People: Johnson, Giles


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Surname

Johnson

Forename

Giles

Sex

Male

Parish

Middleton

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

Giles Johnson came from the hamlet of Ainsworth in Middleton parish.

Causes

EDC 5/13/3 – defendant

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People: Andrewe, William


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Surname

Andrewe

Forename

William

Sex

Male

Parish

Prestbury

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/13/2 – defendant

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People: Egerton, Sir Richard


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Surname

Egerton

Forename

Richard

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Mary

Occupation Status

Knight

Remarks

Richard Egerton of Ridley was the son of Sir Rafe Egerton of Ridley and his wife, Margaret. He married Mary, daughter of Richard Grosvenor of Eaton and widow of Thomas Leigh of Adlington. Lady Mary Egerton was a prominent recusant and continued to be presented to the authorities until 1598, the year before her death.

Richard Egerton was the father of an illegitimate son, Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley, who was Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor for more than two decades. He was perhaps able to use his position to protect his stepmother.

Sir Richard Egerton died in 1579, leaving extensive lands in several counties, and was buried at Bunbury.

Sources:

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 ii, pp. 299, 301

J. Paul Rylands (ed.), The Visitation of Cheshire in the year 1580 (The Harleian Society, 18, 1882), p. 96

K. R. Wark, Elizabethan Recusancy in Cheshire (Chetham Society, 3rd series, 19, 1971), pp. 31, 49, 116, 148

Causes

EDC 5/13/2 – plaintiff

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Officials: Cotes, George


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GEORGE COTES

First Marian bishop of Chester, 1554-1555

GEORGE COTES (COATES, COOTS, COTT), d. 1555

Qualifications:  Bachelor of Arts 1522; Master of Arts 1526; Bachelor of Divinity 1534; Doctor of Divinity 1536.

CCEd person ID: 10308

Career: was elected a perpetual Fellow of Balliol in 1523 and a fellow of Magdalen in 1526 and later Master of Balliol in 1539. However, he was not popular with the fellows and was encouraged to resign in 1545. Between 1535 and 1549 he was presented to several rectories some of which he held in plurality and was presumably an absentee. By 1538 it had become apparent from a ‘sinister and seditious’ sermon which he preached at the Charterhouse of Sheen that he had not subscribed to the Oath of Succession, with its rejection of papal supremacy, so he was required to submit. It may have been this sermon which brought him to the attention of Henry Mann, prior of Sheen from 1535, who became dean of the new diocese of Chester in 1541 and may have been in a position to assist Cotes to the vacant fifth prebend at Chester in 1543.

Despite his unpopularity, Cotes was respected as a preacher and academic. His history of support for the old learning and opposition to the royal supremacy may have commended him to Queen Mary who appointed him as bishop of Chester following the deprivation of John Bird. He was consecrated in London on 1 April 1554.

He began a visitation of his new diocese in June 1554 and a surviving ordination book shows three ordination sessions in 1555, suggesting that he was attentive to his duties.

He did not, however, hold the post for long as he died in December 1555. He is remembered as the bishop who condemned George Marsh to be burned at the stake, the only Protestant known to have been executed in Chester diocese during the reign of Queen Mary.

Further notes: Cotes was from Yorkshire. He seems to have been a difficult and irascible man and is understood to have gained his election as Master of Balliol by a trick.

As at 14 January 2025 there is no entry for him in the Dictionary of National Biography (online edition).

Sources:

R. V. H. Burne, Chester Cathedral from its Founding by Henry VIII to the Accession of Queen Victoria (London: S.P.C.K., 1958), pp. 3, 18-19,

Rev. F. Sanders, ‘George Cotes, Bishop of Chester 1554-1555’, Journal of the Architectural, Archaeological and Historic Society for the County and City of Chester and North Wales, new series, 18 (1911), pp. 79-97

Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd series, ii, pp. 11-13

‘Colericke-Coverley’, in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, ed. Joseph Foster( Oxford, 1891), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp304-337 [accessed 14 January 2025].

Joyce M Horn, David M Smith, Patrick Mussett, ‘Canons of Chester’, in Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857: Volume 11, Carlisle, Chester, Durham, Manchester, Ripon, and Sodor and Man Dioceses( London, 2004), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol11/pp50-63 [accessed 14 January 2025]

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People: Lever, Elizabeth


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Surname

Lever (Leaver)

Forename

Elizabeth

Alternative Surname

Cheetham

Sex

Female

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

First husband, Alexander Lever; second husband, Thomas Cheetham

Remarks

Career: Elizabeth’s first husband, Alexander Lever, had held the prebend of Bolton-le-Moors under lease from 1499 until his death. Following his death the lease was the subject of a lawsuit between his executors and the archdeacon of Chester.

The executors of Alexander Lever were Elizabeth, William Bolton (his brother-in-law) and two sons. William Bolton was Elizabeth’s brother.

After his death Elizabeth re-married Thomas Cheetham and in 1542 William Bolton, as a trustee of Alexander Lever, sued Thomas and Elizabeth for the return of tithe corn and the goods and chattels of the deceased which had been left for the benefit of Alexander’s children and Elizabeth, but only for as long as she remained unmarried. There was a commission of enquiry which decided in favour of the trustees.

Elizabeth Lever was the mother of Roger Lever.

Sources:

James Christopher Scholes, History of Bolton: with Memorials of the old Parish Church, (ed. William Pimblett, Bolton, 1892), pp. 101-105

Causes

EDC 5/13/1 – mentioned in the libel

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People: Lever, Alexander


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Surname

Lever (Leaver)

Forename

Alexander

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Elizabeth

Remarks

Career: Alexander Lever had held the prebend of Bolton-le-Moors under lease from 1499 until his death.

When he made his will in April 1539 he named two surviving daughters and two sons, one being his heir, Roger, who was a minor at the time. He appointed his wife, Elizabeth, as an executrix with his brother-in-law, William Bolton, and two sons as executors.

After his death his widow re-married Thomas Cheetham.

Sources:

James Christopher Scholes, History of Bolton: with Memorials of the old Parish Church, (ed. William Pimblett, Bolton, 1892), pp. 101-105

Causes

EDC 5/13/1 – mentioned in the libel

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People: Lever, Roger


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Surname

Lever (Leaver)

Forename

Roger

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

after 1518

Marital Status

Unknown

Occupation Status

Gentleman

Remarks

Career: Roger Lever (Leaver) was the son of Alexander Lever and his wife, Elizabeth. When Alexander made his will in April 1539 his son and heir, Roger, was a minor so he must have been born after 1518.

Sources:

James Christopher Scholes, History of Bolton: with Memorials of the old Parish Church, (ed. William Pimblett, Bolton, 1892), p. 103

Causes

EDC 5/13/1 – plaintiff

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People: Walmysley, Roger (junior)


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Surname

Walmysley

Forename

Roger

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/13/1 – defendant

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People: Walmysley, Roger (senior)


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Surname

Walmysley

Forename

Roger

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/13/1 – defendant

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Places: Bolton-le-Moors


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Place Type

Parish

County

Lancashire

Deanery

Manchester

Causes

EDC 5/13/1 – Roger Lever contra Roger Walmysley, senior and Roger Walmysley, junior.

BOLTON-LE-MOORS

The parish of Bolton-le-Moors (subsequently known as Bolton) comprised the townships of Anglezarke, Blackrod, Bradshaw, Breightmet, Darcy Lever, Edgeworth, Entwistle, Great Bolton, Harwood, Little Bolton, Longworth, Lostock, Quarlton, Rivington, Sharples, Tonge-with-Haulgh and Turton plus the chapelry of Little Lever.

Much of the area of the parish was moorland. However, the local growth of fabric manufacture, which developed particularly from the second half of the eighteenth century, was stimulated by inventions such as Crompton’s mule towards the end of that century. Samuel Crompton was a local man who lived for a time in part of Hall i’ th’ Wood in the township of Tonge. The hall was at that time divided into tenements and rented out and is now a museum. Compton was buried in the parish churchyard and is commemorated there. Cotton manufacture and associated industries like bleachworks developed rapidly during the nineteenth century, together with iron foundries, coal mines and steam engine manufacture. Other industry such as stone quarrying and lead mining continued intermittently in areas of the parish from Roman times until the twentieth century.

From the thirteenth century the parish had been a prebend of Lichfield cathedral annexed to the archdeaconry of Chester. Prior to this the parish had belonged to the priory of Mattersey in Nottinghamshire, which retained the right of presentation until the surrender of the priory in 1538. At the time of the foundation of the diocese of Chester in 1541 the rectory was appropriated to the new bishopric of Chester which also received the right of presentation of the vicar. Following the Reformation the area became determinedly Puritan. A free school was founded in 1641 by Robert Lever.

The parish church of St Peter was demolished in 1866 and rebuilt between 1867 and 1871. There had been a succession of at least three church buildings on the site evidenced in part by fragments of Viking and Anglo-Saxon stone carving found during the demolition, some of which survive in the reconstructed church. A cross, which is thought to be pre-Norman, was discovered and was perhaps a preaching cross. Medieval woodwork incorporated into the new building includes three stalls in the Lady chapel. There was a small museum of fragments of architectural interest which were preserved by Canon Henry Powell, vicar at the time of the demolition, which he preserved in the tower of the new church.

Field Names

Named in EDC 5/13/1:
gladishyll pyke

 

Sources:

Fred. H. Crossley, ‘On the remains of mediaeval stallwork in Lancashire’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol 70 (1918), pp. 1-42. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-70-1918/

William Fergusson Irvine ‘Notes on the history of Hall i’ th’ Wood’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vols 55 & 56 (1903 & 1904), pp. 1-41. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-55-1903-and-vol-56-1904/

James Christopher Scholes, History of Bolton: with Memorials of the old Parish Church, (ed. William Pimblett, Bolton, 1892), pp. 65-106

‘The parish of Bolton-le-Moors’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp235-243 [accessed 13 January 2025]

‘House of Gilbertine canons: The priory of Mattersey’, in A History of the County of Nottingham: Volume 2, ed. William Page( London, 1910), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/notts/vol2/pp140-141 [accessed 13 January 2025]

Historic England:
Church of St Peter (1387969)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1387969 National Heritage List for England
Hall i’ th’ Wood (1388052)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388052 National Heritage List for England

The black and white images are reproduced from volumes 55 and 56 of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire by kind permission of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

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