inscription:—"This Oratory, known before the Dissolution to have been a Chantry dedicated to Saint Katherine, and competently endowed with lands in the neighbouring townships, was repaired by John ffrance, esq., of Rawcliffe Hall, A.D. 1797, being an appendage to that ancient manor house." The tower opens directly into the nave without even the semblance of a partition, and on one wall is fixed a brass plate intimating that the large clock, whose huge pendulum vibrates opposite, and whose dials are visible without, was presented, in 1850, to the Ven. Archdeacon Hornby by his parishioners, as a mark of esteem. The mural tables occupying stations within the aisles and nave are erected to the memories of Edward Greenhalgh, of Myerscough Hall, died in 1823, aged 53, and Margaret, his widow, died in 1853, aged 92, also Mary, died in infancy, and Charlotte, died in 1823, aged 29, their daughters; Thomas Westby, of White Hall, died in 1762, aged 47, and Margaret, his widow, died in 1802, aged 82, also their children—Mary, died in infancy, Joseph, in 1769, aged 16, Bridget, in 1786, aged 37, Robert, in 1800, aged 45, Mary, in 1805, aged 45, William, in 1811, aged 60, and John, in 1811, aged 65—Thomas, the only surviving child being the erector of the monument in 1812; Hugh Hornby, M.A., 56 years vicar of the parish, died in 1847, aged 81, and Anne, his widow, died in 1850, aged 81 years, also Joseph Starkey Hornby, born in 1839, died in 1858, and William Hornby, born in 1845, died in 1858—"They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided"; Henry Hornby, late Captain in the East India Service, died in 1794, aged 54, "also near this place were interred the remains of his late father, Thomas Hornby, of St. Michael's, who died Mar. 8, 1785, aged 76, likewise Elizabeth, wife and mother to the above, who died May 14th, 1798, aged 84"; Elizabeth Crombleholme, daughter of the Rev. William Crombleholme, formerly vicar of the parish, "whose mortal remains were deposited in the graveyard of this church near those of her beloved parents on the 21st of May, 1817—Erected as a tribute of esteem by her affectionate relative Thomas Butler Cole, of Kirkland Hall." The Baptistry was restored in 1852 by the surviving children of John and Susannah Swainson, of Preston, and contains several tablets affixed to the north wall in memory of numerous members of that family, amongst whom may be mentioned the Revs.
