William Brinkley, canon of Lichfield, and Thomas Clarke, chaplain, resigned his sacred office as parson of St Mary's church, and Dean of Manchester. These several deeds were successively confirmed by Richard Crosby, prior, and the convent of Coventry; by Henry Halsall, archdeacon of Chester; and by William, Bishop, Thomas Stirton, Dean, and the chapter of Lichfield. HISTORY OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF CHAPTER I. C ANNALS OF THE WARDENSHIP OF JOHN HUNTINGTON, A. d. 1422 to 1458. THOMAS Lord de la Warre, the munificent contributor to the foundation of the college of Manchester, presented to William, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, JOHN HUNTINGTON, bachelor in divinity, and rector of Ashton underline, to be the first keeper or warden. The Bishop of Durham granted and confirmed to the new warden five messuages and ten acres of land, parcel of the manor of Manchester, which had been gifted for the use of the college. The eight fellows associated with the first warden consisted of two parish priests, two canons, and four deacons, to whom were attached four clerks and six choristers. The whole was then acknowledged as a body corporate, under the title of THE GUILD OR COMPANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN MANCHESTER. The lands of the guild were estimated at two hundred and fifty marks a-year. John Huntington entered upon his sacred functions, as warden and dean of Manchester, in the year 1422. He was a man, who, in the words of Hollingworth, "was allowed to possess a considerable share of the learning most in request during the times in which he lived." The fellows associated with him were John Rave This chapter is drawn up by Dr Hibbert, chiefly from the information of Hollingworth. ald, Hugh Writhtington, Thomas Whitehead, Jacob Bardisley, Roger de Parker, William Walker, and John Brown. d In the fifth year of Henry the Sixth the church of Asheton under-line shared the same fate as its including township; for in a former reign, that of Henry the Third, the manor of Asheton had been separated from the seignory and parish of Manchester, in which it was originally comprised, by a deed of gift from Albert Grelle, to a son of Orm the Norman: and now, by a deed of Thomas Lord de la Warre, a gift was made to his kinsman, John de Asheton, and his heirs for ever, of the church of Asheton, and along with it of one rod of land, being parcel of the manor of Manchester, in a certain field named Smithfield; the said John to hold the manor of Asheton from Richard de Kirkby, Knight, and Richard de Kirkby to hold it from himself. This was probably a bequest made by Thomas de la Warre on his deathbed; for in the same year, viz. A. D. 1427, he quitted the worldly scene of his munificence, long before the object of it, the building of the college and collegiate church, could be completed. Sir Reginald West, Knight, by virtue of a former entail, succeeded to the estate and titles. Thomas Lord de la Warre appears, before he died, to have reserved three thousand pounds for the completion of the buildings of the college of Manchester. With this sum he had intended to erect an ample mansion for the accommodation of the warden and fellows. The Baron's Hall was then demolished, and the foundation of the structure of the college was commenced upon its site. Tradition asserts d" In a rental of Thomas West, Lord de la Warre, occasional mention is made of John Raveald, Hugh Writhtington, Thomas Whitehead, Jacob Bardisley, Nicholas Raveald, chaplains and fellows of the college; of the wardens, then holding of the lord of the manor, the park, called nether Aldport, and fishing in the river of Irke, for a certain rent, and of the guild or company of the blessed Virgin Mary holding some burgages of him ; of one Richard Hill, who had the corne mill for six pounds a-yeare; alsoe John Trafford, Knight, holding one parcell of waste, lying in Manchester, near to the booths where courts are kept, upon which parcel of land only one shop was then lately builded; so that it seems the rest were builded since. We read alsoe of one Roger de Parker and William Walker, chaplains about that time. There was also John Browne, a fellowe, who, delighting in a large pit upon or near to the High-knowles, and causing a double hedge and walks and seats around it, (possibly for his meditation,) gave it the name it hath to this day, Sir John Brown's pit."-Hollingworth's Mancuniensis.—The rent paid for Alport was four marks per annum. The title of Sir, which was thus prefixed to the name of one of the fellows, John Brown, was a common term of courtesy formerly applied to priests. This in fact was the compliment which Oxford and Cambridge were once accustomed to pay to the fellows of the universities. The clergymen of the Isle of Man were until very lately thus honoured. e Whittaker's History of Manchester, 4to, Vol. II. p. 591. that the materials of stone were in part furnished from those of the old building, which had been rased, and in part from the ruins of Mancastle. But it appears that the sum bequeathed by the late Thomas Lord de la Warre was insufficient for completing all the edifices equally of stone. It was therefore determined that the fabric of the collegiate church should be of wood. The site selected for it was on the south of the Baron's Hall, near to the fosse, crossed by a bridge, by which this demesne was anciently fenced. As the funds left by Thomas Lord de la Warre seem to have been almost exclusively devoted to the college, some further contributions were necessary for the erection of the collegiate church. Warden Huntington, therefore, who is described as "a man of public spirit, attentive to the duties of his church, and anxious to complete and adorn it," erected, at his own cost, the chancel, which, like the rest of the building, was of wood. As a contributor to the building, he left the record of his name in a rebus, or species of device introduced into this country from France, which was displayed on a prominent part of the choir. One side of a beam represented a huntsman, a dog, and a stag, whereby the word hunting was implied; while the other side exhibited a ton, by which the remaining syllable of the donor's name was completed." These are the only particulars which have been recorded regarding the timbered edifice dedicated to St Mary, St Dennis, and St George, which was first built on f Mr Ainscough's MS. says, that the Collegiate Church was first erected of wood; that the quire was also built of wood. "It was a vast wooden building," says Hollingworth, "not much unlike (save probably it was more adorned) to the booths where the Court Leet and Court Baron of the Lord, and the Quarter Sessions, are now kept." The writer here alludes to a timbered building, since occupied as an auction-room, that stood on the west side of the market place. But this remark is in bad taste. No one can view the timbered church of the neighbouring village of Denton without being convinced, that even a structure of this kind may possess striking features of architectural beauty. In an old MS. quoted by Mr Greswell, it is said that Warden Huntington built the quire of wood, as all other parts of the church were at that time, which was, in length 30 yards, and in breadth 20 yards, from the two great pillars, where the organ stands, to the east end of the Church. h Warden Huntington is said to have been the founder of St Michael's Church in Ashton. Under several seats similar hieroglyphics are to be seen. Hollingworth thus describes the conceit: "His rebus, or name devyse, a custome borrowed of the French, which is to be seene on either side of the middle arche, as it looketh eastwarde. On the one side is an huntsman, with dogs, whereby he thought to express the two syllables of his name Hunting; on the other side, a vessel called a Tonne, which, being joined together, makes Huntington. Sometimes a mulberry, called in Latin merus, is seen coming out of a tunne, to express the name of Morton.” The device is said to be still seen from the higher end of the choir on the transverse beam, in the arch above the organ. the site of the present collegiate church, and which, in a later period, was supplanted by a more lasting one of stone. The more solid edifice of stone, which was intended for the domestic accommodation of the warden and fellows, was probably completed, or nearly so, in the lifetime of the first warden. It was protected on the north by the steep banks of the river Irk, the stream of which had been long celebrated for the exquisite flavour of its eels. With the view, therefore, of commanding a supply of fish for the tables of Lent, the wardens had rented from the lord of the manor the right of its fisheries.* The building which accommodated the holy guild was protected on the south and east by a high wall, the approach of which was through a lofty gateway. On entering the porch of the mansion, there was on the right a spacious and lofty kitchen open to the roof, and on the left a refectory, which again led to the apartment of the warden, admirable for its ornamental carvings. In the middle was a small court surrounded by venerable cloisters. The demesne attached to the college was ample, being bounded on the east and south by the ancient fosse, which, with the rivers Irk and Irwell, rendered it completely insulated. All the sacred ground thus inclosed became an asylum for those who shrunk from the penalties of the civil laws of their country. The sanctuary, which the precincts of the holy guild of St Mary's Church in Manchester afforded, was injurious in proportion to the increased extent of land which had been attached to its altar of refuge. On the supposition that a temple had nothing but a small church-yard connected with it, every facility would be afforded of encompassing the privileged place, and of compelling the fugitive to surrender or submit to starvation. But when an extensive demesne was annexed to a religious establishment, as was the case in Manchester, and when the exigencies of the college and church induced the erection of dwelling-houses upon the site, the case was very different. A malefactor was It is scarcely worth while, in this dissertation, to notice what became of the land which had been attached to the old Church of St Mary's dean after the Collegiate Church was erected. It has been shown that a field adjoining the kirk was granted by the lord of the manor to a churchman named Aca; but it is not satisfactorily explained why it afterwards reverted to the baron, who, says Mr Whittaker, actually possessed it to the time of the recent constructions upon it. The same author then adds, that previously to the removal of the church the fair had been established on the ground; and as the feast of St Mary was in the period of harvest, the lessee of the lord, even within the memory of the present generation, was obliged to carry away his corn before the day of the fair, or the people were at liberty to enter the field and trample it under their feet. It might be stated, however, that the townsmen were accustomed, from time immemorial, to protest against the legality of continuing Aca's fair; crowds of boys being collected to pelt the first cow, horse, sheep, or swine that entered Aca's field. * See the quotation from Hollingworth in Note d, page 42 and 43. enabled to obtain a habitation and support, and thus to brave the offended laws of his country. That asyla of this kind did actually exist within the precincts of the college demesne of Manchester, which afforded shelter to the robber or the debtor, is certain. Tradition assigns to the site of them the vicinity of Hyde's Cross, which was originally included in the lands of the college. These are the few events handed down to us which occurred during the wardenship of John Huntington. This excellent man died on the 11th of November 1458, after having held his sacred office for thirty-seven years. He was buried in the vault of the choir, which he himself had built immediately under the high altar, as it then stood. Over that part of the floor of the vault which was dedicated to the inhumation of his remains, a stone was placed, in which was inlaid a plate of brass representing him in sacerdotal vestments. The label proceeding from his mouth is strikingly expressive of the chief object of his zeal : "Domine dilexi decorem domus tuæ." On a narrow border of brass which encompasses the stone is this inscription : "Hic jacet Johannes Huntington, Baccalaureus in Decretis, primus magister vel custos hujus Collegii, qui obiit 11 Novemr. 1458." CHAPTER II. ANNALS of the wardenship OF JOHN BOOTh, ll.b. a. d. 1459 To 1465. From the collections of the late Rev. J. GRESWELL. UPON the death of the first warden, John Booth, a younger brother of the Booths of Barton, which family resided afterwards at Dunham Massie in Cheshire, was made warden. In 1457 he had been made treasurer of York cathedral, which, in 1459, the year he was made warden of Manchester, he resigned. 1 The eldest brother was Sir Roger Boothe, knight, of Barton in Lancashire, father of Margaret, wife of Ralph Nevill, third Earl of Westmoreland. From him were descended the Booths, Lords Delamere, and Earls of Warrington. A second elder brother was Lawrence, who, in the thirteenth of Edward the Fourth, was made Lord High Chancellor of England. He was twenty years bishop of Durham, and afterwards archbishop of York. He died A. D. 1480.-Goodwin. A third elder |