WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LEIGH 



was given in 1824 in favour of the bishop of 

 Chester.^ The vicar of Leigh now presents. 



The chapel was erected at the cost of Adam Mort, 

 whose successors maintained the fabric* After the 

 Restoration, owing to the dispute as to the patronage, 

 it remained for twenty years in the hands of Thomas 

 Crompton, ejected for his nonconformity. In 1760 

 the old chapel was replaced by a larger edifice of brick 

 erected by the landowners, consisting of a nave with 

 four side and two end lights, measuring 54 ft. 6 in. in 

 length and 36 ft. in width, with about 170 sittings 

 and a small ch.incel. This building has since been 

 enlarged in the years 1834, 1842, and 1847, and 

 now consists of chancel, nave, aisles, western porch, 

 and an embattled western tower containing one bell. 

 The registers date from 1760. On lo January, 

 1843, the township was formed into a district 

 chapelry,' and on 18 June, 1867, the benefice was 

 declared a vicarage.* 



The following have been incumbents : — 



1632 Thomas Crompton, B.A.* 



1683 John Battersby ^ 



1 702 Roger Seddon,' died 1716 



1716 James Marsh, died 1728 



1732 Thomas Mawdesley,' died 1769 



1769 Robert Barker '' 



1822 Thomas Birkett 



1838 John Wilkinson Edwards, B. A.,'" died 1840 



1840 Alfred Hewlett, D.D.," died 1885 



1885 James Alexander Maxwell Johnstone, 



M.A.," surrogate 

 A Wesleyan chapel was erected at Astley Green in 

 1805, the second to be erected within the Leigh 

 circuit. It has recently been pulled down (1904) and 

 a new one erected. 



There is a Unitarian Christian chapel at Black- 

 moor, built in 1865. The Unitarians first held 

 services in 1820 in a cottage, but subsequently they 

 were discontinued for many years. 



Adam Mort founded and endowed a school here 

 in 1630, by bequests contained in his will." 



In addition to the endowment of 

 CHJRITIES the school, Adam Mort in 1630, and 

 Thomas Mort in 1732, created trusts 

 for the benefit of the incumbent and clerk of 

 Astley parochial cliapel, of the yearly gross value of 

 ^402 in 1900." Ann Parr, by will in 1707, gave 

 the income of ^1°° '° ^'^ applied for the benefit 

 of the poor of Astley in binding apprentices, and 

 of a further sum of £100 for the benefit of the 

 poor. Several small bequests made for various pur- 

 poses before 1 72 1 were in that year vested in 

 trustees. These in 1900 produced a gross yearly 

 income of £2^.'^ 



^ Baines, Hist, of Lanes, loc. cit. 



^ Lambeth MSS. ii, where It is stated 

 that Mr. Thomas Crompton, a very 

 honest minister, had jQi6 a year out 

 of a tenement called Hope House, and 

 half another tenement called Hudman's 

 House in Tyldesley, purchased by the 

 founder, and for three or four years before 

 1650 had also £^o a year, paid by the 

 agents for sequestration within West Derby 

 hundred, but in 1650 they had discon- 

 tinued the payment ; Commontuealth Ch. 

 Sur-v. (Rec. Soc), 58. About 1720 the 

 gross value was ,^38, including a rent- 

 charge of ;^lo given by Thomas Mort, 

 and £z 15J. by Anne Mort. In 1722 the 

 living was augmented by Richard Atherton 

 and Samuel Hilton, esqs., who each gave 

 j^ioo ; and again in 1760 by Mr. Frog- 

 gat ; Gastrell, op. cit. 187. 



3 Lond. Gaz. 85. 



■* Ibid. 3487. Present gross value j^443 

 with residence. 



^ Son of William Crompton of Bedford, 

 Lanes. ; matric. at Brasenose Coll. Oxf. 



1629, aged eighteen; B. A. from Exeter 

 Coll. 1630; appointed minister of this 

 chapel 10 Oct. 1632, which he held un- 

 til his death in 1683. He signed the 

 * Harmonious Consent' in 164.8, being a 

 zealous Presbyterian; Calamy, ii, 351 

 and Local Gleanings (Lanes, and Ches.), 

 856, where there is some account of his 

 life. See also Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and 

 Gen. Notes, i, 318. * Thomas Crompton, 

 clerk, curate,' did not appear at the 

 visitation in 1671 ; List at Chest. Dioc. 

 Reg. 



^ Described as minister at Astley in 

 1689; Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv), 228. 



He was probably son of Richard Bat- 

 tersbie of Shakerley ; matric. at Brasenose 

 Coll. Oxf. 1667, aged eighteen ; B.A. 1 67 1. 



' Probably son of 'Thomas Seddon of 

 Farnworth ; graduated B.A. at Brasenose 

 Coll. Oxf. in 1 70 1. 



** Probably son of John Mawdesley of 

 Liverpool, gent.; graduated B.A. at Brase- 

 nose Coll. Oxf. in 1730. 



' Probably of Peterhouse, Camb.; B.A. 

 1764, M.A. 1767. 



^^ Fifth son of Thomas Edwards of 

 Chester ; matric. at Brasenose Coll. Oxf, 

 1830, aged eighteen ; B.A. 1834. 



1^ Eldest son of William Hewlett of 

 St. Mary Magdalen, Oxf. (city), gent., of 

 Magdalen Hall, Oxf.; B.A. 1831, M.A. 

 1837, B. and D.D. 1862, died 10 June, 

 1885. 



12 Of Pembroke Coll. Camb.; B.A. 1867, 

 M.A. 1877. 



^ End. Char. Lanes. 1901, pp. 5—10, 

 80. The annual gross value in 1900 

 was ;^34. 



" Ibid. 



1" Ibid. lo-Il, 80. Of these William 

 Sanderson, schoolmaster (d. 1708), gave 

 ,^40, half the income to be distributed 

 yearly amongst four poor families receiv- 

 ing no weekly allowance from the town- 

 ship, and half to a preaching minister to 

 preach a sermon or lecture every Easter 

 Tuesday in Atherton chapel, or some 

 other neighbouring place. 



449 



57 



