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TO THE
PARISH CHURCH CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH1225—1925 BY WM.
BRAYLESFORD BUNTING.
—0— Since
the Story of the Parish Church was written at the time of the Seven
Hundredth Anniversary some notable benefactions have been made to the
Church which materially add to the dignity and beauty of the interior, and
also several important documents have come to light from various sources.
The writer therefore ventures to add the following pages to the larger
work in the hope they may be found of interest to its readers. THE REPAIR OF THE CHANCEL IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A
recent examination of documents in the Church safe has brought to light
four documents written between the years 1617 and 1621 which have
previously been overlooked. Two of these have reference to the litigation
with regard to the presentation of Mr. Barney and the other two relate to
the repair of the Chancel. The latter are very interesting as showing that
as late as the first quarter of the seventeenth century the Dean and
Chapter acknowledged their duty to repair the Chancel, a duty usually
falling on the “Rector” as the person entitled to the “Great
Tithes” which duty the witnesses in the cause of Thornhill v. Tooker
alleged to lie upon the Dean and Chapter. These letters are as follows
:— I. “Good
Mr. Bradshaw these are to entreat youre favoure in the public behaife of
Mr. Barney now curate that you will be Page
2 pleased and yf so shall seeke your good will, that you will be willinge to let him rest for his time in the place and be assured that you be no further molested wich I dowt not but by your mediation mate easily be effected and I desire nothing more than that there may be love and peace among youe. We have intreated Mr. Rowlandson who is a Prebend of our Church to afford us his paines about the repairinge of these chappells requesting your [illegible] not to reprove us much as you maie in that church, so with remembrance of my love to yourselfe and your other selfe youre wyffe I leave youe to God from Bakewell ye XXth of June. Your
loving friend, john ffulnetby. To
the Wor. my loving
friend
Mr. Bradshaw be
these delivered. Francis
Bradshaw, Esq., was then resident at Bradshaw Hall. His initials, with
those of his wife, Barbara, and dates 1619 and 1620 are carved on the
present gateway, and on another stone supposed to have been on the gateway
leading to the gardens. The year of the Lord is not stated in the letter.
Mr. ffulnetby appears to have conducted the Chapter correspondence at this
period. He was, perhaps, the Chapter Clerk. II. Sr, I
understand by Mr. Robert Bagshaw the Bayley of the High Peak that the
tymber provided for the repaire of your Chancell is very much dislikt yea
soe much yt they give out that if the Chauncell should be biulded with it,
it would hardly stand twoe Page
3 yeeres,
nay, not half a yeere as others report and therefore they refuse to carry
it. Humphry Low is a little to blame about ye false rumour and soe much he
shall know when wee meet. I am sorry that my desire to further the work
hath been so ill accepted hereafter when I undertake a business of the
like nature I will hope for better acceptance. Notwithstanding I
acknowledge my self beeshoulding unto you for your love and I doubt not
but the Deane and Chapter will bee very reddy to requite your love in any
thing that be in their power and {torn} present let me desire you
that I may know what I shall trust to whether the rest of the tymber and
lead shall bee carryed or not and if it beare your niam and his partner (I
meane not Low for I desire that he may have nothing to do in it) but
Edward Taylor will doe the work, let them fall to it with speed if not a
neighbour of myne who has a worse conceit of himself than Low has shall
doe it and sufficiently too with yt tymber and shall uphold the tymber
work during his life for a small matter. The Deane and Chapter or some of
the Chapter will bee them selves uppon Bartholmew eve at your town and it
may bee will prove then on Bartholmew Day if I have been faulty about ye
business let me be accused. If not I shall esteeme it but over much
presemptoryness in those that are not at the charge of ye repaire to bee
soe busy in controulling and censuring that that they have nothing to doe
with all. For the money disbursed more than that wh you have so loving and
freely given, I will undertake it shall be repayed. I profess I have
hitherto page 4 received
no penny from them. But I make no doubt but at their coming I shall be
fairly dealt withall. I pray remember my service unto Mrs. Bradshaw thus
in hast I commend you to the grace of God and rest. Yours
to commund, john rowlandson. Bakw.
ye 12 of Aug. 1621. To
the right worpl Mr.
Francis Bradshaw Esq deliver
this speed The
Rev. John Rowlandson became Vicar of Bakewell in 1615. He was “Prebend
of Sandiacre” in Lichfield Cathedral. Robert
Bagshawe of Marsh Green afterwards of Hollin Knowie is probably here
referred to. He was the eldest son of George Bagshawe of Hollin Knowie,
Under Bailiff of the High Peak. George is reported as a “known and
dangerous “ recusant in 1591, and Robert as a “Popish Recusant” in
1634. Humphrey Lowe is the first churchwarden mentioned in the Parish
Register 1622. He was of the Alstonelee family. The
following are two documents relating to the great lawsuit of Thornhill
v. Tooker, recently discovered in the Church Safe. They have been put
into modern spelling as they are so mutilated that an exact copy cannot be
made with accuracy. I. Good
Mr. Thomas Eveley I send you a thousand of the kindest commendations.
First I have a note which you gave to Mr. George Smith wherein you desire
that I should write to you of the estate of your parish cause concerning
the placing of your curate. We have as you know exhibited Page
5 articles
for the custom or prescription which we must prove by witnesses or [three
words illegible] (for this last matter hath offended some man) the Dean
will (?) dismiss the cause with charges but I think your best course of
advise to prove your prescription at the Common Law as I had thought you
would have done before this time. Friday come fortnight is the next Court
when we should produce witnesses and so in some haste I do for the present
take my leave and rest, ever your very affectionate loving friend. lo
Diott. Lich
13 Apl 1618. II. Between
William Tooker Dean of Lichfield and others defendants and George
Thornhill and other Plaintiffs. These
are to signify unto you the said Plaintiffs that we intend by Gods grace
to appoint the Commission between the said defendants and you granted out
of His Majesty's High Court of Chancery at ye Talbot in Ashbourne in the
County of Derby the thirteenth day of January next whereof we give you
this warning according to the tenor of the said Commission. And so bid you
farewell the 21st day of December 1619. To George Thornhill and other the
said Plaintiffs deliver these.
thomas taylor,
Re ashtjrst. The
dates of these two documents suggest that that the enquiry at Chapel when
witnesses were examined took place a year later that has been supposed.
Randolph Ashenhurst was of Beard (New Mills) Esq., a J.P. for Derbyshire. Page
6 Thomas
Eveley or Yeaveley probably resided at this time at the house now the
Roebuck Inn in the Market Place. The Yeaveleys owned it for some time and
it is described as the “Old Hall,” and in the Early Eighteenth Century
as the “New Hall,” having been apparently rebuilt by the Shallcross
family about 1700. Mr. Yeaveley also owned Whitehough Head and property in
Glossop. The Rev. George Yeaveley was Vicar of Chapel in 1571, and of
Glossop from 1574:. Diott was a Lawyer of the well-known family at
Lichfield. In the Civil War a man known as “Dumb Dyott” shot with a
silver bullet from the Cathedral Tower on St. Chad's Day “The despoiler
Brooke “ in command of the Roundhead Forces. The
following, communicated by Mr. R. B. Ferguson from documents formerly in
the possession of his Ancestor, the Rev. John Lingard, the last of the
ancient family of Lingard of Stod-hart, who was Vicar of Edale in the
latter part of the Eighteenth Century is an agreement dated in 1700 for a
settlement of certain land for the augmentation of the benefice and its
discovery marks the earliest recorded attempt to provide an endowment
income for the minister : “Whereas
there is a certain parcell of land situated in Chapel-en-le-Fryth in the
County of Derby called or known by the name of Marsh Green and Hand Green
a moyety of which is claymed and belongs to Tho. Eyre of Rowtor Esq and
the other moyety and one haife part belongs to the severall persons
interested and concerned in the lands of Chapel-en-le-Fryth aforesaid and
whereas severall of the persons interested Page
7 in
Chappell as aforesaid have proposed that the said land should be setled to
be an augmentation to the Curacy of Chappell aforesaid the present
proffitts of the said Cure not being sufficient to support ye Incumbent.
We therefore whose names are subscribed interested and concerned in Marsh
Green and Hand Green aforesaid doe hereby consent and recomend to the
persons interested in the premises that the said land be given disposed of
and setled for and upon the Cure of Chappell aforesaid by such meanes and
under such agreements as Counsell shall advise Witness our hand this 7
Dec. 1700. (Signed
by) 'Tho Eyre Wm. Eyre “ Ha Bagshawe.” The
paper has been cut immediately below these signatures in a manner
suggesting that there were other signatures in addition to the above,
which appear to be original autographs. “Tho Eyre” is the signature of
Thomas Eyre of Rowter, near Matlock, Esq., to whom a grant of the King's
Part of the waste and common lands of the High Peak was made by Charles II
in 1674. We
are not able to identify the Bagshawe signature. This
is the first authentic evidence we have found that any common land lay so
near the town of Chapel, although we have met with earlier references to
Marsh Green Marsh or Common. We have seen an agreement about 1700 or
earlier made between Robert Bagshawe of Down Lee, and Thomas Bagshawe of
Bakewell, as to a right of way from Marsh Hall to Marsh Green Common
through Hob Hill and Bell Lane “in such manner as had anciently been
accustomed” and traces of this old lane can still be discerned. Page
8 We
assume that subsequent to the date of the document we have copied, the
Common became the site of the present Marsh Green Farm, the owner of which
we believe still pays a small .annual chief rent to the Vicar, which rent
in all probability represents the attempt to augment the living. Hand
Green seems to have been a plot of land lying between the South Railway
Station and the bridge at Hollin Knowie, but the country has been so
altered by the construction of the two railways that its boundaries cannot
now be identified. We
are indebted to Mr. R. B. Ferguson not only for the document relating to
the Endowment but also for two other very interesting papers of the
seventeenth century, which also came from the papers of the Kev. John
Lingard.
The
following is a list of Tithe payers for the year 1614, seven years before
the commencement of the Parish Register and is perhaps more interesting
for the names of the payers than the amount of tithe. The latter however
£12 3s. 2d. corresponds closely with the £12 modus (or fixed customary
sum) in respect of the Great Tithes of Corn and Hay as stated to be
payable when the tithes were commuted 'in 1842. Of this sum two thirds (£8)
was payable to the Duke of Devonshire as representing the Prior of Lenton
and one third (£4) to the Curate the Incumbent. This list, therefore, is
valuable as confirming the statement that the modus had been paid for
centuries and further as showing that the collection included Fernilee.
(See “ The Parish Church,” page 55). Page
9 The
tithe come and hey for the year past First
Bradshawe Edge Mr. Browne for Marshe
..
.. 3
4 Ollerenshawe
.. ..
..
..
3 4 Binge .. ..
..
..
2 2 Page
10 Robt Tunsteed (Stodhart) ..
..
4 6 Rentall
for tythe corne and hey in the
Combes Mr.
Bagshawe for Ridg .. , .
3 4 Idem for Dowen Lee
11
Jo
Wright and Turner ..
..
2 8 Summa
£3 13 8 Tyth
Corne and hey in Bowden Edg for Bowden Hed ..
..
8 page
12 Henr
Mellor .. ..
.. ..
2 8 ffra
Sheart .. ..
.. ..
21 George
Thornehill .. ..
..
3 Idem Townhed land
.. ..
12 John Marchenton (Marchington)
3 4 Robert Taylor
.. . .
..
3 0 Jo Lomas ..
.. ..
..
3 0 Nych Cresswell p Eaves .. ..
20 Robert Bagshawe p Hollin Knowie
3 0 ffearnelee.
and horioiche. Mr.
Shallcross ..
.. ..
10 8 James
Carrington .. ..
..
16 ? Nych Bemiett
.. .. ? ..
3 0 Cooke
.. ..
.. ..
9 Leonard Lowe
.. ..
..
7 James
Carrington for Maude Yearde-
ffield Farm ..
.. ..
8 The Lowe for the rest of Maude Y farme
.. ..
.. ..
8 Jo Carrington
.. ..
..
8 Anth Yeardeffield .. ..
..
8 Jane More Wid(ow)
.. ..
16 Summa
20/-Summa Tot : £13 3 2. The
“ Sum Total” is that of the three Edges of Chapel Parish and Fernilee
combined.
The following list of seats seventy years older than
that on page 125 of The Parish Church may be compared with that
copy but with a few possible exceptions it does not appear that the owners
or occupiers of the houses in the Parish occupied the same seats. In the list before us “Our Ladys Quire” is not
mentioned. Page
13 It
is written on parchment and has been so much damaged by damp as to be
quite illegible in several places. (Endorsed)
A levy book made concerning the formes in the Parish Church of
Chappell in ley frith as it is seated at this present time Mr.
Edmund Nixon beeinge imprtmis. Mr
Browne .. .. .. ..
5 0 Cresswell .. .. ..
2 0 the form .. .. ..
1 8 Smith for two parts .. ..
3 4 Page
14 Mr
Thomas Yeaveley
..
..
1 3 Longe
fformes of the north side Mr
Bagshawe ..
..
..
2 0 Page 15 Nicholas
Bradshaw .. ..
..
1 8 The
leads on the south side Nicholas
Bradshaw .. ..
..
1 4 Page 16 William
Carrington ..
.. ..
1 4 Saint Nicholas quire of the north side Behind
the Pullpitt George
Kirke. . ..
.. ..
1 0 ffrom
the Create Churcli dore to the north 1925
the seven hundredth
anniversary. This
interesting event was celebrated by the people of Chapel-en-le-Frith with
great enthusiasm, and during the week, and particularly on the Festival
Day, many natives and old inhabitants returned to take part in the
rejoicings. Special
Services were held on the Sundays preceeding and succeeding the Festival
Day at which sermons were preached by the Rev. Canon A. W. Goodman, B.D.,
Norman Bennet, M.A., and A. P. S. Pink, all born in the Parish, and
various other functions were held throughout the week. The chief
Commemoration was, of course, reserved for Tuesday, July 7th, the Patronal
Feast Day, and for so many generations the opening day of the Wakes. A
procession of School children, Parishioners, Clergy, and friends walked
from the Church Schools to the Parish Church, escorting the Rt. Rev. J. A.
Kempthorne, D.D., the 93rd Bishop of Lichfield, who came specially, as the
direct Episcopal and Apostolic successor of Bishop Stavenby, the 41st
Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who, as the Foresters of 1317 declared,
gave the Church its Parochial rights. The Church was filled to
overflowing, many having to remain in the Churchyard. The Bishop preached
an eloquent sermon from Hebrews 13, v. 8, and during the service dedicated
the Lowe Memorial Window and New Choir Stalls. A
Public Luncheon, presided over by Mr. Ernest Bagshawe, followed, and
during the day an Ox was roasted whole in the Market Place, and a
presentation of commemorative medals was made to all children of school
age. The Town was crowded throughout the day and the proceedings passed
off in a most happy manner without any hitch or accident of any kind, Page
18 1926.
THE RESIGNATION OF THE VICAR AND THE
CHOICE OF HIS SUCCESSOR In
August, 1926, the Rev. J. C. Stredder, who had held the Benefice for just
a quarter of a century, was presented by his College to the Vicarage of
Tredington, Warwickshire, and resigned the living of Chapel-en-le-Frith. According
to custom the Churchwardens convened a public meeting of the “Rated
Occupiers” at which a Selection Committee of 27 (not on this occasion
specifically representing the three Townships or “Edges”) was
appointed. This Committee held a number of meetings and decided that it
was unnecessary to advertise the vacancy or to adopt the former method of
“trial Sermons” by selected Candidates and proceeded to consider a
considerable number of nominations finally recommending the Rev. William
Harold Green, M.A., of Queen's College and Ridley Hall, Cambridge, to the
Rated Occupiers of the age of 21 years and upwards, a meeting of whom was
held in the Town Hall on the 15th December, 1926, presided over by Mr.
Bagshawe, the Chairman of the Selection Committee, when it was Resolved
(with two dissentients): That this meeting of the Rated Occupiers of the
Parish of Chapel-en-le Frith of the age of 21 years and upwards hereby
nominates, elects, and presents the Rev. William Harold Green, M.A., Vicar
of St. Paul's Church, Derby, to the Benefice of the said Parish, vacant by
the resignation of the Rev. Josiah Clifton Stredder, M.A. The
Parochial Church Council at a meeting on the 22nd December passed the
following Resolution :— Resolved
that the Parochial Church Council of Chapel-en-le-Frith, without prejudice
to their Page
19 claim to the Patronage on future vacancies, approve the appointment to the Benefice of the Rev. William Harold Green, M.A., Vicar of St. Paul's, Derby. GIFTS TO THE CHURCH SINCE
JULY, 1925. During
the past few years numerous valuable and handsome additions and
improvements have been made through the generosity of various friends
adding much to the dignity and beauty of the Church. the east window presented by Mr. Ernest Bagshawe in memory of his late
wife. The centre light represents “Our Lord in Glory,” supported on
each side by figures typifying “Justice” and “Purity.” At the same
time Mr. Bagshawe presented finely carved oak Choir Stalls and Clergy
Desks and new Gas Pendants in the Chancel. The Pulpit has also been
removed a few feet to the north at the cost of Mrs. Needham; the effect of
these alterations being to give an air of space to the Chancel hitherto
lacking. A
new holy table of Oak has
recently been presented by Colonel Goodman, C.B., C.M.G., of Eccles House,
the original slab of 1733, with the initials of the then Vicar and
Churchwardens being preserved and incorporated in the new Table, which is
provided with a handsome frontal also the gift of Col. Goodman. the sanctuary floor has been repaved with Hopton Stone by the Rev.
Norman Qttiwell Gifford Bennet, M.A., and his brothers. Dr. Francis Grey
Bennett and Mr. Charles J. Bennett, in lieu of the Old East Window, the
glass in which was removed with their consent. new altar rails of Oak, incorporating the rails fixed in 1893 and
harmonising with the page
20 other
Oak work in the Chancel were presented by Mr. Francis Bramwell as a
Memorial to his late wife. the step to the Sanctuary has been presented by Mr. William
Bradbury Jackson, of Rye Flatt, to commemorate his Grandfather, Mr.
Anthony Bellott Jackson, and his Aunt, Mrs. Louisa Ellen Hyde, both
benefactors of the Church. A
bishop's chair and pRayeR desk, both
of Oak, have also been placed in the Sanctuary by anonymous donors. the brass lectern was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Burton Boycott
when resident in the Parish. As
we have mentioned on the occasion of the Anniversary Service a New window
in the North Aisle was dedicated by the Bishop of Lichfield. This
was the gift of the family of the late Canon Joseph Lowe, for 44 years
Vicar of Halwhistle, who died 22nd August, 1920, in his 91st year. In the
middle light is the figure of Melchizedek “A Priest for Ever” flanked
by St. Aidan and the Venerable Bede as representatives of Northumbria,
where the Canon spent most of his life. In
the Belfrey on July 5th, 1925, a Memorial to past and present Ringers was
unveiled by Mrs. William Hibbert (herself the daughter, Wife and Mother of
Ringers), and was dedicated by the Rev. Norman Bennet. The
Memorial is of stone, the inscription, surmounted by three bells, being as
follows :— “record of ringers. To
the glory of God on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the
consecration of this Church, July 7th, 1925, known and Page
21 unknown.
1819, J. Ford; 1843, B. Ford; 1820-1877, T. Ford; 1830-1885, J. Ford;
1832-1865, R. Hadfield ; 1852-1920, G. Ford ; 1853-1873, J. Hibbert;
1860-1882, G. Hibbert; 1864-1889, J. Green; 1876-1923, J. Jowie ;
1876-1898, W. Hibbert; 1876-1898, George Hibbert; 1877-1887, D. Morris;
1877-1887, G. Ball; 1877-1882, J. Bramwell; 1877-1885, J. Hibbert; 1878,
G. Ford; 1878, W. Hibbert; 1879-1888, J. Hibbert; 1853-1885, J. Howard ;
1891, J. E. Hibbert ; 1891-1892, W. Birchenough;
1900, W. Walker; 1905-1910, A. Rangeley; 1909-1911, T. Ashton;
1919, H. Hibbert; 1923, J. Bramwell; 1878-1898, G.
Hibbert; 1891-1921, I. P. Ford.” Errata et Corrigenda to the Original Book. plan or
graves in church and churchyard. For
“1709” read in all places “1702.” Page
36, 38 : For “ Longdendale “ read “Lang-dendale.” Langdendale
along the valley of the Goyt is not to be confounded with Longdendale in
Cheshire. Page
61 : The Crossings Road land and quarry in Chinley have recently been sold
and the Parish now possesses no Glebe Land. Page
84 : Add “1927, William Harold Green, M.A., Camb., on resignation of
Josiah Clifton Stredder.”
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