The Church Bells of Lancashire

The Church Bells of Lancashire BY F. H. Cheetham File – 01: Part I The Hundreds of West Derby and Leyland This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. BY F. H . CHEETHAM. FOREWORD. N addressing the members of the Antiquarian Society I on March.r jth, 1914, on the Church Bells of Lanca shire, I mad e no attempt to deal with the subject in detail, but was content, in a general way, to indicate its wide interest by using, perhaps rather casually, a large mass of notes that I had collected from time to time. In putting these notes into shape I found that th ey lacked much in completeness and were not made on a uniform system, consequently it has since been my endeavour to go over nearly all the ground afresh in order to bring something like order and uniformity to the material under my hand and to add to it when necessary. Originally it was my intention to deal only with the bells of the ancient parish churches and chapels of pre Reformation date, but it soon became abundantly clear that to follow this course would rule out a large number of eighteenth century bells and some of earlier date. The system, therefore, that I have gone upon is to include the bells of all churches founded before the year 1800, as well as the bells of this period which have found their way' into modern churches. It is obviously a matter of some difficulty to locate all these latter without a personal 'visit to every church in the county, and, con sequently, my list of such bells is probably incomplete. At the time of writing- (April, 1915) I have completed on this system a list of ' the bells in the hundreds of B 2 CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. West Derby, Leyland, and Salford, but exigencies of space forbid the printing of the whole in the present volume of the Transactions. The hundred of Salford is, therefore, left .over till next year, and, it is hoped, the hundreds of Blackburn and Amounderness will (allow in 1917 and Lonsdale in 1918. Until the whole of the county has been covered it would obviously be unwise to attempt to give anything like a summary of results. What should have been under ordinary circumstances an introductory chapter is, therefore, held over to the end, and for the present a very short summary and analysis of results is prefixed to the list of bells in each hundred. Later on I hope to analyse the results in detail and to give a short account of the various founders whose work occurs in the county. To a large extent this must be a repetition of what has already been said in various volumes dealing with the bells of other counties, but it appears necessary, inasmuch as such books are not readily accessible to the average reader, and it should be the object of a writer not only to satisfy those already interested in his subject, but to arouse and create interest in those to whom the subject IS new. I hope, however, to be able to give a more complete notice of the Wigan foundry, held in the seven-' teenth and eighteenth centuries by the Scotts and Ashtons, than has already appeared. The hundreds of West Derby and Leyland are alone dealt with here. My notes should be taken as an " annotated schedule" rather than an exhaustive treatise. There is probably much more information to be gathered on the bells of every parish than I have put down here, and some of this I shall hope to incorporate if ever these notes assume a more permanent form. The extracts from churchwardens' accounts which I have given in CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 3 certain cases are mostly taken from printed sources, but I offer no apology for their reproduction in a fresh context. Had time permitted I should have endeavoured to procure further information of this nature from the books of all the older churches. For the present, how ever, I have been generally content to examine the bells themselves and to note their sizes and inscriptions. It is scarcely necessary to say that work of this nature demands time and patience, a fairly good constitution, old clothes, good humour, and sometimes muscular agility. It is, however, full of interest and excitement of a certain kind. Discoveries are sometimes made which more than com pensate for numberless disappointments, and surprises, pleasant and unpleasant, often await the bellhunter in other directions. To all who have .assisted me in my investigations I desire here to express my grateful thanks, and especially to those incumbents who have so readily given me access to the belfries under their charge. Where so many have made the way pleasant and smooth it would be invidious to single out anyone, but the recollection of much kindly hospitality and interest in my work will long be a pleasant memory. Only in one instance has the uniform courtesy extended to me been broken and access to the belfry been refused. Visiting Lowton (St. Luke's) on August 24th, 1914, three weeks after the outbreak of the war, the rector, despite a letter asking for permission to see the bells and stating the reason of my request, summarily refused to allow me to ascend the tower, and, not satisfied with my bona fides, caused me to be arrested as a spy and to be marched off in charge of two plain-clothes police sergeants to the county police station at Leigh, about three miles away. Afterwards, when I had established my identity and presumably had satisfied the rector as to the pacific 4 CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. nature of my business, I proffered a second request,but was again refused. Subsequently, however, one of the churchwardens kindly went to some trouble on my behalf and sent me the information required. The bells at Lowton are, however, the only ones in the following lists that I have not personally examined. In addition to the clergy my thanks are due to Dr. R. T. Bailey, of Liverpool, who has generously put at my disposal his notes on the old bells of S1. Peter's, Liverpool; to Mr. Ronald Stewart-Brown, M.A., F.S.A., for permission to use his account of the Childwall bells, printed in the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lanca shire and Cheshire; to Sir James de Hoghton, bart., for allowing me to inspect the bell at Hoghton Tower; to Mr. Charles Madeley, librarian and director of the Municipal Museum, Warrington; and to Mr. H. B. Walters, M.A., F.S.A., whose opinions have always been at my disposal when I doubted my own. Mr. Walters kindly allowed me the use of a number of rubbings and MS. notes of Lancashire bells made c. 1871-80 by the Rev. T. A. Turner, of Burnley. The majority of these, however, refer to other districts than those here dealt with, but the inscription from the Hoghton Tower bell is reproduced from Mr. Turner's rubbing, the bell having since been recast. I have made every endeavour to copy the inscriptions with accuracy, and the printer has tried as well as he is able to reproduce the same as accurately as possible, a very difficult task, and sometimes insurmountable. As regards copying inscriptions, my own experience shows me how easy it is to make mistakes, for almost invariably when I have compared printed copies with the original I have found errors in spelling or order of words. But in correcting others it is very possible I have fallen into CHUNCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 5 errors myself, and I should be very grateful if read ers who are able to check me would point out any such errors. The inscriptions in all cases have been copied from th e bells th emselves. For those unfamiliar with the subj ect it may be necessary to say that, except where oth erwise stated, the inscription is placed round the upper part of the bell or " shoulder," just below the" crown" or top. The middle part of the bell is known as the"waist," the lower edge as the" sound bow." In nearly all cases the diameter of th e bell across the mouth is given in inches aft er th e inscription. The date 1552 refers to the inventory of church goods made by the commissioners of King Edward VI. in the sixth year of his reign and preserved at the Record Office. The Lancashire inventories have been printed by the Chetham Society, vols. cvii., cxiii., whence they are copi ed in the present case. F or the references to the MS. list of bells in Lancashire churches made by the famous antiquary Browne Willis about 1740 I am indebted to Mr. H. B. Walters. Browne Willis' MS. is in the Bodl eian Library, but th ere is a copy in the British Museum (Add. 30,316). F. H. C. THE HUNDRED OF WEST DERBY. The hundred of West Derby comprises the ancient parishes of Altcar, Aughton, ChiJdwall, Halsall, Huyton, Leigh, North Meols, Orm skirk, Prescot , Sefton, W alton on-the-Hill, "Warrington, Wigan, and Winwick. With th e exception of Leigh all th ese parishes lie in and com prise the diocese of Liv erpool (formed in 1880). The diocese of Liverpool is divid ed into the archdeaconries 6 CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE.

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