HUYTON

The area of the parish comprised the townships of Huyton, Roby and Tarbock, together with the chapelry of Knowsley. The extra-parochial area of Croxteth Park bordered Knowsley to the west. The parish of Huyton was situated in the south-west of the county of Lancashire but now forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside.

The church had been granted to Burscough Priory which continued as patron until it was dissolved in 1536, following which the rectory was retained by the Crown and leased by successive monarchs. Queen Mary granted a 21-year lease to Urian Brereton, following which Queen Elizabeth leased it to Lawrence Mynter in 1568. In 1602 it was sold and eventually bought by the Molyneux family who then sold off portions, including the advowson which passed to the earls of Derby. One of the main houses of the earls of Derby, Knowsley Hall, was situated in the parish.

Although parts of the church building, notably the chancel and the tower survive from the fourteenth century, by the middle of the sixteenth century the church was in such a poor state of repair that it was said that rain came in through the roof of the chancel which was about to fall in. The surviving roof is ‘probably’ sixteenth century (Historic England). Extensions and further improvements were carried out in the nineteenth century.

There was some coal mined in Tarbock but this was soon exhausted, although coal mining continued in Huyton until the twentieth century. There was also a slate quarry in the township of Huyton. Other industries such as pottery and iron works developed in the parish during the nineteenth century. The growth of the Liverpool conurbation from the nineteenth century has meant that much of the area is now residential.

Sources:

Frederic Crooks, ‘Huyton Churchwardens, 1783-1834’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol 90 (1891 and 1892), pp. 177-179. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-90-1938/

Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (Cambridge, 1975), p. 202

‘Hutton-Buscel – Huyton’, in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp594-598

‘Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Burscough’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 2, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1908), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol2/pp148-152

‘The parish of Huyton: Introduction, church and charities’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp151-157

Historic England:
Church of St Michael (1075535)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1075535  National Heritage List for England

The black and white image is reproduced from volume 90 of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire by kind permission of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

CHESTER, St OSWALD

This parish was also popularly known as St Werburgh because of its connection with the abbey church building dedicated to her.

Although the area of the parish probably originally comprised most of the city, it was gradually reduced in size as new parishes developed until by the sixteenth century the only area within the walls lay to the north-east of the city. However, it also included areas outside the city walls, to the north the abbot’s manor of St. Thomas outside the Northgate, together with Bache, Newton, Croughton, Wervin, and part of Blacon township, and to the east and south-east Great Boughton, Churton Heath, Huntington, Lea Newbold, and Saighton; and well outside Chester it included Iddinshall and Hilbre Island. There were dependant chapelries at  Boughton, Bruera (also known as Churton Heath)  and Wervin.

Following the dissolution of the abbey most of the tithes were granted to various impropriators by the dean and chapter of the new cathedral, who also owned the right of presentation of the vicar. The vicar had the tithes of Churton Heath and parts of Saighton and Blacon.

In the thirteenth century the altar of St Oswald, where the parishioners worshipped, was situated in the nave of the abbey church, but in about 1290 they were moved out to the chapel of St Nicholas, which was built for their use in the south-west corner of the abbey precincts.

This chapel continued to serve as the parish church until 1539, when the parishioners secured the use of the south transept of the abbey church which was to become the new cathedral following the dissolution of the monastery in 1540. The chapel building of St Nicholas was then leased by the city for use as the Common Hall.

There are four chapels along the east wall of the south transept, one, dedicated to St Oswald, has an intricately-carved reredos featuring scenes of the saint’s life. Veneration of St Nicholas continued with another of the four chapels dedicated to him and St Leonard, with a reredos featuring the crucifixion. The chapel of St George contains a reredos of the saint and the dragon.

Sources:

J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden, M V J Seaborne, ‘Churches and religious bodies: Medieval parish churches’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker, C P Lewis( London, 2005), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp133-156

Douglas Jones, The Church in Chester 1300-1540 (Chetham Society 3rd series, 7, 1957), pp. 44-45

George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, 3 vols, London: George Routledge & Sons, 1882), vol i, pp. 304-306