XLVH. VOL. C-, AND L. OF S. H. PARBOLD. CHAPCL, DOUGLAS SOME HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE CHAPEL OF OUR BLESSED LADY, PARBOLD, LANCASHIRE. By William Frederick Price. Read 5th December, 1895. HIS ancient and interesting ecclesiastical T edifice, better known as " Douglas Chapel," was demolished in 1878. It was situated at the foot of Parbokl Hill, in the township of Parbokl, and lay hidden in a picturesque and sequestered valley. Parbokl Hill, with its extensive stone quarries, is a familiar object to travellers on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway between Southport and \Vigan. It is the most prominent feature of a range consisting of Parbokl, Hunters, and Harrock Hills ; and on the opposite side of the valley is another range, comprising Ashurst, Upholland, and Billinge. Parbokl and Ashurst Hills stand like sentinels at the neck of a beautiful and well- timbered valley, which is watered by the River Douglas, 1 a sluggish stream, with high banks, veiled with alder, willows, and poplar. This river 1 A Celtic river-name. The word "dhu," black, appears in five rivers in Wales, three in Scotland, and one in Dorset, which are called Dulas. There are also two in Scotland and one in Lancashire called the Douglas ; and we have the Dcjulas in Radnor, the Dowles in Shropshire, and the Higgles in Lancashire. Rev. I. Taylor, Words ami Places, p. 143. 208 Historical Notes on Douglas Chapel. takes its source among the hills of Rivington, flows through the town of Wigan, 2 past Gathurst, Appley Bridge, Parbold, Ruftbrd, and Tarleton, and joins the Kibble estuary at Hesketh Bank. "Swait Dulas coining in from Wigan, with her aids v ; Short Tatvd and Dartow small two little country maids, In these low watery lands and moory mosses bred." 3 The now fertile plain through which the Douglas meanders from Parbold to its estuarv, appears to have been, even to a late date, a vast swamp, intersected with forests, where the Celt and his Saxon successors hunted for big game, plied their canoes among the broad lagoons, and built their pile dwellings on the margin of the Meer. The remains of forests at Hoscar and Bescar, the dis- coverv of ancient canoes in Merton also called '" Marton " and " Martin "--Meer, and the local '-nomenclature, all supply us with these facts. We can now hardly realize that in this little-known corner of Lancashire there existed until late in the seventeenth century a lake twenty miles in circuit called Merton Meer, within which were three small islands, and this " Meer emptieth itself one way " into the River Douglas and by another Rivulet "falleth into the sea at North Meols." 4 The following extract from Lancashire Church Surveys in i65o5 is useful in giving an idea of the state of the country at that time : ' And also for that there is a great river called Astlan over which the inhabitants of the said towns of Tarleton, Holmes, Sollom. Hesketh and liecconsall cannot pass unto Croston Church without a boat, neither can they pass with a boat in some 2 Lelaiut, the antiquary, 1536-1542, writing of Wigan, says: " Dugles " Ryver en timing l>y Wigan market goith into the se by hitself toward "Laiham." 3 Dray ton's PoiyMiin. 4 Hiome's Britannia. i Record Society of I+aiicaihire and Cheshire, vol. i, p. IIO, Historical Notes on Douglas Chapel. 209 seasons of the year by reason of the great inundation of the said waters there, and also by reason of the great river of Duglas, the fenny pool, and the river of Yarrow overflowing the way for all the most part of the winter time." It is hardly necessary to repeat here the well- known tradition which associates the river Douglas with some of King Arthur's most sanguinary engagements; hut there is also a tradition that Douglas Chapel was originally built to commemo.- rate a victory or victories, of the Saxons over the Danes. The river would afford easy and natural ingress into this valley for the bold and adventurous Danes, and having once entered it, the configuration of :--- ^ the surrounding country would give the Saxons an..JUG admirable strategic position to attack the in yadci and cut off their retreat seawards. It seems to me most probable that at the period of the Danish incursions the Douglas was navigable from its estuary to a point beyond Douglas Chapel, and that it bore upon its dark waters many a roving Viking. As the place names in the Douglas valley indicate an extensive Saxon colonization, the traditional Saxon origin of Douglas Chapel has its probabili­ ties ; and whatever claims the Douglas valley may have to be the scene of King Arthur's battles, local tradition is quite clear and distinct as to the fact that the Danes and Saxons met in conflict on the banks of this river.6 Having taken a cursory glance at the character of the surrounding country, it will be necessary to refer brieflv to the Lathoms 7 of Lathom and Par­ 's About the middle of the last century a large number of human bones and nn amazing quantify of horse shoes of small size were found near the banks of the Douglas, between Douglas Chapel and Wigan, indicating sanguinary military operations. Vide Unifies' Hist. Lancashire, vol. ii, p. 604. 7 Sometimes spelt l; Lathum " and " Latham." 2io Historical Notes on Dnnglas Chapel. bold, whose history seems to he interwoven with that of Douglas Chapel. Sir Thomas cle Lathom gave the manor of Par- hold to his son Edward, in the 3gth of Edward III.8 This Edward Lathom is styled "of Parbold,' -IJ and in the i<Sth Henry VI11 we find William Lathom asserts that he and his ancestors have heen "with- " out tyme of mvnde founders and patrons of the " said chapel.'' In the gth of Queen Elizabeth the manor of Parhold was held by Richard Lathom. and con­ tinued in his familv until the beginning of the eighteenth century. It would seem that the Parbold branch of the Lathom familv not only held the manor but were resident in Parbold. This I think evident by the following extract from the will of Edward Legh10 of Hallam, co. Chester, dated 1606" : " Item. I bequeath vnto my Nephew Lathom of Parbold my Rapier and dagger desiringe him and his hedfellovve to honor God wth prayers and thanksgeuinge daylie /// theire house at Par- bold^ and in so doingc God will bless them and theirs both in theire house and in the fields/' Frequent entries occur in the Douglas Chapel registers of Lathoms of Parbold, from 1700 to 1800, and there appears to have been a marriage between one William Lathom and Dorothv Leigh, about 1757. James Leigh, brother of Dorothy Leigh, was owner of Bannister House, Parbold, and re­ ceived rent for a pew in Douglas Chapel. 1 ' I have not so far been able to identifv the Par- bold residence of the Lathom family. The present 8 "The family of Lathom was of great note in the county at an early period after the Conquest." Gregson's Fragments, p. 241. 9 Gastrell's Notitia, pt. iii, p. 373. 10 Brother of Sir 1'eter Leyh ol Lyme. i' Record Society Lane, an j Cheshire Wills vol. xxx, p. 114. '* Private family papers of Rev. W. Price, in possession of the author. Historical Xotcs on Douglas Chapel. 211 Parbokl Hall was not built till the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Parbold estates passed to the Crisp familv, from whom they were purchased about 1791 by William Dicconson of Wrightington. In 1601. Richard Lathom, Esq., of Parbold, was patron of the living of Eccleston, and the last of the Lathoms who had the presentation of Eccles­ ton was William Lathom, after whose death, about 1730, the advowson became vested in Thomas Crisp, Esq., Sheriff of Lancashire in 1716. 1;> The Parbold branch of the Lathom family mar­ ried into many of the county families, viz., Norris, Standish of Standish, Molineux of Melling, Scofield of Scofield, &c., M and they also appear to have been connected with the Leghs of Lyme. In the year 1246, a deed, appointing John Man- sell parson of Wigan, was attested by Robert de Lathom, 115 and a deed, dated 1239, m the Scans- brick collection, is also witnessed by Robert, Lord of Lathom. DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE AND FABRIC OF DOUGLAS CHAPEL. My personal recollections of Douglas Chapel extend from the year 1860 to 1874, during the in­ cumbency of my father, the late Rev. \V. Price, during which period I was a chorister in the chapel. As far as I am aware, no plans, drawings, or photographs of the building exist, except those which serve to illustrate this paper ; and as the number of persons who could give a clear and descriptive account of the chapel is yearly getting smaller. I must make this my apology for here entering into details which might otherwise seem unnecessary. 13 Gastrell's No/ilia, pp. 371, 372. 14 Flowers' Visitation ijbj. ij Vide Hist, of the Church and Manor of Wigan, by Canon Brulgeman. P 2 212 Historical Notes on Douglas Chapel. The building .lay east and west, on a slight elevation, about 150 yards north of the river Douglas, where its foundations still remain. It had externally a mean and somewhat barn-like appear­ ance, being blocked in on the north side by an inn known as the " Chapel House," which, judging from its title, may possibly occupy the site of the residence of the chantry priest.