Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 2.djvu/114

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History of the Church and Manor of Wigan.
293

the year of lawful mony of England to be yearly issueing, going, and received out of and in my corner messuage or tenement wth the appurtenances caled or known by the name of the Chalice and the Sheppheard and out of all other my hereditaments situate, lying, and being in Thame street, in the parish of St. Buttolphs nere Billingsgate, London, wch I had or purchased from Rowland Stokes, and whereof since I had or obteyned a grant from his majesty wch I procured for the better assurance of my title and estate therein: to have, take, perceive, and enjoy the said annuity or yearly rent charge of £20 by the year unto the said mayor, aldermen, and burgesses, &c., for and after my decease forthwards for ever: to the use, intent, and purpose and upon speciall hope and confidence that the said mayor, aldermen and burgesses, &c., shall yearly for ever dispose and pay the said yearly rent charge of £20 for encrease of the yearly stipend & wages, and for and towards the mayntenance of a sufficient schoolmaster within the said town of Wigan from tyme to tyme for ever, who shall freely teach and instruct carefully and diligently a competent number of children of the poor inhabitants of the said town of Wigan in the gram̄er and Latin tongue unto some good measure of learning as shall be thought most meet in the best discretions of the said mayor, aldermen, and burgesses, and their successsors, and so to be continued for ever. The said annuity or yearly rent to be paid to the yearly use aforesaid unto the said mayor, aldermen, and burgesses and their successors and assignes, at 4 feasts or termes of the year, that is to say at the feast of St. Michael the archangell, the birth of our Lord God, the annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, and nativity of St. John Baptist, or within 30 days next after every of the said feast dayes by even and equall portions"; with full powers of distraint.[1]

  1. Wigan Leger, fol. 112. This bequest of Hugh Bullock's, which was passed by indenture of feoffment, with the other Grammar school property, in 1676, to William Daniel, Esq., then mayor of Wigan, and others, is the more interesting from its being in all probability the first gift towards the endowment of a Grammar school at Wigan, the date of his will (or the probate of it) being 25th July, 1618, whereas James Leigh's gift (the first recorded in the Charity Commissioners' report) was made on 11th January, 1619. There was a school, however, at Wigan in 1615-16, which was apparently situated in Scholes, near to the river Douglas, and built upon the lord's waste, for which a rent of 4s. per annum was paid to the parson by the mayor and corporation (Wigan Leger). In 1628 this school was undergoing repairs, for there is a memorandum in the Wigan Leger of Midsummer day, 1628, that James Scott, bailiff, and