RADCLIFFE PARISH.

Radcliffe Parish.- Of Saxon Origin - Names in Domesday - The Radcliffes and the Devolution of the Manor - Licence to Kernel and Embattle Radcliffe Tower - The Parish Church, its Monuments and Windows - Living, Advowson, Rectory, and Rectors - Episcopal and other Chapels - Charities - Guest's Charity - Radcliffe Tower and its Remains - Legend of the Radcliffe Tragedy - Local Government - Hamlet of Whitefield - Area and Population of the Parish - Manufactures, Fairs, &c.- Reservoir - Life of Warden Wroe, the  "Silver-tongued."

From, The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster.
by Edward Bains. Edited by James Croston (1889)

Various and dubious as is the origin of many of our Lancashire parishes, this place is decidedly Saxon; Edward the Confessor held Radcliffe for a manor with two hides of land, one belonging to Salford.(1) It was the only immediate property of that king in the hundred; over the rest of the hundred of Salford he was only lord-paramount. With the neighbouring possessions, Radcliffe was conferred on the restless and ambitious Roger de Poictou but forfeited by him for defection to the royal cause soon after the Domesday Survey. With the other lands between the Mersey and the Ribble, this place remained in the crown till the capture of King Stephen at the battle at Lincoln, February 2nd, 1141, when it passed into the possession of Ranulph de Gernons, fourth Norman Earl of Chester, subject to the feudatory claim of the de Mareseys, which was subsequently relinquished by Roger de Maresey in favour of Ranulp de Blundeville, the grandson of Ranulph de Gernons, and sixth Earl of Chester. The contract between De Blundeville and De Maresey is of the date 15 Henry III. (1231), but the pedigree of the family assumes a de Radeclive anterior to the reign of Henry II., and the name of Henry de Radeclive appears among the witnesses to the charter of Robert de Lathom, on the foundation of Burscough Priory, in the reign of Richard I.(2)

In 6 Richard I. (1194-5), William de Radeclive, who married Cecilia de Montbegon, lady of Kirkland, a daughter of the great feudal family of Montbegon, barons of Hornby, was deputy to Theobald Walter, high-sheriff of the county of Lancaster; but it appears that before this time Simon de Radeclive, brother of Henry named in the foundation charter of Burseough, and supposed to be the uncle of William, demised lands in this place for a term of years to Henry de Oswaldtwissel. The connection of William de Radeclive with Theobald Walter, who, as lord of Amounderness,(3) possessed Routheclive, now Rawcliffe, has led to the supposition that the manor of Radcliffe was formerly a portion of the barony of Kendal,(4) but this, on investigation, is found to be erroneous. The parish of Radcliffe, in Salford hundred, doubtless gave name to the family of Radcliffe before that place was in the possession of the Earls of Chester. In the record of fees held in the reigns of John and Henry III., as exhibited in the Testa de Nevill, William de Radeclive occurs in the Inquisicio Cornitatus Lancastr', fol. 401-405, where he is said to hold by 6s. a carucate of land of the fee of Ranulf Fitz-Roger's heir, a ward in the custody of Eustace Fitz-Moreton, for the king, besides twelve bovates of land in Edgworth. In 30 Henry III. (1246) Adam, son of the William de Radeclive above named, petitioned against Roger de Oswaldtwisel for the lands demised in Radclive, for a term of years, by his grandfather, of whom he was the heir. In 4 Edward I. (1276) Richard, son of Robert and great grandson of William de Radclyve had a writ of novel disseisin, and held lands, &c., in Tottington, of the fee of Roger de Montebegon; this Richard accompanied the king in his wars in Scotland, and obtained from him a charter for free warren in his manors of Radcliffe and Querndone, dated from Strevelin, 32 Edward I.(5) (1304). Sir John Radclyve of Ordsal, a younger son of this Sir Richard, who married Johanna, daughter of Sir Robert, and sister to Thomas de Holland, Earl of Kent, accompanied Edward III. in his wars in France; he introduced the honour of knighthood into the family in 1347, and was founder of the line of Radcliffe of Ordsal and of Foxdenton. The Radcliffes enjoyed the privilege of free warren and free chase in the territories of the duchy, and held at various times the offices of seneschal and minister of the forests of Bowland and Blackburnshire; and the stewardship of Rossendale also devolved upon them. The chiefs of the family, as well as several collateral branches, filled the station of high-sheriff in the county in successive reigns; a rank which, in the early period of our history, was equal to that of lord-lieutenant. Ralph de Radclyffe, grandson of Richard above named, dying without issue before 5 Edward III. (1331), bequeathed his manors of Radcliffe, &c., to his uncle William, son of Richard de Radclyffe, of Radcliffe Tower, and brother of John, the founder of the line of Ordsal, called the Great William, lord of Edgeworth and Oswaldtwistle, who became seised of Culcheth in 20 Edward I. (1292), in right of his wife Margaret, one of the two daughters and co-heirs of Gilbert de Culcheth.(6) From this "Great William" ennobled successively by the titles of Baron Fitzwalter and Earl of Sussex, now extinct, descended the Radcliffes, Earls of Derwentwater who suffered such a fatal eclipse on the execution of the unfortunate James, Earl of Derwentwater, for his share in the rebellion of 1715, and his no less unfortunate brother Charles who had assumed the title, and who was father of another Charles who became Earl of Newburgh. Robert Radcliffe, the eldest brother of the "Great William," was the father of William, the founder of the line of Smithells; and also of William, rector of Bury, 16 Edward III. (1342), who became lord of Chadderton and from whom descended the Radcliffes of Chadderton.

William de Radcliffe-the "Great William "-was succeeded by his son Richard, the grandfather of James Radclyffe, of Radcliffe Tower, who had letters patent, dated at Pontefract Castle, 15th August, 4 Henry IV. (1403), conveying a licence to enclose his manor-house of Radcliffe held in chief of the king as of the Duchy of Lancaster, with walls of stone and mortar, and likewise to rebuild within the same walls a certain hall with two towers, and to kernel and embattle the walls, hall, and towers, and to hold the same as a fortalice to himself and his heirs for ever.(7) He died on Saturday before the feast of St. Martin, in winter, 11 Henry IV. (November 9th, 1409), and on the 28th February following his inquisition p.m. was taken at Middleton, when his son Richard de Radcliffe, then of the age of thirty years, was found to be the next heir.(8) Richard de Radclyffe, the third in descent from this Richard, in 15 Henry VII. (1499-1500), being childless, suffered a recovery of his manors of Radcliffe, Oswaldtwistle, and Moston, and settled the same upon his brothers John and Roger, and their male issue, with remainder over to Robert, son of John Baron Fitzwalter, and his heirs; with remainder to Thomas de Radcliffe, lord of the manor of Framsden, in the county of Suffolk. The Radcliffes, Barons Fitzwalter, descended from Sir John, the second Son of James above mentioned; and the Framsden branch from Henry de Radcliffe, the eighth son; John de Radcliffe died without legitimate male issue April 4th, 5 Henry VII. (1514); his brother, Roger de Radcliffe, left another John, who died a minor August 28th, 1518, when Robert, son of John, Baron Fitzwalter, K.G., his cousin and next heir, succeeded by virtue of entail to the manor of Radcliffe at the age of thirty. In 1529 Robert was created Earl of Sussex; in 1538 he presented Robert Assheton, acolyte, to the church of Radcliffe; he was a Knight of the Garter, held the office of lord high chamberlain of England for life, and died October 22nd, 1542. The grandson of Robert, Thomas, the third Earl of Sussex, K.G., lord president of the north, captain-general and commander-in-chief, and lord high chamberlain of the Household, sold Radcliffe to Andrew Barton, of Smithells Hall; he died June 9th, 1583. This earl was succeeded by his brother Henry, K.G., whose son Robert, also K.G., the fifth earl, surviving all his legitimate issue, settled the manors of Attleborough, Henham, and Debden upon his natural daughter Jane, then married to Sir Alexander Radcliffe, of Ordsal, son of Sir Alexander, who was one of the knights created by Queen Elizabeth on the destruction of the Spanish Armada.

The manor of Radcliffe remained in the family of Barton till it was conveyed in marriage by Grace, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Barton, the great grandson of Andrew Barton, the purchaser of Radcliffe, to Henry Bellasys, M.P., eldest son and heir of Thomas, Viscount Fauconberg.

Sir Thomas Barton, of Smithells, knight, held the manor of Radcliffe 12 Charles I. (1636-7); he died July 17th, 1659, and was buried in the choir of Bolton Church on the 17th of August following, leaving an only daughter and heir, Grace, married to Henry Bellasys, son and heir of Thomas, Viscount Fauconberg, whose son, Thomas, the second Viscount created Earl Fauconberg, married Mary, the daughter of Oliver Cromwell, lord protector, in 1657. About the year 1722, Thomas, first Earl of Fauconberg of the new creation, sold the manor of Radcliffe, in two equal moieties, to James Whalley, of Sparthe, and Christopher Baron, of Oswaldtwistle, for £3,700. In the early part of the present century one moiety (or probably the whole manor) was sold by Sir James Whalley Smythe Gardiner, of Clerkhill, to Thomas Egerton, Viscount Grey de Wilton, and Earl of Wilton, for upwards of £16,000. In 1809 the whole belonged to the earl, the manor being then described as co-extensive with the parish, and the earl entitled to all the soil and royalties in in the commons of the manor. The manor is now in possession of his lordship's great grandson, Seymour John Grey Egerton, fourth Earl of Wilton, who holds a yearly court-baron here on the first Friday in April.

The manor of Radcliffe consists of 2,466 statute acres, and the remainder of the land in the parish, which has a total area of 2,533 statute acres, had a population in 1861 of 8,838, which had increased in 1871 and 1881 to 11,466 and 16,267 respectively. The area of the urban sanitary district is 2,453 acres. The parish is ecclesiastically in the archdeaconry of Manchester and rural deanery of Prestwich and Middleton.

The name of Radcliffe is Saxon, derived from a cliff of red rock(9) on the south side of the Irwell, below the confluence of the Roch, and opposite to the village of Red, or Radcliffe. The oldest form of the name was Rade-clive. The Norman Conquest introduced much of the French language; hence the appellation de Rougemont was often given to this village, and used also as the surname of several members of the Radcliffe family in the early periods of English history. This cliff still exists, after having a thousand years ago given name to the parish, and subsequently to one of the most ancient and noble families of Lancashire. The Roman vicinal road from Manchester to Ribchester passes through this parish at the ford of the Irwell, near the junction with the Roch, a portion of which yet retains the name of "Blackburn Street."

Radcliffe Church is a low pile of considerable antiquity, about the age, as Dr. Whitaker conjectures, of Henry IV., and coeval with the rebuilding of Radcliffe Tower, but with remains of a much earlier date. The architecture of the most ancient part is Norman; and an ancient manuscript, preserved at Radcliffe, carries its age to the year 1282, but the omission of the name in Pope Nicholas's ecclesiastical valuation in 1291 renders this antiquity, as some suppose, more than doubtful, though, as will, be seen, the name of Robert, parson of Radcliffe, occurs about the year 1235. The nave is divided from the side aisles by two arches on each side, supported by massive plain columns, bound by a simple fillet. The roof is sustained by carved squares of oak, with tracery at the intersections. The tower was rebuilt in 1665, as appears from an incised date on the western face, with the arms of Beswicke, of Manchester, afterwards of Pike House (now represented by the family of Beswicke-Royds) ---gules, three bezants; a fesse in chief, or; crest, a demi-lion rampant, gules,(10) holding in the dexter paw a bezant-and the words CAROLUS BESWICKE, RECTOR, still remaining upon it. There are two other inscriptions upon the tower. On the south side is a shield representing the arms of the Asshetons of Middleton, with their quarterings. First and fourth, argent, on a mullet, sable, an annulet of the field for Assheton; second and third grand quarters, quarterly; first and fourth, ermine, on a fesse, gules, three annulets, or, for Barton of Fryton, second and third, paly of six, sable and argent, for Middleton of Middleton, with the date 1665, and the inscription beneath-SIR RALPH ASHTON, K^T. AND BARON^T. On the north side is a tablet, with an heraldic shield, argent, two bars engrailed, sable; the coat of the younger line of the Radcliffes, with the date 1665, and the inscription beneath-EDWARD RATCLIFFE. The tower is disproportionately large, to accommodate the six bells with which it is furnished.(11) The south transcpt, or, as it is commonly called, the "Sun Chapel," is a chantry chapel, which, from its style of architecture, appears to have been founded about the middle of the fifteenth century, at which time it was not unusual to throw out chantries in the form of transepts. A north transept was added in 1846, the south porch removed, and a west doorway opened through the tower. All the seats in the nave and transepts were renewed of substantial oak, and are now free to the parishioners. The east, south, and north windows of the chancel were filled with richly-stained glass, the first being an obituary window in memory of Thomas Hutchinson, Esq, and the others being presented by a lady. The chancel walls have been faced with terra-cotta disposed in figured quarries, and a reredos of good design has been added. These judicious improvements were effected under the superintendence of the Rev. Nathaniel Milne, the late rector, at a cost of nearly £1,000, towards which sum he was a liberal contributor. In removing sundry layers of paint from the pulpit and reading-desk, the following dates and initials were revealed, beautifully inlaid in coloured wood: On the first panel of the pulpit, "1606," with a mullet beneath, charged with an annulet, the armorial cognisance of the Asshetons of Middleton ; on the second panel, a boar's head, erased, the crest of that family, with the Radcliffe shield-a bend, engrailed-beneath, and the initials S. R. A.

(Sir Richard Assheton); on the third is the Assheton mullet, charged with an annulet, and the letters

L. S.
P.
R.W.

probably denoting Leonard Shaw and Rob Walkden, who were rectors, or parsons, during the alterations made early in the seventeenth century; on the fourth panel, the initials "I. I.," with a mullet, charged with an annulet, between them, probably intended for Holt, Lady Assheton's maiden name; and on the fifth the letters

T.H.
I.M.

probably the initials of the churchwardens. The reading-desk appears to have been the gift of Charles Beswicke, M.A., the rector, from the initials

R.
C. B.

and the date "1665," still remaining. As a border round the upper part of what was the desk is the following text, in Old English letters :-

"ALL MY WORDS THAT I SHALL SPEAKE VNTO THEE, RECEIVE INTO THINE
HEARTE AND HEARE WITH THINE EARE."-Ezekiel c. iii., v. x.


st. john the evangelist.

These carvings are now placed against the north and south walls of the tower entrance, having been removed when the present pulpit, a handsome structure of Caen stone, and the new lectern, both the gift of the Openshaw family of Redvales, were erected.

The chancel and the vestry were rebuilt in 1817, the former at the cost of the patron of the advowson, the Earl of Wilton, and the latter out of the parochial rates. The east end of the church, which is also modern, was probably built at the cost of the parish. In one window to the north were the arms of Radcliffe-argent, a bend engrailed, sable-and in the same window the head of a queen crowned with an ancient coronet. Another window, with the same aspect, was enriched with oak-leaves and acorns, surmounted with the head of a king wearing his diadem, the portrait of which resembled that of Edward III., but not in the slightest degree that of Henry VI., though it is true that the Radcliffes were zealous Lancastrians. In a window to the east was a boar's head, couped, the crest of the Asshetons, in a shield, placed there, no doubt, since the connection of that family with the manor and church of Radcliffe; and in a window to the west was a painting of St. John the Evangelist, in a white vest and a blue robe, his cap, palm, hair, and glory all a bright yellow, with an almost obliterated background, wherein was seen a tower, a representation of which is here given.

Time and the restorer have rapidly effaced these works of early art, and the monument of James de Radcliffe, of the Tower, and his lady, formerly the attraction of the chancel,(12) had for a long time disappeared, but was discovered during the restorations a few years ago. Mr. Thomas Barritt, the self-taught antiquary, of Manchester, in his unpublished manuscripts, has described and sketched, though somewhat incorrectly, this monument, on which he remarks: "In the chancel 

of Radcliffe Church is an alabaster stone greatly decayed. On it are the traces of a knight in armour and his lady. At the upper part of the stone are two escutcheons - on one the arms of Radcliffe, the other (paly of six) defaced. The Latin legend is in old black character, but almoust mouldered away, not a word to be made out, except the remains of Jacobi Radcliff (the supposed owner of Radcliffe), which words, to all appearance, must shortly perish. No date was to be found." There are some remains of children in praying attitudes at the foot, and Dr. Whitaker gives what he could decipher of the inscription as -

"Orate pr aia Jacobi de Radcliff, &c. . . . qu(orum animarum) p'pietur Deus."

The subjoined sketch will convey a tolerably correct idea of this ancient monumental tablet :- (13)

In 1870 the entire fabric underwent a thorough change under the direction of Mr. Medland Taylor. The old roof, which had become unsafe, was removed, and another of similar design erected in its place, and owing to the insecure foundation of the nave pillars the whole of the nave or body of the church had to be rebuilt. The chapel or transept on the north side was re-roofed and extended, and other repairs were effected, the present rector, Mr. Starkie, and his wife being liberal contributors to the cost. The chancel window and those in the north and south transepts, of which illustrations are given, are ancient and deserving of special notice for the beauty of their design.

In 1552 the commissioners reported that the church possessed "one chales (chalice) iij vestments one coope one crosse of coop' (copper) iij belles ij hand belles one masse boke ij corp'as wth casez iiij Ault' clothes & one surples."(14) A century later (1650) the Cromwellian commissioners presented that there were, "in glebe lands belonginge to the said rectory, twenty pounds p' ann and in rents thirty shillings p' ann, and in tythes twenty eight pounds ten shillings p' ann," and further that there was "not any neede of erecting a new church or chappell wthin the same p'ishe."(15)

The living of Radcliffe Church is a rectory, valued in the "Liber Regis" at £21 0s. 5d. The value now (1888) is returned at £1,030. The patronage of the advowson does not appear, at any time since the Reformation, to have been in any of the Radcliffe family.(16) It passed from the Bartons to the Asshetons of Middleton by purchase, and the latter family presented to the living, from the time of Queen Elizabeth, until it was conveyed in marriage, in 1769, by Eleanor, younger daughter and coheiress of Sir Ralph Assheton, Bart., to Sir Thomas Egerton, Bart., created Baron Grey de Wilton, Viscount Grey and Wilton, and Earl of Wilton, in 1801, in whose great-grandson, the present Earl of Wilton, it is now vested.

RECTORS OF RADCLIFFE.

(From the Episcopal Registers of Lichfield and Chester, Exchequer Records, First Fruits Composition Books, and other sources).

C. 1235. DOMINO ROBERTO persona de Radeclive. This is the first rector of Radcliffe of whom we have any mention; his name occurs as witness in a charter without date, but which must have been granted between the years 1232 and 1240, by which John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, quit-claimed to the abbot and canons of Newbro', in Lincolnshire, all the services due to him in Extwistle in Whalley parish.(17)

1388. ROGER FIL. WILL'I DE MANCESTR became rector of Radcliffe in 1388 ;(18) he is doubtless identical with Roger de Mamcestr who was chaplain of Manchester in 1364. By a deed dated 11th February, 38 Edward III. (1364), Roger de Mamcestr et Galfrid de Bexwyck capellani de Mamcestr, convey messuages in Withington to Thurston de Holland. He was instituted to the vicarage of Rochdale, February 12th, 1369.(19) He could have held the rectory of Radcliffe for a brief period only.

1381. JOH. LE FLETCHER AL. FFYTHLER is said by Whitaker to have been, like his predecessor, a chaplain of Manchester (in 1330), though the statement is open to doubt; he was admitted vicar of Rochdale November 18th, 1388, on the resignation of Roger fil. Will'i de Mamecestr, and at the same time was admitted to the rectory of Radcliffe on the presentation of James Radcliffe (the builder of Radcliffe Tower) the patron.(20)

C. 1496. RICHARD BEXWICKE was a son of Roger Bexwicke, a benefactor of the church at Manchester, and a member of an old and wealthy family of traders-the "merchant princes" of their day-closely allied with the families of several notable worthies and munificent benefactors of the church and town, as the Oldhams, Bradfords, Hulmes, and Becks. He was ordained an acolyte seculor at Lichfield, December 17th, 1496, and a subdeacon seculor on the 20th May, in the following year ad titulum Monasterii de Kyrkstall.(21) In his will, which is dated September 14th, 1531 he directs his body to be buried in the parish church of Middleton; he gives to Sir Thomas Mawdesley (his successor), Sir James Hopwood, Sir Omfray Crompton, and Sir Robert Cocke xvid. each to "sing dirige and mass, and to pray for his soule," and he names as his executors his father, Roger Bexwicke, his brothers, Edward and Ralph Bexwicke, and his brother-in-law, John Cowop.(22)

C. 1534. THOMAS MAWDESLEY was a priest of the chantry in Middleton Church, founded by Cardinal Langley, and also master of the school-the probability being that Dean Alexander Nowell (to whom he bequeathed a legacy) and his brother were among his pupils. He was presented to the rectory of Radcliffe on the death of Richard Bexwicke, by Robert, Earl of Sussex, and Viscount Fitzwalter, and continued to hold that benefice until(23) April, 1537, when he resigned. He died about the year 1554; his will, in which he describes himself as clerk, of Middleton, is dated March 12th, 1554-5, and he therein bequeathes to the use of the church "a vestmente of bawdekyn and flowers," which would in part make up for the loss sustained by the confiscations in the previous reign.(24)

1537. ROBERT ASSHETON, A.B., a younger son of Sir Richard Assheton, of Middleton, the hero of Flodden, became rector in April, 1537, on the resignation of Thomas Mawdesley,(25) he being then an acolyte, the presentation being made by Robert Radcliffe, of Radcliffe Tower, Baron Fitzwalter, and Earl of Sussex, K.G., the patron; in 1547 he was instituted to the rectory of Middleton, but resigned his benefice in 1559 or earlier, and died in 1563.

C.1559. JOHN CHETOM. This rector may have been a cadet of the house of Nuthurst, though the name does not appear in the pedigrees of that family, and from the dates given, it is more than probably that it was a clerical error, and that he is identical with the John Ashton or Assheton next in succession. In 1559 it was presented to the commissioners-general of the Queen for the province of York, who visited Lancashire in that year that "Sir John Chetom (of Radcliffe) dothe not rede the Pistell and gospell with the Latanye according to the Proclamation."(26) Mr. Chetham must, however, have made amendment, for in 1563 he was reported as "painful."

1559. JOHN ASSHETON, S.T.B., a son of Sir Robert Assheton, of Middleton, and younger brother of John, who was rector 1537-1559, paid his firstfruits as appears by the Composition Books, 29th November, 2 Elizabeth, on which day he also paid first fruits of the rectory of Middleton, he, like his brother, being a pluralist. Mr. Assheton, who was famed for his learning, was a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and the biographer of Dr. William Whitaker; he also wrote a History of France. He survived his wife Anne, daughter of -, who died in February, 1577-8, and was himself buried at Middleton, October 9th, 1584.

1584-5. LEONARD ASSHAWE or SHAW, M.A., was presented by Richard Assheton, of Middleton, January 20th, 1584-5; on the 5th February he gave bond to the Bishop, and on the 12th March following paid his first fruits. He was the fourth son of John Shaw, or Asshawe, as the name was anciently written, of Shaw Place, in Heath Charnock, by Katharine, daughter of Richard Pilkington, of Rivington, and nearly related to James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham. He had been curate at Middleton under Mr. John Assheton, and there is reason to believe that he was for a time master of Dean Nowell's grammar school there. In the year of his induction, he was appointed by Bishop Chaderton to the responsible office of one of the moderators of the religious exercise of the diocese, the others being Edward Assheton, parson of Middleton, Robert Osbaldeston, vicar of Whalley, and Richard Midgley, vicar of Rochdale. In October, 1608, when a rate was levied by George Lloyd, Bishop of Chester, upon the clergy within his diocese, "for the fyndinge of horses, Armes, & other furniture" for the public service, he furnished "a musket" as his quota. He died before 14th May, 1624.


1624. ROBERT WALKEDEN was instituted May 14th, 1624, on presentation of Robert Holt, John Greenhalgh, and Robert Heywood, patrons for that turn, by grant from Sir Richard Assheton, Knt.,the Earl of Nottingham being at the time impropriator,(27) and he paid his first fruits on the 25th May, 22 James I. (1624). Like his predecessor he had been curate of Middleton and also master of the grammar school; his name occurs as early as 1591, and again in 1597-1613, and again in 1623. Mr. Walkeden appears to have died intestate, for an inventory of his goods was filed in the probate court at Chester, in 1637.

1630. ROBERT OSBALDESTON is named in the previously published lists of rectors, but there is no mention of him in the Institution Books in the Record Office, or in the First Fruits Composition Books; he was doubtless a member of the ancient family of Osbaldeston, of Osbaldeston, in Whalley, but whether nearly or remotely allied is not known. In 1581 a Robert Osbaldeston, M.A., was instituted vicar of Whalley, and would appear to have resigned his benefice in 1605. Nothing is known of him, and Dr. Whitaker says he was not interred at Whalley; he may have been identical with the rector of Radcliffe, whose death occurred about the close of the year 1637.

1637-8. PETER SHAWE. This rector was instituted, as appears by the Exchequer Records, on the presentation of Ralph Assheton, of Middleton, February 4th, 1637-8, and paid his first fruits on the 9th March following. He had previously (1634) been appointed vice-warden of the College at Manchester, and attempted to, reform it under the influence of Laud, which caused much bitterness of feeling, "some seeking to disgrace him by secret calumnies and slanderous letters." He is named as one of the Fellows in the new charter of foundation of that institution, granted by Charles I. in 1635. In the following year he had the misfortune to lose his wife, Margaret; the burial register (1636) describing his house as "in ye Millingate" (Manchester).

1644. THOMAS PYKE, BA. The name of this rector does not appear in the Institution Books, probably owing to the disturbed condition of the country at the time of his appointment; but he is entered on the Exchequer Records as having paid his first fruits on the 31st January, 1652. In the great Parliamentary Inquisition, taken in 1650, it is presented that "Rauffe Ashton, of Middleton, Esquier, as patron of the p'ish church of Ratcliffe, aboute sixe yeares ago (i.e. 1644) did bestowe the said p'sonage, with the benefices and app'tenfices therevnto belonginge, vpon Mr. Thomas Pike, Batchlor of Arts, who is now Rector of the said Church;" and that "the said Mr. Pike is a godly preachinge Minister, well quallifyed in lyffe and conversacon." Before his admission to the rectory of Radcliffe, Mr. Pike had been minister of Walmsley Chapel, in Bolton parish; in 1648 he signed Warden Heyricke's "Harmonious Consent of the Lancashire Ministers," describing himself as "pastor of Radcliff." He appears to have been invested with Episcopal authority by those who had no power to confer it, for, on the 4th August, 1652, he, along with Robert Bath, vicar of Rochdale, John Tyldesley, vicar of Dean, Henry Pendlebury, minister of Turton Chapel, and other Puritans and Presbyterians, ordained Mr. Oliver Heywood in the parish church of Bury.(28) The passing of the Act of Uniformity necessitated his retirement from Radcliffe. when he removed to Blackley, in the parish of Manchester, where, in the house of Mrs. Travis, a widow, he was in the habit of preaching occasionally with such secrecy as the stringent laws against Dissenters at the time rendered necessary. On the Declaration of Indulgence, March 15, 1671-2, he licensed a house in Blackley, and there assembled a congregation which, shortly after the passing of the Act of Toleration, erected a small meeting-house in that place, which was destroyed by the "Sacheverel mob" in 1715, when the building now occupied by the Unitarian congregation was erected on its site. Mr. Pyke died at the age of 54, after two or three days' sickness, on the 19th August, 1676, and was buried within the precincts of Blackley (Episcopal) Chapel on the 21st of the same month the Rev. Mr. Lawton, the conformist minister of Newton Heath Chapel, preaching his funeral sermon from John v., 28, 29. He left behind several volumes of sermons for the use of his surviving children. One of his sons, John Pyke, married a daughter of Robert Bath, the ejected minister of Rochdale. The marriage was an ill-assorted one, the husband having fallen into profligate habits, as appears by the following entry in Newcome's "Autobiography" :(29) "Dec. 18, 1680. I went to visit Jo. Pike, who was sick. It grieved me to the heart to see his wife so ragged (the daughter of good Mr. Bath, and he the son of honest Mr. Pike). Good Lord !"

1662. CHARLES BESWICKE, M.A., clerk.-On the ejectment of Mr. Pyke, Mr. Beswicke was presented by Sir Ralph Assheton, Bart., and instituted October 27th.(30) He was a member of a family resident in Manchester, eminent among the benefactors of that town, and which had previously given a rector to Radcliffe (Richard Bexwicke, 1496-1534). Almost immediately after his induction, following the example of his progenitors, he set about the re-edification of the church, which had not improbably sustained injury during the troublous times of the Commonwealth. He rebuilt the tower, as appears from the lapidary record upon it already referred to, with the date 1665; the reading desk also, from the initials and date, would seem to have been his gift. Mr. Beswicke, who died in 1697,(31) married Silence, younger daughter of the Rev. Robert Symonds, rector of Middleton (1662-82), and was grandfather of Charles Beswicke, clothmaker, of Manchester, the father of John and Robert Beswicke. Of these sons, John, the eldest, born October 29th, 1746, was admitted to the Manchester Grammar School in 1758,(32) and became the favourite pupil of his kinsman, the well-known Robert Thyer. He entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. in 1770, and in the following year succeeded to the estates of his great uncle, John Halliwell, of Pike House, Blackstone Edge, in Rochdale parish. He made his will at Pike House, January 31st, 1772, and died there, unmarried, June 3rd, 1773, when the property passed to his younger brother, Robert Beswicke. The direct male line of the Beswickes failed on the death, in 1842, of John Halliwell Beswicke, when the estates passed to his sole daughter, the heir general of Robert Beswicke, Mary Alice Gibson Beswicke, who married, May 9th, 1867, Clement Robert Nuttall, eldest son of Albert Hudson Royds, of Mount Falinge, Rochdale, and Great Malvern, Worcestershire, who, by sign-manual, dated July 9th, 1867, assumed for himself and his issue the surname (and arms) of Beswicke, to be used before that of Royds.

1698. CHARLES PINCKNEY was instituted to the rectory in succession to Charles Beswicke, June 8th, 1698, but was deprived in the following year.

1699. ROGER DALE was instituted January 23rd, 1699, and held the living for a period of over seventeen years, his death occurring in 1716.

1716. EDWARD KING, M.A.-On the voidance of the living, by the death of Roger Dale, Mr. King was nominated his successor, and instituted October 5th, 1716 ; but he held it little more than two years, his death occurring September 26, 1719, at the age of 30. He is buried in the central aisle of the chancel, where there is an inscription.

1719-20. HENRY LESTER was nominated as rector on the death of Edward King, and was instituted March 19th. He died in 1724.

1724. WILLIAM LAWSON (incorrectly called Lowston in the previous edition) was instituted July 14th, 1724, and held the living until his death in 1757.

1757. RICHARD ASSHETON, D.D., was presented to the vacant rectory by his brother-in-law, Sir Ralph Assheton, of Middleton, and instituted April 6th. He held the living only for a brief period. The rectory of Middleton having been voided by the death of Francis Pigot, he resigned the rectory of RadcIiffe in August, 1757, to succeed Mr. Pigot in the rectory of Middleton. A fuller account of him is given under the head of Rectors of Middleton, 1757-1801.

1757. RICHARD WROE, MA., was the only and posthumous son of Thomas Wroe, Fellow of the Collegiate Church, Manchester, youngest son of Richard Wroe (the "Silver-tongued"), warden of Manchester (1681-1718), by his wife, Mary, daughter of Ambrose Walton, of Marsden Hall, in Whalley parish. He was baptised at Manchester, January 18th, 1731, and was nominated to the rectory of Radcliffe on the resignation of Dr. Assheton, 1757, and instituted on the 6th April in that year. He married, at York, November 28th, 1772,(33) Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Francis Topham, D.C.L., and sister of Major Topham. On succeeding to the estate of his cousin, Banastre Walton, of Marsden Hall, in 1784, he assumed, by sign-manual, the surname and arms of Walton, and in the same year resigned the living of Radcliffe. Mr. Wroe died December 3rd, 1801, leaving by his wife, who survived him, and died a widow at Doncaster, June 27th, 1822, a son, Richard Thomas Wroe Walton, educated at the Manchester Grammar School, who succeeded, and, "after a life of benevolence and active piety, tinged with eccentricity," died, unmarried, at Marsden, April, 1845, and two daughters-Maria Anne, of Marsden, who died, unmarried, October 13th, 1851, aged 75, and Jane, who married, July 12th, 1825, Frederick Mawe, of Belle Vue, Doncaster, but died, childless, May 8th, 1849, aged 71.

1784. THOMAS FOXLEY, M.A.-This rector, who was born in 1751, was a son of the Rev. Thomas Foxley, MA., one of the Fellows of the Collegiate Church and rector of St. Mary's, Manchester. He was entered at the Grammar School, Manchester, March 31st, 1758, and proceeded thence to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he took his degree of B.A., January 14th, 1772, and MA., 18th November, 1780. Four years later he was presented to the rectory of Radcliffe by his old school-fellow, Sir Thomas Egerton, Bart., afterwards created Viscount Grey de Wilton and Earl of Wilton (to whom he also acted as domestic chaplain), and was instituted, October 1st, 1784, the same patron subsequently bestowing upon him the vicarage of Batley, in Yorkshire, which he held for a period of forty years, along with the rectory of Radcliffe. In 1790 he was elected a feoffee of the Manchester Grammar School, and a portrait, engraved by Thomson, from a painting by Lonsdale, and subscribed for by his parishioners, still adorns the walls of that ancient foundation. In 1834, when he had completed the fiftieth year of his incumbency of Radcliffe, he was presented with a silver salver in commemoration of the event. Mr. Foxley died unmarried, at Unsworth Lodge, near Radcliffe, on the 13th December, 1838, at the advanced age of 86, and was buried on the north side of the chancel, where there is an inscription to his memory.

1838. NATHANIEL MILNE, MA., was instituted, on the voidance of the living by the death of Mr. Foxley, on the presentation of the Earl of Wilton, having previously held the vicarage of St. John's, Smallbridge, in the parish of Rochdale, which he resigned on his preferment to Radcliffe. He married Ellen, daughter of John Bowker, Esq., of Polefield, in Preetwich. Shortly after his admission to the incumbency he began the restoration of the church. In 1846 a north transept was added, and subsequently the nave was reseated, and other improvements were made. Mr. Milne resigned the rectory in 1867, and is now residing in Leicestershire.

1867. HENRY ARTHUR STARKIE, MA. (the present rector), is the youngest son of the late Le Gendre Nicolas Starkie, of Huntroyde, and brother of the present possessor of that estate. Mr. Starkie was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degrees of BA. and M.A. He was ordained by the Bishop of Chester in 1862, and in the following year was presented by his father to the vicarage of Padiham, which he held until 1867, when he was presented to the rectory of Radcliffe on the resignation of Mr. Milne, and inducted November 5 in the same year.

The parish registers commence in 1558, in which year there were 10 baptisms, 9 marriages, and 27 burials; in 1560, 17 baptisms, 8 marriages, and 4 burials; while in 1831 there were 144 baptisms, 29 marriages, and 91 burials; and, in 1832, 161 baptisms, 32 marriages, and 93 burials. We find here, as in others of the parishes of Salford hundred, Edward Hopwood, Esq., the magistrate, publishing the banns of marriage in the year 1655. The rectory house, which is located within a short distance of the church, is a substantial building, partially surrounded by trees, that give to it the gloom, without the picturesque variety, of judiciously-formed plantations. In 1819, an Episcopal chapel (now a district parish), dedicated to St. Thomas, was erected near Radcliffe Bridge by the Countess Grosvenor, afterwards Marchioness of Westminster, at a cost of £5,000. This chapel, which was erected from designs by Mr. James Wyatt, of London, was consecrated on the 18th of November, 1819, and opened on the 11th of June, 1820. It contains 1,210 sittings, of which 512 are free; annual value, £390; the Rev. Robert Fletcher, MA. (1844) is the present incumbent, the patron being the Earl of Wilton. St. Andrew's Church, Black Lane, consecrated in 1877, is a parish church under the Blandford Act, of which the Rev. Samuel Williamson (1878) is incumbent; it contains 474 sittings, all of which are free; annual value, £250; patron, the rector of Radcliffe.

The Methodists obtained a room at Radcliffe Close about the year 1800, and appropriated it to the purpose of preaching. There are now two chapels belonging to the Wesleyan Methodist body, and one each to the independents, New Connexion Methodists, and Roman Catholics. in Pilkington, in the Parish of Prestwich, on the opposite bank of the Irwell, there are Methodist, Independent, Unitarian, and Swedenborgian places of public worship. The founders of the Presbyterian (now Unitarian) chapel, in Pilkington, Stand, were principally the followers of Mr. Pyke, the rector of Radcliffe, ejected in 1662. Many of the Nonconformist ministers who resorted to Manchester as a place of refuge, that not being a corporation town, supplied the neighbouring villages, and Stand was amongst the number. The chapel was not built till 1695, a barn in Higher Lane being in the meantime used as a preaching-house. The first minister was Mr. Robert Eaton, who died in Manchester in 1701, and was succeeded by Mr. Samuel Eason, who died in 1710. Mr. Joshua Heywood followed him, and was at Stand in 1715; Mr. William Harrison was his successor, in 1730. On removing to Burton, in 1737, he was succeeded by Mr. William Bond, who, after preaching here upwards of forty years, was in turn succeeded by Mr. W. D. Cooper, on whose removal to Gorton, in 1788, Mr. Awbrey became minister. He was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Smith, in 1795, who removed to Park Lane in 1811, and was succeeded by Mr. Arthur Dean.

The charities of Radcliffe are few, and to a small amount. The particulars of Guest's charity have already been stated.(34) The tenant of the estate in Buerdsill and Castleton pays yearly £9, being a moiety of his rent, to the rector of Radcliffe, who, after setting apart £1, disposes of the residue in the purchase of linen, which is distributed by him amongst poor persons of the parish at Christmas. The Rev. Dr. Wroe bequeathed, in 1718, £10 to the poor of Radcliffe ; and the Rev. William Lawson, in 1757, bequeathed the same amount. These two sums were laid out, it is presumed, towards the improvement of the estate purchased with Guest's charity, as the sum of 20s., part of the rent set apart, as above stated, is annually given in money to poor persons attending divine service on Christmas Day, as the produce of Dr. Wroe's and Mr. Lawson's gifts.(35) There is also a bequest of £5 by William Yates.

Guest's Charity is regulated by an Act of Parliament passed in 15 Charles II., entitled an Act for Settling the Charitable Gift of Jobn Guest. The following is an extract from Mr. Guest's will, dated September 28, 1 653, in which he describes himself as "of Aburgham, or'wise called Abraham in the county of Lancaster":-

I do likewise limit, appoint, give, and bequeath unto the minister of the Parish Church of Radcliffe, for the tyme being, and his successors for ever, one Annuitie or yearly Rent of Three pounds fifteen shillings of Lawful Money of England, to bee issuing and arising out of and from the Lands, hereditaments, and Premises aforesaid, and to be paid Him and his successors for ever upon every eleventh Daie of November yearly, and that He with the same Money do buye or cause to be bought three score and twelve yards of Linen Cloth, to bee bestowed upon five and fourty of Age poorest People within the same Parish, equal to be divided amongst them, such as the minister of the same Parish for the tyme being shall conseave to stand in greatest need of the same.

A similar bequest was made to the parishes of Winwick, Leigh, Wigan, Deane, Bolton, Bury, and Middleton. The "land, hereditaments, and premises" referred to in the will are situate in Abraham, and what the testator mentions as being lately bought from Edward Boulton, of Abraham, gentleman. He likewise bequeathed to the poor of each of the before-named parishes, including Radcliffe, twenty shillings to be paid to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor in each place. By the Act before referred to the sum of £500 was directed to be applied to the purchase of lands for the poor of the several parishes named, and the sum apportioned to Radcliffe and Middleton was laid out in the purchase of land in Buerdsall and Castleton, the income arising from which is divided annually between the poor of the two places.(36)

Radcliffe Tower, now in ruins, was anciently one of the most considerable manorial residences in the county of Lancaster. Of the antiquity of this tower we have no precise information, but it appears that Richard Radcliffe, high sheriff of the county in 32 Edward III. (1358), was of "Radcliffe Tower," as was also his predecessor William de Radecliue, one of the knights of the Grand Inquest, 13 John (1211-12). In 4 Henry IV. (1403), the king's licence, already noticed, shows that this mansion was rebuilt and embattled. The tower was built with stone, strongly grouted, with a door communicating with the house. On the top tower, beneath the castellated rampart, at a depth of about four feet, was a covering of lead, which has long since disappeared, and its place was long occupied by a sycamore tree, glowing out of the ruins. Over the great entrance-door of the tower, from each of the three storeys, was a funnel, resembling an ancient chimney, with which these manorial fortresses were furnished, in order that the domestic garrison might resist the entrance of an enemy by pouring upon him boiling pitch, or casting down offensive missiles. Generally these strongholds of the border counties were enclosed by a moat, but there are no remaining traces of such external protection at Radcliffe Tower, and it is probable that none existed. So late as 1818, Dr. Whitaker says of this place-

"The old hall (adjoining the tower) is 42 feet 2 inches in length, and in one part 26 feet and in another 28 feet in width. The two massive principals, which support the roof, are the most curious specimens of carved woodwork I have ever seen. The broadest piece of timber is 2 feet 7 inches by 10 inches. A wall-plate on the outside of one beam, from end to end, measures 2 feet by 10 inches. The walls are finished at the squares with a moulded cornice of oak. The pillar at the right has neither capital nor moulding, and appears to have been inserted at a later period, when the hall undet went a repair. On the left side of the hall are the remains of a very curious window frame of oak, wrought in Gothic tracery, but square at the top. Near the top of the hall, on the right, are the remains of a doorway, opening into what was once a staircase, and leading to a large chamber above the kitchen, the approach to which was by a door of massy oak, pointed at the top."

In one of his manuscript memorandum books, Mr. Thomas Barritt (who died in 1820) sketched the remains of the tower and hall as they stood in his time. The hall buildings seem to have then formed two sides of a quadrangle, the tower standing at the corner or commencement of a third side. Its ruins were then as high as the roof of the hall; and both show dilapidation and modern repairs.

This "hall" in 1833 was used as a hayloft and cowshed. Nothing now remains of the moulded cornice of oak, the massy principals, ornamented pillars, the pointed doorway, or the curious oak window-frame mentioned by the learned doctor. The principal part of the edifice, which stood within a few yards of the church, near a cluster of cottages, has disappeared, and the remains of what may be properly called the tower partake of the general dilapidation, though every care is now taken by the Messrs. Bealey to protect it from further wanton injury. All the fabric except the tower was of brick, enclosed in squares of wood; and the large chamber above the kitchen, originally 18 feet by 18 feet 2 inches, had been converted into two rooms, to render it more suitable to the accommodation of its later inmates. The west and south sides of the quadrangle were supported by substantial buttresses; but where these supports were wanting the walls had fallen; and part of the materials, from the east and the north sides of the building, as well as of the tower, were used in the erection of a neighbouring cornmill. Since 1835 the tower has been almost entirely demolished. Mr. Samuel Bamford thus treats of the old hall and tower in 1844:-(37)

"This interesting relic of old English domestic architecture was taken down many years ago, to make room for a row of cottages for the workpeople of Messrs. Bealey and Sons, bleachers. It is understood that the Earl of Wilton, to whom the place belonged, sold the materials to the firm, and let the land to them. . . . This venerable pile was highly Interesting to all who loved to gaze on the relics of other days; and it was probably calculated to convey a more correct idea of the rude but strongly-built habitations of our forefathers than any other object to which the curious in this neighbourhood had access. . . . The materials were chiefly beams and planks of solid black oak, which together with the simplicity of the construction and the rudeness of the workmanship testified to the great age of the edifice. . . . The square tower, or fortified part of the ancient residence, still remains, but tottering with decay. The vaulted roof of the lower room almost hangs by a single stone, and unless it be protected from further wanton outrage, it must soon share the fate of the hall, and leave only its name in the remembrance of things that have been."

The ground to the south is called "The Park," which extended, in the pristine glory of Radcliffe Tower, far along the majestic vale of the Irwell, which forms the south-eastern boundary of the parish, separating it from the parishes of Prestwich and Bury.

Radcliffe was somewhat defective and antiquated in its local government till May, 1866, when a local board of health was established by order, gazetted that month, which has jurisdiction throughout the entire parish. The river Irwell divides this parish from the hamlet of Whitefield, in the parish of Prestwich, which hamlet has a local board of health, limited in jurisdiction to the hamlet. As to the staple industries of Radcliffe, they include cotton-spinning and manufacturing, with nankeen, fustian, and check weaving, smallware manufactures, and extensive works for calico bleaching and weaving. There are also collieries in the neighbourhood, that give employment to a number of people.

Tradition has constituted the neighbouring hamlet of Whitefield the scene of a sanguinary battle; and in a field called "Poor Monks' Bank," hollows or trenches are visible, where the armies are said to have engaged. Amongst the common people, a story is currently believed, too, that the kitchen of Radcliffe Tower was the scene of a cruel tragedy, perpetrated by a menial on the daughter of the lord, to gratify the malice and cupidity of a stepmother; and a red stain on the floor of the old mansion marked, it was said, the place where the victim fixed her bloody hand while her murderer perpetrated the atrocity. Although there is nothing in the family history to support this counterpart to the footmark of the martyr George Marsh, at Smithells Hall, and although, for eighty years or more, there has been no such relic to be found in Radcliffe Tower(38) as the blood-stained flag, the tradition is not on that account the less firmly believed; and the story of "Fair Ellen of Radcliffe" (in the Pepys black-letter collection, under the title of "Lady Isabella's Tragedy, or the Stepmother's Cruelty"), inserted in Dr. Percy's "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry," has embodied and perpetuated this local romance.(39)

Radcliffe is one of the most diminutive parishes in the county of Lancaster.(40) Its length from east to west is only two miles and a half, and its breadth from south to north two miles, the area of the parish being 2,466 statute acres. This parish has no dependent townships. It is ecclesiastically in the archdeaconry of Manchester, and the rural deanery of Prestwich and Middleton. The town consists of two collections of houses, called Radcliffe and Radcliffe Bridge, the latter of which stands on both sides of the river, being partly in the township and parish of Radcliffe and partly in the township of Pilkington in the parish of Prestwich, and united by an ancient bridge of two arches, which has in later times been widened by a handsome addition on one side, and is about half a mile from the former. The population of the parish has increased from 2,497 in 1801 to 16,267 in 1881, partly from its advantageous situation, but principally from the increase of manufactures, which necessarily attract settlers.

The various branches of manufactures here comprehend bleaching, spinning, and calico printing. Radcliffe has the advantage of canal navigation to the two important towns of Manchester and Bolton, the Bury branch passing through Radcliffe to Bolton and Manchester; and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company have a station at Radcliffe Bridge and another on their new line at Radcliffe town.

Aspiring very laudably to the privilege of the elective franchise under the Reform Act, an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1831, by the inhabitants of Radcliffe and Pilkington, to become attached for that purpose to the borough of Bury; but though Radcliffe appears geographically in more immediate connection with Bury than some other parts of that borough, it was judged advisable by the commissioners to adhere to the boundary formed by the Irwell on the south, though the same rule was not observed to the west. Under the provisions of the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 (48 and 49 Vict. c. 23), it was made the head of the then constituted Parliamentary division of Radcliffe-cum-Farnworth, which comprises the townships of Radcliffe, Pilkington, Farnworth, Kearsley, and Little Hulton.

A spacious new market was erected in 1852 by the late Earl of Wilton, at a cost of nearly £1,500, and there are two unchartered fairs for wool, woollen cloth, and pedlary-the first on the 28th and 29th of April, and the second on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of September.

The Radcliffe and Pilkington Co-operative Industrial Society's premises, in Stand Lane, form one of the most important buildings in the town. The ground floor is occupied by shops and offices. Above them is a spacious hall for public meetings, concerts, &c., 111 feet by 43 feet 6 inches, and capable of accommodating 1,200 to 1,300 people. There is also a reading-room and library, the latter containing (including the books in the reference department) about 4,000 volumes. The Bury Banking Company, Limited, has a branch in Stand Lane; and the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company, Limited, and the Union Bank of Manchester have each a branch in Blackburn Street, in which street the post office is also located.

A capacious reservoir is excavated at the junction of the parishes of Radcliffe and Bury, which serves to replenish the Bolton and Bury Canal in dry seasons, through the medium of a feeder nearly two miles in length. These deposits for water are very common on the eminences which overlook the Irwell, and they serve greatly to increase the utility of one of the largest manufacturing streams in the world.

RICHARD WROE, D.D., warden of the Collegiate Church of Christ in Manchester, and prebendary of Chester, was the son of Mr. Richard Wroe, a yeoman, of Heaton Yate, or Heaton Gate, in Prestwich, and born at Radcliffe on the 21st of August, 1641. He received his education in the Free Grammar School of Manchester, and was entered a student of Jesus College, Cambridge, of which Dr. Worthington, of Manchester, was master, in June, 1658, where, in 1661, lie took his degree of Bachelor of Arts. On the 21st July, 1662, he was admitted fellow of his college, and, in 1665, proceeded to the degree of Master of Arts. On the 6th of May,1669, he was incorporated in the same degree in the University of Oxford, and shortly after appointed chaplain to Dr. Pearson, Bishop of Chester. In that year, on a visit of the Grand Duke of Tuscany to the University of Oxford, he was appointed to keep a public philosophy act for his highness's entertainment, and acquitted himself with much applause. On the 11th of June, 1672, he received his degree of Bachelor of Divinity, and was made a fellow of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, on petition, on the 9th of March, 1675. On the 15th of March, 1678, he was collated prebendary of the fifth stall of Chester Cathedral, and was inducted to the vicarage of Bowdon, in the county of Chester, on the presentation of the bishop. In the year 1683, on the resignation of Dr. Stratford, he petitioned the king for the wardenship of the College of Manchester, and, having been formerly made prebendary of Chester, and chaplain to the bishop, who by the statutes of the college is appointed visitor, received a strong recommendation in two letters from that prelate to Dr. Pearson, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Notwithstanding these high testimonials to the worth and fitness of Mr. Wroe for the situation of warden, considerable delay intervened between the time of forwarding his petition and his final appointment, the cause of which appears to have been a doubt whether he could legally hold the wardenship with other church preferment. These doubts, however, seem to have been finally disposed of; and the question that the wardenship of Manchester is not a cure of souls, but a dignity, was thus argued : -

"1st. He is called in the Charter and the Statutes, Guardianus, and Proepositus Collegii, but never Rector or Vicarius Ecclesiae. 2nd. He is onely instituted by ye Bishop of Chester, and then installed in Manchester Church without any induction ; nay, there is a particular proviso in the Statutes (that he shall not be inducted, but onely instituted, and installed), to prevent, as 'tis conceiued, all pretence of making it a Cure. 3rd. The late Warden, Mr. Heyrick, had ye Rectory of Thorneton, in Cheshire, together with his Wardenship, and never had any dispensation as for two cures. 4th. The last Warden, Dr. Stratford, had held it the best part of a year without any dispensation, whereas he had left his living here in London ye next moment after his induction, had a dispensation been requisite as for two cures. 5th. Add to this, in behalf of Mr. Wroe, ye present Petitioner, that his Vicarage of Bowdon is contiguous to Manchester; ye boundaries of ye parish join; and that ye Wardenship alone will scarce maintain itself in house and hospitality without some additional preferment."

On the settlement of this point he was inducted to the wardenship on the 1st of May, 1684, on the nomination of Charles I., the chapter of Manchester, in order to promote the domestic comfort of the new warden, immediately "voting £140 out of the common fund to rebuild and repair the warden's house,"(41) and was created Doctor of Divinity in 1686. On the 9th of March, 1696, he was presented to the rectory of West Kirby, in Wirral hundred, in the county of Chester. Dr. Wroe died at Manchester on the 1st. of January, 1717-18, and was buried in the vault below the choir in the Collegiate Church there, where his remains are covered with a stone bearing the following inscription:-

HIC S. RELIQUIAE
REVERENDI ADMODUM
RICHARDI WROE
S. T. P.
HUJUS ECCLESIAE COLLEGITAE
PER ANNOS XXXIII.
GUARDIANI
ECCLESIAE CESTRIENSIS CATHEDRALIS
PREBENDARIJ,
ECCLESIAE DE WEST KIRBY IN
AGO CESTRIENSI
RECTORIS.
OBIIT CAL. JANUARIJ,
ANNO DOM. MDCCXVII.
AETATIS LXXVI.

Dr. Wroe was an admirable scholar, a sound divine, and a most elegant preacher. He was styled by the clergy the Chrysostom of Lancashire, and among the common people usually had the appellation of "Silver-tongued Wroe." "His style was plain, strong, idiomatic, arresting the attention and improving the mind, being that rough and common style of preaching which is always acceptable to the people, and earns a marvellous reputation."(42)

Dr. Wroe was three times married. His first wife Elizabeth, but whose maiden name is not known, was buried August 2, 1689; his second wife, Mistress Anne Radcliffe, to whom he was married by licence at Prestwich, June 22, 1693, died in Manchester, and was buried there January 25, 1694-5. On the 3rd March, 1697-8, he again entered the marriage state at the Collegiate Church, Manchester, his third wife being Dorothy, daughter of Roger Kenyon, of Peel, M.P. for Clitheroe, who survived him, and was buried there November 8, 1729, being styled in the register: "Madam Wroe, Widow." By her he had four children, three of whom-Richard, Roger, and William-died in infancy. Thomas, the fourth, was in holy orders, curate of Newton, and was buried at the Collegiate Church, Manchester, September 21, 1730, at the age of 27, having married Mary, daughter of Ambrose Walton, of Marsden Hall, by whom he had an only and posthumous son, Richard, who, as already stated, was rector of Radcliffe, 1757 - 1784.

Dr. Wroe wrote "The Beauty of Unity, a Sermon on Psalm cxxxii. 1;" 1682, 4to "Funeral Sermon of Sir Roger Bradshaigh, on Psalm cxii. 6;" 1684, 4to. "Funeral Sermon of Mary, Countess of Warrington, on Hebrews vii. 25;" Lond. 1691, 4to. "Funeral Sermon of Henry, Earl of Warrington, on Eccles. xi. 3 ;" 1696, 4to. "Accession Sermon on Prov. xxiv. 2;" 1704, 4to. "Sermon on Thess. iii. 10;" 1722, 8vo.

NOTES
(1) Domesday Book, Salford Hundred: Radcliffe is one of the few places in Salford Hundred-only four in number-mentioned in Domesday Book.Back

(2) Cartular. de Burscough. fo. 56a, in the Duchy Office.Back

(3) In Percival's Manuscripts, Theobald Walter is styled Baron of Weeton and Amounderness, but this is incorrect, as Weeton never was a barony.-C.Back

(4) Rawcliffe was called Routheclive and Roucheclive in the " Testa de Nevill." fo. 398, 401, 403b, and 411; and Roucelive in 20 Edward I., "Placita de Quo Warranto," Rot. 4 d. Lanc.; and Raudclif by Leland, in the reign of Henry VII., "Itin.," vol. v., fo. 84, p. 92. He also speaks of the Raudcliffs of Wimmerlow, but the orthography of ancient names is no guide to the situation of places.Back

(5) Rot. Chart., 32 Edward I., mem. 17.Back

(6) ThIs William Is mentioned In Birch's Manuscript "Feodarlum as holding the manor of Radclif by annual homage and service for ward of Lancaster Castle, at the term of St. Martin, 2s. Od.; for [sac-fee] at the four terms, by the service of half-a-fee and the tenth part of one knight's fee.- Among the Culcheth deeds is a charter, dated at Culcheth on the Tuesday after the Purification of the Virgin, 1326, by which John de la Shawe, of Culcheth, releases to Margaret, the daughter of Gilbert de Culcheth, all his right by succession, inheritance, or other title to lands in the Shawe, in Culcheth.-C.Back

(7) "The king, &c., greeting, - Know ye, that of our special grace we have granted and licensed, for us and our heirs, as much as in us is, to our beloved esquire, James de Radcliffe, that he his manor-house of Radcliffe (which is held of us as of the Honor of Lancaster, in caoite, as it ' is said) with wails of stone and lime mortar] to enclose anew, and within these wails a certain hail, with two towers, of stone and lime in like manner to make anew: and those walls, hall, and towers, so made, to kernel and embattle [kernellare et battelare] And the manor-house so enclosed, with the hall and towers aforesaid so kernelled and embattled, for a certain fortalice he may hold to him and his heirs for ever, without any accusation or impediment of us or heirs, or our officers, or those of our said heirs whatsoever. In testimony whereof, we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Witness the king at the Castle of Pontefract, on the 15th day of August [1403], by the king himself."- Patents of 4 Hen. IV. (1403) p. 2. m. 11.Back

(8) "Lancashire Inquisitions," Record Office.- C.Back

(9) This is confirmed by the French rougemont, though it has been suggested that the name may have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon rade, a road or way, and clif, a steep rock or cliff, i.e., the road by cliff. Anciently it was written Rade-clive.-C.Back

(10) These arms, which were borne by John Halliwell Beswicke were, granted in 1631 to William. son of Roger Beswicke.-C.Back

(11) Till 1785 there was no clock in the tower of Radcliffe Church, but the late Sir Ralph Assheton having bequeathed forty guineas towards the expense of furnishing the town with a public clock, and the requisite additional sum having been supplied by subscription, this useful index of the progress of time was supplied. -Rasbotham's MSS. vol. i. p. 241.Back

(12) Before the monument disappeared, the country people, from a superstitious veneration, were accustomed to break from it small fragments, which they kept in their houses, or wore about their persons as amulets.Back

(13) In the previous editions of this work this monumental slab is said to be that of James Radcliffe, the founder of the tower, who died in 1409; Dr. Whitaker says the second coat is that of Euby, in which case it must be that of the founder's grandson, James, who was twice married, his first wife being Agnes Euby, but a careful examination of the plate armour in which the male figure is habited points to a still later date, and the probability is that it belonged to James Radcliffe, a younger son of the second James, and the first of the line of Radcliffe, of Langley. The second coat is unquestionably that of Langley, and his wife Joan may have been a daughter of that house.-C.Back

(14) Inventories of church and chapel goods.- C.Back

(15) Commonwealth Surveya-C.Back

(16) The last rector nominated by any member of the Radcliffe family was
in 1537, when Robert Assheton was presented by Robert Esri of Sussex,
and Viscount Fitzwalter.-C.Back

(17) "Duc. Lanc." cl. xi., No. 7, f. 55.-C.Back

(18) "Vicars of Rochdale," Chet. Soc. p. 21 -C.Back

(19) "Vicars of Rochdale," Chet. Soc. p. 21.-C.Back

(20) "Lichfield Register" (Scrope).-C.Back

(21) "Lichileld Register."-C.Back

(22) Piccope's "Lanc. and Ches. Wills," Chet. Soc.-C.Back

(23) "LichfieId Register."-C.Back

(24) "Lanc. Chant.," pp. 123-4.-C.Back

(25) Piccope MSS. xvi, 100. - C.Back

(26) "Dom. Stat. Pap." (Elizab.)-C.Back

(27) Institution Books (Exchequer Records), Record Offioe,-C.Back

(28) "Life of Heywood," p. 98.-C.Back

(29) "Autobiography" v. ii, p. 234.-C.Back

(30) Institution Books, Record Office.-C.Back

(31) "Charles Beswicke, Rectore of Ratclife, was Buried the fiveteenth
day of December, 1697."(Church Register.) His grave is on the south side
of the chancel, at the eastern end.-C.Back

(32) Grammar School Register v. i. p 79.-C.Back

(33) "On Saturday se'nnight was married at York the Rev. Mr. Richard
Wroe, Rector of Radcliffe, near Manchester, to Miss Topham, one of the
daughters of the late Dr. Topham, of the city of York."-Harrop's
Mercury, Dec. 1, 1772. - C.Back

(34) See p. 410 supra.-C.Back

(35) Report of Commissioners of Charities, p. 266.Back

(36) Information obligingly communicated by James Cunliffe, Esq., of
Harp's house, Radcliffe. -C.Back

(37) Walks in South Lancashire," p. 172.Back

(38) Rasbotham's "MS. Collections," vol. i. p. 245.Back

(39) It has been reprinted in Mr. Harlands earlier "Lancashire Ballads" (1865).Back

(40) The smallness of the parish and the fact that the Church is not mentioned in the "Valor' of Pope Nicholas, 1291, suggests the idea that it was originally only a chapel of ease, dependent on one or other of the great adjoining parishes of Prestwich and Bury, and that subsequently, through the powerful influence of the Radcliffes, it was elevated to the dignity of a separate and independent church, and the Inhabitants freed from the obligation of performing their parochial rites at what had before been the "ealdan mynstre" or mother church. -C.Back

(41) "Coll. Reg."-C.Back

(42) "Wardens of Manchester" (Chetham Society), p. 151.-C.Back