A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Apart from the above-mentioned holidays, the 

 scholars were allowed to play on Thursday after- 

 noons except in weeks when a holy day occurred, 

 but on other days only ' at the Request or Desire 

 of A great Worshipfull man.' The school- 

 master was to help in the services of Warrington 

 church on Sundays, and scholars were to attend 

 the church on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 

 to join in the Litany or other services of the day. 

 All were to attend the church 



between six and seven of the clock in the morning and 

 there shall say such Prayers as shall be lymyted and 

 written on A table to be hanged in Botelers' Chappell 

 within the said Church : then immediately after that 

 they shall go to the said school house and shall depart 

 thence at five of the clock in the afternoon or by four 

 at the discretion of the said schoolmaster. 



These were the winter hours : the summer hours 

 began ' between five and six of the clock,' and 

 attendance at the church was enjoined in the 

 evening upon dismissal. 



The schoolmaster was daily to appoint one of 

 his most advanced scholars to teach the beginners. 

 No scholar was allowed to ' wear any Dagger, 

 Hangar or other weapon invasive other than his 

 knife to cut his meat with ; ' all were to be gener- 

 ally obedient to the master, and when called upon 

 ' to give their help and Assistance to the correction 

 of every scholar of the said Free School.' Scholars 

 were to speak Latin and no English to one another 

 after twelve months' attendance at the school, and 

 were forbidden to ' use Diceing or Carding or any 

 other unlawful games.' 



Directions follow for an obit or anniversary 

 of the founder on 27 April 'at the cost of the 

 scoolemasters for the tyme being,' with eight 

 priests and' 10 singing clerks or schollers,' and the 

 bellman to announce it with peals of bells and to 

 ' deal an alms,' and for a whole trcntal of masses 

 yearly. 



In 1546' the Chantry Commissioners of 

 Henry VIII reported ' Butler Chauntrie . . . 

 Robert Halle prest incumbent ... to celebrate 

 there for the sowles of him [Sir Thomas Butler] 

 and his ancestors,' and in 1548 the Commissioners 

 of Edward VI ' followed suit, adding that Robert 

 Halle was ' 70 yeres, a man decrepit and lame 

 of his lymmes,' receiving £4. loj. 5^. a year. 

 This chantry was confiscated and Robert Halle 

 pensioned. 



The chantry held by Hall was not the school 

 foundation, as appears from the will of ' Sir 

 ^ViIIiam Plumtre, priest,' Butler's executor (15 

 September, 1545),' by which he gave ' To maister 

 Boteler's chappell within the parish church . . 

 6s. 8d. and that to be disposede by the skolemaister 



' Raines, Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc. 1862), i, 57. 

 ' Leach, Engl. Schools at the Reformation, 1 1 9, from 

 Duchy of Lane. Div. xviii, vol. 26, B, fol. 5. 

 ' Raines, Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc.), i, 60 ». 



there and Sir Robert Hall.' In spite of the 

 elaborate chantry provisions in the foundation 

 deed the school escaped inclusion in the Chantry 

 Certificates and confiscation as a chantry, and Sir 

 Richard Taylor, who appeared in 1547 at Bishop 

 Bird's visitation as curate, is said to have held the 

 mastership of the school till 20 December, i 569 

 at least. But in Elizabeth's reign Margaret, 

 wife of John Mainwaring, one of the co-heiresses 

 of the founder, secured possession of nearly all 

 the school lands, partly undera grant from Queen 

 Elizabeth as chantry lands concealed from the 

 crown, partly under a lease from Sir Thomas 

 Gerard, the last surviving feoffee, and partly by 

 collusion with the master. In 1602 Sir Peter 

 Warburton, a judge of the Common Pleas, who 

 had married the other co-heiress, began a suit for 

 the recovery of the property, with the result that 

 arbitrators were appointed who arranged that the 

 Mainwarings during the life of the said Margaret, 

 and after her decease Thomas Ireland, the owner 

 of the manor of Warrington, and his heirs should 

 appoint the master, * in consideration whereof 

 Ireland shall pay and bestow to and for the repairs 

 of the said school the sum of ;^io and to the said 

 John Mainwaring ;^20.' From the future ad- 

 ministration of the trust estates the master was 

 excluded. In 1610 new statutes were made 

 which reduced the school hours to 'three hours 

 att the least in the forenoon and three hours att 

 the least in the afternoon.' Sir Peter Warburton 

 further granted a rent-charge of £$ per annum 

 from a messuage in Chester, which is still received 

 by the trustees. 



In 1677 proceedings were taken against the 

 tenants of the school lands, who claimed a re- 

 newal of their leases at the almost nominal rents 

 they were then paying. Most of them submitted 

 to take leases at rack rent. 



Samuel Shaw, who succeeded to the master- 

 ship, in 1687 made improvements to the master's 

 house, and recovered some lands for the school 

 which had been regarded as lost. He held the 

 rectory of Warrington with the head-master- 

 ship, and was afterwards king's preacher in Lan- 

 cashire. After John Tatlock's licence had been 

 refused by the bishop in March, 1719-20, the 

 Rev. Thomas Hayward was appointed. He held 

 for thirty-seven years. In 1757 came the Rev. 

 Edward Owen, usher of Great Crosby School. 

 Owen made the house fit for boarders. A trans- 

 lation of Juvenal and Persius and a Latin Gram- 

 mar brought him some reputation. He held for 

 no less than half a century. On his death in 

 1807 the Rev. Robert Rawstornewas appointed. 

 Becoming also rector, he left his usher, the Rev. 

 William Boardman, in entire charge of the school. 

 The inhabitants of Warrington objected and 

 procured a decree from the Court of Chancery 

 in 1 8 10, declaring that the offices of rector and 

 head master were incompatible,and thatMr. Raw- 

 storne had vacated the school on becoming rector. 

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