Manchester: The parish and advowson

ADVOWSON

The endowment of St. Mary's Church at Manchester is recorded in Domesday Book. (fn. 1) Rather more than a century later the rector is named. (fn. 2) In addition to the parish, there was a deanery of Manchester, and several of the early deans are known; (fn. 3) their position with regard to the parish church, however, is not ascertained; they may have been the chaplains in charge. (fn. 4) The original endowment was the plough-land in Newton referred to above; to this Albert Grelley the elder added four oxgangs from his demesne, supposed to be the land afterwards called Kirkmanshulme, which, though detached, was considered part of the township of Newton; (fn. 5) the church had also some land between Deansgate and the Irwell, known as the Parsonage land. In 1282 the value of the rectory was estimated as 200 marks, (fn. 6) though in the official taxation of nine years later it is given as less than half that sum, viz. £53 6s. 8d. (fn. 7) The value of the ninth of the sheaves, wool, &c., was returned as 60 marks in 1341. (fn. 8)

The patronage of the church descended with the manor until the confiscation of the college endowments in 1547; on the refounding by Mary it was assumed by the Crown. (fn. 9)

The church was made collegiate in 1421–2 by Thomas, Lord La Warre, the rector and patron, in honour of St. Mary, St. Denis, and St. George. (fn. 10) The tithes were appropriated to its maintenance, and the old manor-house and certain lands were given to increase the endowment, £3,000 being set apart for building a suitable residence on the site of the manorhouse. (fn. 11) The new foundation consisted of a warden or master, eight fellows or chaplains, four clerks or deacons, and six choristers. (fn. 12) In 1534 the revenue from lands was £40 5s. 3d., and from tithes £186 7s. 2d.; payments of £13 1s. 6d. had to be made, and the clear value therefore was £213 10s. 11d. The warden received £20, and each of the eight fellows or vicars £4, so that a large sum remained for the minor officers and the general expenses of maintenance. (fn. 13)

The college was dissolved in 1547 under Edward VI, and its lands were confiscated; (fn. 14) it was, however, refounded on the old lines by Mary in 1557, and parts of its lands in Newton and Kirkmanshulme which still remained in the Crown, as also the rectorial tithes, were given back to it. (fn. 15) As Mary's refoundations were again confiscated at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign (fn. 16) the position of Manchester College was doubtful; it was not actually seized by the Crown, though plundered indirectly, and in 1578 was formally refounded by the queen. (fn. 17) The name was changed to Christ's College; the warden and four fellows constituted the foundation, and were to appoint two chaplains or vicars to visit the sick, administer the sacrament and other divine services; also four laymen and four children skilled in music were to sing, say prayers, read chapters, and continue other divine exercises in the collegiate church. The warden was to receive 4s. for each day he was present and resident; each fellow 16d. each day he was present; (fn. 18) a chaplain 6¾d. a day, a chorister 4½d., and a singing boy 2¾d. The warden and subwarden were to have a house rentfree.

On account of various abuses it became necessary in 1635 to obtain a new charter, refounding the college; (fn. 19) and this charter—except during the Commonwealth, when Manchester, like other collegiate foundations, was suppressed (fn. 20) —continued in force until the foundation of the bishopric of Manchester in 1847, (fn. 21) when the church became the cathedral, and its warden the dean, other consequent changes being made.

The Commonwealth Surveyors in 1650 found the warden and fellows in nominal possession of lands in Deansgate, Newton, and Kirkmanshulme, of a total rent of £46, with the benefit of fines; the payment had recently been stopped 'by order.' The tithes were estimated at the clear value of £550; the greater part of these had also been detained. The warden, one of the fellows, and another minister were in charge of the parish church, being 'godly preachers.' (fn. 22)

With the growth of the town the value of the church lands constantly increased. They are now in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who, after making the regulated payments to the dean, canons, and others, and providing for the maintenance of the services, devote the remainder to various ecclesiastical purposes in the neighbourhood. (fn. 23)

The following is a list of the rectors, wardens, and deans:— (fn. 24)

The cathedral staff consists of the dean, four residentiary canons, who have rectories within the parish, and undertake the duties of the sub-dean, bursar, collector of rents, and registrar; twenty-four honorary canons and two minor canons, assisted by two clerks in orders, of whom one acts as precentor. (fn. 66)

Of the fellows and canons no account is given in this place, but as many of them were beneficed in the county, they are not altogether unnoticed.

The earlier rectors were often men of distinction, but pluralists and non-resident. It was to remedy this abuse that the college was founded, and to some extent it met the necessities of the case. The various chantries also helped to maintain an adequate supply of clergy; in particular, the foundation of Richard Bexwick for priests and schoolmaster in the Jesus chapel was made with this intention. (fn. 67) The first college possessed a library, which seems to have perished with it; (fn. 68) but another was in 1653 founded in the Jesus chapel and maintained by the town. (fn. 69) Just before the destruction of the college there appear to have been the warden, five priests, and four deacons on the foundation, 'all resident and observing their statutes'; also two curates, six chantry priests, and a fluctuating number of others—fifteen or more—who had casual offices or served the outlying chapelries. Thus for a population estimated at 6,000 'houseling people,' there were over thirty priests available. The church was decently furnished with plate, vestments, and other ornaments. (fn. 70)

The simultaneous abolition of college and chantries and the confiscation of the endowments made a vast difference. It is not exactly known how the Edwardine services were conducted, or what payments were made to the ministers. (fn. 71) In the Visitation list of 1548 twenty-two names appeared; ten of them reappeared in 1554, when six new names were added, two being those of the 'curates'—Ralph Birch and Hugh Ormishaw. In 1563 Thomas Herle, the warden, headed the list; he had two curates—Robert Prestwich and Edward Holt; five of the chapels of ease had curates in charge; there were four other names, two of which were soon erased, and another was described as 'decrepit.' The number of clergy therefore had been reduced to twelve, nine being effective. In the list of 1565 only those on the foundation were recorded—the warden, four chaplains, four deacons, and four (lay) choristers. The omission of any notice of the chapels of ease was perhaps a fault of the registrar's clerk; but it seems clear that the Pre-Reformation staff of thirty to thirty-four had been reduced to a dozen or less. Only two of the clergy of 1548 appear in the 1565 list, but some of the chapels of ease, if just then in use, may have retained the former curates. (fn. 72)

Though the gentry held, for a time at least, to the old ways, and though such wardens as Collier and Vaux were in life and doctrine an instructive contrast to their successors, (fn. 73) the people of the district rapidly accepted Protestantism, and that in its more pro nounced forms. The preaching of John Bradford may have had something to do with the change, though he was so little satisfied that he warned his audiences that 'because they did not readily embrace the Word of God, the Mass should again be said in that church, and the play of Robin Hood acted there.' (fn. 74) His letters and George Marsh's show that there were a certain number of resolute Protestants in the town in Mary's reign, (fn. 75) and some are stated to have been imprisoned in the college. (fn. 76)

The refoundation of the college by Queen Elizabeth gave the church a respectable body of Calvinistic divines, (fn. 77) but the wardenships of Dee and Murray again proved disastrous. One of the fellows, however, William Bourne, acquired a dominating position in the town; 'This is Mr. Bourne's judgement,' was sufficient for the people. (fn. 78) It is not surprising to learn that two of the chaplains in 1591 administered the sacrament without a surplice and that other irregularities were allowed; many of the people, it seems, preferred the churchyard to the church at sermontime. (fn. 79) The growing influence of Puritanism is seen in the stricter Sunday observance. (fn. 80) The new foundation of Charles I had no perceptible effect in neutralizing its prevalence. (fn. 81)

Under the Presbyterian discipline established in 1646 Manchester became the head of a classis, which included also the adjoining parishes of Ashton, Eccles, Flixton, and Prestwich-with-Oldham. (fn. 82) Four years later there seems to have been a regular staff of twelve ministers in the parish, of whom three were at the parish church and the others at the various chapels. (fn. 83) Just before the Restoration Richard Heyrick, Henry Newcome, and Joshua Stopford were in charge. (fn. 84)

After 1660 a tone a little more High Church gradually prevailed, so that by the end of the 17th century the clergy were strongly Jacobite, and remained so until after 1745. Bishop Gastrell about 1717 found that the warden and four fellows supplied all the turns of preaching, and the two chaplains read prayers and did all the other duty of the whole parish, receiving the surplice fees; a 'cathedral service' was performed by the four singing men, four choristers, and organist. (fn. 85) At this time and afterwards the building of new churches and the growth of Nonconformist congregations continually diminished the importance of the collegiate clergy; while the great increase of their wealth rendered a change of its distribution desirable, and this was effected in the least injurious mode by several Acts of Parliament. (fn. 86) From 1854 the various district chapelries have become independent parishes, the incumbents having the title of rector.

As might be expected from the importance of the place there were a number of chantry endowments, of which particulars are given in the record of their confiscation in 1547. The curates, i.e. the two fellows or chaplains who served the parish, had in addition to their college stipend the profits of the 'Obit lands,' given at various times by a number of benefactors, being in return bound to celebrate certain obits yearly for the souls of the donors. The rents amounted to 102s. 11½d. (fn. 87)

The chantry of St. James, founded by Ralph Hulme in 1507 from lands left by the first warden, John Huntington, had a clear income of £6 1s. 8d. (fn. 88) The 'new chapel' of St. John Baptist—later known as the Stanley or Derby chapel—begun by James Stanley, Bishop of Ely and formerly warden, and completed by his son Sir John Stanley, had an endowment of £4 2s. 8d. (fn. 89) This chapel, which has the small Ely chapel at its north-east corner, was used as the baptistry a century ago. The Trafford chapel or 'closet of St. Nicholas' had a chantry founded, it was believed, by Robert Grelley—possibly the lord of Allerton and Chorlton, living in the 14th century; the clear income was £5 9s. 7d. (fn. 90) In the same chapel was another chantry founded by the ancestors of Sir Edmund Trafford, the incumbent being known as 'the Lady priest'; the endowment being very small, 65s. net, the parishioners contributed a quantity of oats for him. (fn. 91) At St. George's altar there were two chantries, both founded by Robert Chetham; at one of them the priest was to celebrate Mass at six o'clock in the morning for the souls of the founder and his ancestors; the net endowment of this chantry was £6 2s. 7d., (fn. 92) and that of the second £5 0s. 8d. (fn. 93) Another chantry was that founded by William Radcliffe at the altar of the Trinity, with a net income of £5 3s. 2d. (fn. 94)

An important foundation, already mentioned, was that of Richard Bexwick at the Jesus altar. His intentions do not seem to have been carried out fully, but in 1547 two priests, one of them teaching a school, were maintained. (fn. 95)

There were gilds associated with the Jesus and St. George's chapels; (fn. 96) also a gild of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which may have been associated with the Lady chapel. (fn. 97) This chapel was at the east end of the church, (fn. 98) and there was an altar of St. Michael, probably at the east end of the south aisle of the quire. (fn. 99) The chapel of Salford Bridge does not appear to have had any special chaplain or endowment.

The grammar school, founded by Hugh Oldham in 1515, (fn. 100) and Chetham's Hospital and Library, founded under the will of Humphrey Chetham, who died in 1653, are described elsewhere.

CHARITIES

Apart from the grammar school there does not seem to have been any endowed charity for the whole parish, but several of the townships have valuable estates. An inquiry was held in 1904, but it concerned only those portions of the parish which are outside the boroughs of Manchester and Salford, so that the latest detailed official report is that of 1826, in which year the following were the existing charitable endowments, apart from schools, (fn. 101) some of the funds having been lost. (fn. 102) For Manchester the charities of George Clarke, (fn. 103) George Marshall, (fn. 104) Ellen Shuttleworth, (fn. 105) Thomas Hudson, (fn. 106) Henry Dickenson, (fn. 107) John Alexander and Joshua Brown, (fn. 108) Thomas Percival, (fn. 109) Joseph Champion, (fn. 110) James Moss, (fn. 111) Walter and Margaret Nugent, (fn. 112) Edward Mayes, (fn. 113) Richard Holland and others, (fn. 114) Nicholas Hartley, (fn. 115) Ellen Hartley, (fn. 116) John Partington, (fn. 117) Robert Sutton, (fn. 118) Thomas Minshull, (fn. 119) Humphrey Oldfield, (fn. 120) Francis Cartwright, (fn. 121) Catherine Richards, (fn. 122) Jane Corles, (fn. 123) Roger Sedgwick, (fn. 124) Elizabeth Scholes, (fn. 125) Ann Butterworth and Daniel Bayley, (fn. 126) Meriel Mosley and others, (fn. 127) Daniel Shelmerdine, (fn. 128) Ellen Nicholson, (fn. 129) Catherine Fisher, (fn. 130) James Clayton, (fn. 131) Sarah Brearcliffe, (fn. 132) Thomas Henshaw; (fn. 133) for Blackley —Adam Chetham, (fn. 134) Thomas and John Traves; (fn. 135) for Didsbury, &c.—Sir Edward Mosley, (fn. 136) Thomas Chorlton, (fn. 137) Sergeant Boardman, (fn. 138) Ann Bland and Thomas Linney, (fn. 139) Edward Hampson; (fn. 140) and for Salford—Humphrey Booth the elder, (fn. 141) his grandson Humphrey Booth the younger, (fn. 142) Charles Broster, (fn. 143) Charles Haworth, (fn. 144) Robert Cuthbertson, (fn. 145) George Buerdsell, (fn. 146) Thomas Dickanson, (fn. 147) John Caldwell, (fn. 148) Alexander and Mary Davie, (fn. 149) and Samuel Haward. (fn. 150) The partial report of 1904 shows that many of the above stocks are still available, and that some new ones have been added; these were, excluding church (fn. 151) and educational and recreative endowments, (fn. 152) as follows:—For Didsbury—Sarah Feilden, for the poor; (fn. 153) for Heaton Norris—Sir Ralph Pendlebury, stocks producing £4,722 a year for children of this and some other townships, (fn. 154) Rev. Stephen Hooper, (fn. 155) Thomas Thorniley, (fn. 156) and Albert Edward Nuttall; (fn. 157) for Stretford—Emma Bate. (fn. 158)

Among the more recent endowments (fn. 159) for Manchester and Salford are those of William Smith for various hospitals, (fn. 160) Isabella Catherine Denby for orphan daughters of tradesmen, (fn. 161) the Barnes Samaritan Fund with an income of £2,624 for medical relief and nursing, (fn. 162) John and Emma Galloway for relief of the poor of Hulme, (fn. 163) George Pilkington £417 a year for bedding and clothing, (fn. 164) Thomas Porter, £3,500 a year for outfits of orphans, (fn. 165) and the Westwood almshouses. (fn. 166) There are some further endowments for education, (fn. 167) and some smaller benefactions. (fn. 168)