A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



existence we hear of no nominations by it of Puritan lecturers in the 

 county.*"' 



The mere military campaign in Lancashire, important as it was, may be 

 considered to have been decided by midsummer of 1643. By that time the 

 county was in the hands of the Parliament, and it practically remained so. 

 The triumph of the Parliament meant on the one hand the tame acceptance 

 of the Solemn League and Covenant throughout the county, and on the other 

 the usual course of sequestration of the loyalist clergy. But comparatively 

 speaking these sequestrations were few.*"* 



The more general side of the story is occupied almost entirely by the 

 changing fortunes of Presbyterianism as a church system in the county. It is 

 a little strange that although Lancashire was to attain notoriety among the 

 counties of England for its thorough-going attempts at acclimatizing the 

 Presbyterian system, the initial work of establishing that system cannot be so 

 clearly traced there as in other parts of England. The Ordinance of August, 

 1645, known as ' Directions for the election of elders,' prescribed that letters 

 should be sent from the speaker of the House of Commons to the Parliamen- 

 tary Committees in the various counties requesting them to draft the scheme 

 of classical Presbyteries for each county and to nominate fit ministers and 

 elders tor each. The Speaker's letters were dispatched apparently in Sep- 

 tember following, and the returns to them, the County Certificates, were 

 made within no great time after. That for Durham for instance came in in 

 December, i 645. There is no specific reference to the Lancashire Certificate, 

 but the substance of it has doubtless been preserved for us in the Parlia- 

 mentary Ordinance which passed the Lords on 2 October, 1646. It shows 

 that the county was divided into nine classes, centring round Manchester, 

 Bolton, Blackburn, Warrington, Walton, Croston, Preston, Lancaster, and 

 Aldingham.**'' 



The enacting substance of this ordinance was completed by a further 

 order of December, 1646, which constituted the several classes in Lancashire 

 a province. There was thus a period of fifteen months between the Speaker's 



'" ^ ."^"g- '.^+'' ^""^ 'J"'";"- '■- 707- The Long Parliament nominations to benefices in Lancashire, as 

 U^lJ^'re to S\J°"^"^'Vf '^°''> "°"^". "= ^l follows : 9 Oct. .643, Lancaster sequestered from August ne 

 Ar^ihoLAr^ F^'";?"^:"?- '"' '7°- 9 Oct. 1643, Eccleston sequestered from Richard 

 Far b.shopofM.n, toEdw.,rdGee; ibid. 270-1, Lords^ -J ourn. yn, -^oi; viii, 78. 14 Nov. 164c Paul 



ut:LTJu^"rnto°HT''^' >':^7""'- ^'' 7°" ^"''78 ; Con. 'jouk v, 539- =»6'nov. idj^^'hom 

 Whitehead put m to Halton ; i.r^/ Joun,. vi„, 575. 26 Feb. 1646-7, Nehemiah Barnett nom nated to 



L V^^;^ ibid' ;"' V'^7, ^'"^ '/f ' ^""-"■- '^' f^- ' Mar.^646-7, Richard Walker nomSted 

 to v%arton , ib,d. 4+. , Mar. 1646-7, Sa Jones nommated to Much Hoole ; ibid. c6. 12 Nov 1647 John 



ifii- < t^k' c ■ k ^T ,,• ■,.^, '°47-o, Robert Dmgley to Eccleston; ibid, x, 20 1 Mar 



;^d:;eJtsirs; t?.;f.te!:Sr' -'-'-" ^^- -- --'^ 'y '^= ^°--^-^ 



Edwar7M:r:l?^eiect"d ZiTT°'' '" ''V '^ '."" ^'^"^>' ^^''^^'^ '°- ^" ^^^ "-^ year 



from Standi.h recto4 and W iTa,^ f '^ '\^ "''''" ""'"""^ '° ' ^+5- Ralph Brideoak was ejected 



accomplished b v^:2;ce jTn WarrinT; a To, "T^' °^ ^"'"t" '" ''+5- Other ejections' were 

 place. Other Les are doubtfu" At Ah/ ^ 7"" ^^^^Sg^d down by soldiers and Horrocks put in his 

 threats, the Presbyterian John Harristn tf/i^r' ^I- ^'-''^"^ '^ ""'^ '° ^'^^ ^"" driven away by 

 Pre.nvich rector/ in or before 1 6^6 anH"^ aT^^I '°^tV'' ^'' P^^" ' ^'"'^ ^llen was dragged from 

 in Manchester. \he c^ses of Chti^'to "her h" . '' Walker (S^J^-.W,^, c/rie Clergy) to have been imprisoned 

 RothweUatLevland,anrjohnSk at'oTdhfm f R/chester Robert Symonds at Middleton, William 



<« I ;-r ^f ,1, ■ • ^ , Uldham are of a different character. 



C.«..irct "'"?;."!" '''"'° '' '° *" "^"'"' °' "'^'^ °f '^- <='-- - Finted in Shaw, 



64 



