The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Volume 137: start THE RECORD SOCIETY OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE FOUNDED TO TRANSCRIBE AND PUBLISH ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TWO COUNTIES VOLUME CXXXVII The Society wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance given towards the cost of publication by The Marc Fitch Fund King’s College, Cambridge The Right Honourable The Earl of Derby The Society also wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the technical assistance given by Paul Laxton and Suzanne Yee of the Department of Geography, University of Liverpool. © Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Thomas Steel ISBN 0 902593 48 X Produced by The Charlesworth Group, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK PRESCOT CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS, 1635-1663 E dited by Thomas Steel PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 2002 FOR THE SUBSCRIPTION YEARS 1998 and 1999 COUNCIL AND OFFICERS FOR THE YEARS 1998 AND 1999 President Jenny Kermode, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Council Secretary Dorothy J. Clayton, M.A., Ph.D., A.L.A., c/o John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PP Hon. Membership Secretary Maureen Barber, B.A., D.L.A., 7 Rosebank, Lostock, Bolton, BL6 4PE Hon. Treasurer and Publications Secretaiy (from Sept 2000) Fiona Pogson, B.A., Ph.D., c/o Department of History, Liverpool Hope University College, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD Hon. General Editor Philip Morgan, B.A., Ph.D., F.R.H.S., Department of History, University of Keele, Keele, ST5 5BG Other Members of the Council B. Jackson, M.A., D.A.A. V. McKernan, B.A., D.A.A. P. McNiven, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.H.S. J.R.H. Pepler, M.A., D.A.A C.B. Phillips, B.A., Ph.D. D.A Stoker, B.A., M.Ar.Ad. J.R. Studd, B.A., Ph.D., F.R.H.S. A.T. Thacker, B.A., D.Phil., F.R.H.S. T.J. Thornton, M.A., D.Phil. G.J. White, B.A., Ph.D., F.R.H.S. T.J. Wyke, B.A. CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations vii Maps: viii Southwest Lancashire: showing principal road network Prescot Parish Introduction xi Accounts, 1635-1636 1 Accounts, 1637-1664 19 Appendices: I Extracts from the Leye and Wax Books, 1531-1568 223 II Extract from the Prescot Churchwardens’ Accounts, 1618-1619 227 III Schedules of church improvements, 1634-1637 229 IV Leye orders, 1635-1636 230 Glossary 232 Index: People and Places 238 Subject 248 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There is an obvious satisfaction for me, as Vicar of Prescot, to be able to present to a wider public more of the rich records of this ancient parish. Much of the work was completed during a period of study leave in 1997 and I must express appreciation to my bishop (now Lord Sheppaid), my colleagues and my parishioners for making that possible. Few perhaps of the Society s volumes have been worked on in circumstances and places as far removed from their subject as the beaches of Barbados, the snows of the Canadian winter, the summer delights of Sydney harbour and the alleged perils of Rio de Janeiro. My debts of gratitude are enormous. In old Lancashire the task would never have been completed without the patient help of Anna Watson (Lancashire Record Office) and Professor Richard Hoyle (then at the University of Central Lancashire). At Cambridge I had the generous hospitality of my patrons (King’s College) and enthusiastic encouragement from Dr. Beat Ktimin. In Vancouver I was able to pick the brains of Dr. John Craig. Dianne Taylor’s help made the work in Australia memorable. Others who deserve sincere thanks include Professor Walter King, Dr. Kenneth Fincham, Dr. Malcolm Gratton, Nigel Morgan, Michael Griffiths and Jill Drabble. The staff of many record offices were co-operative beyond the call of duty. Dr. Betty Ramsay kindly allowed me sight of her work on the Walton churchwardens’ accounts. Dr. Philip Morgan bore editorial responsibility for condensing the original work, which was rather longer and wider in scope. After long delays, it fell to Dr. Jenny Kermode to remotivate me and to guide the final approach to publication in her delightfully spirited and efficient way. Amongst other published churchwardens’ accounts, I have found most useful Drew’s work on Lambeth, Hanham’s on Ashburton and of course Bailey’s on sixteenth-century Prescot. Indeed the entire corpus of Bailey’s work on Prescot is an inspiration to any local historian. I cannot lay claim to startlingly new conclusions about this fascinating period, but I have tried to research the background thoroughly and I hope that the result is a balanced assessment. It is much to be hoped that more of Prescot’s records will be published in due course. Thomas Steel, Prescot, 2002. ABBREVIATIONS BIHR Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, York Cl Childwall Churchwardens’ Accounts CRO Cheshire Record Office, Chester CS Chetham Society KCC King’s College Cambridge LPRS Lancashire Parish Register Society LRO Lancashire Record Office, Preston PCC Prerogative Court of Canterbury PRO Public Record Office RSLC Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire SRO Staffordshire Record Office, Stafford THLC Transactions o f the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire TLCAS Transactions o f the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society VCH, Lancs. The Victoria History of the Counties of England: the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, ed. W. Farrer and J. Brownbill VCH, Chesh. The Victoria History of the Counties of England: a history of the county of Chester, ed. B.E. Harris, C.P Lewis, A.J. Thacker. Visitation The Visitation of the County Palatinate of Lancashire made in the year 1664-5, by Sir William Dugdale, Norroy King of Arms, ed. F.R. Raines, CS, Orig. Ser. (1872-73), volumes I (84), II (85), III (88) W n Walton Churchwardens’ Accounts Place of publication in all references is London unless otherwise stated. PRESCOT'S PLACE IN SOUTHWEST LANCASHIRE: showing the principal road network in the seventeenth century & .Y<t> x . $ /\ WIGAN PARISH O \ \ Winsianley • \ i \ \ \ Rainford Chapei \ Bryn 1 ♦ £ \ * cc -j RAINFORD \ © Biifinge <t Haysarm a. S Ashton in Makerfield „ \ □ . \ / # ^ Mossborough Hail s / \ / V WINWiCK PARISH «a i f ^ j*~~ >..... Site of \ Haydock # — Z / j Windleshaw Chapei V \ / WiNDLE \ I Cowley Hill Parr \ I . © « | Glest# o Hardshaw Hal! \ Newton in Makerfield < I Ecclesfon Hall St Helen’s Chapel / V-* I □ PARR I I 1 J k c C L E S T O N Ravenhead Hall • \ r Knowsley Hai! | □ Peasley Cross ' v'' — I N /% I Thatto Heath V SUTTON Burtonwood ^ co PRESCOT/’* \ \ Burtonhead J Y, ^Parish Churchy © □ Sutton Hall • \ \ < j \.,42 Prescot Hail ® Eltonhead I Q. S ''- J i / t Whiston Hall / I \° I Huyton \ WHISTON \ Rainhill Hall V \ • □ » Mjckiehead % z f Halsnead Bold Hall □ o V • , RAINHJLL % . Old Haii“ 9 ^ \ BOLD GREATSANKEY X +Sankey Chapel j © Tarbock Upton ► + Farnvvorth Chape * x y Halewood / °H ! L D W A L L PARISH $ Hale — Parish boundaries — Township boundaries PRESCOT PARISH: with its fifteen townships For Carole Arnold, Andrew Basinger, Ray Clark and Dorothy Webster, Churchwardens o f Prescot, 2002. INTRODUCTION The richness of Prescot s historical record has attracted considerable scholarly attention.1 There are court rolls from 1511,2 and parish registers from 1538.3 Churchwardens’ accounts survive from 1521, except for an hiatus from 1608-1634, and are Lancashire s earliest pre-Reformation series. Poor survival rates for accounts from the Chester diocese and the north of England generally make those for Prescot particularly valuable.4 The accounts for 1521-1607 were published by the Record Society in 19535 and this volume continues their publication to 1664. Some additional sixteenth century material which has come to light since Bailey’s edition, together with a single sheet summarising payments from the accounts of 1618-9, are included as appendices. THE PARISH AND ITS PEOPLE The ancient parish of Prescot lay in the rural deanery of Warrington in the diocese of Chester, and covered some 58 square miles or 37221 acres of the hundred of West Derby. Most of the parish was low-lying and fertile, with undulations where red 'B.A. Kiimin, The Shaping of a Community: The Rise and Reformation o f the English Parish, c.1400-1560 (Aldershot, 1996); J.S. Craig, ‘Ecclesiastical policy and local community: the parish of Prescot, 1558- 1603’ (research paper for M.A., Carleton University, Ottawa, 1988). W.J. King has also worked extensively on Prescot. 2 In the main these relate only to Prescot township. For the original rolls: LRO, DDCs and DDKc. For those for 1511-1599: A Selection from the Court Leet and other Records, 1447-1600, ed. F.A. Bailey, RSLC, 89 (1937). For Bailey’s notes on the rolls 1602-1648: Prescot Records, ed. J. Knowles (Knowsley,’1980). For an eighteenth century summary of the rolls 1509-1681: Tickle, Hall and Cross (Prescot solicitors), Epitome o f the Manor Rolls o f Prescot (usually called the ‘Abstract Book’). For a detailed commentary on the ‘Abstract Book’: E.B. Driffield, ‘Prescot in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, I-XIX, The Prescot Reporter {15 Apr.-5 Aug. 1921). 3 The Registers o f the Parish o f Prescot, 1531-1595, ed. J. Perkins, LPRS, 137 (1995); The Parish Register o f Prescot, 1573-1631, ed. F.V. Driffield, LPRS, 76 (1938); The Register o f Prescot Parish Church, part 2, 1632-1666, eds R. and F. Dickinson, LPRS, 114 (1975); The Registers o f the Parish o f Prescot, 1665- 1726, ed. J. Drabble, LPRS, 149 (2000). 4R. Hutton, The Rise and Fall o f Merry England: The Ritual Year, 1400-1700 (Oxford, 1994), p.50; A.