WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



were unfortunately in too damaged a condition to be 

 re-used. 



The font, which originally stood in the south 

 aisle,' and was afterwards set at the west end of the 

 north aisle, is now at the west end of the nave. It 

 is octagonal, with a roll at the base of the bowl, but 

 otherwise perfectly plain, and may be of the fifteenth 

 century. 



In the Bold chapel are the marble figures of 

 Richard Bold, 1635, and his wife, and an armed 

 eifigy of very poor workmanship, holding a book, 

 which from its details appears to date from the be- 

 ginning of the seventeenth century.* Near it at 

 the west end of the chapel is a white marble 

 monument to Mary Bold, Princess Sapieha, 1824. 



There are six bells, all of 1 71 8, by Richard 

 Saunders. 



The registers begin in 1538. 



About the end of the thirteenth century an attempt 

 seems to have been made to sever the dependency of 

 Farnworth on Prescot. In 1291 Richard de Buddes- 

 wall, archdeacon of Chester, holding his visitation at 

 Prescot, caused a number of those who customarily 

 heard divine service and received the sacraments in 

 the chapel to appear before him and assert publicly 

 that Farnworth was not an independent parish, but 

 that the people within the chapelry were bound to 

 contribute to the repairs of the church of Prescot, 

 the maintenance of the service there, and other 

 charges, in the same manner as the rest of the 

 parishioners.' Farnworth is called a church in 1323,* 

 and seems to have enjoyed almost full parochial rights. 



Some prosecutions resulting from the church 

 spoliation of the time of Edward VI are recorded at 

 Farnworth,' as well as an affray in the church itself.* 



PRESCOT 



Few of the names of the pre-Reformation clergy 

 have been preserved. Baldwin Bold was there at the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century,' and Richard 

 White was curate in 1542, 1548, and 1554.' 



A small yearly payment, called the Duchy money, 

 has long been made to the incumbent by the crown. 

 Its origin is uncertain." 



A parish was assigned in 1859."" The vicars are 

 presented by the vicar of Prescot. The following is 

 a list : — 



1562 Thomas Hill" 

 1567 JohnWalbank" 

 1 5 76 Thomas Roebuck " 

 I 58 1 William Cross " 

 1589 William Sherlock " 

 1 64 1 Nathaniel Barnard '" 

 1647 John Walton, M.A." 

 1 649(?) William Garner" 

 oc. 1675-9 Milo Marsden " 



1687 Christopher Marsden *" 

 — John Foxley" 

 oc. 1705-9 Radley Ainscough *' 

 oc. 171 8-3 2 Henry Hargreaves " 

 1733 Charles Bryer" 

 1733 Edward Pierpoint 

 1742 Richard Nightingale " 

 1 747 Thomas Moss ** 

 1792 William Thompson " 

 1832 William Jeff 

 1 88 1 George Bond, M.A. (Lincoln Coll. 



Oxford) 

 1892 John Wright Williams 

 There was a chantry founded here by Sir John 

 Bold, an annual rent of £\ being assigned to it from 

 the lordship of Bold.^' In 1534 the cantarist was 



^ Provision for its drainage has been 

 found here. 



^ For an account of the chapel before 

 the restoration see Glynne, Lanes. Churches 

 (CheL Soc), 84 ; also Trans, Hist. Soc. 

 (New Ser.), x, 193 ; and for the font, ibid. 

 (New Ser.), xvii, 6g. There is a view (from 

 the west) in Gregson's Fragments (ed. 

 Harland), 214. The monuments are 

 described, and a view of the church (from 

 the east) is given in the Gent. Mag. Aug. 

 and Sept. 1824 ; and notes of monuments, 

 glass, Sec. taken by Randle Holme early 

 in the seventeenth century, in Trans. 

 Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), vi, 259 ; xiv, 211 ; 

 also Dods. MSS. cliii, fol. 46A. The 

 churchyard cross stands on ancient steps ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 211, 



^ Quoted in a decree made in 1620 by 

 the bishop of Chester, wherein is also re- 

 cited an ordinance of Bishop Coates in 1 5 5 ; ; 

 this ordered the election of eight men, 

 who were to audit the accounts of the 

 churchwardens and assess the inhabitants. 



■* Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc), iii, 815, 

 where the path from Crouton to the church 

 of Farnworth is mentioned. A little later 

 (1336) it is called a chapel ; ibid. 817. 



° Ducatus Lane, (Rec. Com.), i, 245 ; 

 ii, 287. The latter case is printed in 

 Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 199. It contains a number 

 of interesting particulars as to the ' great 

 rank of iron, curiously wrought,' whereon 

 many lights used to stand before the 

 Blessed Sacrament. The few ' ornaments ' 

 belonging to the church in 1552 are re- 

 corded in Ch. Goods (Chet. Soc), 81 ; also 

 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 276. 



' Ducatus Lane, ii, 123. 



' Ch. Goods, 83. 



8 Clergy List, 1 541-2, (Rec Soc Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 15 ; and Visit. Lists at Chester. 

 ^ Lanes, and Ches. Rec, (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 285. This time 

 the amount is given at ^^3 izs. loj;/.; 

 in 1650 it was said to be ,^3 6s. %d. ; 

 now j^3 13^. is paid. Canon Raines 

 states that the payment dates from the 

 dissolution of the chantry, being the net 

 proceeds of the chantry revenue, viz. j^4 

 less js. iji/. as the tenth ; Chantries, jj. 

 For an addition to the endowment see 

 End. Char. Rep. (Prescot) 1902, p. 78. 



The vicar has given some information 

 respecting the church and district. 

 1° Lond. Gaz. 12 July, 1859. 

 " Visit. List of 1 562 (at Chester). In 

 1564 he was presented to the bishop 

 for ' shriving, and for suffering candles to 

 be burned in the chapel on Candlemas 

 day, according to the old superstitious 

 custom ' ; Raines, Chantries, jj (quoting 

 his Lanes. MSS. xxii). He died in May, 

 1566 ; registers. 



^2 Lanes, and Ches, Rec, ii, 285 j a 

 pension of ^^3 izs, loji/. granted him as 

 curate of Farnworth, during pleasure. 



^ Licensed as reader ; Pennant's MS. 

 acct. book at Chest. Dioc Reg. 



" Lanes, and Ches. Rec. loc cit. Thomas 

 Hawkinson, curate of Farnworth, is said 

 to have been buried 11 Mar. 1583-4. 



" Ibid. ; the patent granting the pen- 

 sion was renewed in 5 Jas. I. It was 

 William Sherlock who copied out the old 

 register from 1538 to 1598. He was 

 probably the curate of Hale also, but 

 was * no preacher.' See Ch, Goods, 84 ; 

 Trans, Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), x, 183 ; Gib- 

 son, Lydiate Hall, 248, (quoting S.P. 

 Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, n, 4). He was only a 



'reading minister' in 1610 ; KenyonMSS. 

 (Hist. MSS. Com.), 12. He died early in 

 1 641 and was buried at Farnworth. His 

 son William was a curate of Wigan. 



^^ Lanes, and Ches, Rec. loc. cit. 



17 Plundered Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 67. He had been 

 appointed in 164.7, ^7 *^he choice of the 

 inhabitants with the approval of the 

 classis ; and had served the cure without 

 ordination. The Parliamentary Com- 

 mittee were * fully satisfied of his piety 

 and personal ability.' 



^s Commonivealth Ch. Sur-u. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), j6. In 1650 the 

 curacy was vacant. 



^^ His name occurs in the registers of 

 1675 and 1679. 



^^ Kenyan MSS, (Hist. MSS. Com.), 

 229. He did not appear at the visitation 

 in 1691, when the curacy seems to have 

 been vacant. 



21 Will proved at Chester, 1705. 



^^ Mentioned in N. Blundeirs Diaryy 

 74. He went to Manchester. 



23 Will proved at Chester, 1732. His 

 name occurs on one of the bells cast in 

 17 1 8. He was a Cambridge man. 



^ From this time the curates were 

 always presented by the vicars of Prescot, 

 though previously the parishioners had 

 often nominated. Some of the names 

 are due to the Rev. F. G. Paterson. 



25 Died in 1747, aged 33, according to 

 an inscription in the church. 



26 Died in 1792; M.L 27 ibid. 



28 In a note referring to the obsequies of 

 Henry Bold, temp. Hen. VII, the first pay- 

 ment was to * John Walton, chaplain, 

 occupying the chantry of Sir John Bold ' j 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxvili, 284. 



