WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Name p^f^^ 



Gilbert Heaton, ch.' Erdbury Priory 



Richard Gierke" (Thomas Purefey, esq. j 



(Ralph Purefey, esq. J " 



Roger Fellden ' (Thomas Leyland, esq. ) 



(John Urmston, esq. j " 



Robert Eaton * Bishop of Chester . . . 



Gervase Lowe' 



James Gregson ^ 



James Gatley ' Richard Urmston . . . 



Bradley Hayhurst * 



Jonathan Gillibrand ' Thomas Mossock, &c. . 



William Barrett '" Anne Mossock, &c. . . 



John Harrison 



George Ward" (Richard Shuttleworth ) 



\Anne Mossock . . .J ' 



William Farington, B.D. '' . . . William Rawstorne, &c. 



John Barlow, M.A. " James Scholes, gent. . . 



James Hartley 



Henry William Champneys " . . T. Powys, i st Lord Lilford 



Daniel Birkett '' 



Joseph Hodgkinson, M.A." . . . T. 2nd Lord Lilford . . 



LEIGH 



Vacant by 

 d. W. Urmston 



res. G. Heaton 



d. R. Gierke 



d. R. Feilden 

 rem. (?) R. Eaton 

 d. G. Lowe 

 d. J. Gregson 

 d. J. Gatley 



d. last incumbent 



res. last incumbent 

 d. last incumbent 



^ Lich. Epis. Reg. Blythe, xiii, 53^. 

 He is described as Gilbert Eytton in the 

 letter of induction dated i Aug. 1504 ; 

 Harl. MS. 21 12, 149^. 



2 Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii, 62. The Pure- 

 feys were patrons pro hac vice by a grant 

 from the prior and convent of Erdbury. 

 Heyton had exchanged with Gierke for the 

 chantry of Thomas Passhe within the royal 

 chapel of Windsor (ibid.). On 20 July, 

 1533, at Croston, Gierke read the procla- 

 mation concerning Katherine, the princess 

 dowager, which called forth violent language 

 from James Harrison, priest there, which 

 was subsequently reported to the king by 

 the earl of Derby ; S. P. For. and Dom, 

 vi, n. 964; Ghet. Soc. cxiii, 67-70. In 

 1535 a riot occurred at Leigh owing to 

 the attempted arrest in the church of 

 three persons. The names of over 100 

 people who took part in the riot, at the 

 instigation — it was said — of Mr. Atherton 

 of Atherton, are recorded in the pleadings 

 in a suit which arose out of this affair ; 

 Duchy Plead: (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ghes. xxxv), 43-8 ; Hist, and Gen, Notes, 

 iii, 110-12. In 1541-2 the clergy here 

 included Richard Gillibrand, the vicar's 

 curate, John Astiey, stipendiary priest of 

 John Atherton, esq., and Simon Bradshaw, 

 conducted by Richard Smyth and others ; 

 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ghes. xxxlii) 

 (i), 114. In 1548 the clergy included 

 the vicar, Richard Gillibrand, his curate, 

 Thomas Gastleton, Simon Bradshaw, 

 Robert Atherton, Gilbert Bucksforth (or 

 Lachford), and Andrew .... whilst John 

 Aatley, stipendiary priest, was then dead 

 (Visit. Bks. at Ghester). In 15 54 Richard 

 Michell was the curate, Bradshaw and 

 Atherton being priests (ibid). 



^ Previously curate of Croston. In his 

 will dated 10 Sept. 1574, he directed that 

 his body should be buried at Leigh, and 

 gave to the poor 40J., to the repair of 

 Groston church zos., and legacies to several 

 members of the Urmston family ; Htst, 

 and Gen. Notes, i, 89 5 Antiq. Notes, i, 80. 

 In 1562 under Vicar Feilden, Simon 

 Bradshaw had become curate and was 

 here in 1565, being then sick (Visit. Bks. 

 at Ghester). He died in 1576 ; Admon. 

 bd. at Ghester. 



■* Robert Eaton was probably eldest 

 son and heir of Robert Eaton of Over 

 Whitley, Gheshire, born 1545-6 (Orme- 

 rod, Hist, of Cheu (cd. HeUby), i, 657) ; 



took his degree of B.A. from Brasenose 

 Goll., Oxon. in 1577 ; M.A. in 1587, 

 was chaplain to the earl of Derby, 

 rector of Grappenhall, 15 82-1 621, and 

 also rector of Mobberley, 1595-1621. 

 It is not clear on what grounds the 

 bishop of Ghester presented Eaton to 

 Leigh. The vicar's puritanism is de- 

 scribed in the text. 



* The date of his institution is not 

 known. In 1592 he was curate. In 

 1609 he was described as vicar (Raines 

 MSS. xxii, 298), and c. 161 1 as *no 

 preacher,' Mr. Midgeley, one of the king's 

 preachers, having been placed here ; Hist. 

 MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13, In 

 1597 John Deacon was preacher here. 

 He was joint author of two books upon 

 demoniacal possession, published in 1601; 

 Fishwick, Lanes. Lib. 357—8. About 1606 

 Mr. Palin was preacher and lecturer here; 

 Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 32, 37. 



^ In Gregson's time there was a preacher 

 here, for in the registers of Bunbury, 

 Gheshire, is the marriage, 29 Dec. 1618, 

 of Thomas Yates of Leighe in Lancashire, 

 minister, to Anne Brooke of Tilston. 



7 In 1636 he preferred a petition to 

 the king complaining of the poverty of 

 his benefice; Baines, Hist, of Lanes, (ed. 

 Groston), iv, 319. The dates of this and 

 the ten following institutions are from the 

 Inst. Books (Exch. Rec), P.R.O. 



8 Of Emmanuel Coll., Gamb. ; gradu- 

 ated B.A. 1632. He was named a mem- 

 ber of the Fourth Glassis in 1646 (Ghet. 

 Soc. New Ser. xx, 8), and ten years later 

 signed the * Harmonious Consent of the 

 ministers of Lancaster.* In 1650 the Par- 

 liamentary Commissioners described him 

 as ' a man of good lyfFe and conversacion, 

 and constant in preaching the word,' and 

 found that he did supply the cure of both 

 Pennington and Bedford. He resigned 

 about 1657 and was presented to the liv- 

 ing of Taxall, Gheshire, in 1661, where 

 he was probably silenced for noncon- 

 formity. In 1 66 1 -3 he was residing in 

 Manchester; Neiveome's Diary (Ghet. Soc. 

 Old Ser. xviii), passim. In 1671 he was 

 appointed minister of Macclesfield, which 

 cure he resigned in 1682, shortly before 

 his death. See Earwaker, East Ches. 11, 



505- 



^ The patrons were Thomas Mossock, 

 Robert and Mary Heaton, and Frances 

 Bradshaw. The new vicar was son of 



419 



the Rev. William Gillibrand, rector of 

 Warrington, 1607-20, of the family of 

 Gillibrand of Ramsgreave, parish of Black- 

 burn ; Dugdale, Visit, of Lanes. (Ghet. 

 Soc. Ixxxviii), 121. 



^° The patrons were Anne Mossock, 

 Frances Bradshaw, Alice Eaton, widow, 

 Richard Eaton, and Richard Shuttleworth. 

 William Barrett, minister of Leigh, was 

 described In 1689 as one of the conform- 

 able clergy who had taken the oath; Kenyan 

 MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv), 229. 



^^ Rebuilt the vicarage house ; Hist. 

 and Gen. Notes, i, 57. 



^^ The patrons were W. Rawstorne, 

 George Farington, and Thomas Hesketh. 

 The vicar was second son of William Faring- 

 ton of Shaw Hall and Worden ; Foster, 

 Lanes. Ped, Educated at Brasenose Goll., 

 Oxon.; B.A. 1726, M.A. and B.D. 1766, 

 His epitaph in the church and a note of 

 his descendants are given in Baines, 

 Hist, of Lanes, (ed. Groston), iv, 323. In 

 1767, the year of his death, he was pre- 

 sented to the rectory of Warrington, 

 holding it in eommendam with, this vicarage 

 for the brief period of six months. In 

 1756 he caused two tablets bearing par- 

 ticulars of all benefactions to the church, 

 school, and poor to be placed in the 

 church. A copy is given in Hist, and Gen, 

 Notes, I, 69-73, His portrait, supposed 

 to be the work of his son Joseph, the 

 landscape painter and biographer of Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds, is at Worden ; ibid^ 

 81. 



18 See a stricture on the vicar of Leigh-j, 

 by the Rev. Thomas Seddon ; ibid. 82^ 

 An obituary notice of his death, typical' 

 of the period, appeared in the Manchester- 

 Mercury of 1 9 Oct. 1784. 



i"* Educated at Christ's Coll., Gamb.;.. 

 B.A. 1793, M.A. 1796. Of Canterbury 

 in 1834; Foster, Our Noble and Gentle- 

 Families. 



1* Curate of Leigh in 1784. For notes; 

 of his marriage and Issue see Baines,, 

 Hist, of Lanes, (ed. Groston), iv, 323. 



1^ Son of Richard Hodgkinson, agent of 

 Lord Lilford ; educated at Manch. Gram.. 

 School, where he obtained the Hulmeianr 

 exhibition to Brasenose Coll. Oxon.; B.A. 

 1 8 16, M.A. 1 8 19. Assistant master of 

 Manch. Gram. School, 1819-21. He 

 died at Leigh 1826. There is a monu- 

 ment to his memory. 



