Churchwardens' Accounts of Walton-On-The-Hill 1627-67

The Record Societ}' of Lancashire and Cheshire Volume 141: start THE RECORD SOCIETY OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE FOUNDED TO TRANSCRIBE AND PUBLISH ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TWO COUNTIES VOLUME CXLI The Society wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the support given towards publication by Lancashire County Council © The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire E.M.E. Ramsay A.J. Maddock ISBN 0 902593 68 4 Printed in Great Britain by Arrowsmith, Bristol THE CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF WALTQN-ON-THE-HILL, LANCASHIRE 1627-1667 Transcribed and edited by Esther M.E. Ramsay and Alison J. Maddock PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 2005 FOR THE SUBSCRIPTION YEAR 2003 COUNCIL AND OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 2ffl©3 President Jenny Kermode, BA., Ph.D. (from September 2003 J.H. Pepler, M.A., D.A.A., c/o Cheshire Record Office, Duke Street, Chester CHI 1RL) Hon. Council Secretary Dorothy J. Clayton, M.A., Ph.D., A.L.A., F.R.Hist.S., c/o John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M l3 9PP Hon. Membership Secretary Maureen Barber, B.A., D.L.A., 7 Rosebank, Lostock, Bolton BL6 4PE Hon. Treasurer and Publications Secretary Fiona Pogson, B.A., Ph.D., c/o Department of History, Liverpool Hope University College, Hope Park, Liverpool L16 9JD Hon. General Editor Peter McNiven, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S., The Vicarage, 1 Heol Mansant, Pontyates, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire SA15 5SB Other Members of the Council Diana E.S. Dunn, B.A., D.Ar.Studies B.W. Quintrell, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S. B. Jackson, M.A., DA.A. D.A. Stoker, B.A., M.Ar.Ad. V. McKeman, B.A., D.A.A. TJ. Thornton, M.A., D. Phil. J.H. Pepler, M.A., D.A.A. GJ. White, B.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S. C.B. Phillips, B.A., Ph.D. T.J. Wyke, B.A. CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations used in the Introduction vi Introduction vii 1 The parish background vii 2 Incumbents viii 3 Churchwardens in office xiii 4 Finances, duties and colleagues xv 5 The church building and its furnishings xx 6 Poor relief and charities xxiv 7 The school xxvii 8 Reflections of national events xxix 9 Reflections of Liverpool’s history xxxiv 10 Physical description xxxvi Editorial method xxxvii M ap xxxix The Churchwardens’ Accounts of Walton-on-the-Hill, Lancashire 1627-1667 1 Appendix 1: Glossary of terms, unfamiliar spellings and dialect words 171 Appendix 2: Annotations and additions to the folios 175 Indexes 177 Tables Table 1 Rectors of Walton x Table 2 Vicars of Walton xi Table 3 Churchwardens and sidesmen xiv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the transcription process we initially received help from the Merseyside Record Office and subsequently access and assistance were made available by the Liverpool Record Office, where the book of accounts is now kept. We are very grateful to past and present staff of both institutions for their help. The work was begun as a result of our studies in the Diploma in Local History at the Department of Continuing Education, Liverpool University, and would never have been completed without the support and encouragement of Paul Booth, Senior Lecturer in History, who is warmly thanked. Specialist advice was generously provided by RJ. Griffiths, the Curator of Horology at Prescot Museum, and the Vernacular Architecture Group. Thanks are also due to the Rev. Trevor Latham, Rector of Walton, who read the relevant parts of the Introduction and updated us on aspects of the Church at the present day. Alison Maddock Betty Ramsay ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE INTRODUCTION BIHR Borthwick Institute of Historical Research (York). CRO Cheshire Record Office. LaRO Lancashire Record Office. LRO Liverpool Record Office. RSLC Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. THSLC Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. LPRS Lancashire Parish Register Society VCH Ches B.E. Harris, ed., The Victoria History of the County of Chester, iii (London, 1980). VCH Lancs W. Farrer & J. Brownbill, eds, The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, ii (London, 1908), and iii (London, 1907). In the interests of brevity, accounting years are referred to in the Introduction by the start year only, e.g. ‘1633’ refers to an entry in the 1633-34 account. INTRODUCTION 1. The parish background The purpose of this volume is to make accessible a further example of the relatively small stock of churchwardens’ accounts that survive from before the late seventeenth century in north-west England. Walton’s extant parish registers start in 1586, after which these accounts are the earliest parish records known, though unfortunately they lack the years 1642 to 1648, as is often the case with such accounts during the Civil War period. At the date of these accounts, the extensive parish of Walton-on-the-Hill still numbered Liverpool among its subsidiary townships, a source of irritation and frustration to the inhabitants of that burgeoning town whose centre was some four miles away. Also owing allegiance to the mother church of St Mary (situated in what is now called County Road) were the townships of Walton-cum-Fazakerley, West Derby, Everton, Bootle-cum-Linacre, Kirkdale, Kirkby and Formby (detached). Tudor legislation notwithstanding, and in contrast to Manchester with its eight churchwardens, this large area was served by only a single churchwarden, acting with one sidesman. Liverpool, West Derby, Kirkby and Formby, however, had chapels of ease with their own chapelwardens. Simonswood and Toxteth Park were extra-parochial. The Commonwealth church survey of the county valued the church with its parsonage and lands at £4 2s 4d per annum and the vicarage and grounds at 30s; details for the chapelries and figures for the tithe revenue from the townships may also be found in this source.1 Located in the south-west Lancashire stronghold of Roman Catholicism, many of Walton’s parishioners were Catholics; the Notitia records 20 of 102 families as such in the early eighteenth century.2 Prominent among these were Fazakerley, Chorley and Breres (Briars), together with leading members of the Molyneux family. Despite their faith, covertly or overtly practised, members of these families often appear to be playing a prominent role in the parish. At the other end of the religious spectrum of the day, the influential Moore family of Bank Hall and Old Hall were leading puritans, contributing a military governor to the town of Liverpool during the Civil War, and the chapel at Toxteth Park was always associated with dissenting worship. In common with most other churchwardens’ accounts, those of Walton can be tapped for a range of information from changes in ecclesiastical practice and aspects of social history, including reflection of national events at local level, to specifics 1 H. Fishwick, ed., Lancashire and Cheshire Church Surveys 1649-1655: Part I, Lancashire, RSLC, i (1879), p. 81. 2 F.R. Raines, ed., Notitia Cestriensis: or Historical Notes of the Diocese of Chester, Chetham Society, Old Series, 21 (Manchester, 1850), p. 221. viii Introduction such as the operation of the poor law, building crafts, wages and prices, family history and dialect. Perhaps of particular interest here is the contribution they make to the history of Liverpool, including its struggle for independent parish status (not finally achieved until 1699), which manifested itself in litigation and recrimination over payment of leys. The unusual dual incumbency of rector and vicar is also of note, and there is information about lost architectural features of the building itself, as well as further light on the notoriously variable parish government practices of north-west England. Though mute during the bulk of the crucial Civil War period, the accounts do have something to contribute to our knowledge of mid-century events at local and national level, and usefully add to the sources for studying how far and fast local practice followed the religious turmoil of the day. Publication of this transcript will not only make available this information, but will enable the Walton-on-the-Hill churchwardens’ accounts to be used alongside the contemporary ones of nearby Prescot (already published by the Record Society) and Childwall, of which an unpublished transcript for the years 1571-1674 is available at the Liverpool Record Office.3 2. Incum bents The Church of St Mary was granted in 1093 to Shrewsbury Abbey and the vicarage established in 1326.4 The Molyneux family of Sefton held the advowson from the time of its purchase by Thomas Molyneux in 1470 until 1747.5 The family remained Roman Catholic throughout, and from time to time sold the right of presentation. The rectory was never appropriated, so that right down to 1890 (when the vicarage was suppressed) Walton was served by both a rector and a vicar in holy orders, with curates under them at the chapelries. Little indication of how the duties at the mother church were shared in this unusual situation comes through in the accounts, unfortunately. We see entries for buying and washing surplices and hoods for both men (e.g. f.l48r), and both rector and vicar often add their signatures at the audit. There is an impression that much of the work fell to the vicar, and at least one of the rectors was a pluralist with duties elsewhere (see Table 1). Among early rectors were some of the Molyneux family itself, including Alexander Molyneux, apparently presented as a child in 1565 and still serving when these accounts begin. Normal practice seems to have been followed (except during the interregnum) whereby the patron nominated the rector and the rector nominated the vicar. Records of incumbencies are incomplete, however, and Tables 1 and 2 indicate discrepancies between compilations such as that in VCH and ‘on the ground’ evidence from the accounts themselves.

Load more