottled sandstone and the pebble beds of 

 the bunter series (new red sandstone) occur between 

 Eccleston Hall and Hanging Bridge on the south, 

 Thatto Heath and Eccleston Four Lane Ends on the 

 west. 



This township has now been partially absorbed 

 into the borough of St. Helens. Originally it con- 

 tained 3,569 acres ; at present only 2,632.' The 

 hall stands near the centre of the old township, with 

 Gillar's Green on the west, Glest in the north-west 

 corner, and Scholes in the south-east. Thatto Heath, 

 on the eastern boundary, extends into Sutton. 



The principal road, along which runs the electric 

 tramway, goes from Prescot, north-east, to St. Helens. 

 Close to it, just outside Prescot, at a level of 260 ft., 

 is a reservoir or balancing station on the Vyrnwy- 

 Liverpool pipe line, and further on is the old school- 

 house. One road branches off to the north, passing 

 through Gillar's Green and Eccleston village to 

 Windle ; and another to the east, by Portico to 

 Thatto Heath, into Sutton. The county lunatic 

 asylum, though named from Rainhill, is in this 

 township, to the south side of the road last men- 

 tioned. The London and North Western Com- 

 pany's line from Liverpool to St. Helens crosses the 

 southern corner of the township, with two stations 

 called Eccleston Park and Thatto Heath. 



The population of the reduced township was 3,429 

 in I go I. 



The parish council consists of eight members, four 

 being chosen by each of the wards — Portico and 

 Gillars' Green. 



The colliery is at Gillar's Green, and there are 

 several old shafts and quarries within the township. 

 There is a brewery at Portico, and a pottery near 

 Prescot, while glass, watchmakers' tools, and mineral 

 waters are also manufactured. 



Copper-smelting was established at Green Bank, 

 close to St. Helens, about 1770, the ore coming 

 from Anglesey;'" but these works were closed in 1815, 

 being succeeded by others in the neighbourhood. 

 Cotton factories also were established, but had to be 

 discontinued in 1840 owing to the fumes of the 

 chemical works." 



A cross used to stand in the old schoolyard." 

 The schoolhouse has the date 1634 above the door. 

 The late Richard John Seddon, premier of New 

 Zealand, was born there in 1845 ; he was the son 

 of Thomas Seddon and Jane Lindsay." 



' Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non- 

 jurors, 97. See Piccope MSS.iii, 34.6, 386. 



^ Duchy of Laac. Depos. Phil, and 

 Mary, lixrii, B. i. Hugh Holt was pre- 

 sent when John Bold took Gifforth House, 

 paying down 4J. 'in name of a God's 

 penny.' The depositions were taken at 

 Winwick in April, 1556. 



" Lond. Gaz.. 17 Aug. 1848. 



■* ibid. 19 Aug. 1870. 



* Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iv, 142. 



° Thirty names appear on the recusant 

 roll in 1626, as fined in Sutton ; Lay 

 Subs. 131/318. 



'i Gillow, op. cit. iv, 284. 



^ Liverpool Cai/i. Almanac, igoi. Fathers 

 Dominic and Spencer are buried in one of 

 the chapels. 



° 2,632, including 58 of inland water j 

 Census Rep. of 1901. A small portion 



362 



was taken into Prescot in 1894, and 

 another portion into St. Helens in 1898. 



'" Pennant, Tour to Alston Moor, 18. 



" Brockbank, St. Helens, 25. 



'2 Lanes, and Ches. Anrij. Soe, lix, 208. 

 There is a small disused burial ground 

 here, and according to tradition there was 

 formerly a chapel ; see the account of the 

 charities. 



" A', anj Q. (loth Ser.), v, 470. 



