THE HUNDRED OF SALFORD
(Continuation)
DEANE
Rumworth; Horwich; Heaton; Halliwell; Westhoughton; Hulton, Little; Hulton, Middle; Hulton, Over; Farnworth; Kearsley
This parish, originally the northern half of the
parish of Eccles, takes its name from the dean or narrow
wooded valley, on the edge of which the church stands. (fn. 1)
A little brook runs down the valley northward to the
Croal. The whole was held of the lord of Manchester,
in part directly and in part under the mesne fee of
Barton. (fn. 2) The district measures about 8 miles from
north-west to south-east, and has a total area of
20,102 acres. The geological formation consists of the
carboniferous rocks, the Coal Measures in the southern
and central parts, the Gannister Beds and Millstone
Grit in the northern—that is, in Heaton, Horwich and
Halliwell. The church stands as near as may be to
the centre of its irregularly-shaped district.
Of recent formation the parish has but little record
beyond that of industrial progress, being largely influenced by Bolton, within which a large portion of
it is now included.
The following is the present apportionment of the
agricultural land: Arable land, 2,375 acres; permanent grass, 10,798; woods and plantations, 354.
Details are given as follows:—
|
| Arable | Grass | Woods, &c. |
| Acres | Acres | Acres |
| Deane | 2,071 | 4,093 | 190 |
| Deane | 10 | 884 | — |
| Horwich | 46 | 1,811 | 5 |
| Smithills | 7 | 1,104 | 144 |
| Heaton | 2 | 1,199 | 15 |
| Farnworth | 4 | 613 | — |
| Kearsley | 235 | 284 | — |
For assessment purposes it was divided into four
quarters—Rumworth, Farnworth, and Kearsley; Heaton, Horwich, and Halliwell; Westhoughton; the
three Hultons. Each quarter contributed£ 1 14s. 1½d.
to the county lay of 1624, when the hundred had to
raise £100. (fn. 3) To the fifteenth Rumworth, together
with Lostock in Bolton, paid 14s.; Heaton with Halliwell, 13s.; the three Hultons, 10s.; Westhoughton,
15s. 1d.; Horwich was not reckoned, and Farnworth and Kearsley were included with Barton-onIrwell. (fn. 4)
Church
The church of ST. MARY is picturesquely situated on high ground above a
small stream that flows past it on the
west, and consists of a chancel 28 ft. long by 19 ft. 6 in.
wide, nave 71 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 9 in., north aisle
13 ft. wide, with organ chamber at the east and vestry
at the west end, south aisle 15 ft. wide, south porch
and west tower 9 ft. square; these measurements being
all internal. With the exception of the tower the
building belongs to different periods of the 15 th and
to the beginning of the 16th centuries, with modern
additions. The tower is of 14th-century date, and
probably belongs to an older church which the 1 5thcentury building replaced.
The church is built of rough wall-stones, and has
battlemented parapets to chancel, nave, and aisles, with
three crocketed pinnacles on the east end, and leaded
roofs. The details are poor, the windows all being
late in style, with rounded uncusped heads to the lights,
the clearstory consisting of an almost continuous line
of square-headed three-light windows.
The church appears to have been originally a small
14th-century building, the nave covering the area now
occupied by the two westernmost bays of the present
nave, probably without aisles and with a chancel and
western tower. Early in the 15 th century the church
was extended eastward by the addition of two bays
forming a new chancel, probably built round the formerly existing one and taking up the space now occu
pied by the third and fourth bays of the nave. The
next alteration to this 14th-century church, which
had a steep-pitched roof, the line of which was revealed against the east wall of the tower in 1878
and is still preserved in the plastered face, seems to
have been the pulling down of the north side of the
new chancel in the 15 th century and extending it
northward to the width of the present aisle. The
two arches on this side are the oldest in the church,
and are of different section from the others. Later
the chancel and its northward extension were further
extended by a bay, and the south side rebuilt with
three arches opposite those on the north side. The
original 14th-century nave appears to have been
standing till the beginning of the 16th century, (fn. 5) when
it was pulled down and the present nave arcade constructed and the clearstory added, leaving a small
portion of the 14th-century walls on the west end
immediately to the east of the tower. The area of
the original building and these three extensions now
form the extent of the nave and aisles, a later extension of the chancel having apparently taken place
shortly afterwards, early in the 16th century. The
chancel was lengthened a further 10 ft. in 1884.
The organ chamber north of the chancel was added
in 1887.
The chancel has a large seven-light pointed window
on the east with central transom and plain perpendicular tracery in the head. The lights have rounded
heads and are uncusped. On the north side is a
modern arch to the organ chamber, and the south wall
has a five-light flat-pointed window with double transom and rounded heads to the lights. The chancel
is open to the nave, and is only less in width by the
projection of the chancel walls in front of the nave
piers. Both chancel and nave are under one continuous
flat-pitched oak panelled roof of modern construction
(1884), but following the old lines.
PARISH of DEANE
The nave has an arcade of five pointed arches resting
on octagonal piers, with moulded capitals, the arches
of two plain chamfered orders, except to the earlier
third and fourth bays on the north side, where the
chamfers are hollowed. The second pier on the
north side shows the junction of this earlier work with
the later 15th-century work of the nave in the clumsy
thickening out of the pier and the awkward way in
which the western arch springs from it. The capitals
of the first pier from the west on the north side and
those of the later half of the thickened pier are carved
with rude stone heads. The nave is lighted by an
almost continuous row of square-headed clearstory
windows, each of three lights with rounded heads,
The aisles have lean-to roofs and wood and plaster
ceilings, lighted by a double row of square-headed
windows of three and four lights, the walls apparently
having been raised and the upper windows intro
duced to light the galleries. The galleries were put
up in 1849 and removed in 1884. The aisles extend
the length of the nave, but the north aisle now terminates at the east with an open arch to the new
organ chamber. There is an ancient piscina in the
south-east corner, and a good pointed doorway of 14thcentury date at the west end of the north wall opposite
the first bay. This doorway, however, seems to have
been originally on the west side of the tower and to
have been removed to its present position when the
new western tower entrance was constructed. The
south aisle has a five-light transomed window under a
flat-pointed arch at its east end. The south porch is
modern.
The tower, the ground floor of which is used as
a vestry, has walls 4 ft. thick and opens to the
nave by a pointed arch, above which, within the
line of the old roof, is a doorway 4 ft. 6 in. high and
2 ft. wide. The ringing chamber above is gained by
a ladder, there being no vice, and the upper part of
the arch is filled by a glazed screen. Externally the
tower is very plain, with diagonal buttresses and a new
west doorway and a window above. There is a clock
in the south side, and the upper stage on each face has
a square-headed two-light louvred belfry window, the
lights with trefoiled heads. The tower finishes with
an embattled parapet and angle pinnacles.
The fittings are mostly modern, but there is a good
16th-century black oak pulpit with back and canopy,
the renaissance detail of which is rather elaborate. (fn. 6)
The interior of the church is plastered and painted,
the walls of the chancel and nave having a series of
figures of great English churchmen, principally leaders
of the Protestant Reformation. In a glass case at the
end of the nave are preserved the works of Bishop
Jewell and other 16th-century Protestant books.
The churchyard is very extensive and lies on the
north, east, and south sides of the building, being
entered from the road on the south through a stone
lych-gate erected in 1903. It has been extended at
different times, the last extensions being in 1876 and
1893. The ancient yew tree on the south side is
now dead, but the trunk and branches remain with a
picturesque covering of ivy. On the same side is the
base of a stone cross which formerly stood in Junction
Road, before which it is stated that George Marsh
spent a night in prayer before he gave himself up at
Smithills. A new shaft has been erected on the old
base with an inscription recounting the tradition. (fn. 6a)
There is also a pedestal sundial on an octagon shaft
with the name of the maker (W. Leigh, Newton) and
the latitude and longitude. In the churchyard there
were formerly effigies of a knight and a lady, but these
have disappeared. (fn. 7)
There is a ring of six bells, rehung in 1873.
The plate consists of a chalice of 1607; a chalice
of 1655, incribed 'The guift of Mr. John Aynsworth
unto the Parish Church of Deane in Lancasheire in
the yeare of our Lord, 1655 '; a cover paten of the
same year, inscribed 'The guift of Mrs. Judeth
Hulton unto the Parish Church of Deane in Lancasheire in the yeare of our Lord, 1655,' and with
the arms of Hulton of Hulton; a credence paten of
1729, inscribed 'Ex donatione Annae Kenyon Viduæ
Georgii Kenyon, nuper de Peel in Com. Lanc.
Armigeri 1729,' with the arms of Kenyon impaling
Egerton in a lozenge, and the mark of William
Atkinson; two patens of 1782, with the mark of
Daniel Smith and Robert Sharpe (fn. 7a) ; two small flagons
of 1801, inscribed 'Presented 1st January 1828 to
the Parish Church of Dean, by Jane Daughter of
Peter Brooke, Esqre. of Mere Hall, Cheshire, and
Relict of William Hulton, Esqre. of Hulton Park,
who Died 24th June 1800'; a credence paten of
1846, given by the parish in that year; and a paten
of 1901, Birmingham make, inscribed 'The gift of
Mrs. Elizabeth Marsh unto the Parish Church of
Dean, in Lancs., on the Coronation of Ed. VII,
June 26, 1902.'
The registers begin in 1637, but there are earlier
transcripts at Chester.
Advowson
Although St. Mary's, Deane, is
mentioned in 13th-century deeds,
and its chaplain described as 'parson,' (fn. 8)
it was not until 1541 that an independent parish was
assigned to it. Until that year the chaplain had been
nominated by the vicar of Eccles, within whose parish
Deane was included, and had received from him £4
a year as stipend. (fn. 9) Henry VIII, having after the
suppression of Whalley Abbey constituted Deane a
parish by letters patent, assumed the patronage, which
till recently remained in the Crown, the vicar being
appointed by the Lord Chancellor. The present
patrons are Simeon's Trustees, by purchase in 1877. (fn. 10)
Inquiries made in 1546 and 1549 showed that
apart from the glebe the vicar had no fixed income
beyond the £4 paid by the vicar of Eccles. (fn. 11)
In 1650 the vicar of Deane received, besides an
old stipend of £10, (fn. 11a) a share of the rectorial tithes,
sequestered from a 'delinquent,' Mr. Anderton of
Lostock. (fn. 12) Bishop Gastrell recorded the income as
£18 19s., of which £5 was from surplice fees and
£10 was paid by the impropriator of the tithes;
but in 1714 money and lands to the value of £700
were given in augmentation. (fn. 13) The value of the
benefice is now stated as £400 a year. (fn. 14)
In 1724 there were eleven churchwardens, each
hamlet choosing one by house-row. (fn. 15)
The following is a list of the vicars:—
|
| Institution | Name | Patron | Cause of Vacancy |
| 20 Feb. 1541–2 | William Rothwell (fn. 16) | King | d. last inc. |
| oc. 1563 | Richard Ormishaw (fn. 17) | — | — |
| 15 Oct. 1575 | David Dee, M.A. (fn. 18) | Queen | d. last inc. |
| 31 Mar. 1593 | Lancelot Clegge (fn. 19) | — | — |
| —1597 | James Pendlebury (fn. 20) | — | — |
| 1 Mar. 1636–7 | Richard Hardy, M.A. (fn. 21) | King | — |
| Aug. 1643 | John Tilsley, M.A. (fn. 22) | — | — |
| 19 Nov. 1662 | John Angier, M.A. (fn. 23) | King | — |
| 2 June 1663 |
| 22 Nov. 1673 | Richard Hatton (fn. 24) | " | — |
| 4 Dec. 1673 |
| 13 Jan. 1712–3 | James Rothwell, B.A. (fn. 25) | Queen | d. R. Hatton |
| 29 May 1767 | Thomas Withnell, M.A. (fn. 26) | King | d. J. Rothwell |
| 13 June 1776 | Robert Lathom, M.A. (fn. 27) | " | d. last inc. |
| 16 April 1818 | Thomas Brocklebank (fn. 28) | " | d. R. Lathom |
| 6 Feb. 1830 | Edward Girdlestone, M.A. (fn. 29) | " | res. T. Brocklebank |
| 7 April 1855 | Francis Henry Thicknesse, D.D. (fn. 30) | Queen | res. E. Girdlestone |
| May 1868 | William Bashall, M.A. (fn. 31) | " | res. F. H. Thicknesse |
| 7 April 1877 | Henry Sheridan Patterson (fn. 32) | Simeon's Trustees. | res. W. Bashall |
There does not seem to have been any regularly
founded chantry at Deane, but in 1522 Richard
Heaton stated that he had caused an aisle to be built
in the church, which he calls a 'parish church,' and
paid most of the charge; and had, in addition,
edified a chapel of timber' in the aisle, wherein was
an altar, with images of the Holy Trinity and
St. Anne. (fn. 33) In 1552 Lambert Heaton claimed a
chalice and suit of mass vestments in Deane Church
as heirlooms. (fn. 34)
The Clergy List of 1541–2 shows that there were,
in addition to the vicar, two priests whose stipends
were paid by two of the squires; (fn. 35) there were probably at least two more attached to the chapels at
Westhoughton and Horwich, for in 1548 the vicar
and six others were recorded in the bishop's visitation
list. There is no entry in 1554. The staff had
dwindled to three by 1563 (fn. 36) —the vicar and the
curates of the two chapels; and two years later one of
the curates had gone, the vicar, Richard Ormishaw,
and the curate of Horwich, Peter Makinson, being
those recorded. (fn. 37) In 1592 it was reported that the
curate did not catechize, and that the annual perambulations were neglected. (fn. 38)
In the 17th century some improvement was
effected, but the normal staff does not seem to have
risen above three, even under the Commonwealth. (fn. 39)
From the account of the vicars it will be seen that
clergy and people were of the Puritan school, one of
the chapels after the Restoration being held by Nonconformists for many years. Here, as elsewhere in
South Lancashire, the growth of the population has
led in recent times to the erection of many new
churches and the subdivision of the parish.
Charities
Reports on the charities of Deane
have been made in 1828 and 1902. (fn. 40)
For the whole parish there is a small
endowment supposed to be part of a greater sum; the
interest has been added to the church poor's money. (fn. 41)
Farnworth shares in several charities. (fn. 42) Kearsley also
shares some. (fn. 43) A special benefaction for Little Hulton
has been lost. (fn. 44) The poor of Horwich receive £84
from the legacy of Joseph Ridgway, and there are
some other charities. (fn. 45) For Westhoughton there are
no endowments for the poor. (fn. 46) Middle Hulton has a
share in two Worsley gifts. (fn. 47) Rumworth receives £60
a year from a farm given by Ralph and James Crompton. (fn. 48)