Table at the upper end, a carpett of greene cloth, 1 greene velvett cushion with 4 silke bobs, one faire Bible claspd and leaves guilt, 3 faire cōion [prayer] Bookes clasped, six p'alters, six sett quishones, one ould greene quishon to kneel on, two litle longe formes or foote stooles, two other lesse foote stooles, wainscot forms round aboute it."[1] In the year 1788 Dorning Rowbotham, Esq., in speaking of Great Lever, says: "There is yet a decent domestic chapel, of which no use is now made, but in which before the 20th of his late majesty [George II.] marriages were solemnized. At the end, opposite to the Altar, to which there is an ascent of two steps, there is a gallery, formerly for the use of the family, and a bench runs round the chapel below, as I imagine, for that of the tenants and servants. It is nine yards long and six broad."[2] The Rev. Thomas Loxham, vicar of Great Lever, says that an old woman, who died in 1866, aged 86, and who had lived on the premises in her early years, told him she remembered it as having a pulpit standing at the S.E. corner and a small table under the east window—"a neat Table with twisted legs;" benches were attached to the three walls, and there was a gallery at the west end, having an oaken panel in front; there were also remains of stained glass in the three windows.[3]
In January, 1636-7, bishop Bridgeman was able to report that he had carried out the work begun at the archbishop's metro-political visitation and brought most of the churches in his diocese to uniformity and decency, whereon the laity had cheerfully bestowed many thousand pounds.[4] He had shewn a good example himself by restoring his own churches at Wigan and
- ↑ MS. Inventory inter Family Evidences.
- ↑ Notitia Cestriensis, vol. ii. p. 97.
- ↑ This chapel was subsequently used as a washhouse, &c., until, after many years of desecration, the late Mr. Piggot, Lord Bradford's agent, had it restored. It was opened as a day and Sunday school in 1852, and so continued until the new schools were opened in 1862. The last time the chapel was used for public worship was in 1880, when Divine service was held there on several Sunday evenings while the church was under repair.
- ↑ State Papers, Domestic Series, Charles I. sub anno.
