A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



1815 Thomas Pigot, M.A.' 



i8j6 James Furnival 



1841 William Pollock 



1846 Edward Carr, LL.D. (Trin. Col!., Dublin) 



1886 John Rashdall Eyre, M.A. (Clare College, 

 Cambridge) 



1891 John Wakefield WiUink, M.A. (Pembroke 

 College, Cambridge) 



1904 Cyril Charles Bowman Bardsley, M.A. 

 (New College, Oxford) ' 



A school was built in the chapel-yard in 1670 by 

 John Lyon of Windle.' 



The chantry at Jesus Chapel — the exact position of 

 which is unknown— was in 1535 in the hands of 

 Richard Byland ; the income was only 40J. a year.' 

 It was said to have been founded by Sir John Bold ; 

 and in 1 548 the royal commissioners recorded that 

 there was no incumbent but at the pleasure of Lady 

 Bold, widow of Sir Richard. Apparently it was not 

 her pleasure at that time to pay a priest, and none 

 was there.' 



The Presbyterian Church of England began services 

 in 1863 ; the church was built in I 868. 



The Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitive 

 Methodists each have two churches, and there is also 

 a Methodist Free Church. 



On the appointment of a curate in 1710 the con- 

 gregation at St. Helens divided ; part conformed, but 

 the rest established an Independent meeting place, the 

 origin of the present Congregational church. The 

 worshippers in 1 710-30 numbered about seven 

 hundred, over fifty having the county vote.' A new 

 chapel was opened in l8z6. Dr. Raffles preaching. 

 It has been enlarged.' There is another Congregational 

 chapel in Knowsley Road.* 



The Baptists have three places of worship in St. 

 Helens : Central, built in 1849 ; Park Road in 1869 ; 

 and Jubilee in 1888. 



The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists have a chapel. 



The Quakers, as already stated, have long had a 

 meeting place ; it was registered in 1689.' 



The Christian Brethren also have one. 



The Roman Church retaining numerous ad- 

 herents in the district,'" its worship was no doubt 

 celebrated as opportunity offered, but no record seems 

 to exist until 1693, when Mary Egerton of Hardshaw 

 Hall bequeathed ^4 to Mr. Gerard Barton, so long 

 as he helped the people in and about Hardshaw." Soon 

 afterwards Blackbrook House in Parr became available. 

 When the Scarisbricks ceased to reside at Ecdeston 

 Hall the chapel there was closed, but Winifred, 

 widow of John Gorsuch Eccleston," a former owner, 

 in compensation built Lowe House church (St. Mary's) 

 on the border of Hardshaw and Windle, near her own 

 residence on Cowley Hill, and it was opened in 1793." 

 It has, except for a brief interval, been in charge of 

 the Jesuit fathers, who also serve Holy Cross Church, 

 built in 1862. The church of the Sacred Heart, 

 built in 1S78, is in the hands of the secular clergy. 



The ruined chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury at 

 Windleshaw, popularly known as' Windleshaw Abbey,' 

 stands about a mile from St. Helens. The chantry 

 was founded by Sir Thomas Gerard with an endow- 

 ment of j^4 16s. out of his lands at Windle, the 

 priest to celebrate for the souls of the founder's an- 

 cestors for ever." Richard Frodsham " was incumbent 

 in 1548, celebrating according to his trust; there 

 was no plate.'" There was some dispute between the 

 Gerards and the crown as to the liability to pay 

 the £n. after the abolition of the chantry." The 

 unused building gradually decayed, and the ground 

 around the ruined chapel was in course of time used 

 as a burial place by the adherents of the ancient 

 faith." In 1824 adjoining land was purchased by 

 Sir William Gerard, whose son in 1835 added a 

 plot of land to the burial ground, and in 1 86 1 

 the St. Helens Burial Board acquired adjacent ground 

 for a public cemetery." 



^ Afterwards rector of BlymhiU. 



' Previously vicar of St. Anne's, Not- 

 tingham. The list of incumbents is due 

 to Mr. R. W. H. Thomas, of St. Helens, 

 who has also given other information. 



' Notilia, il, 207. 



< I'ator Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220. 



* Raines, Chantriei (Chet. Soc), 78. 

 The chapel was three miles from the 

 parish church, and may have been at St. 

 Helens or in Bold. There was only one 

 * Sir John Bold, knight,* who died in 

 1436 ; but it is difficult to see how a 

 foundation made by him could have been 

 at the arbitrary disposal of Dame Bold in 

 1 54S. This lady's husband had a half- 

 brother John ; if he were the founder, the 

 circumstance might be explained, but he 

 was not a knight. 



® Oliver Hcywood's Diaries^ iv, 3 1 2, 3 1 8. 



'Nightingale, Lanci. Nonconf. iv, 128, 

 where a list of ministers is given. There 

 is a branch at Gerard's Bridge, begun in 

 1 8" 2; ibid. 141. For the endowments 

 {j^470 a year) see St. Helens Char. ReJ>, 



•9°5. P- 53- 



8 Nightingale, iv, 142 ; the work began 

 in 1885, and a mission chapel was built 

 in 1889. 



^Kenyan MSS. 231. The meeting 

 house was built in 1678 and re-built in 

 1763 ; it was used for the monthly meet- 

 ings, a weekly meeting for worship begin- 

 ning in 1S35. A graveyard adjoins it. The 

 inn, built at the same time, remained in the 

 hands of Friends until about 1850. 



Hardshaw gires its name to two great 



districts of the organization — Hardshaw 

 East and West including a large part of 

 South Lancashire and Cheshire. For an 

 account of lands and charities (with an 

 income of ^^4,4.00) connected with it, see 

 Quaker Char. Rep. 1 90 5, pp. 42-69. 



'"The recusant roll of 1626 shows 

 twentv-two entries for Windle ; Lay Subs. 

 131/3.8. 



^^This priest's real name was William 

 Barton; he was a Lancashire man, educated 

 at the English College in Rome and sent on 

 the mission about 1675 ; he seems to have 

 lived at Mossborough in Rainford. By his 

 will, dated 1723, he left a silver chalice and 

 a silver-gilt chalice to St. Helen's Chapel ; 

 Lmerpool Catk. Ann. 1 90 1. This chapel 

 was perhaps in Hardshaw Hall. See 

 Foley's Rtc. S. J. vi, 412. 



^Her maiden name was Lowe. 



"Joseph Gillow in Trans. Hitt. Sec. 

 (New Ser.), xiii, 163 ; Foley, op. cit. v, 

 349. 397 i vii, 44, 35; and Liverpool 

 Cat/2. Ann. Fr. Joseph ISeaumont, S. J., 

 settled at Cowley Hill about 1750, and 

 dying in 1773 ^^s buried at Windleshaw. 

 Joseph Barrow was there from 1777 till 

 his death in 1813. There was a con- 

 firmation of 79 persons in 1784, the 

 communicants being loi, 



" In 1 5 1 7 there was a recovery of the 

 manor of Windle, and the advowson of 

 the chapel of Windle ; PaL of Lane. Plea 

 R. 1 2 1 , m. 2 </. 



'^ In a return made in 1527 he was 

 stated to have been chaplain for twenty 

 years ; Duchy of Lane. Rentals 5/15. 



" Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), v, 220 ; 

 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 79. There 

 is nothing to show which Sir Thomas 

 Gerard was the founder, 



•' Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 254 ; ii, 

 265 ; iii, 138. The first of these may 

 be seen in Duchy Pleadings (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Chcs.), iii, 129. 



^ The earliest known interment is that 

 of Thomas Parkinson in 1751 ; he was 

 a missionary priest serving Blackbrook 

 and St. Helens. 



A little later the Quakers became pos- 

 sessed of the adjoining land, and asserted 

 a title to the chapel site ; they also en- 

 deavoured to prevent interments by deny- 

 ing a right of way from the road to the 

 burial ground. In 1778 they sold their 

 land to William Hill, a Presbyterian of 

 liberal mind, who took a great interest in 

 the ruin, and is said to have expressed a 

 desire to be buried there. He conceded the 

 right of way, and relinquished any claim he 

 might have had upon the burial ground. 



^' This account is from one compiled by 

 the Rev. A. Powell in Tram. Hist. Soc. 

 (New Ser.), iii, 11-34, where there is a 

 photograph of the ruin. There is a view 

 of it as it stood about 1830, with a de- 

 scription of its condition in 1 78o,by T. Bar- 

 ritt, of Manchester, in Baines' Lanes.. 

 (ed. 1836), iii, 712. Dr. Thomas Pens- 

 wick, who died in 1836, was buried here ; 

 he was consecrated as coadjutor in the 

 Northern District, and became Vicar 

 Apostolic in 1831. The Gerard family 

 have a burial place in the additional part. 



