Chapter XIII Miscellany
There are many traditions relating to the county, some of which are worth preserving; others are only the result of some fertile brain which first invented the tale and then told it as a tradition. Several of Roby’s “Traditions of Lancashire” are of this class; others are of considerable antiquity and of historic interest.
Scattered all over Lancashire are the remains or traces of roadside crosses, which at one period must have been very numerous, many of them being of great antiquity. At Burnley, near to the church, is one of these, which is of undoubted Saxon origin; it is known as Godly Cross, and associated with it is a tradition to the effect that long before the church was built religious rites were celebrated on the spot indicated by the cross, and that Paulinus baptized his converts in the waters of the Brun, which flows close by. The legend further asserts that upon an attempt being made to build an oratory on an adjacent site, the stones were nightly removed by supernatural agents, in the form of pigs, to the place where ultimately the church was erected. Similar traditions as to the removal of foundation–stones obtain as to the parish churches of Winwick, Rochdale, and one or two others. Very few parishes in Lancashire are without some trace (if only in a name) of these ancient crosses. The following furnishes a good example of the use to which these relics of a past age were applied as late as 1624. John Stirzaker and others, on July 25 in this year, confessed to the Bishop of Chester that they had been present and assisted in carrying the corpse of Thomas Bell of Garstang to the parish church there, and that they were in the company and consented “to the settinge downe of the said corse att crosses and yielding obeysance to the same superstitious manner as they went alonge, and that they carryed, or agreed thereto, the sayd corps by the church porche, and afterwards it was buryed without the mynister’s ayd or any prayers made at the buryall thereof.” The Bishop’s sentence was that the offending parties should acknowledge their faults “in their accustomed apparel on the Sundaie next, being att Morning Prayer tyme,” and also be prepared to receive the Holy Communion before the Feast of St. Michael, or in default they were to be excommunicated.
In this same parish of Garstang there still exists near Cross House the socket of one of these crosses, about which a curious bit of folklore obtains, to the effect that any persons troubled with warts or similar excrescences would get instant relief by washing their hands in the water from time to time collected in the hollow place where the base of the upright shaft once stood.
In the town of Wigan is a portion of a very ancient stone cross, known as Mab’s Cross. The origin of the cross itself is unknown, but its name is derived from a family tradition connected with the Bradshaigh family, one of whom, Sir William Bradshaigh, in the time of Edward II., having been absent from home for ten years, on his return found that his wife Mabel (daughter of Hugh Norres of Haghe) had married a Welsh knight, who, on hearing of the first husband’s return, took to flight, but was overtaken and slain by Sir William. For her unfaithfulness, Mabel was enjoined by her spiritual adviser to walk barefooted and barelegged once every week to the cross at Wigan, and there to do penance.
The most interesting monument in Wigan Church is the tomb of Sir William and Lady Mabel Bradshaigh.
In a county where there are so many ancient private houses, the successive owners of which led not unadventurous lives, it is no wonder that there are not wanting those old legends which add a charm and an interest to the remaining vestiges of what were once the family mansions of the oldest settlers in the county. Of these traditions a selection only can be taken.235 At Kersall Hall, near Manchester (see p. 209), Peverill, the last Saxon owner, is said to have been slain whilst defending his ancestral home against the Norman intruder, who forthwith caused his dead body to be cast into the Irwell, and having taken possession, he retired for the night. But before the dawn he was called to account by ghostly visitors, and was found dead next morning on the threshold of the hall, and on his brow was written in blood a warning that all future intruders would meet with a similar fate, which threat the legend records was carried out against a succession of occupiers of the old dwelling–place. Not far from Bolton is a small farmhouse called Timberbottoms, which is also known as the Skull House, in consequence of the tradition that the taking away of two human skulls which had for generations been kept there would bring bad luck to the inhabitants; the tale goes that many times and oft had these relics been buried at Bradshaw Chapel, but they had always found their way back to their old quarters.236 The dragon often figures as the hero of legendary lore, and associated with particular localities. The dragon of Rusworth is the only legend of the kind referring to Lancashire. At Rusworth is a house at one time owned by the Rusworths, one of whom in the remote past is supposed to have slain the beast which was devastating the district. In the house are several old oak carvings illustrating the event. In connection with Townley Hall, near Burnley, the spirit of some former owner, who demands a life every seven years, was supposed to wander about the demesne crying:
“Lay out, lay out
Horelaw and Hollinhey Clough.”
The late Mr. Harland, in his “Lancashire Legends,” quotes this as a singular instance how these old tales frequently have some foundation; for in 1604 James I. granted by letters patent to Charles, Lord Mountjoy, the Earl of Devon, for services rendered in the time of Queen Elizabeth, inter alia, “all that parcel of land called Horelaw Pasture, abutting on Hollinghey, part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and formerly inclosed by John Townley.” Here was evidently the source of the legend. Townley had without authority inclosed the land, and on the King reclaiming it, an imaginary grievance was created.
Turton Tower had its ghostly visitant—a lady in white, who passed from room to room in rustling silken dress. Samlesbury Hall had a similar apparition, which was accounted for by the reputed murder of the lover of one of the daughters of the house. Osbaldeston Hall (like Holyrood) has in one of its rooms traces of blood which cannot be washed out; the story told is that at a large family feast a quarrel arose, which by the interference of friends was apparently made up, but later in the evening Thomas Osbaldeston met his brother–in–law in this particular room, and at once drew his sword and murdered him in cold blood. For this he was outlawed, and ever since the place has been haunted by the ghost of the victim, who walks through the silent rooms with uplifted hands and blood–stained clothes. How many of these old superstitions arose cannot ever be explained, but there is scarcely an old hall in the county but has associated with it a “ghost story.” In Lancashire still linger many very ancient bits of folklore and superstitious beliefs, but a large proportion of these are not peculiar to the county, but are also common in Yorkshire and other Northern parts of the country. Some are, however, purely local, and are worth a passing note. In Ashton–under–Lyne is an annual festival known as the Gyst–ale or Guisings, at which is performed the ceremony of “riding the black lad,” which is said to have had its origin from a grant made to Rauf and Robyn Assheton in 1422.
The custom is still observed in a modified form. An effigy of a man in armour is fixed on horseback, and led through the streets, after which it is dismounted and made to supply the place of a shooting butt, at which all kinds of firearms are discharged.
Rushbearings have already been referred to (see p. 123). They have now practically become a thing of the past; the people who formerly remained at home to celebrate these old rites now go away by the numerous cheap trips which mark the dates when the fairs were held.
Most of the old grammar schools had several customs, strictly observed by many generations of scholars—inter alia, barring out (Burnley Grammar School), which consisted in an assumed right for the boys at the end of each term to exclude the masters from the school, on which occasion a tallow candle was used to illuminate each pane of glass in the windows. Cock–penny was an annual present claimed by the head–master from each boy; this was probably intended as a payment for the game–cocks which in former years were provided. One of the statutes of the Manchester Grammar School, made about 1525, appears to have been especially designed to put a stop to this custom; it runs: “He” (the master) “shall teach freely and indifferently237 every child and scholar coming to the same school, without any money or other reward taking therefor, as cock–penny, victor–penny, etc.” Another clause provides that the scholars shall “use no cock–fights nor other unlawful games, and riding about for victors, etc.”
The payment of the cock–penny was continued in some places until a few years ago.
At funerals many old customs not common in other parts of the country were here observed, and, indeed, have not yet quite died out.
The promiscuous giving of the penny manchet (often provided for by will) was almost universal amongst the richer classes; but the gift to each person who was “bidden” to the funeral, of a cake called the “arval cake,” was not quite so common.
These cakes were generally given with ale, provided at the nearest public–house. In the neighbourhood of Burnley guests attending a funeral are met at the door by an attendant, who offers spiced ale (or other liquor) from a silver tankard. In some districts, those who went round to invite the guests to the funeral presented each of them with a sprig of rosemary; this inviting was sometimes called “lathing.” At Poulton–le–Fylde, at the beginning of this century, the older families always buried their dead at night by torchlight, when every householder in the streets through which the cortège passed placed a lighted candle in his window. In the seventeenth century a singular privilege was given to women dying in childbed, their bodies being allowed interment within the church without the usual fee.238
The peculiar rites appertaining to All Hallows’ Eve (October 31) are well known; but in the Fylde district it was celebrated by the lighting of bonfires, and it was locally known as Teanlay, or Teanley, night. Pace–egging in the same district is called “ignagning.”
In Rochdale, Good Friday, some fifty years ago, was called “Cracknel Friday,” as on this day people regaled themselves with small thin cakes called cracknels. St. Gregory’s Day (March 12) in the northern parts of the county is characterized as the day on which onion seed must be sown, or no crop will be yielded. Lancashire is rich in this kind of folk–lore.
Bury simnels are now known all over the country; they are a kind of cake, which derives its name from having originally been made from the finest part of flour, which in mediæval times was called “siminellus.” They are used on Mid–Lent or Mothering Sunday. This day in other parts of Lancashire is called Bragot or Bragget Sunday, and on it a peculiar drink known as bragot was used; it consisted of spiced ale, which was always taken hot.
Did space permit, this chapter might well be extended, as the county is rich in old tales, ancient superstitions, “wise saws and modern instances,” charms, divinations and omens, many of which, however, are not of local historical interest, as they are more or less common to other parts of the country.
Footnotes
1 “Recent Results of the Investigation into Local [Rochdale] Erratic Blocks,” by S. S. Platt.
2 H. Colley March, F.S.A., “The Early Neolithic Floor of East Lancashire,” p. 7.
3 Engraved, with other flints, in “History of Rochdale,” p. 4.
4 A complete list, up to date, will be found in Rev. William Harrison’s “Archæological Survey of Lancashire,” which will appear in the next volume of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society.
5 H. Swainson Cowper, Esq., F.S.A.
6 Hist. Soc. of Lanc. and Ches., xx. 131.
7 Engraved in “History of Rochdale,” p. 5. See also Archæologia, xxv. 595.
8 See Transactions of Hist. Soc. of Lanc. and Ches., xxx. 81.
9 “Annals,” xii. 31.
10 Tacitus, “Hist.,” book iii., ch. lix.
11 Tacitus, “Vita Agricolæ,” cap. xx.
12 Xiphiline’s abridgment of Dion Cassius. It may be well here to state my general indebtedness to the late W. Thompson Watkin’s “Roman Lancashire”; Liverpool, 1883.
13 E. Sanderson, “Hist. of England,” p. 19.
14 “Roman Lancashire,” W. Thompson Watkin; Liverpool, 1883.
15 There are also traces of two other supposed Roman roads.
16 Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., iii. 262.
17 Whitaker’s “History of Manchester,” 1771.
18 Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., viii. 156.
19 Whitaker as an authority is good where he is describing things which he saw himself, but otherwise many of his theories border upon romance. (Vol. i., p. 49, 1773 edition.)
20 The late Mr. Thompson Watkin maintains that the N at end of the first line should be AV.
21 “Palatine Note–Book,” iii. 67.
22 For full details of these see Watkin’s “Roman Lancashire.”
23 Archæological Journal, xxviii., p. 114, and xxx., p. 153.
24 Watkin’s “Roman Lancashire,” p. 55.
25 Through the influence of the Rev. J. Shortt, Vicar of Hoghton, whose description of the find is here followed.
26 Watkin’s “Roman Lancashire,” p. 133.
27 Mr. Townley. See “Vetusta Monumenta,” iv. 5.
28 Abram’s “History of Blackburn,” p. 159.
29 Lanc. and Ches. Hist. Soc., xxv. 161.
30 Whitaker’s “History of Whalley,” ii. 19.
31 Baines’ “History of Lancashire” (second edition), ii. 24.
32 Lanc. and Ches. Hist. Soc., iii. 3.
33 Hist. Soc. of Lanc. and Ches., iii. 60; also Fishwick’s “History of Kirkham,” Chetham Soc., xcii. 5.
34 Fishwick’s “History of Poulton–le–Fylde,” Chetham Soc., new series, viii. 4; also civ. 2.
35 Watkin’s “Roman Lancashire,” p. 203.
36 “The Palatine Note–book,” iv. 201.
37 Fishwick’s “History of Rochdale,” p. 7; also Lanc. and Ches. Arch. Soc., p. 73 et seq.
38 Ibid., p. 12.
39 Authorities differ as to this locality: one writer places it on the Firth of Forth, another in Worcestershire.
40 Pp. 36, 39.
41 Sanderson’s “History of England,” p. 44.
42 A.D. 923.
43 After the death of Cnut, in 1035, the kingdom was again divided, and Mercia and Northumbria fell to Harold. Harthacnut was (in 1039), however, King of all England.
44 Vol. i., p. 12, 2nd edit.
45 Coucher Book, Duchy Office, No. 78.
46 Originally a tax paid to the Danes, but afterwards appropriated to the King. It was always a very unpopular tax.
47 Plan of this in Fishwick’s “History of Rochdale,” p. 66.
48 “Eccles. Hist.,” lib. iii., cap. 8.
49 Baines’ “Hist. of Lanc.,” ii. 205, 2nd edit.
50 The following account of it is compiled from an article in Archæologia, vol. liii., part iii., by H. Swainson Cowper, Esq., F.S.A.
51 See Lanc. and Ches. Arch. Soc., v. 1 et seq.
52 See Lanc. and Ches. Arch. Soc., v. 227.
53 Saxon Chronicle and the Chronicle of Simon of Durham.
54 Arch. Journal, vi. 74; and “History of Garstang,” Chetham Soc., civ. 5.
55 Fishwick’s “History of St. Michael’s–on–Wyre,” Chetham Soc., xxv. (new series), p. 2.
56 In the original document the names are often very different to the ones now in use, but they have all been identified as referring to the localities above given.
57 “There is a priest there having half a carucate of land in frank amoign.”
58 Said to be waste.
59 Other forests are named at Latham, Aughton, Milling, Lydiate, and other places.
60 The hora was not a coin, but an equivalent for about 1s. 6d. or 1s. 8d.
61 In South Lancashire it is believed that six carucates made a hide. A carucate was about 100 acres, but was a variable term.
62 This will serve as a proof that foresta (= a wood or forest) was not necessarily a dense mass of trees, but rather a place where game of every kind abounded.
63 Their individual holdings are 3 hides and half a carucate, 2 carucates, 1½ carucates, 1 carucate and 2 carucates = 3 hides and 7 carucates. Their united holding is put down as 22 carucates, so that a hide in this case equals 5 carucates.
64 Bentham (in Yorkshire), Wennington, Tatham, and Tunstall are described as four manors, where there were three churches.
65 Now Titeup.
66 Authorities differ on the exact area, but probably the above is not far from the figure.
67 Fishwick’s “History of St. Michael’s–on–Wyre,” Chetham Soc., xxv. 3 (new series).
68 Honour of Lancaster granted to him June 30, 1267, and letters patent issued to the tenants of the honour to do their homage and be obedient to him as their lord, February 16, 1268. In 1269 a similar letter was sent to William le Boteler, and in 1270 to Henry de Lacy, Robert de Stockfort, and the Abbot of Furness.
69 Charters of duchy. See 31st Report of the Deputy–Keeper of the Public Records, p. 6.
70 Toll for swine feeding in the woods.
71 A fair in 1255.
72 Carta de Foresta: Record Office.
73 Rossendale Forest adjoins this parish.
74 Plac. de Quo War., Edw. I.: Record Office.
75 Duchy Chancery Rolls, chap. xxv., A 2ᵇ.
76 The honour of Lancaster.
77 See Fishwick’s “History of Kirkham,” Chetham Soc., xcii.
78 Royal Letters, Henry III., No. 185.
79 “Letters from Northern Register,” p. 97.
80 See “Popular History of Cumberland,” p. 231.
81 The original rolls are in the Record Office. They have been printed by the Chetham Society, vol. cxii.
82 All the extracts refer to the Lancashire part of the honour, and to the years between 1295 and 1305.
83 Authorities differ on this point, but all agree that money in the thirteenth century was worth many times its present equivalent coin. At the very least, it requires to be multiplied by ten.
84 Agisted = allowed to graze in the forest.
85 In 1338 the Abbot of Whalley charged certain persons armed “with swords and bows and arrows” with having taken away his goods, and, inter alia, 300 pieces of iron, and from the evidence adduced it appears that near Whitworth (in Rochdale parish), which is adjoining Rossendale, the Abbot and others were accustomed to dig up the ironstone and smelt it. (See Fishwick’s “History of Rochdale,” p. 84.)
86 Merchats = fines paid to the lord for marriage of a daughter. The above sum was the sum returned to the tenant because it was found that the women were not daughters of villeins.
87 Treasury Receipts, 21a/3 Record Office; also English Hist. Review, 1890.
88 Lancashire is said to have enjoyed the privilege of a palatinate in the time of Roger de Poictou, but the evidence is not convincing.
89 So described on his tomb in Westminster Abbey.
90 Baines’ “History of Lancashire,” i. 45 (second edition).
91 The records of this court are preserved in the Record Office.
92 In 1850 the revenue account of the duchy shows a very long list of estates in many counties. One half of the whole yearly income was, however, derived from Salford, the largest rent being £285 for land in Pendleton. The Corporation of Salford still pay in lieu of tolls a fixed rent of £5 a year. In 1850 the payments from the duchy to the Queen amounted to £12,000, which in 1893 had increased to £48,000.
93 See Baines’ “History of Lancashire,” i. 57 (second edition).
94 Meyrick’s “Ancient Armour,” i. 137.
95 Report of Deputy–Keeper of Public Records, xxxiii. 21.
96 Stubbs’s “Select Charters,” p. 40.
97 See “The Parliamentary Representation of Lancashire,” by W. J. Pink.
98 See “History of Rochdale,” p. 33.
99 Baines’ “History of Lancashire,” ii. 359 (second edition).
100 Report of Deputy–Keeper of Public Records, xxxii. 354.
101 See detailed account of the plan of this castle in Lanc. and Ches. Hist. Soc., vol. vi., new series.
102 Record Office, Roll of Fines, etc., chap. xxv., A 7, No. 14; also Coucher Book of Furness.
103 Turton Tower, near Bolton, claims to be a very ancient foundation, but as its name never occurs in the ancient charters heretofore discovered, it appears doubtful if it dates back beyond the fifteenth century.
104 Vol. xxxvii.
105 To fettle is an old Lancashire word.
106 Harl. MSS., Cod. 3526. See Harland’s “Ballads and Songs of Lancashire.”
107 “Cottons” is probably a corruption of “coatings.”
108 Market stede Lane, Deansgate, Mylne Gate, Wething Greve, Hanging Ditch, Fenell Street, Smythy Door, and St. Mary’s Gate, are all named in the Court Leet Records 1552–54.
109 From 1522 to 1686, and from 1731 to 1846. The whole have been printed by order of the Corporation, and edited by J. P. Earwaker, Esq., F.S.A.
110 Act passed in 1570 requiring persons to wear woollen caps, made in England, on Sundays.
111 Speed’s Plan.
112 Picton’s “Liverpool Municipal Records.”
113 Corporation Records.
114 Beamont’s “Annals of Warrington.”
115 Fishwick’s “History of Rochdale,” p. 44.
116 Fishwick’s “Lancashire in the Time of Elizabeth” (Royal Historical Society, vii. 191).
117 Pleadings (Philip and Mary), Record Office.
118 State Papers, Dom. Ser., cclxiii.
119 Chetham Soc., xlix.
120 Richard Entwysle of Foxholes. (See “History of Rochdale,” p. 408.)
121 Local coal of very inferior quality appears to also have been used. Such entries occur as “four loodes of cole at Hilton delve, 4s.,” but this was probably only the cost of the carriage, as the coal would belong to the Shuttleworths, and be got in the quarry.
122 “Bibliotheca Heraldica,” p. 582.
123 See “History of Rochdale,” p. 352.
124 The author read a paper on “The Lancashire Demoniacs” before the Hist. Soc. of Lanc. and Ches. (vol. xxxv.), in which this subject is more fully gone into.
125 This case does not belong to the seventeenth century, but it is inserted here as bearing upon the subject, and only occurred four years before the century began.
126 “The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster, with the arraignment and trial of nineteene notorious Witches, etc., etc.; London, 1613.” Reprinted by the Chetham Soc., vol. vi., old series.
127 See Lanc., and Ches. Ant. Soc., x. 215.
128 Some of these tracts are now very scarce.
129 One of these was found near Rochdale a few years ago. (See “History of Rochdale,” p. 535.)
130 Satirical poem, Hopkinson’s MSS., xxxiv. 85.
131 “Nicholas Assheton’s Journal,” Chetham Soc., xiv.
132 Liverpool Municipal Records.
133 The Chetham Society, vols. ii., xlii., and lxvi., contained full details of the Civil War in Lancashire. From this source many of the following particulars are taken.
134 In a tract dated July 5, 1642, entitled “The Beginning of the Civil Warres in England, or Terrible News from the North,” Lord Strange is reported to have approached Manchester with a considerable armed force on July 5, and drawing up at a little distance from the town, demanded that the inhabitants should deliver up their magazines. On their refusal to give them up, he marched against the town, outside of which he was met by “ten small companies set in a faire battalion,” and a skirmish took place, which lasted several hours, and resulted in the withdrawal of the Royalist forces with the loss of twenty–seven men. The tract then states “that this is the beginning of the Civill Warre, being the first stroke that hath been struck, and the first bullet that hath been shot.” There is much reason to doubt the correctness of this reported fight, as no mention of it is made by contemporary authorities.
135 These fortifications consisted of posts and chains, and barricades of mud. They were erected under the superintendence of Lieutenant–Colonel Rosworm, a German engineer, at a cost of £30.
136 A slightly different version of this is given in “Lancashire’s Valley of Achor.”
137 Major Edward Robinson, “A Discourse of the Warr in Lancashire,” Chetham Soc., lxii.
138 “Lancashire’s Valley of Achor.”
139 “A punctuall relation of the passages in Lancashire this week” (February 14, 1642).
140 This is Major Robinson’s statement.
141 Major Robinson says he “discharged that little pece of ordenance they carried with them divers times,” and then walked into the town.
142 “Lancashire’s Valley of Achor.”
143 Edward Bridgeman, late M.P.
144 This castle was afterwards ordered to be dismantled. Its position rendered it difficult to attack, as it stood on an eminence from which the ground sloped rapidly in every direction. It was entered by the large windows on the east side, and the entrance thus gained, the victory was assured.
145 This castle was first taken by Colonel Ashton, in June, 1643, but Sir John Girlington, having got hold of it, reoccupied it.
146 For full details of these two sieges see “Civil War Tracts,” Chetham Soc., ii.
147 Seacome’s “Memoirs of the House of Stanley.”
148 In Salford Chapel, “for poor distressed Bolton,” the very large sum of £140 was collected (“Vicar’s Chronicle”).
149 By way of Blackburn and Colne; at the latter place a slight skirmish took place on June 25. At Kirkham, between May and September, 1644, no accounts of the vestry were kept, because “Prince Rupert’s army” had command of the county, and many of the parishioners had fled. In 1642 the soldiers “pulled asunder the organ pipes in the church.”
150 “A Discourse of the Warr in Lancashire.”
151 Another authority gives 32,000 (Burghall’s “Civil War in Cheshire”).
152 Lieut.–General Cromwell’s letter to the Hon. William Lenthall.
153 Burghall put the killed and wounded at 4,000, and adds that they took 6,000 prisoners!
154 Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser., 1648–9, p. 219.
155 For full details of this historic incident see “Stanley Papers,” “Civil Warr in Lancashire” (Chetham Society), Seacome’s “Memoirs,” Hughes’ “Boscobel Tracts,” etc.
156 State Papers, Dom. Ser., iv. 240.
157 Heawood’s “Coronation.”
158 Published by Chetham Society, vol. xii., old series.
159 “Autobiography of William Stout”; London, 1851.
160 A few years afterwards he was sent to a school in Westmorland, where he was taught both Latin and Greek.
161 The place where the meal was bolted = sifted.
162 The cotton trade had not yet arisen. These goods were coatings, and made of wool.
163 One solitary book, “A Guide to Heaven from the Word,” is said on doubtful authority to have been printed at Smithy Door, Manchester, in 1664.
164 Kingston’s “True History of the Several Designs and Conspiracies against his Majesty’s Person and Government, as they were carried on from 1688 to 1697.”
165 For full details of this “plot” see the late Mr. Beamont’s introduction to “The Jacobite Trials in Manchester, 1694” (Chetham Soc., xxviii.), and also Dr. Abbadie’s “True History of the Late Conspiracy,” etc.; London, 1696.
166 All well–known Lancashire men, except Sir Rowland Stanley, who lived in Cheshire.
167 Chetham Soc., xxviii.
168 See Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., vol. v.
169 Bright’s “Early English Church History,” p. 111.
170 Lancashire was subsequently included in the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry until the establishment of the See of Chester, in 1541, the northern portion being in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, in the Diocese of York.
171 Lancaster parish is partly in Lonsdale and partly in Amounderness.
172 Symeon of Durham’s “Life of St. Cuthbert,” Surtees Soc., li. 141.
173 See Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., vol. ix.
174 Aldcliffe Hall is on the south of the river. Of Newton all trace is lost. See “Materials for History of the Church of Lancaster,” Chetham Soc., xxvi., new series.
175 Calendar of Papal Reg., A.D. 1193–1304, and chartulary of the priory.
176 Calendar of French Rolls; 48th Report of Deputy–Keeper of Records.
177 Worthings = manure.
178 “Antiquities of Furness.”
179 Probably granted for a term of years.
180 Printed by the Chetham Society (new series, vols. xiii., xiv., xv.).
181 A compound of “kirk,” the Danish or Scandinavian for church, and the Anglo–Saxon “ham,” a village or a dwelling.
182 Whitaker’s “History of Whalley.”
183 Chetham Society, Coucher Book of Whalley.
184 See Whitaker’s “History of Whalley,” from which this description is taken.
185 Recently forms have been placed in the church.
186 For detailed drawing of Stydd Church see “The History of Stydd Chapel and Preceptory,” by George Latham; London, 1853.
187 Warrington Church Notes.
188 For details of remains of Burscough, see Lanc. and Ches. Hist. Soc., 1889.
189 Dom. Gilbert Dolan, O.S.B. (Lanc. and Ches. Hist. Soc., vols. vii., viii., p. 231).
190 Partly printed by Chetham Society, cvii. and cxiii.
191 Bridge = a kind of thread.
192 Communion–cloths.
193 A glass bottle to hold oil.
194 Created in 1848, and includes all Lancashire, except parts of West Derby which are in Chester Diocese, and the Furness and Cartmel districts, which were added to Carlisle.
195 Near the door of the dining–room is a small hole in the flag floor, somewhat like the impress of a human foot, which tradition says marks the place where George Marsh stamped his foot as he protested to the truth of his faith.
196 State Papers, Dom. Ser., 1547–1565.
197 State Papers, Dom. Ser., addenda xix., p. 525.
198 Ibid., p. 161.
199 Ibid., cxxxviii., p. 18.
200 See “History of Poulton–le–Fylde” (Fishwick), Chetham Society, viii., new series.
201 Chetham Society, xcvi., p. 1.
202 Chester Presentments at York. See also “History of Kirkham” (Fishwick), Chetham Society, xcii. 45.
203 State Papers, Dom. Ser., Eliz., vol. cclxxix., No. 86.
204 “A True and Exact Relation of the Death of Two Catholics,” etc.; London, 1737.
205 See “History of Kirkham,” Chetham Society, xcii., also article in “Bygone Lancashire”; London, 1892.
206 “Bygone Lancashire”: London, 1892.
207 Including North Meols, which is omitted in the survey.
208 The names were those who were considered “fit to be of the classis.”
209 St. Michael’s–on–Wyre and Lytham are left out.
210 Written by the Rev. Richard Heyricke. Both these tracts are now very scarce.
211 “Lancashire: its Puritanism, etc.,” i. 465.
212 “Lancashire Quaker Literature” (Fishwick), Trans. of Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., 1887.
213 They so designated the church.
214 “Notitia Cestriensis,” Chetham Society, xix.
215 See “Lancashire Nonconformity,” by the Rev. B. Nightingale also Dr. Halley’s “Lancashire Puritanism,” etc.
216 The original meeting–house was at Castle Hey.
217 S. Hibbert Ware, M.D. See Chetham Society, v. (old series), from which many of the facts concerning this rebellion are taken.
218 Works consulted: Patten’s “History of the Rebellion,” Rae’s “History of the Rebellion,” “Lancashire Memorials of 1715” (Chetham Soc., v.), “Manchester Collectanea” (Chetham Soc., lxviii.), “History of Garstang,” etc.
219 His real name was Hoghton.
220 A clergyman of the Church of England.
221 “The Authentic History of the Life and Character of Thomas Cappoch (the rebel Bishop of Carlisle), etc.” London, 1739.
222 One of Dr. Deacon’s sons died on the road.
223 “Through England on a Side–saddle,” by Celia Fiennes; London, 1888. The date ascribed to this journey is the time of William and Mary. This, strictly speaking, is in the last decade of the seventeenth century, but it is near enough to the eighteenth century to serve as an illustration.
224 See article by Mr. W. Harrison in the Lanc. and Ches. Hist. Soc., vol. iv.
225 These roads were not cart–roads, but intended for horse and foot passengers, and in Lancashire were paved with narrow blocks of millstone grit, which are still in places to be seen, the centre deeply worn by the tread of the horses.
226 Another, A.D. 1766.
227 See Mr. Harrison’s List of Turnpike Roads (Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., x.).
228 This invention is by some attributed to John Wyatt, of Birmingham, but recent research gives the credit to Lewis Paul. (See Espinasse’s “Lancashire Worthies.”)
229 Some authorities assert that Arkwright’s mill in Nottingham was built prior to Hargreaves’.
230 He did not, as has been frequently stated, die in poverty. He left property worth £4,000.
231 See Guest’s “Compendious History”; Baines’s “History of Cotton Manufacture”; Espinasse’s “Lancashire Worthies,” etc.
232 Quarterly Review, No. 213, p. 64.
233 Kennedy’s “Brief Memoir of Crompton”; see also French’s “The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton,” and Espinasse’s “Lancashire Worthies.”
234 Article by Mr. W. E. A. Axon, Lanc. and Ches. Ant. Soc., vol. iv.
235 See Roby’s “Traditions of Lancashire”; Harland and Wilkinson, “Legends and Traditions of Lancashire,” etc.
236 A somewhat similar tradition obtains of Wardley Hall, where the skull of Roger Downes, who was slain in London in 1676, was preserved for centuries.
237 A curious instance of the alteration in the meaning of words. Of course, by “indifferently” is meant alike to all.
238 See “History of St. Michael’s–on–Wyre,” p. 64.