Isaac Barrow: builder of foundations for a modern nation The church, education and society in the Isle of Man, 1660-1800 Thesis submitted in accordance with the regulations of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Michael John Hoy April 2015 Abstract This thesis examines the contribution made to the political, ecclesiastical and social development of the Isle of Man by Isaac Barrow, bishop of Sodor and Man (1663-71) and governor (1664-69). The condition of the Island and its people after the civil wars and interregnum is described and the nature and scope of the challenges faced by Barrow are assessed. Barrow’s vision for the people in his care and the pastoral and educational strategies he adopted to better their moral, spiritual and social condition are described, and his motives in introducing his wide-ranging reforms are considered. The civil legislation enacted during his administration and the ecclesiastical legislation which he initiated are analysed, and the immediate and longer term effects of his reforms are evaluated. Barrow identified two key targets for reform: improved education and conditions for the parish clergy; and the provision of English elementary schools for every boy and girl, with grammar and academic schools for the most able. Barrow’s skill in exploiting four different sources of funds and setting up well-constructed endowment instruments to ensure effective investment management is considered, and the quality and consistency of the oversight of schools and other aspects of pastoral and social care provided by the clergy and the courts are also evaluated. The thesis then reflects on Barrow’s continuing interest in and contribution to the development of education in the Isle of Man during his episcopate in St Asaph (1670-80), and considers reasons for his relative lack of success in addressing comparable social challenges in north-east Wales. The impact of variations to the conditions of the academic endowments which Barrow made in his will (1680) is also assessed. At the centre of the thesis is a reflection on Barrow’s life before 1663. The contrast between his high church, royalist convictions and academic career in Cambridge, Oxford and Eton on the one hand, and the liberal credentials of his reforms on the other, is considered. The thesis questions the extent to which the influence of former friends and colleagues, and the strengths and weaknesses of his self-sufficient, authoritarian character may have contributed to his ideas and the success of their implementation. The thesis evaluates the long-term effectiveness of Barrow’s reforms, notably in education, by analysing evidence for the progress of literacy in reading and writing in the Isle of Man through the eighteenth century. It assesses particularly the efficacy of schooling in English in an isolated community where only Manx Gaelic, a vernacular without a written orthography, was spoken, and considers similar challenges in the teaching and acquisition of reading skills in Wales. Comparisons are then drawn with contemporary developments in the dioceses of Chester (Cheshire and south Lancashire) and St Asaph (Denbigh, Flint and Montgomery) and in the wider context of the progress of literacy in England and Wales. In conclusion the continuing contribution of Barrow’s ideas and endowments today is summarised. i Acknowledgements I am very grateful for the support, advice and encouragement I have received from my supervisors, Harold Mytum and Will Ashworth. Their guidance has been invaluable in suggesting sources, recommending comparative and contextual reading, tackling problems and helping to shape my thesis. I have also greatly appreciated the help and encouragement I have received from Gill Wilson, Kate Chapman and Hazel Marshall at the University of Liverpool Centre for Manx Studies. Most of the documents used in this research are held in the Manx National Heritage archives at the Manx Museum. I am very grateful for the help given to me by Alan Franklin, Roger Sims, Wendy Thirkettle, Paul Weatherall and their colleagues in the research library; they have assisted me with great patience and forbearance, and I have greatly appreciated the time they have given me in identifying, tracing and retrieving documents. I should also like to thank Julie Matthews and the staff and children of the Bunscoill Gaelghagh at St John’s. At the University of Liverpool I am very grateful for the support and encouragement I have received in Abercromby Square, in particular from Charles Esdaile, Martin Heale and Mark Towsey in the School of History, and from Kate Marsh and Lyndy Stewart. I have also appreciated the patient and informed help of staff in the Sydney Jones Library. I should also like to acknowledge the help of librarians and archivists in other institutions, including the Bodleian Library, the British Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Archive at Kew, the National Library of Wales, and the Public Records Offices of Flint (Hawarden) and Lancashire (Preston). I am especially grateful to friends who have patiently read through my work and given very helpful and encouraging advice, in particular William and Felicity Cain, Kit Gawne, Pat McClure, Catriona Mackie and Jenny Platten. I am grateful, too, to Charles Guard for his help with technical questions. I have also very much appreciated the interest and support of many other friends, in particular Clare Bryan, Vernon Butt, Valerie Cottle, Peter Davey, Robert Fyson, Ken Gumbley, and David and Eva Wilson. I owe a special debt to Fenella Bazin, whose enthusiasm and good advice encouraged me to embark on this journey. Finally, I must thank my sister Marion for her cheerful encouragement and support throughout this project. ii Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Contents iii List of figures (illustrations and tables) vii Abbreviations ix Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 Historical context 1 Isaac Barrow 2 Aims 4 Sources 5 Historiography 6 Methodology 9 Comparative evaluation of the development of education and literacy compared in three dioceses 10 Chapter 2 – The fortunes of the Isle of Man, 1594-1663 13 Introduction 13 The lordship of the crown and the Stanleys, 1595-1651 13 The Isle of Man under parliament, 1651-1660 16 The church, the clergy and the provision of education 17 Society and the economy 20 The restoration of Charles Stanley, eighth earl of Derby, lord of Man 23 Conclusion 25 iii Chapter 3 – Legislation and governance in the episcopate and governorship of Isaac Barrow, 1663-1669 28 Introduction 28 Bishop of Sodor and Man 28 ‘At my coming into the Isle of Man’ 31 Ecclesiastical legislation 35 Civil legislation 41 Ecclesiastical administration and governance 46 Social welfare 55 Apprentices, workers and their wages 58 Infrastructure, land improvement and trade 60 Conclusion 63 Chapter 4 - Education and social reform in the episcopate and governorship of Isaac Barrow, 1663-1669 65 Introduction 65 Education before 1663 65 Welfare and education of the clergy 70 English petty schools 74 A grammar school 87 An academic school and reader in ‘logick, philosophy, and history’ 92 Conclusion 98 Chapter 5 - Sodor and Man and St Asaph, 1669-1680 101 Introduction 101 Sodor and Man in commendam and during the episcopate of Henry Bridgeman 102 St Asaph, 1670-80 115 Conclusion 124 iv Chapter 6 – Isaac Barrow and the royalist circles in Cambridge and Oxford 125 Introduction 125 Spinney Abbey, Cambridgeshire (c.1613-29) 125 Peterhouse and the royalist circle in Cambridge (1629-44) 127 New College and the royalist circle in Oxford (1644-46) 136 ‘From place to place’ (1646-60) 138 Eton College (1660-63) 139 The restored episcopacy and a diocese for Barrow 141 Friends and factions – Peter Gunning and the Cambridge circle 142 Friends and factions – the society at New College 146 Conclusion 148 Chapter 7 – Barrow’s schools, 1680-1800 152 Introduction 152 The development of elementary schools 152 The grammar schools 160 The academic school 167 Conclusion 173 Chapter 8 – An evaluation of Barrow’s educational and social reforms and the development of literacy, 1660-1800 176 Introduction 176 The clergy, schoolteachers and academic scholars 176 Literacy in reading 183 Literacy in writing 199 Collateral clues 210 Conclusion 214 v Chapter 9 – Context and comparison: education, literacy, pastoral welfare and the care of children in the dioceses of Chester and St Asaph, 1660-1800 219 Introduction 219 Elementary education in the diocese of Chester 219 Elementary education in the diocese of St Asaph 226 The grammar schools 231 The development of literacy in the dioceses of Chester and St Asaph 238 Conclusion 245 Chapter 10 – Conclusions 247 ‘At my coming into the Isle of Man’ 247 Barrow’s civil and ecclesiastical reforms 247 ‘The best way of cure’ 248 Authoritarian high churchman and enlightened reformer 249 Friends and factions 251 The schools and the development of literacy 251 Endowments for the future – the Barrovian legacy in the Isle of Man 253 Bibliography 259 vi List of figures Illustrations and tables Page 1 The Isle of Man in the mid-seventeenth century 3 2 Isaac Barrow, fellow of Peterhouse, c. 1641 30 3 Secretarial copy (c. 1668), annotated by Barrow, of his first visitation report (1663) 33 4 Barrow’s instructions to the clergy, 17 March 1663/4 36 5 Charles Stanley appoints ‘my trusty and wellbelov’d friend Isaack Lord Bpp. of Sodor and Mann [. .] to be Governour of my said Isle of Man’ 40 6 Ecclesiastical court: selected presented offences 48 7 Ecclesiastical court censures 50 8 Four-arch packhorse bridge over the Douglas River at the probable location of Barrow’s bridge, looking west (1783), with the taagher in the right foreground 62 9 Civil and ecclesiastical administrative areas of the Isle of Man in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 67 10 Barrow’s instructions to the clergy, written shortly before he left the Island in the late summer of 1669 85 11 St Mary’s Chapel, Castletown.