as a 



A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



result of its being held by monks of the house. At the time of the 

 Dissolution the vicar's pension amounted to >ri2 only." . 



The ravages of the Scots in the reign of Edward II seriously diminisnea 

 the incomes of the Lancashire vicars in the archdeaconry of Richmond, but 

 the rectories were equally afFected.'* Limited by the estabhshment of per- 

 petual vicarages, the system of monastic appropriations was not origmally 

 without redeeming features. The expenses of a celibate priest were, or ought 

 to have been, comparatively small ; and as long as the rehgious houses served 

 a good purpose, the surplus revenues of rich rectories were better employed 

 in their maintenance than in swelling the incomes of such great pluralists and 

 non-residents as the notorious John Mansel, minister of Henry III, whose three 

 hundred benefices included the desirable rectory of Wigan. Of him it is 

 related that on one occasion when he had received a fair benefice of ^20, he 

 exclaimed, 'This will provide for my dogs.'''' 



Rectors too, it must be remembered, were frequently allowed by com- 

 plaisant bishops to delegate their duties at the sacrifice of a small fraction of 

 their income, and in the case of one rich Lancashire living — that of Walton- 

 on-the-Hill — a perpetual vicarage was ordained in 1326 by the bishop of 

 Lichfield." Even where rectories escaped the pluralist and the sinecure rector 

 they were apt to be treated by lay patrons as a convenient provision for 

 younger sons, who had often to be given leave of absence from their cures for 

 some years in order that they might fit themselves for their work." On the 

 whole it would seem probable that for long the vicars presented by the 

 monasteries made better parish priests. Nor were they worse off in the 

 thirteenth century than the incumbents of the smaller rectories. The rector 

 of Flixton was poorer than any Lancashire vicar. The commissioners of 

 I 29 1 valued the living for the tenth at 7 marks only. Three other rectories, 

 Tatham, Claughton, and Pennington, were taxed at 10 marks and under."' 



The great size of many of the parishes, and the rugged character of 

 much of the county, made access to the parish church always laborious, and 

 often in winter impossible to the inhabitants of the remoter villages and 

 hamlets. Something had probably been done to relieve this hardship by the 

 foundation of parochial chapels even before the Conquest. It can scarcely be 

 supposed that the ecclesiastical decentralization of the huge parish of Whalley, 

 for instance, was entirely subsequent to that date. But the growth of popu- 

 lation and prosperity in the twelfth century, and the increased rehgious 

 fervour of the age, greatly stimulated the process. Norman lords of manors 

 built chapels and obtained permission to have divine service celebrated in 

 them for themselves, their households, and their tenants. The further 

 privilege of burying their dead in a graveyard of their own was often secured, 

 and if the right of baptizing was added the chapel became fully parochial.'^ 

 The rights of the parish church were, however, carefully guarded. Attendance 



" Dugdale, Mon. Jngl. v, 650. That of the vicar of Blackburn had fallen from 40 marks to 16. 



^ For the Nct-a Taxatio, which was rendered necessary, see below, p. 24.. 



" Diet. yat. Bicg. xxxvi, 86. 



* yotitia Cestrinsii, ii, 222. The advowson of the rectory belonged to Shrewsbury Abbey from iooa to 

 1 470, when It was purchased by Sir Thomas Molyneux, knt., of Sefton. Adam de Freckleton was aDDointed 

 vicar of \\ igan for life in 1 199 at the request of the rector, but no permanent ordination s-ems tn hiv. k 

 made here ; Hist, of the Ch. of Wigan (Chet. Soc), 3. '^^* ''^^" 



" Numerous cases in the Lich. Epis. Reg. See belo.v, p. 3 ,. * p,^, ^y,-,^ j.^^ 



•' Phiiiimore, Eal. La-x, 1825 ; M.ikower, op. c:t. 333. ^'" •' ' 



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