of Blackpool and its neighbourhood, a different version of the matter. He states, with apparently no greater authority than tradition, that after the suppression of the rebellion of 1745, the protestants of the village celebrated the 5th of November more zealously than usual, raising contributions of peat at every house, and amongst the rest had even the presumption to call at that of the priest. The refusal of the ecclesiastic to provide his share of fuel so incensed the villagers that they ejected him both from his house and the church; and the lord of the manor seized this opportunity to convert the chapel into a protestant place of worship.
Singleton chapel was a low building with a thatched roof, the eaves of which came within a short distance of the ground; the priest's house was attached to the chapel and communicated with it by a door into the sacristy. In 1806 this ancient building, having become much dilapidated, was pulled down and replaced, through the liberality of Joseph Hornby, of Ribby, esq., by a neat gothic structure, having a square tower at one end, in which was placed a peal of six bells; in 1859 the latter edifice was levelled to the ground, and the present handsome and commodious church erected on the site, chiefly through the munificence of the late Thomas Miller, esq. The few mural monuments within the church are not of any great antiquity, and are in memoriam of the Harrisons and Atkinsons, of Bankfield. There are no inscriptions of interest in the churchyard, beyond those on the stones surmounting the vault belonging to the Bankfield families just named. In 1869 a separate district or parish was assigned to this cure, and the present incumbent of the church acquired the title of vicar.
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THE CURATES AND VICARS OF SINGLETON.
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Date of | Name. | Cause of Vacancy.
Institution. | |
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About 1545. | Richard Godson. |
" 1562. | Thomas Fieldhouse. |
In 1651. | Cuthbert Harrison, B.A. |
" 1749. | John Threlfall, B.A. |
About 1809. | Thomas Banks. |
Before 1843. | William Birley, M.A. |
In 1843. | Leonard C. Wood, B.A. | Resignation of W. Birley.
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