A LANCASHIRE CLERICAL FAMILY OF THE SIXTEENTH AND ... · ogical linkage, none the milieu of their social relationships. I PETER SHAW, PREBEND OF DURHAM AND RECTOR OF BURY The outstanding

A LANCASHIRE CLERICAL FAMILY OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

BY R. CUNLIFFE SHAW, M.SC., F.R.C.S., F.S.A., F.R.HIST.S., F.S.A. SCOT.

HOLLINGWORTH said: "God gave good success to the ministry of the Word . . . and preserved a faithful people

in Lancashire, especially in and about Manchester and Bolton." 111 The system in the time of Edward VI of having six royal chaplains, four to be on preaching tour, led to the visit of John Bradford to Lancashire circa 1552-3. His farewell address to all who professed the true religion mentions the places where he had taught and preached, most of them in and around Manchester, including Bolton-le-Moors. The Reformation had by this time taken firm hold in Salford hundred, where trading relations brought the merchant class into contact with Genevan Calvinism, and thus spread to many of the territorial families, who also had mercantile connections. The western hundreds were, in the main, faithful to the old religion, whilst the district of Rivington and contiguous hamlets lay on the theological watershed.

The Shaw family of Shaw Place, Heath Charnock, who held a moiety of Rivington manor, intermarried in 1519 with the Pilkingtons of Rivington Hall, establishing a connection which determined the religious bearings of their clerical sons in the sixteenth and subsequent centuries. Nearly all the county histories perpetuate erroneous statements about the ten or more clergy of this family; none reveals their correct geneal ogical linkage, none the milieu of their social relationships.

I PETER SHAW,

PREBEND OF DURHAM AND RECTOR OF BURY

The outstanding sixteenth-century representative of the Shaw clerics was Peter, second son of John Shaw of Shaw Place by his wife Katherine, daughter of Richard Pilkington of Riving ton. He was born circa 1540, matriculated a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, at Easter 1560, graduated B.A. in 1563-4, and was elected a Fellow in 1564; he was eighth in

111 V.C.H., Lanes., Vol. 2, p. 52. E 41

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44 A LANCASHIRE CLERICAL FAMILY

order of seniority in 1563-4. Peter Shaw graduated M.A. in 1567 and proceeded B.D. in 1574. According to Cooper's Athenae Cantabrigienses (Vol. II, p. 493), he was admitted to the degree of D.D. in 1583. Shaw was ordained deacon at Ely on 21 December 1568, and was University preacher in 1570-1. m

In 1569 the resignation of Dr. Philip Baker, the provost of King's College, led to confusion in the University, and a Mr. Shaw claimed to have been elected provost in Baker's place. It is possible that this claimant was Peter Shaw, who was one of those who opposed the introduction of new statutes in the University in May 1572, in which year, on 9 August, through the influence of his uncle Bishop Pilkington, he was collated to a prebendary of the sixth stall of Durham. Peter Shaw retained an affection for Trinity to which he presented about seventy- nine works. Peter Shaw's name occurs in the register of Durham in 1578 at the instalment of Hugh Broughton to a canonry of the tenth stall; others present were Dean Whittington, Leonard Pilkington (another uncle of Peter's, sometime master of St. John's, Cambridge, and regius professor of divinity), R. Swift, Francis Bunny, G. Cliff and R. Fawcett. Shaw's name last appears in the register in 1607 among those of the prebendaries who answered Bishop Matthew's citation in the chapter house of Durham.

The religious policy which "brings good luck", so studiously adhered to by the earls of Derby, permitted the martyrdom of George Marsh, the Bolton reformer, during the Marian persecutions, in which Earl Edward played a principal role, and the equally relentless prosecution of the recusant gentry of western Lancashire by the same earl and his son under Elizabeth. The Lathom Stanleys quickly trimmed their religious sails to the current policy of the crown and privy council. In the decade 1570-80 this moved steadily towards favouring puritanism of the Genevan brand, which was that of Bishop Pilkington and his Rivington relations; hence Earl Edward presented the bishop's nephew, Peter Shaw, to the rectory of Bury, where he was instituted on 1 April 1570. The death of Downham, bishop of Chester, in 1579, stimulated the queen's decision to force puritanism still further on the recalcitrant North: a policy promptly supported by Henry, earl of Derby, and promoted by the elevation to the see of Chester of the regius professor of divinity at Cambridge, Chadderton, a Lancashire man of strong puritanical views. In Manchester the bishop inaugurated a "monthly exercise", in accordance with which all clergy and school-masters of the deanery had to attend a morning service

121 Venn, Alumni. Cantab., Vol. IV, p. 53.

A LANCASHIRE CLERICAL FAMILY 45

in the collegiate church, and were privately examined and instructed in the afternoon by the moderators. This body consisted of five clerics specially selected as "grave, godly and learned men", who constituted a presbytery or council under the queen's sanction, with considerable powers in the regulation of the lower clergy. Peter Shaw was one of the moderators, along with Assheton of Middleton, Carter and Williamson of Manchester, and Langley of Prestwich. The principal "exercises" in the collegiate church of Manchester were attended by the bishop, the earl of Derby (who resided at Alport Lodge) the moderators in sombre apparel, all the clergy of the deanery and most of the laity.

The decade 1580-90 witnessed increasing diversion of the reformed Anglican church from Genevan puritanism, and the puritanism of the Durham chapter occasioned increasing difficulties for Peter Shaw in his rectory of Bury. Nevertheless the bishop of Chester still maintained a good opinion of Peter's clerical conformity when the latter was appointed, on 1 Septem ber 1585, one of the moderators for the "exercise" to be held at Bury, along with Carter, Williamson and Langley, their mandate being to preach, expound texts, admonish, fine absentees and read prayers according to the Book of Common Prayer. The printing in Manchester of the Marprelate tracts (1588-9) heightened feeling against extreme puritanism and sharpened the religious dissension in the country between papal recusants and the Calvinists.

The crucial year was 1590, when a commission appointed by John Piers, archbishop of York, held an enquiry on 31 May in the collegiate church of Manchester as to the conformity of the members of the refounded college. The commissioners were John Gibson, the vicar-general, William Goodwin, canon of York, Peter Shaw, prebend of Durham, and Alvery Acroyd; they were to summon before them all the clergy, masters of hospitals, school-masters, and wardens of churches and chapels of the Manchester deanery. Examination of Thomas Williamson, fellow of the college, revealed that the members did not wear the surplice in time of prayer and at the admini stration of the sacraments, contrary to her majesty's injunctions; they were ordered to procure surplices and wear them before Michaelmas next. 131 Peter Shaw had been associated with Williamson as moderator, which must have occasioned dis sension in the commission over the surplice issue.

On 24 June 1590 new names appear on the commissioner's panel, which was again convened in the chapter house of

131 Chetham Society, Vol. XCVI, Miscell. V (1875).


Manchester. Peter Shaw's is missing; Anthony Higgin with James Cock sat with Dr. Gibson. Shaw and ten other clergy were admonished, by direction of the archbishop, before the vicar-general and Edmund Hopwood on 2 September 1590; they were ordered to conform to the church regulations con cerning the full use of the Book of Common Prayer and wearing the surplice. They wrote to the archbishop of York denying their non-conformity, and asserting that they stood between the obstinate papists and the zealous professors of religion; they spoke of the gross idolatry and "heathenish prophana- tions" in the county. Where they had routed papists, the latter, together with the extremists, cited them at the sessions and assizes for non-conformity. Their appeal for toleration was rejected, and they were sharply ordered by the archbishop, through their Diocesan, to observe the regulations of the church. <4)

Peter Shaw took a leading part in bringing to the notice of the archbishop the state of ecclesiastical affairs in Lancashire at this time. On 15 January 1591 Edmund Hopwood wrote to the archbishop on the abuse of the sabbath in Lancashire, suggesting means of reform. He clearly refers to the manifesto on The Manifolde Enormities of the Ecclesiastical state in moste panes of the Countie of Lancaster^ signed by seventeen clergy, headed by Peter Shaw, and including his brother Leonard. This in general indicts the papists for the continuation of their practices in the education of the gentry, the services of baptism, communion and burial, the desecration of the sabbath by drinking, dancing, music and traditional merry-making, the withholding of financial aid from the church with resultant dilapidation of chapels and churches, the corruption of church officers, and the scandalous living of the laity. The memorandum was intended as a justification of the puritanism of those clergy indicted by the archbishop.

The clergy stressed the lewd character of the parochial officers appointed by the gentry without their approval. In this connection a letter from Henry, earl of Derby, 1578, shows how near to the wind the pastors steered. It was sent by the earl to Cuthbert Clifton, John Westby and William Skillicorn, esquires, and to the rest of the parishioners of Kirkham, requesting the appointment of a worthy yeoman, George Kellet, as parish clerk. (6) No mention is made of the vicar,

<4) Chetham Society, Vol. XCVI, p. 9; Rawlinson MS., C.167, pp. 57-63, in the Bodleian Library.'

(5) Tanner MS., 144, fol. 28-9, in the Bodleian Library, and Chetham Society, Vol. XCVI.

161 Cunliffe Shaw, Clifton Papers, p. 110.


James Smith, who signed the manifesto, and the esquires named were of known recusant families. The times were dangerous, but despite this we learn from the Household Book of Earl Henry, that in 1586 Peter Shaw and Oliver Carter visited Lathoni House and preached before the earl; Carter was a staunch Genevan and refused to wear the surplice.

Peter Shaw died unmarried and was interred in Bury church on 11 July 1608. His will is now lost, but was proved by his brother Leonard and John Ireland of the Hutt, Esquire, who deposed on 26 February 1608-9, that the chancel of Bury and the mansion house were repaired by the rectors of Bury, that the dilapidations alleged by Hugh Watmough, B.D., Peter's successor, occurred in the lifetime of Peter Shaw; further, that the repairs to the east end of the chancel, to the west end of the parsonage and to the outbuildings would cost £30. The chapels of Holcombe and Eatonfield also belonged to the rectory, and Peter Shaw had received money for the burial of certain people therein. £5 would repair the east end of the chancel of one of the chapels.

II LEONARD SHAW, RECTOR OF RADCLIFFE

Leonard Shaw, third son of John of Shaw Place by Katherine Pilkington, matriculated as a sizar at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1570, graduated B.A. in 1575-6 and proceeded M.A. in 1579.' 71 His uncles, Bishop James Pilkington and Dr. Leonard Pilkington, had both been Masters of St. John's College, Cambridge, and both had been regius professors of divinity. Leonard succeeded James in 1561 and retired to Durham in 1567. This family link may explain the appointment of Leonard Shaw to the curacy of Middleton by the rector, the learned John Assheton, B.D., also a fellow of St. John's. Shaw was almost certainly a master at the Middleton grammar school founded by Dean Nowell in 1572.

Through the Assheton connection he was presented by Richard Assheton of Middleton to the rectory of Radcliffe on 4 February 1583-4, and compounded for first fruits on 12 March 1584-5. Like his brother Peter, he was a moderator for the monthly exercises in the Manchester deanery and he was associated with him in signing the manifesto on the state of religion in Lancashire circa 1590. During his term as rector of Radcliffe the church was restored. The patronage had long passed from the Radcliffes to the Bartons and from them by purchase to the Asshetons. Among other renovations a new

(7) Rouse, Ball and Venn, Admissions to Trinity College, Cambridge.


pulpit was made, the carved panels of which have been recon structed into seats. The carving, dated 1606, depicts the arms of the Radcliffes and Asshetons, together with the initials of Leonard Shaw and his successor, Robert Walkden.

In October 1608, when Bishop Lloyd of Chester levied a rate on the clergy for arms for the public service, Leonard's quota, as parson of Radcliffe, was a musket; and on 18 March 1619-20 he contributed £4 to the first "loan" of the diocesan clergy to the baron of Donau for the use of the Count Palatine of Rhine, the king's son-in-law. Again, in February 1622 his assessment was £4 in the levy towards the king's recovery of the Palatinate. James Shaw, 181 rector of Crayke in the bishopric of Durham, in his will dated 28 May 1603, bequeathed all his worldly goods and chattels to "Leonard Shaw, clerk, parson of Radcliffe in Co. Lancaster, my natural brother, whom I make my sole executor".

Leonard Shaw married Mary, daughter of Peter Heywood of Heywood, whose son Robert succeeded to Heywood Hall, and is described in later years as a "pious reverend old gentleman and an excellent poet"; he was first a parliamentarian and later turned royalist like his sons. The younger brother of Mary Shaw, according to the inscription on a monument in St. Anne's Church, Aldersgate, London, took part in the arrest of Guy Fawkes, whom he and Sir Thomas Knevett discovered in the vaults beneath Parliament House. Leonard died on 14 March 1624-5.

Ill PETER SHAW,RECTOR OF RADCLIFFE AND FELLOW OF

CHRIST'S COLLEGE, MANCHESTER

Leonard Shaw's eldest son, and ultimate heir to the Rivington and Heath Charnock estate, was Peter, baptised at Bury on 9 March 1594-5. He matriculated as a pensioner from Magdalene College, Cambridge, at Easter 1613, and graduated B.A. from Trinity Hall in 1620, and M.A. from Magdalene in 1624. His association with the college at Manchester as chaplain, fellow and vice-warden was during a stormy period in the history of that foundation. Although Raines, and those that

181 Surtees Soc., Vol. XXII, p. CXL. James, the brother of Leonard Shaw, was ordained acolyte and sub-deacon by the Marian bishop of Chester, Cuthbert Scott, on 12 June 1557, when he gave for his title Miles Gerard, Esquire, of Ince, near Wigan, son of Thomas Gerard, first cousin to John Shaw of Shaw Place. James was a deacon on 18 September 1557 and a priest on 20 March 1558. Through his Pilkington kinsmen he was presented to the rectory of Crayke in the bishopric of Durham. He died in 1603.


follow him, denigrate his character, there are a number of facts which speak in his favour.

Peter Shaw was in priest's orders before 26 September 1623, when licence was granted to him and Thomas Normansell, clerk, for the marriage of Henry Fairfax, clerk, rector of Ashton-under-Lyne and Katherine Tempest, widow. Henry Fairfax (second son of Thomas Fairfax, later Viscount Cameron) was a brother of the parliamentary general, Ferdin- ando, Lord Fairfax. By this marriage Henry became brother- in-law to Peter Shaw, who had married Frances, Katherine's sister, these being children of the large family of Robert Dukenfield of Dukenfield by his wife Jane, daughter of Richard Holland of Denton. The eldest brother of Frances Shaw was father of Colonel Dukenfield, the celebrated parliamentarian and governor of Chester for Cromwell. Part of the family back ground of Peter was the moderate puritanism of his uncle Robert Heywood, of his brother-in-law Henry Fairfax, and of the associated kinsfolk, such as Edmund Hopwood's family, also linked to the Shaws by the earlier Gerard marriages and through that of Dorothy Dukenfield, sister-in-law of Peter, to Edmund Assheton of Chadderton, nephew of the elder Edmund Hopwood's wife. Through the Assheton association Peter Shaw was presented by Ralph Assheton of Middleton (the parliamentarian) to his father's old rectory of Radcliffe, was instituted on 4 February 1637-8 and paid first fruits on 9 March following. Edmund Hopwood's grandson, later sheriff of Lancashire in 1650, and trustee of Humphrey Chetham's will, was likewise a moderate puritan and friend of Peter Shaw of Manchester; both were captured in Preston by the royalists in 1643.

Edmund Hopwood senior, who was a friend of Peter Shaw of Bury and supported the leading clergy in their views in 1590, turned against the extreme puritanism of the fanatical sect, but the reaction to the publication of the Book of Sports by James I, and its reissue by Charles I, provoked in the Manchester region another violent swing of opinion towards Calvinism, which had been discouraged by Elizabeth in the last decade of the sixteenth century. Lawrence Chadderton, master of Emmanuel College, entreated James I on his knees not to force the use of the surplice on the Lancashire clergy, but the moderates would no longer support the surplice issue and its associated Genevan- ism, and to this group belonged Peter Shaw junior. His circle did not approve of the ostentatiousness of Laud's Arminianism. They were loyal to the crown and constitution but refused to recognise the exaggerated claims of the king. On the other


hand, the severe puritanism that led to the presbyterian classes under parliament's sanction was equally obnoxious to the moderates, who clearly foresaw the coming conflict between the sectarians and the presbyterians. In consequence, many well affected to the constitution took a middle course during the 1640-50 decade, and, although they supported parliament, they recoiled at the execution of the king; when presbyterianism declined rapidly in the next decade, they looked to the Restora tion and episcopacy or openly joined the royalist faction. Raines says that Peter Shaw was the ally of William Bourne, another fellow of the Manchester College. (i)l Bourne was a vigorous presbyterian, opposing bishops and kings alike and condemning the use of the surplice. Hence when Abdias Assheton (rector of Slaidburn) spoke to young Langley, then an Oxford student on vacation at Middleton rectory, about church schisms, it was noted that his remarks applied especially to "Mr. Bourne and Mr. Shawe".' 101 The date is roughly 1620-30.

About 1634 the finances of the Manchester College were seriously jeopardised through the incompetence of a non resident warden, Sir Richard Murray, presented by James I in 1609. Murray never signed the declaration of residency, appears to have lived mainly in London, and, beyond controlling the revenue of the college for his personal use, he took the minimum interest in his ecclesiastical office; in fact it is dubious whether he was ever the legal holder of the wardenship. Nevertheless, he carried out, without any reference to the collegiate body, a highly illegal transaction with Humphrey Chetham of Clayton, the Manchester clothier. The latter, as a successful merchant, was able to finance many of the old territorial families who had become increasingly impoverished, such as the Radcliffes of Ordsall and the Orrells of Turton Tower. The high rates of mortgage interest soon resulted in Chetham acquiring their estates, and his affluence and local prestige were ever increasing. Richard Murray turned to him for ready money and executed a lease of most of the college tithes from many townships around Manchester in return for 300 pounds a year; no fellow of the college was party to this scandalous transaction. Chetham's acceptance of the lease, at a time when there was little money in the college coffers to maintain the fabric of the buildings and pay the stipends, placed him in a serious position. It became public knowledge not only that the foundation lacked funds through the warden's negligence but that dissension was rife within, and enquiry was not to be delayed much longer.

< > Chetham Society, Vol. CIII, pp. 2, 19.(10) Chetham Society, Vol. CIII, Miscell., Vol. VI, p. 2.


At this juncture two of the fellows, Richard Johnson and Peter Shaw, came into conflict. The former was fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and, according to John Radcliffe of Manchester, came into his Manchester fellowship about 1634. At that date Peter Shaw was vice-warden, having been elected a fellow in 1633, after serving as a chaplain for some years. He was not the senior fellow and may have owed his position to his connections with the Dukenfield-Assheton families. On 5 March 1634-5 Shaw petitioned Laud and his referees regarding the affairs of the college. He stated that the warden had appointed him vice-warden in his absence, with instructions to use the warden's authority and purse "for the reformation of defects". Shaw claimed that he had:

"repaired the chapter house and choir, kept the chaplains, singing-men and choristers in order, and caused divine service and the sacraments to be celebrated according to the Book of Common Prayer, the canons and his majesty's instruc tions, by reason whereof petitioner was imputed an innovator, and much hated by some people, some seeking to disgrace him by secret calumnies and slanderous letters, making him a persecutor of the godly, a time server and a 'deboist' fellow. And now the fellows and chaplains fall to many of their old disorders, as to administer the holy communion in private seats and not at the communion table, to neglect the reading of the whole of divine service on a Sunday, to conduct the greater part of the six o'clock service with sermons with the omission of the surplice, in neglecting to note down the absentees whereby the choir is often destitute of choristers, all of which he acquaints the referees and craves speedy aid."' 111

It is to be noted that there was, apart from gross neglect of duty, a decided swing to the Genevan type of puritanism.

Johnson, then in London, wrote to Chetham in 1634, and spoke of:

"the Reverend Peter's certificate and defamation. Peter is diabolus fratrum and accuses us of many things. I must no more preach at Gorton without a surplice, nor at six o'clock in the morning in Manchester, nor administer the sacrament out of the choir, a great abuse truly, but which has crept in since Mr. Peter was put out of his vice wardenship." 1121

Raines says of Shaw that he was vacillating, infirm of purpose, a courtier and a time server, at one time embracing the opinion of the presbyterians and at another paying servile court to Archbishop Laud. (13) He eulogises Richard Johnson, but the latter was clearly an anti-surplice man and yet appeared as a royalist in the civil wars, when he was imprisoned at Lancaster. As a minister his language was uncouth: apart from describing Peter as "diabolus fratrum", Johnson wrote that "hee [the

(11) Letters and State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1121 Chetham Society, N.S., Vol. 21, p. 136. 1131 Ibid., Vol. 21, p. 135.


warden] will lye in prison till hee stinks'" (Murray was in the gate house, Westminster). "You heare reportes that the warden will come in again. I think it all most as unlikely as for a man if hee should with the Devill have been cast into Hell, to come to Heaven again." It is strange that Peter Shaw, who followed the moderate puritanism of his milieu, should be assailed by a fellow of the college when endeavouring to carry out much needed reform and improvement of discipline, especially when his critic was ostensibly engaged in the promotion of a new charter for the reformation of this body.

There is nothing to suggest that Peter Shaw, his father Leonard, or his uncle Peter were extremists in puritanism, and the evidence points to their following a consistent middle course. As for the charge that he was a time-server and courtier, there is much evidence to the contrary, and his efforts to reform the college show the allegation to have been unjust.

There is, however, another matter behind the quarrel between Johnson and Shaw. The former no sooner appeared in Manchester than he was in close correspondence with, and attending to the interests of, Humphrey Chetham, who, as shown by the letters, was afraid because of the illegal leases he held from Murray. It is evident that the privy council would be bound to consider the finances of the college and learn of these leases; the only escape for Chetham from a delicate position was to obtain a new charter, get rid of the warden and vice-warden and, if possible, obtain the installation of a head prepared to favour his interests. Hence the fears expressed in the corres pondence between Johnson and Chetham that Murray might be reinstated as Warden, or even that a royal protege, Herrick, might be appointed (this actually came about, in consideration of the debt of £8,000 owing to Herrick's father by the king), or again that Peter 'the Devill' should have his mace once more. That the matter of leases was of great significance is also proved by the subsequent prosecution of Chetham for fraud by the purchaser of Newton manor: similarly, Murray instigated proceedings against Chetham for concealing a portion of the college lands in the lease of Clayton park. Although these actions failed, they remind one that Chetham was fully cognizant of the illegality of his tithe leases, and his close association with Johnson points to the true cause of the animosity against Peter Shaw in these years.

After the new charter was obtained the college subscribed 30s. as their proportion of ship money in 1635; the returns of the constable of Salford hundred, made by Wm. Hulme and Richard Schofield, give the names of the fellows: Richard


Herrick, warden, Peter Shaw, Richard Johnson, Wm. Bourne and Samuel Boardman.

On 12 February 1641-2 parliament nominated Lord Wharton as lord lieutenant of Lancashire in place of Lord Strange; the king refused to confirm the nomination and parliament did so by ordinance. On 12 March the first Lancashire petition was presented to the House, thanking them for the appointment of Wharton and praying that the popish recusants be disarmed. A second petition, drawn up by Richard Herrick, warden of the college, and signed by Shaw, Bourne, Johnson and Symonds for the college, and a large section of the community of Lanca shire, was presented to the king at York. They thanked him for upholding the protestant cause, entreated his majesty to rule according to the constitution and uphold the actions of parlia ment, and ended with a declaration of their full allegiance to the crown. Charles delayed his reply and finally sent it to Sir John Girlington, the sheriff, a catholic, and ready for action. The answer was read to a meeting convened on Preston Moor, and two opposing parties immediately formed: one for the king, the other for the king and parliament. Thus the cleavage of the civil wars commenced.

In 1643 there was printed a letter from a gentleman in Lancashire to his friend in London, in which he said ". . . the earl [Derby] who was no way able to have fought with them, took the opportunity of the town of Preston's weakness, and fell back upon it, and took it that night. Masters Hopwood and Peter Shaw were taken yet escaped again. I know not the loss they received. I am sure it was over much. At my going past I left my armour, clothes and a hundred muskets there, these are lost, I have nothing left."' 141 Mr. Hopwood was Edmund, later high sheriff of Lancashire in 1650, who married Dorothy Assheton, daughter of the rector of Middleton, a family with close friendship and ties with Peter Shaw. About 1644 Thomas Pyke had been appointed by Ralph Assheton to Radcliffe rectory, Peter Shaw having resigned: he appears to have retired to Shaw Place about this time, but retained his fellowship of the Manchester College, and, on his death, John Birch, M.A., was elected in 1660 by the king's gift.

IV JOHN SHAW,

SURROGATE AND CURATE OF WIGAN AND WINWICK

John, a younger son of the Rev. Peter Shaw by his second wife Oseth Dillingham, entered Trinity College, Dublin, on

1141 Civil War Tracts, Chetham Society, Vol. II, p. 87.


21 May 1660; he is described as son of Peter Shaw, clerk, of Standish, Lancashire. On 17 March 1665-6 he was admitted pensioner at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1665-6 and proceeded M.A. in 1669; he was ordained deacon at York in 1667, and priest in May 1670. John Shaw was appointed curate of Wigan by Bishop Pearson, who held both the see of Chester and the rectory of Wigan: he employed three curates, two being preachers, and one a reader in deacon's orders. John Shaw's name appears frequently in the certification lists of marriage licences as being curate of Wigan and surrogate from 2 May 1677. At this time Samuel Shaw was curate of Hindley Chapel and master of the school at Wigan. Subse quently he was also one of the Wigan parish church curates and later master of the Boteler School at Warrington, rector of Warrington, and king's preacher for Lancashire. Samuel was followed in the curacy of Hindley Chapel by James Shaw: the latter died of a distemper circa July 1690. He was probably another son of the Rev. Peter Shaw, junior.

John Shaw appears to have moved to Winwick in 1679, under the rector, Dr. Richard Sherlock, also a former scholar of Trinity College, Dublin. Shaw's name again appears as that of curate of Winwick and surrogate in the certification of marriage licences. (15)

It is said that he died in Liverpool and was buried at St. Nicholas's, on 11 March 1688-9.

V PETER SHAW,

CURATE OF STRETFORD AND DIDSBURY

Peter Shaw, rector of Radcliffe and fellow of the Manchester College, had younger brothers. It is possible that one of these, Paul, was the father of the Peter Shaw who was ordained by Richard, archbishop of York, on 15 June 1679. His name appears in the Chester clergy list for 1691. (16)

Peter Shaw, A.B., curate of Didsbury, was also curate of Stretford Chapel in 1689. Both these benefices were in the gift of the College of Manchester. In the Didsbury register there is an entry "Mr. Peter Shaw, Minister of Didsbury who succeeded Mr. John Walker 13 September 1685". He resigned in 1700, in which year a Peter Shaw, so far untraced, appears as curate of Blackrod near Rivington, a place closely linked by family connections with the Shaws of Heath Charnock. This Peter died in 1722.

1161 Lanes'. & Ches. Rec. Soc., Vol. 69, pp. 188, 199. 1161 Chetham Society, N.S., Vol. 73, p. 48.


VI RICHARD SHAW, PRIEST OF BLACKROD

Richard Shaw was the grandson of James Shaw of Shaw Place, by his wife Constance Gerard of Ince, and was therefore great-nephew of Richard Gerard, rector of Grappenhall, Bangor, and later of Wigan. John Shaw married, circa 1460, Elizabeth Haydock, heiress of the Bulhalghs and the Brod- hursts, and she conveyed an eighth of the manor of Rivington and High Bulhalgh to her husband. Their issue were James, born 1462, Thomas, born 1468, and Richard, born circa 1475-80. The mother died on 8 May 1525, (17) and all the sons were still living in 1538.

James Shaw married Constance Gerard, sister of Thomas Gerard of Ince, and had issue John, the heir of Shaw Place, Thomas, Robert, born 1512, and Peter. Of three sons of the last named Thomas, one, Thomas, married a Tempest; another, Edmund, was a merchant in London (1585-1602); and a third, Richard, born circa 1535-8, became priest of Blackrod.

The first ordination book of the diocese of Chester,' 18) shows that Richard was ordained acolyte and subdeacon by Cuthbert Scott, bishop of Chester, on 26 March 1558, became deacon at Easter, and priest on 7 June. His title was John Shaw of Heath Charnock, gentleman (his uncle). Nothing further is known of his career beyond mention of him in the will of John Holmes, citizen of London and native of Blackrod, dated 18 September 1568, at which date Richard was priest in charge of Blackrod chapel. By his will John Holmes gave ". . . to Richard Shaw, priest, five pounds for singular goodwill tht I do bear unto him . .."; also "two plater dishes of pewter of the lesser sorte of the first VII platters and two other dishes with two saucers and one chawendish and one pint pot, one candle stick of latten and one little skillet, the lesser of the two, one iron spitt, and three cushions of the greatest sort, covered with velvet, and two pillowes"; also "one stool chair of ease of wainscot, one carpet of turkey work". How long Richard lived at Blackrod is not known; a visitation of 1590 does not name the incumbent but states that he was "no preacher".

VII PETER SHAW, RECTOR OF GRAPPENHALL

The living of Grappenhall was in the gift of the Byroms and held by Richard Gerard, brother of Thomas Gerard of Ince, Esq., from 1527-55: he was also rector of Bangor. These two

1171 Add. MSS., Towneley (1752).1181 Lanes. Rec. See., Vol. 43, pp. 98, 99, 104, 108.


Gerards were chosen arbitrators on behalf of James Shaw of Shaw Place in the long dispute with Richard Pilkington concern ing the marriage settlement of his son and heir, John, with Katherine Pilkington: they were first cousins to James Shaw.

Peter Shaw, S.T.B., appears as rector of Grappenhall, 1555-73, in succession to Richard Gerard, who was instituted rector of Wigan in 1556, which suggests that Peter was a member of the Heath Charnock family. On 1 April 1569 Peter Shaw, S.T.B., as rector of Grappenhall, was examined during the bishop's visitation at Frodsham and admitted that he had "one Porteux" (breviary), which he was ordered to bring in at the next synod. He also stated that "divers in his parysshe used candelles uppon candle maasse day laste, and that there was rynggyng uppon All Saintes daye all nyghte". (19) Again, in October 1571, John Buckley, preacher of Manchester, com plained that Peter Shaw, S.T.B., taught false doctrines and sedition in a sermon delivered in Manchester: the charge is not stated nor has the reply been found. (20) It is clear that this man was not Peter Shaw of Bury, and he appears to have been a contemporary of the latter's father, John Shaw; he may have been a younger brother and son of James Shaw, who married Constance Gerard, sister of Richard and Thomas mentioned above. He was buried at Grappenhall on 16 March 1573-4.

VIII ROBERT SHAW, VICAR OF COCKERHAM

Robert Shaw was the great grandson of Richard, third son of John Shaw of Shaw Place. He was educated at Rivington Grammar School, entered St. John's College, Cambridge, and migrated to Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1629. Roger Downes of Wardley had married the daughter of Calvert, lord of the manor of Cockerham, and acquired that patronage. The Downes family were remotely connected with the Shaws; this link, and his association with Robert's father who lived at Trafford, may account for the presentation of Robert to Cockerham, where he was instituted on 2 April 1633. He contributed to the levies for the repair of St. Paul's, 1634-6; for "ship money" his quota was 8s.; and in 1639 he paid £2 3s. 9d. for the war against the Scots.

On 15 May 1635 Robert Shaw married, at Stalmine Chapel, Mary, daughter of Sir Paul Fleetwood of Rossall and Hacken- sall, a family connection of dominant influence for several generations, and one which again linked this branch of the

1191 Chetham Society, Vol. XCVI, pp. 27-8. 1201 Lanes. MSS., Vol. XLIII, p. 27.


Shaws with the moderates during the Commonwealth. The presbyterians, though recognising Robert as vicar of Cocker- ham, did not include him, nor any of his family, in the "classes".

Paul Fleetwood, knighted at Greenwich in 1623, was grand son, by the first wife, of Thomas Fleetwood, treasurer of the Mint, who acquired the grange of Rossall in 1553 and the manor of Eccleston near Chorley in 1545. The second wife's son, Sir William Fleetwood of Heskin, was grandfather of Charles Fleetwood, who married Cromwell's daughter. Sir Paul purchased the manor of Preesall and Hackensall but was in debt at the time of his daughter Mary's marriage to Robert Shaw. The evidence in the case of Francis Lowe v Richard Fleetwood, 121 ' reveals the dowry of Mary Fleetwood. Depositions taken at Garstang from Robert Poole of Preesall, mariner, aged 50, show that 12 years previously (1645) Edmund Fleetwood (brother of Mary Shaw) assigned to Robert Shaw, minister of Cockerham, the fines of six tenements in Preesall as part of her portion, namely his own, for which he paid £40, and "Dicconsons, Crofts, Thompsons and Cowbans". John Moor confirmed this, and said that Sir Paul ten years earlier had assigned to Robert Shaw the fines of several tenements in Hackensall. Deponent had paid Shaw £4 for his house and garden as a fine, for a lease of 21 years.

Robert's father, Robert of High Bulhalgh, signed the Protestation on 23 February 1641-2 in Anglezarke, and Robert, as pastor of Cockerham, the Harmonious Consent of the presbyterian clergy, on 3 March 1647. The vicar was certainly in the favour of the presbyterians, as is shown by the Plundered Ministers Accounts dated 2 September 1646. The committee ordered the sequestrators of the tithes of Cockerham to pay £50 yearly to Robert Shaw, the vicar, whose living was worth £40 yearly.* 22 ' The vicar was buried at Cockerham on 3 August 1649.

IX EDMUND SHAW,

MINISTER OF RIVINGTON, CURATE OF GOOSNARGH

The younger brother of Robert Shaw of Cockerham was Edmund, educated at Rivington Grammar School. In 1625 he went to St. John's. Cambridge, and migrated to Queen's College, where he graduated B.A. in 1628, returning to Rivington as master of the school. He was elected minister of the church in 1633, paying 2s. 6d. ship money in 1635. He was later instituted

1211 Exchequer Q. R. Deposit. 1657, No. 32, Lancaster. 1221 Bod. MSS., 323, fol. 164.


minister of Goosnargh, which, by this time, was recognised as a separate parish from the mother church of Kirkham, but was in the gift of the rectors of the latter, namely Christ Church, Oxford. Edmund signed the Protestation of 1641-2 as curate of Goosnargh, where he died and was buried in the chancel on 29 May 1645.

The 7 September 1648 was observed by ordinance of parlia ment as a day of public thanksgiving for the defeat of the royalists and the victories of General Assheton, but the presbyterians feared the sectarianism of Cromwell and his army. The fiery eloquence of Herrick died away, especially after the execution of two leading presbyterians, the Duke of Hamilton and Lord Holland. The clergy of Lancashire were alienated, and in 1650 they solemnly kept the nativity of the heir to the throne, 29 May, although renouncing Yule and Pasche. Parliament declared religious tolerance for all ministers of the protestant faith: the "classes" died into insignificance, and by 1659 both independents and presbyterians met to reconcile their differences. The time was ripe for the restoration and even episcopacy: none were more jubilant than the presbyterians.

Robert Shaw was followed at Cockerham by Wm. Calvert, sequestered for delinquency in 1650. whilst Thomas Smith, the curate, died of plague in that year. Gerard Browne, minister of Blackrod, held the living from 1652 until 1659, after whom George, the second son of Robert Shaw, the former vicar, was presented.

X GEORGE SHAW,

VICAR OF POULTON-LE-FYLDE

George Shaw matriculated as a servitor at Queen's College, Oxford, on 15 June 1657 and was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, in July 1658. <23) He was instituted in December 1659 to Cockerham, remaining there until he was presented to the vicarage of Poulton-le-Fylde in 1661.

The Fleetwood relatives were patrons of Poulton, but the bishop presented, evidently owing to some defect in the title; the first fruits were paid on 21 August 1662. The collector of the clerical subsidy of those "who made their free and voluntary present to the king", noted amongst the non-payers George Shaw, entered for £5, but the vicar denied authorizing this sum. In the hearth tax returns for 1666 Shaw was assessed for four hearths in Poulton vicarage. He was buried at Poulton on 13 July 1674.

1231 Mayor, Admissions, Vol. I, p. 137.


XI LAWRENCE SHAW, VICAR OF COCKERHAM

Lawrence Shaw, eldest son of the Rev. Robert Shaw, was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1660. He was presented by the king to the vicarage of Cockerham in succession to his brother, George, on 20 March 1661-2 and instituted on 8 April 1662. <24)

A permanent school for Cockerham was erected during his incumbency. Hitherto, for want of a school house, the children had been moved yearly or oftener to such houses in the parish as could be procured. It was decided in 1679 that the parishioners could contribute to the erection of a school in the north east corner of the church yard, and Lawrence Shaw obtained the bishop's sanction on 7 August 1679; this school house, long since demolished, bore the date 1682.

Lawrence Shaw was said to be conformable to the government in 1687. I25) His first wife was daughter of the celebrated William Bell, vicar of Huyton, one of the King's Preachers for Lanca shire and later non-conformist, who was ejected in 1662, but returned to hold his own conventicle. Their child Anne was baptised at Cockerham on 2 February 1664-5 and Esther died and was buried there on 20 March 1664-5. The will of the Rev. W. Bell (1687) makes no mention of the Shaws; Anne married Edward Goddall, M.A., of Horton, Bucks., fellow of King's College, Cambridge, who became rector of Prescot on 24 July 1667; he and his wife were closely associated with their Fleetwood relatives.

Lawrence married a second time and had several children baptised at Cockerham.

By his will dated 20 March 1694-5 he conveyed to his kinsmen Robert Shaw of Eccleston (near Chorley), his brother, and Richard Fleetwood of Leyland, as executors, his tenement called Maires in Cockerham, they to sell the same and purchase with the proceeds winter gowns for the poor widows of the parish. To his eldest son and heir, Robert, who inherited the High Bulhalgh estate, he left his signet ring only, and the residue to his other children; to Lucia, who married Alderman Richard Lowry of Kendal, mercer, £120; to Elizabeth, wife of Rev. John Usgath, £90 in addition to £30 she had received; to his son Edmund, £90; and to Rachel, who married (24 May 1704) Robert Strickland of Kendal, gentleman, £136. His family pew in Cockerham Church, "where my children and my relatives doe usually sitt", he gave to his friend Gaulter Frost

1241 Dep. Keepers Rep., XLVI, App. 105.1251 Hist. MSS. Comm. Rep., XIV, App. IV, 229.


of Cockerham, gentleman, and Sarah his wife, and to his kinswoman Elizabeth, now wife of Ed. Harrison of Ellel, and her issue, provided that his own kindred, executors, and other minor relations had liberty of usage.

The son and heir, Robert, married on 9 October 1692, at St. Michaels-on-Wyre, his cousin Mary, daughter of Thomas Robinson, vicar of St. Michaels-on-Wyre by his wife Katherine, daughter of Edward Fleetwood, son of Sir Paul, and his wife Everill, (daughter of Thos. Heber of Martin, near Skipton). Their descendants are represented by the Kirkham Shaws and those of Fleetwood Shaw of Preston.

XII INVENTORIES

The inventories' 261 of the three vicars, Robert Shaw of Cockerham (1649) and his sons Lawrence of Cockerham (1693) and George of Poulton (1674) provide interesting information about the domestic side of a Lancashire parsonage in the seventeenth century.

In the early seventeenth century husbandry of the glebe and additional land was an important feature of a vicar's economy, much as in the sixteenth century at Crayke.

Robert Shaw had, in addition to the Cockerham glebe, stock and crops at High Bulhalgh, where his father survived him; his inventory combines information about both without providing the details. The stock, valued at £73, consisted of oxen, fifteen cattle (seven cows), sixteen sheep and lambs, two pigs, three horses and a filly. The growing crops were oats, worth £16 10s. Od., and barley, worth £6 13s. 4d. Implements included a cart with two pairs of shod wheels, another pair in making, a manure wain, plough and harrow and three yokes for oxen. Land on lease at Balshawes was worth £27.

George Shaw at Poulton farmed only the glebe, where growing crops of oats and barley were valued at £12 and the stock consisted of two cows and a heifer, worth £8 10s. Od., a colt, worth £4, and pigs, worth 8s. The implements, with a cart and wheels and husbandry gear, some hay, a spinning wheel and a form were valued at £1, whilst manure was worth 3s. 6d.

Lawrence Shaw had a still lower agricultural valuation. The stock consisted of a gelding and a mare, worth £10, pigs, worth 18s. 6d., two cows and a calf, worth £9. Crops were valued as follows: oats, £1 13s. Od.; wheat, 8s.; beans, 10s.; hay, 6s. 8d.; and wheat on the ground, £1. The appearance of a

1261 See Richmond Wills, Lancashire Record Office.


wheat crop is interesting in the late seventeenth century,' 2 " and in this respect this inventory may be compared with the Yorkshire inventory (1602-3) of James Shaw, rector of Crayke. Implements of husbandry, comprising carts, wheels, ploughs, harrows and other gear were valued at £1 2s. 6d. and a pillion and cloth at 2s. 6d. Manure and turf were worth 12s.

The inventories of father and son, drawn up in 1649 and 1693, give incomplete information about the rooms in Cocker- ham parsonage. There was a hall, study, parlour, kitchen and buttery; the bedrooms consisted of the hall chamber, kitchen chamber, Preston's chamber, the buttery chamber and the chamber over the parlour. The vicarage was of similar size to that of Jarnes Shaw at Crayke. Concerning Poulton parsonage the inventory does not help very much: only the parlour is named; six beds are specified as belonging to the vicar and another to Mrs. Shaw. Probably there were at least five bed rooms but the general scope of the inventory suggests that the parsonage was larger than that at Cockerham.

In 1649 vicar Robert's furniture, apart from bedding, bedstocks and curtains, was worth £5 6s. 10d.: this sum included the value of a hall table, cupboards, a great ark, dishboard and table. There was a red carpet cloth worth 6s. 8d. The value of a warming pan, a clock, and two pigs was £4. There were six beds, worth £3 3s. 4d., and bedding with curtains came to £15 15s. 2d.

The inventory of furniture in 1693 at Cockerham combines bedstocks and bedding with other furniture; only the hall settles, chairs and boards are specified, at 15s., a box, at 2s 6d., and a pair of virginals, at £1 10s. Od.; whilst an ark, dressers, stools, chairs, a little cupboard and two cushions were valued together at 10s. The bedroom furnishings, including five beds, were worth £5 10s. Od.

The inventory of 1674 gives more details of the furniture at Poulton and suggests that the parsonage was a more comfort able home. Apart from beds, the furniture was worth £9 12s. lOd.: this included eighteen chairs; thirteen stools (buffet and covered); the parlour table, worth £1; a bench, worth 8s.; a livery table, worth 8s.; a chest and carpet, worth 10s.; two looking glasses, worth 5s. 8d.; twenty-three cushions; and two desks. The bedroom furnishings were valued at £5 19s. 6d. for bedstocks and bedding: this included the two best beds with curtains, and a cradle with two pillows for it, worth 4s. 6d.

1271 Cf. the crop distribution in Amounderness in 1779, Cunliffe Shaw, Kirkham in Amounderness, pp. 283-4.


The 1649 inventory of kitchen utensils mentions iron racks, spits, dripping and frying pans, girdle and other iron gear, worth £3 2s. Od. In the buttery there were wooden vessels worth £1 8s. Od. In 1674 at Poulton there were in the kitchen wooden vessels, barrels, knops and tubs, valued at £1 2s. Od. Shelves and earthenware vessels were worth 10s. A cupboard, salt chest and "tresse" were valued at £1 9s. Od., and racks, toasting- iron and other goods made of iron at 10s. The 1693 inventory at Cockerham mentions no kitchen goods except a cheesepress and troughs, worth 4s 6d.

In the 1649 inventory table and other vessels are grouped under pewter and brass and are valued at £5 16s. Od., whilst wooden vessels in the buttery were worth £1 8s. Od., and plate £2. In 1674 at Poulton a desk with a case of bottles, eleven parcels of whitemetal, glasses, and a case with two knives in it were valued at 11s. Eleven table napkins, two table cloths, four pillow "beares", four towels, a pair of wallets, two pairs of linen sheets, four pairs of canvas sheets, and an extra canvas sheet were valued at £1 16s. 8d. Two dozen trenches and a 'Prynt' were worth Is 8d.; pewter, £2 14s. Od.; brass, 14s. 6d.; whitemetal, 2s. In 1693 at Cockerham napkins and table cloths were grouped with linen and flaxen sheets at 12s.; glass bottles and earthenware were valued at 4s., plate at £3 15s. Od., pewter at £1 Os. 6d., brass vessels at £2, and wooden vessels at £1.

Books in the study in 1649 were valued at £3 6s. 8d. At Poulton George Shaw's were worth £6 and Lawrence Shaw's, in 1693, £2.

As for money and apparel: in 1649 Robert had £3 3s. lOd. in money, a watch, worth £2, apparel and riding furniture, worth £7, and five yards of new black broad cloth, worth £1. Money on loan amounted to £235 18s. 6d. In 1674 George had apparel valued at £5 13s. 4d.; there is no mention of a watch and no money is specified. Lawrence in 1694 had in ready money £50; apparel worth £2; money owing, £441. He, being the eldest son, was much better off than his brother of Poulton, although the latter appears to have had more books and a better furnished vicarage so far as one can gather from these erratic inventories. The mention of virginals may indicate that Lawrence's family were musical. Again, the silver of Robert Shaw appears in the eldest son's home in 1693. It is surprising to note that the personal clothing of Vicar Robert in 1649 was worth £7 (together with £l's worth of new broad cloth) whilst his son George's in 1674 was worth £5 13s. 4d., and Lawrence's in 1693 worth only £2.

It is noticeable that turf only is mentioned as fuel in the two


Cockerham inventories but at Poulton coal was worth £2, which must have represented a large store at the price then current. Again at Poulton the mention of two hogsheads worth 2s. 6d., of malt "in ye chest" worth 6s 8d., of brewing knops, etc., show that ale was probably brewed at home. As regards meat in store, beef and bacon are specified only in Lawrence Shaw's inventory, and are valued at 6s. 8d.

The totals of the three lists of goods and moneys are: Rev. Robert Shaw, in 1649, £431, less £22 2s. Od. debts; Rev. George Shaw and his wife, in 1674, £76 10s. 3d. (no moneys mentioned); Rev. Lawrence Shaw, in 1693, £539.

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