Contents of the fikst volume

ment. Erom the parish accounts, it appears that he resigned his vicarage A.D. 1663. He

removed to Rothwell, in Yorkshire, where he died A.D 1664 ; and being styled, in his

epitaph, Minister of that parish, I suspect that he only resigned Whalley for a better

benefice, though I once supposed him to have gone out upon the Bartholomew Act.
Stephen Gey was incumbent and resident upon this benefice thirty years : he appears

to have been a discreet and prudent man. (His Epitaph will be found in a subsequent

page.)
Richard White, A.M. of Emanuel College, Cambridge, for now we arrive on the

confines of recollection, was vicar ten years. I find in the parish accounts that on coming

1 [Dr. Whitaker here alludes to a letter addressed by Dr. Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, to Archbishop Parker,

and written probably in 1564; it relates chiefly to a vacancy in the Vicarage of Rochdale, and will be found in

Parker Correspondence, p. 221. The zealous Pilkington freely tells the archbishop, " Your cures, all except Rachdak,

be as far out of order as the worst in all the country. The old Vicar of Blackburn resigned for a pension, and now

liveth with Sir John Biron. Whalley hath as ill a Vicar as the worst. And there is one come thither that hath been

deprived or changed his name, and now teacheth school there ; of evil to make them worse. If your Grace's officers

lust, they might amend many things. I speak this for the amendment of the country, and that your Grace's parishes

might be better spoken of and ordered. If your Grace would, either yourself or by my lord of York, amend these tilings,

it were very easy. One little examination or commandment to the contrary would take away all these and more."
[On the 27th May 1575 the parishioners of Whalley alleged an Information against Sir George Dobson, Vicar, to

the Bishop of Chester. He was charged with teaching " in y e Churche y e Seven Sacraments, and he persuadeth his

parishioners that they shall come and receive but in one kynd, and in any case to take it not as common bread and

wyne as they may take it at home or elsewhere. That he gives at Easter to certein of his Parishioners consecrated

Oasts, saying that in them is Salvation. In his reply he said that for thirty or forty years past he had behaved himself

as a man of hys callyng ought to do.]

2 [He was not very nearly related, as he was of the Gambleside family of Ormerod : see hereafter, under Whalley

Grammar School.]

214

HISTORY OF WHALLEY.

[BOOK II. CHAP. III.

to take possession of the benefice he was met with great ceremony by the principal inhabit-

ants, and that the penthouse window behind the pulpit was made for his accommodation.
He was succeeded by James Matthews, whom I may be allowed to call, as Bishop

Godwin called his own predecessor Kitchin, the great dilapidator of the see of Llandaff,

fundi nostri calamitatem. He was a needy man, of whom I have but too convincing

proofs that he took money for presentations to the curacies, and that he set the lowest

offices, such as those of parish clerk and sexton, to sale. By his means too, and not

without a valuable consideration, the patronage of six, if not seven, of the curacies was

alienated from the vicarage under the 1st George I. His example, however, appears to

have operated as a warning to the dignified patrons of the living of Whalley, never more

to intrust so poor a benefice with so rich a patronage annexed to it, in the hands of any

but a man of property.

On the decease of Matthews, Archbishop Potter presented "William Johnson, M.A. of

Magdalen College, Cambridge, a native of Wakefield, and related to himself. He was of

the Johnsons of Rushton Grange, in Bowland.
William Johnson, of Walsh Whittle, co. Lane. gent.=pEulalia, dau. of Mr. Wood, of

Pensioner of King James I. J. P. co. Lane. | Wood, co. Oxon.

Feniiuando Johnson,

ob. s.p.

William Johnson, of=j=Mary, dau. of Dr. John Cham- Richard Johnson, B.D. Fell. King's Coll.

Rushton Grange, m

Bowland.

bers, Dean of Carlisle and

Vice-Master of Trin. Coll.

Cambridge.

Cambridge. Fell. Coll. Ch. Manchester.

Reader of the Temple, London, &c. See

Lancashire MSS. vol. xli. p. 193.

Alexander Johnson, of Rushton Grange, aged-y-

10 years 1665. Dugdale's Visitation. \

Mary, daughter of James Bellingham, of Levens, in

Westrnerland, esq.

Alex. Johnston, of=pElizabeth, daughter of Wil- Alan Johnson, of Wakefield, attorney=p dau and heir of

Rushton Grange liam Lawson, of Wakefield, at law, afterwards of Temple Belwood Popplewell, of Temple Bel-

aud Wakefield. merchant. in 1784. wood, co. Lincoln.

Alan Johnson,

of Temple Bel-

wood, Esq. li-

ving 1783.

i

Richard Popplewell Johnson,=p. . .

of St. John's Coll. Camb.

B.A. 1772, M.A. Rector of |

Ashton upon Mersey 1783.^

Alexander,

3d son, li-

ving!783.

1 1

Mary.
Eliza-

beth.

William John-=pElizabeth, daughter and

son, A.M. co-heiress of Richard
Vicar of Tatlock, of Prescot,
Whalley. ^f, Esq. attorney at law.
[The additions made to this pedigree have been supplied by Mr. Canon Raines.]
On his accession to the benefice he found the ancient vicarage house, by the supine-

ness of his predecessor, ready to fall to the ground ; he therefore applied to his patron

Archbishop Potter, who generously bestowed a quantity of excellent oak from the rectorial

glebe sufficient to rebuilt it. With this material help he began the work, and has left it

on record that he expended three years' income of his benefice on the structure, which

is so durably and excellently finished, that more than thirty years of utter neglect, which

would have reduced a flimsy fabric of the present day to rubbish, had little perceptible

effect upon it. Mr. Johnson was a man of strong understanding, a keen and caustic wit,

and an unconquerable spirit, which last quality he displayed in many disputes with his

parishioners, who were always worsted, and above all in a contest with Archbishop Seeker

and his diocesan Bishop Keene for the patronage of the valuable curacy of Newchurch in

Rossendale.

BOOK II. CHAP. III.]

PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE.

215

On this occasion that great and excellent metropolitan was so ill-advised as to lay

claim to the presentation of all the unalienated curacies in the parish as appropriator. In

order to establish his claim, a search was instituted at his request by Bishop Keene in the

Registry at Chester, which, instead of producing any precedents of nominations by the ap-

propriator, led to the discovery of an unattested copy of a decree of the Commissioners of

Pious Uses in the reign of Edward VI. vesting the patronage of the Chapel of Hossendale

in the Bishop of the Diocese. This brought forward a second competitor in the Diocesan

himself; but, to the infinite advantage of his successors, Johnson maintained so firm and

even menacing an attitude, that, after three years of legal skirmishing, during which the

question was never brought to an issue, both the prelates fairly gave up the point, and

Bishop Keene was contented to licence his antagonist's presentee. The question should

never have been moved at all, but this event has set it at rest for ever.

Mr. Johnson resigned the living of Whalley, May 1, ]77G, arid survived to the year

1792. He was interred in the church of Prcscot, where he had spent the last years of his

life. He left a multitude of papers relating to his transactions as Vicar of Whalley, which,

having been carefully arranged and bound up by the present Incumbent, 1 form a folio

volume. Among these are many original Letters from Archbishop Seeker, Bishop Keene,

&c. a few of which, relating to his spirited contest for the rights of patronage belonging to

his church, are here subjoined.
To the Bishop of CHESTER.
MY LORD, Oct. 20, 17G2.
I was this morning surprized with an account of Mr. S. being refused a licence to the Curacy of

Rossendale upon my nomination ; for what reason I cannot conceive, since I apprehend there can be no

doubt of my right. It is very extraordinary that there should be no claims of this kind before my time, and

so many since. I cannot recollect that anything has been done since I became Vicar to prejudice the rights

and privileges of the Rectory* of Whalley, but much in support of them; so that, if ever the right of

nomination to Rossendale Chapel belonged to the Vicars of Whalley, it still remains so, and whoever tin-

person is who pretends to a right of nomination may with equal justice dispute his Grace of Canterbury's

right of presentation to the Vicarage of Whalley, and is as well entitled to the one as the other. Not to

trouble your Lordship any longer on this subject, I should be glad your Lordship would do me the honour

to enquire into the reasons why my clerk has been rejected, and why my antagonist is concealed from me,

seeing I cannot well proceed before I know my adversary, and am desirous of putting an end to this dispute

with all expedition, as it is a populous chapelry, and the parishioners may suffer inconveniences for want of

a minister, &c. ^ "
SIR,
I have received your letter, expressing your surprize that your nomination to Rossendale Chapel is not

accepted, because there can be no doubt of your right. In your mind there is none ; but in others there is,

or you would not have met with obstruction. You say the person who litigates this point with you might

as well litigate the Archbishop's right to the presentation of the Vicarage of Whalley ; but that is not

1 [It bears the following inscription : " Hunc Librum, ex schedis disjectis concinnatum et compactum, Succes-

soribus commendat T. D. Whitaker ; unique memoriam haud jure interituram Wilhelmi Johnson, quondam Vicarii

de Whalley, A.D. 1809." Other volumes have since been added, and the series now forms a record as well of facts, as

of the letters and documents which relate to the history, both of the Mother Church, and of the offset Incumbencies,

now some forty-six in number. See Notitia Cestriensis, ii. 303.]
2 A slip of the pen for Vicarage. [No: the writer refers to the Rectory, appropriate to the Archbishop.]

216 HISTORY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK II. CHAP. III.

likely to be ; for it is the Archbishop himself, who, on having been applied to by various persons for the

Curacy, has looked into his papers, and thinks he has a right, and means to prosecute it ; and why they

who refused Mr. S. his licence should have concealed it I cannot tell, for it was not intended to be a secret

by any one. I must acquaint you farther, that since the Archbishop has entered his caveat, I have reason

to think that 1 have some right to this chapel ; and if the arguments should prove as solid as they appear

specious, I shall prosecute my right against his Grace and you too.

Notwithstanding what I have said, unless I am well satisfied in my own mind that my claim is well

grounded, I will not create you vexation and expence ; and I am sure I can venture to affirm the same of

my friend the Archbishop, &c. E. C.
May it please your Grace,
I am concerned to hear, by a letter from my good Lord of Chester, that your Grace is the person who

has entered a caveat against my nomination to Ilossendale Chapel an adversary I did not suspect: and

moreover, should I get clear of your Grace, his Lordship is so generous as to declare that I am in some

danger from him. It would have pleased me better to have had less powerful opponents ; but, since it

happens so, neither your Grace nor his Lordship will, I hope, be offended at my doing my utmost in defence

of what I think my right ; and if your Grace would honour me with your reasons for opposing me, it would

add to the favours received by W. J.
SIR, Lambeth, Nov. 11, 1762.
My reason for desiring that the Bishop of Chester would not immediately licence any person to serve

the Cure of Rossendale was, that applications were made to me as Patron of it, the Impropriator being

thought to be such of common right, and the nomination to the chapels being expressly reserved to the

Archbishop, in the lease of the Rectory.

I have not, hitherto, been able to inform myself sufficiently concerning the strength of this argument :

but I am very willing to hear anything which you have to alledge on the other side, and hope a contest

bv law may thus be prevented : but, if it cannot, your endeavours to defend your claim will give no

offence to, c. T. CANT.

May it please your Grace,
It appears that the Vicar of Whalley for the time being has always nominated to the chapels within the

Rectory of Whalley ; nor have any of your Grace's predecessors, of whom I have seen several (and most

of the chapels have been vacant in my time), ever made any claim.
The nomination to the Chapels being expressly reserved to the Archbishop, in the lease of the Rectory,

can only be intended as a bar to the Lessee, who, without such an exception, might possibly be entitled to

the patronage both of the Vicarage and Chapels ; but, by such a reservation, the Archbishop's right is

secured, which right, by his Grace's presentation, devolves upon the Vicar, he being instituted and inducted

to all and singular the rights, privileges, &c. thereunto belonging. This I apprehend to be the situation

of all livings impropriatc. I know no instance of an incumbent not nominating to the chapels under him,

except where his right has been legally alienated. I would not presume to make the least encroachment on

your Grace's rights ; and it gives me great uneasiness that there should be any doubt, at this day, to whom

the nomination belongs, &c. W. J.
|
To the Bishop of CHESTER.

MY LORD,

As, probably, there may never again be a Vicar of Whalley in circumstances to assert his rights, I

would willingly fix them on such a footing as to put them out of the power of dispute.

If your Lordship's pretensions have no other foundation than the Decree supposed to be passed in the

Duchy Court, I am persuaded that the rights and privileges of the Rectory of Whalley are in no danger, as

BOOK II. CHAP. III.]

PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE.

217

that decree contains nothing that can affect them ; and for this plain reason, because neither Patron nor

Incumbent are parties ; and therefore nothing foisted into the Decree, by artifice or iniquity, can operate so

as to vest a right in your Lordship against the Vicar.
In these Letters there was more of law and reason than either the Patron or Diocesan

knew how to answer ; and, accordingly, the first was silent ; and the second, after some

skirmishing, fairly gave up the cause, in the following elegant Letter :
REV. SIR, The contest between you and me, concerning the patronage of the Church in Rossendale,

took its rise accidentally, from some papers being found while my officers were searching into the claim

of the Archbishop.
When the different foundations of my right were drawn together, they did appear to me, and others

whom I consulted, to be of validity enough to form a pretension to the nomination of that Chapel, and I

then acquainted you with such my intention.
After I despaired of finding the original decree, I stated my case, and laid my materials before

Mr. Wilbraham, with a resolution either of proceeding at law or desisting from my claim, as his opinion

should direct me ; and as it is his opinion that the materials I produced would not support a trial at bar, I

did immediately determine to give up my pretensions.

I should at that time have written to you, and declared my readiness to licence your clerk, if I had

not thought it incumbent upon me to inquire whether the Archbishop had still any objections to your

nomination. His Grace did not with his usual exactness answer my letter. On my return to town last

week I waited upon him ; and he then apologised for not writing, from his having been making some

farther researches into this affair, and desired I would give him a little more time.
On these facts, which I affirm to be true, I think I can vindicate myself from the charge of unnecessary

delay.
Whatever others may say or think on this subject, I please myself with reflecting that I neither

wantonly formed my pretensions nor prosecuted them peevishly. I can easily conceive that a clamour may

have been made, not only among the Laity, but some of the Clergy too, against a Bishop endeavouring, as

it may be called, to deprive one of his Clergy of his right ; but as I have suffered, in different parts of my

life, from my conduct having been misrepresented or misapprehended, I have long learnt to be content with

the approbation of my own mind, not indifferent, yet not over-solicitous, about the precarious judgment of

other men.

ED. CHESTER.

The next Incumbency affords no materials for narrative or remark.

May the present Incumbent be permitted, for the sake of truth and accuracy, on a

subject however unimportant, to subjoin the following facts and dates. [These autobio-

graphical passages are transferred to the Introduction to this Edition.]
I must now. turn back to a temporary and curious state of ecclesiastical affairs, within

this and the neighbouring parishes, which was happily terminated in the restoration of the

old episcopal government in the year 1660. Few ecclesiastical documents of this period

remain.
In the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth is a MS. marked 912, which throws con-

siderable light on the state of our church establishment in this parish during the usurpation
VOL. I. 2 F

218 HISTOEY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK II. CHAP. III.

of the last century. It is an inquisition taken at Blackburn, June 25th, 1650, before

Richard Shuttleworth, esq. and others, by commission under the Commonwealth seal for

inquiring and certifying the number and value of all parochial vocations, &c. within the

parishes of Whalley, Blackburn, and Rochdale. After the Restoration this document was

found among the records of the House of Commons, and, by an order of that House,

delivered into the hands of Archbishop Juxon, the proper depositary.

By this inquisition it is found, 1st, that the parish of WHALLEY consists of thirty-five

townships ; that Mr. William Walker, an able and orthodox divine, is now minister, and

receives from Mr. Thomas Assheton, farmer of the rectory, a stipend of 38J.
2nd. That the chapelry of PADIHAM is parochial, consisting of the townships of

Padiham, Hapton, Simonstonc, and Higham Booth, containing 232 families and 1,106

souls : the minister, John Breares, A.M. who receives a stipend of 61. 19*. 2d. from the

receiver of the county, and 33J. from the county commissioners ; and that the inhabitants

desire to be made a parish.
3rd. That the chapelry of COLNE consists of that township, Foulrig, Marsden, and

Trawden, containing in the whole 400 families : That the minister, John Horrocks, A.M.

an able divine, receives 11.1. 10s. from the farmer of the rectory, by order of the county

commissioners ; and that the inhabitants desire to be made a parish.

4th. That the chapelry of CLITIIERIIOE consists of that township, Chatburn, Worston,

Mercley, and Ilcy houses ; in all about 400 families : That the minister, Mr. Robert

Marsden, an able divine, receives 11 /. 10s. out of the duchy rents, and 25 J. from the com-

missioners of the county ; and that the inhabitants desire to be made a parish.

5th. That the chapelry of DOWNIIAM, containing in that township 300 families, and

in Twiston 40, is parochial: That the minister, George Whitaker, A.M. receives Wl. from

the farmer of the rectory and 30/. from the county commissioners ; and that the inhabit-

ants desire to be a parish.

6th. That ACCRINGTOX is not parochial ; that it consists of the township of Accrington

vetus et nova, &c. containing 200 families : The minister, Mr. Roger Kenyon, an able and

orthodox divine ; and that the inhabitants desire to be made a parish.
7th. That ALTIIAM is parochial, consisting of Altham and part of Clayton, which

contain 150 families : Minister, Mr. Thomas Jolly, an able divine, who receives 10Z. from

the rectory and 30/. from the commissioners : the inhabitants desire to be made a parish

That,
8th. Brerecleve and Extwistle, being distant from Whalley five miles, and from any

other chapel almost six, 1 and consisting of 100 families, desire to erect a chapel for them-

selves.
9th. That the inhabitants of Newlaund, Reedley Hallows, Filly Close, and Ightenhill

Park, distant one and a half mile from Burnley, desire to be united to that church, and to

be made a parish.

10th. That the chapelry of BURNLEY consists of that township, Haberghameaves, and
1 These distances are not accurate, but the request was reasonable. Indeed, a place of worship is exceedingly

wanted in this remote and uncivilized tract.

BOOK II. CHAP. III.]

PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE.

219

Worsthorn, and contains upwards of 300 families : The minister, Mr. Henry Morris, an

able and orthodox divine, receives from the duchy 11 1. 10*. from the inhabitants U. 8*. 2d.

and from the commissioners 24*1. Is. 10d.
llth. That the chapel of HOLME has no minister or maintenance, but that the inha-

bitants desire that it may be made a parish church, and that the parish consist of Cliviger,

Worsthorn, and Hurstwood ; in all, 100 families.
12th. That the chapelry of CHURCH consists of Church, Oswaldtwisle, Huncote, and

part of Clayton, containing 200 families ; and that the minister, James Rigby, A.M. receives

101. from the rectory, and SQL from the county commissioners. The inhabitants desire to

be made a parish.

13th. That Henthorn, Coldcoats, and Wiswall, desire to be continued to the parish

church.
14th. That the chapelry of HASLINGDEN consists of that township and part of Rossen-

dale ; viz. Newhallhey, part of Rawtonstall Booth, Oakenhead Booth, Constable Lee Booth,

and part of Crawshaw Booth ; in all, 300 families : Minister, Mr. Robert Gilbert,

suspended by the divines. 1 The inhabitants desire to be made a parish. Number of

families, 300.

15th. That NEWCHURCH IN PENDLE is parochial, the chapelry consisting of most part

of Pendle Forest, and containing 150 families : That the minister, Mr. Edward Lapage,