A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



king's or queen's four Lancashire preachers;'" but there is no record of any 

 such preacher save John Bradford having visited Lancashire. If the scheme 

 were carried out instantly and in full it could only have been in operation 

 for a year and a half— from December, 1551, to July, 1553— and as the 

 first payment to these chaplains on their ^^40 per annum was only made m 

 October, 1552, it may be that they commenced their preaching tours later 

 than the beginning of 1552. On the supposition that the first year's course 

 was carried out as outlined, then Bradford and another were preachmg m 

 Lancashire and Derbyshire during part or all of the year 1552, Bradford 

 probably choosing Lancashire. Short though the time was, the ground 

 covered by him seems to have* been remarkably small. Hollinworth says 

 that ' God gave good success to the ministry of the Word and raised up and 

 preserved a faithful people in Lancashire, especially in and about Manchester 

 and Bolton.' In Bradford's 'Farewell to Lancashire and Cheshire,' dated 

 II February, 1554-5, he enumerates the places in Lancashire where he 

 had ' truly taught and preached the Word of God ' as follows : Manchester, 

 Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Bury, Wigan, Liverpool, Eccles, Prestwich, 

 Middleton, and RadclifFe. Looked at broadly, such a circuit and con- 

 stituency is practically only a Manchester one. The farewell is addressed 

 ' to all that profess the true religion in Lancashire and Cheshire and 

 especially abiding in Manchester.' A similarly disappointing conclusion is 

 deducible from the meagre biography of George Marsh.'^* He was charged 

 with having preached heretically in January, February, or about that time in 

 1553-4 in Deane, Eccles, Bolton, Bury, and many other parishes in the 

 bishopric of Chester. This statement of time and area is confirmed by his 

 own account of his proceedings.'" 



That the spirit of Protestantism had spread further afield than the 

 Manchester district is, however, evident from the story of the mayor of 

 Lancaster, who jeered at the rood which had been re-erected in the church 

 of Cockerham."" Marsh also hints that the schoolmaster at Lancaster was a 

 Protestant. There is a very instructive story relating to the Reformation in 

 Shackerley in Foxe,'^' but it is not possible to date it exactly. It seems clear, 

 therefore on the existing evidence that the reformed doctrine was as yet 

 confined to the populous towns and to the south-east, and had made no 

 impression on the moor country and the west. 



Putting aside the stories of Bradford, Marsh, Holland, and Hurst, there 

 is less information concerning the religious history of the county under 

 Mary than the reign of Edward yielded. The story of the riot in BiUinge 

 chapel in Wigan parish in August, 1553, which ensued on the reading of 

 Mary's proclamation for the exercise of Catholic religion ''' has a significance 



»" 'It was appointed I should have six chaplains ordinary, two to be ever present and four always absent 

 m preachmg. one year two ,n Wales, two in Lancashire and Derby, next year two in the Marches of 



E.tto ■: Llr':,%V^' ^^"' "'° - °^^°"' ^-'^ '^° ^" "^"'^' ^^^ ^-"^ y-^' -° - Norfol. and 

 '" Nothing is recorded as to the reasons which made Marsh a Protestant, but he seems to have become 



la^Zi" "^" '° ''"' '^°"°^- """'^P^ ^^^^^ ^"'^ °^^" Lancashire men had 2rZy 



"' Foxe, Acts and Monuments (ed. Cattley), vii, 50. 



coun^.'^'^' '"' ^^^' ^°" ^"""'^ "^^ """ "" ''" °^^ ^''°"^" °^ '^^ Gospel-which is rare in that 

 "■ Ibid. viii. 562. « A good contemporary account of it is given in Chet. Soc. Publ cxiii 70 



48 ' '^' 



