A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Atherton, esq., under a yearly quit-rent of j^5 u. lo<^. 

 The t vo latter tenements were afterwards repurchased 

 by the Atherton family, but Chowc's tenement re- 

 mains alienated from their represent itives' estates, 

 subject to a quit-rent of £i 13/. ids'. Down to 

 1705 it remained in the possession of the Chowe 

 family, but in that year it passed by mortgage and 

 eventually by sale to Mr. Nathan Mort, son of Robert 

 Mort of Wharton Hall and cousin of Thomas Mort of 

 Dam House, by whose descendants the estate was 

 divided and sold.' An interesting description of this 

 place, written in the year 1787 by Doming Rasbotham, 

 esq., is given by Bai.ies in his History of Lancashire^ 



Previous to the American War of Independence, 

 indeed as far back as 1385, the manufacture of nails 

 wa; carried on to a considerable extent in this place. 

 Subsequently a great part of the industry was trans- 

 ferred to Staffordshire, but did not become entirely ex- 

 tinct here. After the introduction of machinery into the 

 cotton trade this place became noted for the manu- 

 facture of carding and spinning machiner)-, some of 

 the earlier improvementst being due to the ingenuity 

 of the mechanics of Chowbent. Improvements in 

 the finishing of certain kinds of cotton fabric are said 

 to have been accidentally discovered by a small local 

 manufacturer in the early part of the century.' 



Alder House, erected by Ralph Astley, gent., in 

 1697 upon the Alder Fold estate, which, as it 

 existed in the eighteenth century, included Chowe's 

 tenement, was sold by the Astleys in 172.^ in moieties 

 to Adam Mort, eldest son of Nathan Mort, esq., 

 sjmetime of Wharton Hall, and to Roger Rigby of 

 Atherton, whose executors sold this moiety to Adam 

 Mort in 1730.* 



The principal landowners here in 1787 were A. L. 

 Atherton, holding about one-fifth of the township, 

 Thomas Wrightington, James Ashworth, and Samuel 

 Charlson.' 



The parochial chapel of St. John the 

 CHURCH Baptist at Chowbent was a small brick 

 edifice erected in 164.5 by John Atherton, 

 esq., and his tenants, the one erecting the chancel, 

 the others the body of the chapel.' Down to 1 7 1 7 

 it had never been consecrated, and had always been 



used by the Presbyterians, who quitted the place 

 when the vicar of Leigh came to officiate, leaving him 

 the Bible and Book of Common Prayer ready for 

 use.' In 1 72 1 Richard Atherton, upon political 

 grounds, took it from the dissenters and offered it for 

 consecration in 1723, giving /^200 towards the aug- 

 mentation of the living. It was consecrated the same 

 year by the bishop of Sodor and Man.' A new 

 chapel was consecrated by the bishop of Chester in 

 1 8 14. The present church, the third to be erected 

 upon the site, was consecrated in 1879, and is now 

 described as the parish church of St. John the Baptist 

 in Atherton. The plate consists of a flagon, a chalice, 

 and two patens. The flagon was given by Samuel 

 Hilton of Bedford, gent., in 1723. 



The registers commence in the year 1778. The 

 living is a vicarage, average tithe-rent charge £^^., net 

 yearly value /^2I5, including 23 acres of glebe with 

 residence, and is in the gift of Lord Lilford. 

 The following have been incumbents : — 

 f. 164S James Smith ' 



1652 James Livesey, M.A.'" 



1657 James Wood " 



1695 James Wood" 



1723 Edward Sedgwick, B.A." 



'755 J°^i" Lowe, B.A." 



1777 Thomas Foxley, M. A." 



1836 Samuel Johnson, M.A.'° 



1870 William Nuttall, M. A." 

 The original church of St. Anne's at Hindsford 

 was a temporary building of brick, formerly a barn, 

 but in 1 90 1 a new church, from designs by Messrs. 

 Austin and Paley, was erected upon a site given by 

 Lord Lilford. The register of baptisms commences 

 in 1 87 1. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value 

 j^l50, in the gift of the bishop of Manchester. A 

 non-sectarian mission church was erected in Laburnum 

 Street in 1904. The church of St. Michael and All 

 Angels at Howe Bridge is a building in the Early 

 English style, erected in 1877, ^^'^ consisting of 

 chancel, nave, transepts, north porch, and a central 

 turret containing one bell. The register commences 

 in the year 1873. The living is a vicarage, gross 

 yearly value ;^I98, in the gift of three trustees. 



1 T. H. Hope, in the Bre, Dec. 1892. 

 ^ Op. ciL (ed. 1836), iii, 6l2-l^.. 

 • Baines, Dirtc. 1825, ii, 47. 

 ■• T. H. Hope, in the Bcr, Dec. 1892. 

 ' Land-tax rets, at Preston. 



* In 1665 a legacy in favour of this 

 chapel was detained by John Olcey of 

 Bolton, because he could not be assured 

 that it would be employed for the use 

 intended — 'to preach Gods word ' ; Visit. 

 Rec. at Chester. 



' Bp. Gastrell's Noiitia, from informa- 

 tion supplied by the vicar of Leigh in 

 1717 (Chct. Soc. xxi), 189. 



* Ibid. Church papers at Chester. 



' He was sometime minister of Walmes- 

 ley. A man of good life and conversation, 

 he was curate in 1650, having ^70 a year 

 out of the issues of the impropriate rectory 

 of Leigh by order of the committee of 

 Plundered Ministers ; Lambeth MSS. 

 Lana. and Cha. Rec. Soc. xxviii, 9, 69. 

 He resigned in 1652 ; Rec. Sac. xxviii, 

 Ijq. 



'" SeeUrwick, Ches. Nomonf. 365, 4CI. 

 Son of Robert Livesey of Bury, yeoman, 

 entered Christ's Coll. Camb. 1645, St. 

 Johns Coll. 1647 {Adn-Aii. to St. John's 

 C./.'. i, 82), where he graduated M.A. 

 He was sometime minister at Turton, 



appointed here in 1652, with the same 

 stipend as his predecessor ; Rec. Soc. 

 xxviii, 119-20, 123, 130-1, 249. He 

 was presented to the vicarage of Budworth 

 in 1657 ; ibid. 232. 



" Son of James Wood, minister of Ash- 

 ton in Malcertield. He succeeded in 1657, 

 was silenced in 1662, but afterwards re- 

 sumed his duties and continued here until 

 his death in 1695 ; T. H. Hope, in the 

 Inquirer, 1893. In 1689 he was described 

 as one of the conformable clergy ; Kenyan 

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

 iv), 228. 



'^ He was the son of the last minister, 

 whom he succeeded, and is noted for hav- 

 ing raised a force of men at Atherton in 

 1 71 5 whom he led to Preston, where 

 they assisted in the defeat of the Pre- 

 tender's forces ; Memor. of the Rebel., 

 Chet. Soc. Old Ser. v. For this service he 

 acquired locally the complimentary title 

 of ' General,' and received the thanks of 

 the Government with an annuity of ^^ 100 

 [Kenyan MSS. 464), much of which he is 

 said to have devoted to the building of 

 the Presbyterian chapel at Alder Fold, 

 when the old chapel was taken from the 

 dissenters in 1721 (T. H. Hope, op. cit.). 

 He died in 1759, aged eighty-seven. 



" Of Brasenose Coll. Oxf. B.A. 171s, 

 was instituted curate here about the year 

 1723 ; appointed schoolmaster of Chow- 

 bent in 1733 ; Church Papers at Chester. 

 He continued here until 1755, and died 

 in 1756. 



" Probably of Trinity Coll. Camb., B.A. 

 1 73 1, curate of Holcombe and Edenfield ; 

 was instituted in 1755 and remained here 

 until his resignation in 1777. He died 

 in 1779 or 1780. 



^■^ Thomas Foxley, of Brasenose Coll. 

 Oxf., B.A. 1772, M.A. 1780, curate of 

 Chelford, co. Chester, was instituted in 

 1777. The curacy was of the gro8» 

 annual value of ,^130 in 18 18. In 1800, 

 1818, and 1836, Mr. Foxley, rector of 

 Radcliffe, vicar of Badley, county York, 

 and curate here, appointed assistant 

 curates. He resigned in 1836, and died 

 in 1838. 



" Son of the Rev. Samuel Johnson of 

 Horwich, entered Lincoln ColL Oxf. in 

 1 816, graduated B.A. 1820, M.A. 1823, 

 instituted 1836; see Gent. Mag, 1866, 

 ii, 845. 



" Of St. Catharine's Coll. Camb., 

 graduated B.A. 1859, M.A. 1868, insti- 

 tuted 1870, surrogate. 



