Chapter XII: The Parish of Kirkham (2)

Text size

The certificate of the vicar relating to this discovery, together with a manuscript account of the circumstances connected with it, were “brought up to London by Colonel Moore (of Liverpool) a member of the House of Commons, and shewed to divers of the House; who commanded the tract to be printed so that all the kingdom might see the hand of God therein; to the comfort of his people, and the terror of the wicked that deride and scorn them.”[157]

In the context are enumerated a few records of the “Thirty men,” in order that the reader may have a clearer conception of their duties, and gain some information, not devoid of interest, respecting the more common-place matters associated with the history and regulation of parochial and church affairs in the town:—

“1571.

“Nov. 2. Recᵈ for burial of a child of Mr. Veale (of Whinney
Heys) in the church XIId.

“Paid for a scholar verifying the ch’wardens’ acct.ˢ

“The great bell taken down this year and a new one put up.”

“1577.

“The churchwardens were ordered by the vicar and 30-men to
continue in office another year, by way of punishment, because
they had not repaired the bells or levied the gauld of xˢ per
township.”

“1586.

“Charge of the churchwardens for making the vicar a seat xiiᵈ.

“An order that each householder having a youth with a plough
having 4 beasts shall pay ivᵈ.

“Every one that married with another iiᵈ, and every cottage iᵈ.”

“1595.

“The churchwardens charged xiiᵈ for tarrying with Mr. vicar when
he gave warning to all housekeepers not to sell ale during the
time of service.”

“1603.

“Rushes to strew the church cost ixˢ viᵈ. The churchwardens went
through the parish to warn the people to come to church.”

“1618.

“Pᵈ to Isabel Birley 3 weeks diet for 3 slaters at iiiˢ ivᵈ per
week, xxxˢ.”

“1634.

“The church was flagged this year.”

“1643.

“Pᵈ for slating Mʳ Clifton’s quire £1 5s. 3d., and for organ
pipes which had been pulled assunder by the souldiers, 3s.
4d.[158] The churchwardens were demanded to attend the prime
sessions at Weeton. 12 June they were ordered by the captains
and other officers to make presentment of all recusants in the
parish. In August they were employed several days at the parish
cost about the covenant, and giving notice through the parish for
them to take the covenant.”

“1666.

“Spent on going perambulations on Ascension day, 1s. 6d.”

“1679.

“The bishop ordered a bone-house to be built.”

“1683.

“Spent upon the ringers upon the 9th of Sept., being thanksgiving
day for his majesty’s deliverance from the fanatick plot 2s.
6d.[159]

“Paid for whip to whip dogs out of church, 2s. 0½d.

“Paid for magpies and sparrow heads £10 12s. 4d.”

“1746.

“28 March. Paid for hiding registers, vestments, plates, etc.,
at the rebels coming 2s. 6d.; same day paid for ringing when the
Duke of Cumberland came to Preston, and when he retook Carlisle,
6s.”

“1797.

“Apr. 18. Ordered that the curates of Lund, Warton, Ribby,
and Singleton shall not exceed 2 qts. of wine each day they
administer the sacrament until further orders.”

The first church of Kirkham is commonly said to have been erected by the Saxons on Mill Hill, and subsequently rebuilt on its present site, but as this statement is unsupported by any more reliable evidence than tradition, we give it simply for what it is worth. The earliest authentic word of Kirkham church is in 1512, when the edifice was in part rebuilt; and at that time, and doubtless for centuries before, it occupied the same situation as to-day. After the alterations and renewals had been completed, the building comprised a nave, chancel, and side aisles, separated by stone pillars, on which rested pointed arches. At the west end of the church, throughout its entire width, was erected a gallery, another of less extent being placed at the east end for the accommodation of the organ. The north aisle contained a small gallery belonging to the ffrance family, the private chapel of the Westbys of Mowbreck, and a spacious room or vestry, in which the “Thirty-men” held their meetings. In the south aisle was located the private oratory of the Cliftons, of Westby and Clifton. The chancel extended the width of the nave and south aisle, and in 1780 the Clifton chapel was, with the consent of its proprietor, enclosed within the communion rails. The reading desk stood against the central pillar of the north side of the nave, and immediately above it was placed the pulpit. The north wall was low, and contained several large windows. The whole of the building, with the exception of the chancel, which possessed a double-gabled roof, was covered in by a single roof, which slanted from the south to the north wall, and was pierced at each end with dormer windows. The main entrance was protected by a massive porch.

The tower was probably erected but little later, if not, indeed, at the time the church was rebuilding, as appears from the will here quoted, bearing the date 29th of July, 1512:—“I, Cuthbert Clifton, Squyer, desire to be buryed at Kirkham in the tombe where Rychard Clifton, my great grandfather was buryed; I bequeath £6 13s. 4d. towards buyldyng of the steple of the saide churche.”

This tower was embattled with a short pinnacle at each corner, and stood about sixty feet high; on a stone in one of the buttresses were carved the arms and name of Cuthbert Clifton. In the inside wall of the present tower there is fixed a stone bearing traces of an inscription, and it is probable, from the remnant of a name still discernible upon it, that this is the stone here referred to.

From the records of the “Thirty-men” are learnt several things of interest with regard to the church, and amongst them, that during the seventeenth century the edifice was used occasionally for scholastic purposes, thus:—

“1653-54.

“6 Jan. It was agreed (by the “Thirty-men”) that no scriffener
be suffered to teach in the church, unless he procure some
honest townsmen of Kirkham to pass their word that whatsoever
his scholars do, either in breaking glass or in abusing men’s
seats—and that they meddle not with the bells—he shall make good
what they abuse.”

In 1662 a font was erected at a cost of £2 5s. 4d., and most likely is the one now stationed in the tower entrance to the church. A bone house was built in 1679 in the recess or corner formed by the west wall of the north aisle and the north side of the tower, in obedience to the order of the bishop of the diocese. In 1724 gates were placed at the entrance to the churchyard, and in 1799 the old tithe barn which formed the westerly boundary of this plot of ground was blown down and destroyed; the stone for the gate pillars was obtained from Ribchester. The following lists of persons buried in the Clifton and Westby chapels, or quyres, as they were called, were given in an old document which was copied in 1790 by Mr. W. Langton, who described it as “much defaced and torn:”—

“In the Clifton Quire.

“1597, sir Geo Cowbrone and Mr. Cuthbert Clifton; 1598, Henry
Colbron of Frekleton; 1601, Mr. Skillicorne; 1604, ould Dorothie
Skillicorne, Mr. Skillicorne’s daughter; 1602, Mr. Skillicorne,
his wiff, Mr. Skillicorne, his son, and Henry Brown of Scales;
1604, Lawrence Cowbrone, eldest son of above; 1616, Henry Porter
of Treales; 1621, Mrs. Jane Anderton, died at Westby; 1625, Mr.
John Sharples, of Frekleton; 1630, uxor Arthur Sharples, and
Matthew Colbron of Frekleton.”

“In the Westby Quyre.

“1605, Mr. Westby and Mr. John Westby (Mr. Thos. eldest brother);
1622, ould Mr. Hesketh; 1623, Mr. Hesketh of Maines.”

In a note we are told that when Mr. Skillicorne died in 1601, “and was to be buried, Seth Woods of Kirkham and another with him stood at Mr. Clifton’s quyre dore to keep them from making a grave, and William Hull of Singleton did run at the door with wood and break it open—how it ended is forgotten, but he was buried there.”

In 1822 the nave of the church was pulled down and rebuilt by aid of a rate imposed on all the townships; an inscription commemorating this event was placed over the arch of the old chancel. The tower and spire as they now exist were erected in 1844, whilst the present chancel was built in 1853. The spire and tower together have an altitude of one hundred and fifty feet, and the foundation stone of the latter was laid by Thomas Clifton, esq., of Lytham, on the 21st of November, 1843. The tower contains a peal of eight bells, but none of them are of ancient date, those alluded to in the records of the “Thirty-men” having been sold and replaced by fresh ones. The modern church of Kirkham, which, like its predecessor, is dedicated to St. Michael, is a large and handsome structure, built of Longridge stone, and capable of holding about eighteen hundred persons; the chancel is ornamented with a castellated parapet and fluted cornice. A stone coffin, which may be seen outside the church at the east, was taken out of the ground when the chancel was rebuilt. In 1725 the sum of £500 was left in trust by William Grimbaldson, M.D., to be expended in the purchase of land and other property, the income from which had to be devoted to providing a suitable person or persons to read prayers twice every day of the week except Sunday, in the parish church of Kirkham; in the event of this condition of the bequest not being fulfilled, it was decreed by the will that the annual interest of the money should be distributed amongst the poor housekeepers of Treales; so far, however, the requirement of the trust has been conformed to, and prayers are still read twice daily in the church.

Within the ancient church of Kirkham, doubtless in the Clifton chapel, was a chantry founded during the fifteenth century by Richard Clifton, of Clifton, who married Alice, the daughter of John Butler, of Rawcliffe Hall; and called the chantry of the “Holy Crucifix,” as well as that of “Our Blessed Laydy.” The commissioners of Henry VIII. issued the following report concerning it:—

“The Chauntrie in the paroche Church of Kirkeham.

“Thomas Prymbet preyst Incumbent there of the foundation of the
antecessors of Sʳ Thomas Clifton, knight, to celebrate there for
their sowles and all crysten sowles.

“The same is at the altar of our lady wᵗhin the paroche church
of Kirkham, and the said Incumbent doth celebrate there
accordinglie.”

Sum totall of the rentall £6 0s. 11d.

“Whereof—

“Payde to Sir Henry ffarington, knight, as farmour to
the kynge, our Sovereigne lord, of Penwarden fee, for
chief rente goynge forthe of the lands in ffryklyngton,
by yere 4d.

“Payde to the Kinges Majestie, to the handes of the
receyvour of his late Monasteyre of Vale Royall, goynge
forthe of the burgages in Kirkeham, by yere, in
Christenmes and Mydsomur, 7s. 6d.

“Sum of the reprises 7s. 10d.

“And so remayneth £5 13s. 1d.”

This chantry was in existence in 1452, for in that year, when the abbot and convent of Vale Royal presented Dom. Edmund Layche to the vicarage, the archdeacon instructed John Clarke, the chaplain of the chantry, to induct him.[160] Thomas Prymbett, the officiating priest, was sixty years of age in 1548, and at that date the town and parish of Kirkham contained 1700 “houselinge people.” Five years later Thomas Prymbett received a pension of £5.[161] His death occurred in 1564.

At the dissolution of monasteries, the chantry of Kirkham church was mulcted in an annual rent of 6s. 2d., which was ordered to be paid to the receiver of the Duchy. A lease of the lands appertaining to the chantry was granted to Lawrence Pembroke for a term of sixteen years.

In 1291 the living of Kirkham church was estimated in the _Valor_ of Pope Nicholas at £160 per annum, but at the dissolution aforesaid it was valued at no more than £21 1s. 0½d. per annum.

In 1586 the advowson of the church was leased to James Smith, yeoman, of Kirkham; and in 1591 it was granted for a period of twenty-one years by the authorities of Christ Church, Oxford, to John Sharpies, of Freckleton.[162]

Within the church are several inscriptions, the oldest and most curious of which is to be seen on a stone forming part of the floor of the vestry, and covering the grave of vicar Clegg:—

“Rᵈ: Clegg came: V: M.: J666.
Began pooʳ loaves: E: J670.
Uxʳ Jennet nupᵗ E: j672.
Mary nᵗ 9ʳ: J673: nupᵗ, FEB: 96.
Doro nᵗ. M. j675: ob. j677.
Abraham. nᵗ: J: j677: ob. j677.
Doro: nᵗ: S: j678.
Henerey nᵗ: J: j680. ob. 1683.
Eliz: nᵗ: M: j685. nupᵗ Feb. 1713.
Rᵈ Clegg Vʳ. ob j720. Æt. 85.
W: Jennet ob: j7... Æt...”

Others are in memoriam of Thomas, the son of Sir Thomas Clifton, of Lytham, died 1688, aged 20 years; the Rev. John Threlfall, B.A., for “56 years head-master of Kirkham School,” died 1801, aged 84 years; the Rev. Phipps Gerard Slatter, M.A., “head-master of the Free School,” died 1815, aged 25 years; the Rev. Charles Buck, M.A., for 27 years vicar of the parish, died 1717; the Rev. Humphrey Shuttleworth, vicar of Kirkham, died 1812, aged 76 years; Richard Bradkirk, esq., of Bryning Hall, died 1813, aged 60 years; Henry Rishton Buck, B.A., “lieutenant 33rd Regiment, who fell in battle at Waterloo, June 18, 1815,” aged 27 years; and James Buck, lieutenant 21st Light Dragoons, died January 7, 1815, aged 19 years.

In the church yard there are sundry inscribed stones, which, although little interesting on the score of antiquity, are worthy of mention as marking the burial places of persons of note in the parish at one time; as—James Thistleton of Wrea, the founder of Wrea school, who was interred on the 27th of February, 1693; William Harrison of Kirkham, gent., interred January 12th, 1767, aged 60, who “left an ample fortune to poor relations, and £140 to be vested in land, the yearly income to be distributed in pious books to the poor of Kirkham, Little Eccleston, and Larbrick: may the trustees dispense with integrity and effect the sacred dole”; Edward King, esq., fourth son of the Very Rev. James King, D.D., dean of Raphoe, “formerly bencher of the honourable society of Gray’s inn, and for above twenty years vice-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster”; the “Rev. Charles Buck of Kirkham, A.M., died 4 Jan. 1808. Aged 54,” also his two sons; the Rev. Robert Loxham, vicar of Poulton, died in 1770, aged 80 years; and John Langton of Kirkham, died in 1762, aged 71 years; also many other members of the same family.

VICARS OF KIRKHAM.

IN THE DEANERY OF AMOUNDERNESS AND ARCHDEACONRY OF RICHMOND.

The parish registers furnish us with the subjoined information, which has been arranged in a tabular form:—

1600-1601 1700-1701 1800-1801

Baptisms 91 103 106 100 149 139
Marriages 20 19 15 25 40 45
Burials 69 44 103 86 157 112

Respecting Kirkham’s less antiquated days it may be stated that Messrs. Thomas Shepherd, John Birley, and John Langton were the earliest to commence manufacturing on any large scale there, which they accomplished during the first half of the eighteenth century by establishing conjointly the flax spinning mill still existing, but with many additions, as the firm of John Birley and Sons. John Langton was descended from John Langton, of Broughton Tower, through his fourth son, John, who resided at Preston, and of whom Cornelius Langton, of Kirkham, was the third son. On the 31st of March, 1696, Cornelius Langton paid 30s. for his trade freedom in Kirkham, where he married Elizabeth, daughter of Zachary Taylor, M.A., head-master of the Grammar School, by whom he had issue John, Abigail, Zachary, and Roger. Abigail died in 1776; Zachary entered the church, and espoused the daughter of Alexander Butler, of Kirkland; Roger died in 1727; and John, the eldest, opened, in conjunction with the two gentlemen just named, a mercantile house in Kirkham, and left issue by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Brown, of Ashtree Hall, Kirkham,—Anne, Sarah, Cornelius, Thomas, of Kirkham, and five other children. The children of Thomas Langton, by his wife Jane, the eldest daughter of William Leyland, of Blackburn, were Elizabeth, Leyland, Cornelius, Zachary, Cicely, and William, of Kirkham, born 1758, died 1814. John Birley was the son of John Birley of Skippool, and the ancestor of the large families of Birley, at Kirkham, Manchester, etc. The mills at present standing in the neighbourhood of Kirkham are the flax mill of Messrs. John Birley and Sons, employing about 1,600 hands; the weaving shed of Messrs. Walker and Barrett, 400 hands; the cotton mill of Messrs. Harrison and Company, 150 hands; the cotton mill of Messrs. Richards and Parker, 180 hands; the weaving shed of Messrs. Richards Brothers, 84 hands; and the Fylde Manufacturing Company in Orders Lane, a newly-established concern. John Langton, who started in business at Kirkham as a flax spinner, purchased, in company with Ann Hankinson, in 1760, two years before his death, two closes of land, with their appurtenances, in Freckleton, called Bannister Flatt and Freckleton Croft, containing by estimate 1½ acres, and 12 beast-gates upon Freckleton Marsh, all of which they conveyed by indenture in four months to John Dannet, Thomas Langton, and William Shepherd, in trust for the educating, teaching, and instructing, free from all charge, of such young girls within the township of Kirkham, as they in their discretion should make choice of, to read, knit, and sew; and that they should for that purpose meet twice a year, on the 25th of December and the 24th of June, at Kirkham, to make choice of proper subjects, and keep a book, wherein should be entered the accounts of the receipts and disbursements. During the ten years which elapsed after 1760 additional benefactions were received amounting to £440. By indenture, dated 2nd of March, 1772, Joseph Brockholes and Constantia, his wife, conveyed to William Shepherd and Thomas Langton, trustees of the school, their heirs and assigns, for the sum of £425, two cottages, with appurtenances, in Freckleton, with a garden containing 36 perches; a parcel of ground in a meadow in Freckleton, called Birl Brick Meadow, embracing 30 perches; one cowgate in Freckleton Marsh; five closes in Freckleton, named the Two Baker Meadows, the Two Lamma Leaches, and the Bank, holding six acres of customary measurement. From 1772 to 1813 further donations (£130) were received. The trusteeship of the school appears to have descended in the Langton family, and was held by the late Thomas Langton Birley, esq., whose father, Thomas Birley, had married Anne, the daughter and co-heiress of John Langton, of Kirkham. Clothing, as well as education, is supplied gratuitously to the scholars, who usually amount to 40, or thereabouts. A new building for the purposes of the school was erected on a fresh site a few years ago, in place of the former one, which had stood since 1761.

The Roman Catholics, through the munificence of the Rev. Thomas Sherburne, built a magnificent church at the Willows in 1844-5. The edifice comprises a nave, side aisles, chancel, south porch, and an elegant spire, having an altitude of 110 feet. On the south side of the chancel is the lady chapel, and opposite to it that of the holy cross. The high altar is beautifully sculptured in Caen stone, and the reredos and tabernacle are covered with rich guilding. The walls contain several noble windows of stained glass. This church superseded one which had been erected in the same locality in 1809, anterior to which the chapel attached to Mowbreck Hall had been used by the Romanists of the neighbourhood for their celebrations and services. The Independents and Wesleyans also have places of worship in the town, situated respectively in Marsden and Freckleton Streets. The chapel of the Independents was constructed about 1793, and rebuilt in 1818, but that of the Wesleyans is of more recent origin. At the Willows, it should be mentioned, there is a school, open to all denominations, but under Roman Catholic supervision, which was established about 1828. Kirkham was first illuminated with gas in 1839. It contains a County Court House[163] and the Workhouse of the Fylde Union,[164] in addition to several other public buildings, as a Police Station, Waterworks’ Office, National and Infant Schools, etc. The town is governed by a Local Board of Health.

No papers have so far been discovered throwing any light upon the origin of the Free Grammar School, and the earliest intimation of its existence is in 1551, when Thomas Clifton, of Westby, bequeathed “towards the grammar scole xxˢ.” Thirty-four years later it was arranged amongst the “Thirty-men” that “40s. taken out of the clerk’s wages should be paid to the schoolmaster, and that 4 of the 30-men in the name of the rest should take possession of the school-house in right of the whole parish, to be kept in repair by it and used as a school-house;” also that “Richard Wilkins, now schoolmaster,” should be retained in his office for a year or longer. In 1589 the above assembly “agreed that the 10s. a year pᵈ by Goosnargh to the church shᵈ in future be paid to the schoolmaster, and for every burial (except one dying in childbed) he shᵈ have such sum as was agreed by the 30-men, and also such sum as hath heretofore been paid for the holy loaf, which is of every house 3d., every Sunday successively towards repairs of the schoolhouse and help of his wages.” In 1592 this order, as far as regards the holy-loaf contributions, was rescinded, the money as in former times going to the vicar.

The following is from the copy of an ancient manuscript account of the school, from 1621 to 1663, formerly in the possession of Thomas Martin, esq., of Lincoln’s Inn:—

“Isabell Birly, wife of Thomas Birly, born in Kirkham, daughter
of John Coulbron, an alehouse keeper all her life, and through
that employment attayned to a good personall estait above most
in that towne of that calling, being moved with a naturall
compassion to pore children shee saw often in that towne, was
heard to say dyvers tymes she would doe something for their good,
and in the yeare 1621, having gotten a good stock of money in her
hands, was moved to put her sayings into action. The 30-men of
the parish being assembled at the church, she, with £30 in her
apron, came to them, telling them she had brought that money to
give it towards the erecting of a free schole for pore children
to be taught gratis, whose parents were not able to lay out money
for their teaching, wishing them to take it and consider of
it. They were the men especially trusted by the parish for the
common benefits of the church, and therefore were the most like
persons to move their severall townships to contribute every one
something towards the accomplishment of so charitable a work,
and not doubting that their good examples in their contributions
would be a strong motive to excite others. This gift was
thankfully accepted, and wrought so with them that every one was
forward to promote it, especially Mr. Jno. Parker of Bredkirk, an
eminent man in the parish and one of that companie, being at that
tyme one of the earl of Derbie’s gentlemen and somewhat allied
to the said Isabell; he forwarded it very much, sparing neither
his paynes of his bodie nor his purse; for that end he travelled
all the parish over to every particular towne and house earnestly
persuading them to contribute to so good an use. Sir Cuthbert
Clifton gave £20, Maister Westby of Moulbreck £10, Mr. Parker
£5, Mr. Langtree of Swarbreck £5, Mr. Hesketh of Maines 40s.,
Mr. Greenacres, vicar of Kirkham, £4, and the several townships
in the parish gave as followeth:—Kirkham near £30, but not out;
Ribby and Wray £3 8s. 6d.; Westby and Plumpton 16s. 4d.; Weeton
£7 2s.; Singleton £1 13s. 6d.; Little Eccleston and Larbrick 4s.
4d.; Greenall and Thistleton £4 16s.; Roseacre £7 2s.; Wharles
£1 13s.; Treales £8 4s.; Medlar and Wesham £1 5s.; Hambleton 4s.
6d.; Salwick £3 5s.; Clifton £3 7s.; Newton and Scales £3 5s.;
Freckleton £8; Warton £1 8s.; Bryning and Kellamer £4 13s.—in the
whole £170 14s.”

When the time came for the selection of a suitable person to undertake the charge and education of the pupils, it so happened “that at that instant a young man, an honest, able scholar of good gifts and parts, having a lingering sickness upon him, was come over to Kirkham to Mr. William Armesteed (the curate of Kirkham), his cozen, for change of air, his name being Thomas Armesteed, and he was moved by some of the towne whether he would accept to be schole master if suit were made to the 30-men to elect him; he, in regard to the weakness of his bodie then yielded to the motion, otherwise he was a man well qualified for the ministery and a moving preacher.”[165]

At the meeting of the “Thirty-men” to fill up the appointment there were two candidates, Mr. Armesteed and Mr. Sokell, but the former was elected. About the year 1628, when this gentleman resigned, Mr. Sokell was elected to the vacancy after a contest. Until 1628 the management of all matters connected with the school had rested with the “Thirty-men,” but at that date the Roman Catholic gentlemen, who had been most liberal in their contributions, came to the conclusion that “it was not for their reputation altogether to leave the care of it to others and they to have no hand in it, therefore they took upon them to have a hand about it, and upon their doing so the 30 men, being tenants most of them to some of them, or dependant someway upon them, left it to them; only Mr. Parker was not bound to the _gentlemen_, and he joined in with them.”[166]

Isabell Birley and others had brought out a candidate, named Dugdall, at the recent election of schoolmaster, and were so incensed at his defeat by Mr. Sokell, a Romanist, that they drew up a petition to the bishop of Chester, complaining that “the gentlemen of the parish, being recusants all saving Mr. Parker, had intruded themselves to order all things” about the free school, and begging his lordship to issue an order how the future election of feofees for the school should be made, which he accordingly did, as follows:—

“Apud, Wigan, 31 July, 1628.

“At which day and place diverse of the Town and Parish of Kirkham
appeared about the ordering of a schole master thereof for the
time to come. At their request it is therefore ordered that the
whole parish, or as many as shall appear at some day prefixed,
after public notice given the Sunday before, shall elect six or
nine lawful and honest men feofees for that purpose, whereof a
third part to be chosen by the towne of Kirkham, and the two
other parts by the parishioners generally, of which feofees
Isabell Wilding’s (late Birley) husband and her heirs, because
she gave £30 to the schole maister, shall be one.

“Johannes Cestrensis. Edwᵈ Russell.”

The command of the bishop to call a public meeting was carried out, and in answer to the summons, read in church as directed, only seven persons presented themselves in “the parlour of Mr. Brown the curate,” viz., Sir Cuthbert Clifton, knt., Mr. Thomas Westby, Mr. Thomas Hesketh, Mr. Langtree, Mr. John Parker, gentleman, and of the parishioners, “not one man saving Richard Harrison of Freckleton, and John Wilding of Kirkham; and then and there the gentlemen elected themselves feofees, as also they elected Mr. Edward Fleetwood, the vicar.”[167]

After the death of John Wilding in 1634, as his widow, Isabell, found herself growing more infirm, she waited on the feofees with the intention of supplementing her original donation of £30 with an additional one of equal value, if she found them “favourable to her in something she willed of them, whereas Mr. Clifton gave her harsh words and such as sent her home with much discontent and passion.” When she died in 1637, it was discovered, as the manuscript from which we have been quoting informs us, that she had “left the £30 by will to buy land with, and the yearly rent to be divided to the poor of the town and parish of Kirkham.”

During the struggles between king and parliament, the school was closed for several years, and re-opened with fresh governors or feofees. At that epoch the inhabitants were kept in a state of constant excitement and alarm by visits from either the royal or parliamentary forces, but fortunately no collision ever took place in the neighbourhood.[168]

By the will, dated 1655, of Henry Colborne, of London, a native of Kirkham, his trustees were requested to purchase the lease of the rectory of this town, and invest the profits, with the exception of £100 per annum, for sixteen years, in lands for the benefit of schools; the purchases were to be settled on the Drapers’ Company of London. In 1673, £69 10s. was obtained for the school, being the rent of lands bought in the metropolis by the Colborne trustees, £45 of which sum had to be paid to the head master, who was required to be “a university man, and obliged to preach once a month at least in the parish church or in some of the chapels;” £16 16s. of the remainder was apportioned to the second master; and £8 to provide an usher.[169]

In 1673 it was decreed by the Court of Chancery that the expense and duty of preserving the school-house in proper repair should devolve upon the township of Kirkham, whilst the election of masters should rest exclusively with the Drapers’ Company.[170]

In that year also lands, etc., at Nether Methop in Westmoreland to the value of £530 were purchased, according to the directions of the will of the Rev. James Barker, rector of Thrandeston, Suffolk, which required his executors to buy lands sufficient to yield an annual rent of £30, and to settle such property on ten trustees, elected by the bailiffs and principal burgesses of Kirkham; the trustees were ordered to apply the rental to the following uses:—£10 yearly to the schoolmaster; £12 yearly in half-yearly instalments, as an “exhibition or allowance to such poor scholer of the towne as shall then be admitted to the university,” such exhibition to be open to any pupil born in Kirkham and educated at the school, and in case no scholar was ready and fitted to take advantage of it the sum was to be used in binding out poor apprentices; £5 for the purpose of binding apprentices; and the remainder to be expended in defraying the cost of an annual dinner for the trustees when they met to “enquire concerning the demeanure of the scholler at the univerty,” in whose case it was appointed that if they should find him “to be riotously given, or disordered and debauched, they should withdraw the exhibition.”

In 1701, the Drapers’ Company issued the following order touching the admission of girls to the benefits of the charity:— “From henceforth no female sex shall have any conversation, or be taught, or partake of any manner of learning whatsoever in the free school at Kirkham, any former custom to the contrary notwithstanding.”

In 1725 £400 was bequeathed to the trustees of the school by William Grimbaldson, M.D., to be invested in lands, and the rental to be added to the stipend of the head-master, if “he should be a scholar bred at Westminster, Winchester, or Eton, and a master of arts,” but if not the rental to be devoted to binding apprentices, for which purpose it is used at present. In addition this physician left £50 to be similarly invested, and the income to be spent in buying classical books for the school. The management of the school has been in the hands of trustees from the time of Barker’s bequest.

Since the establishment of the exhibition under Barker’s trust twenty-eight youths have been assisted in their university careers by its means.

HEAD MASTERS OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL SINCE 1800.

From the vestry book of Kirkham, we learn that the charity known as “Bread Money” originated from the vicar and “Thirty-men,” who, on the 5th of April, 1670, “with the consent and countenance of some of the gentlemen and of the present churchwardens, with some neighbours of repute in the respective townships,” held a meeting, at which it was unanimously decided to raise £80, such sum to be laid out on good security, and the interest to be expended in providing “a dozen penny loaves for every Sunday in the year, Christmas and the king’s birthday, and for every other holiday, to be given to so many of such poor as shall use to frequent the church and to those of distant townships.” The resolution continued:—“These loaves shall not be given to strangers or vagabonds, nor to children that shall but play about the church till sermon be passed, and then come in for a loaf, nor to any of the town of Kirkham in summer, but only in winter.” In order to raise the fund agreed upon, it was resolved that “what could be got by contribution of the communicants at Easter should be thus employed;” vicar Richard Clegg promised £5, and stated that if he remained at Kirkham during the rest of his life, and had the means, he would at some future time give £15 more for the same object, an intention which appears subsequently to have been carried out by his daughter, Mrs. Mary Nightingale, who some years after his decease, contributed £20 towards the fund. £5 given for the use of the poor by Jane, wife of John Clifton; arrears of rent due from Goosnargh; and funeral doles were all devoted to this purpose. In 1867 the fund amounted to £102 2s., yielding an annual income of £5 13s. 3d.

A sum of £12 was given by vicar Clegg, the interest to be paid to the clergyman preaching a sermon in Kirkham church on Easter Tuesday.

Richard Brown, by indenture dated 1639, conveyed for a term of 999 years a close called New Moor Hey with appurtenances, in Kirkham, to James Smith, upon condition that he, his heirs and executors, should pay the yearly rent of 20s. at Martinmas. “It is witnessed, that the said Richard Brown, in consideration of the good will he bore to the town of Kirkham, and the inhabitants thereof, and out of his zeal to God, and the charitable relief of the poor, needful and impotent people within the said town, granted to William Robinson and three others, their heirs and assigns, the said yearly rent of 20s., to hold the same upon trust, and to dispose of it amongst so many of the people of the said town, as the bailiffs thereof for the time being should, in their discretion, think most needful, on St. Thomas’s day.”[171]

By indenture, dated 1734, Joseph Hankinson, of Kirkham, in consideration of £45 released and conveyed to Robert Hankinson, and four others a close in Kirkham, called Swarbreck’s Old Earth, containing, by estimate, 1½ acres, to hold the same to themselves and their heirs for ever; and in the deed it was declared that the consideration money belonged to the poor of the township, and that the grantees were only trustees of the same, and had laid it out by direction of the inhabitants for the benefit of the poor according to the wish of the benefactors. The indenture is endorsed:—“Conveyance of Swarbreck’s Old Earth, for the use of the poor of Kirkham, purchased by monies given by Mrs. Clegg, widow of the Rev. Richard Clegg, vicar, and Mrs. Phœbe Sayle, wife of Mr. Charles Sayle, to wit £20 by the former, and £20 by the latter.”

Thomas Brockholes, by an indenture of 1755, conveyed for £50 to John Langton and William Shepherd, their heirs and assigns, a close called Moor Hey, with appurtenances; and subsequently in 1768 William Shepherd conveyed the close then denominated the Bailiffs’ Moor Hey to Henry Lawson, yeoman, of Kirkham, who in the following year being moved by “divers good causes and considerations” sold to the Rev. Charles Buck, vicar of Kirkham, and twelve others, all of Kirkham, gentlemen, for the sum of five shillings, two plots of land in Kirkham township, one of which, called Moorcroft, contained a rood and four perches, and the other, Swarbreck’s Old Earth, comprised an acre and an half. The conditions were that all profits or income accruing from the lands should be used for the relief of the poor of the aforesaid township.[172]

On the 1st of December, 1739, a legacy of £40 was bequeathed to trustees by Elizabeth Brown, to be invested, and the interest applied to the relief of the poor and necessitous widows of Kirkham, or the neighbouring townships, at Michaelmas.

The sum of £140 was received under the will, dated 1767, of William Harrison of Kirkham, to be invested, and the interest to be expended in Common Prayer books, Bibles, etc., two-thirds of which were to be given to the poor of this town, and the remainder to the poor of Little Eccleston and Larbrick.[173]

In 1816 Mrs. Mary Bradkirk placed £320 in the navy, five per cents. in her own name and that of Zachary Langton, esq., of Bedford Row, London; and subsequently trustees of this fund were appointed, whose duty it was to distribute the interest as follows:—

That of £100 amongst five necessitous persons in the township of Kirkham for life, and each vacancy to be filled up immediately after the death of the former recipient.

That of £20 to Joseph Brewer, then parish clerk of Kirkham, for life, and after his demise to the person filling the office of sexton at the same place.

That of £100 to five poor persons of Ribby-with-Wrea, and that of the last £100 to five poor persons of Bryning-with-Kellamergh, the vacancies to be treated as in those of Kirkham.

The only requirement on the part of the pensioners being that they should be members of the Church of England. The income of this charity, which amounts to more than £10 a year, like those of the five preceding it, forms part of the bailiffs’ fund.

Previous Next

Comments

History of the Fylde of LancashireChapter XII: The Parish of Kirkham (2)

0%28 min left in chapter