Rivington Church | |
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Rivington Church | |
53°37′31″N2°34′06″W / 53.6252°N 2.5684°W | |
Location | Rivington, Lancashire, England |
Country | England |
Denomination | Anglican |
Website | Rivington Parish Church |
History | |
Founded | 1566 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade II Listed building |
Specifications | |
Materials | Sandstone |
Administration | |
Diocese | Diocese of Manchester |
Archdeaconry | Bolton |
Deanery | Deane [1] |
Parish | Rivington |
Rivington Church is an active Anglican parish church in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It is in the Deane deanery, the Bolton archdeanery and Diocese of Manchester. The church has been designated a Grade II listed building. [2] The church has no patron saint and is not named after a saint or martyr. It has been variously called St Lawrence, St George, Holy Trinity, and St Catherine but its correct title is Rivington Church. [3]
A deed of 1280 mentions three acres of "terra ecclesiastical" in Rivington. [4] The Church land was located close to the Horwich border, named in a grant between Cecily Worsley and Adam Dorant. [5] A Saxon font, found in the locality, is housed in the church's Millennium Room. [5] [6] The church has a circular graveyard which is typical of churches of early foundation. That, and the Saxon font, may be proof of pre-Conquest foundation. [7] The arched windows on the south side are cut from solid stone, a Saxon feature. [8]
At the enclosure of the manorial waste in 1536, the priest was given 30 acres (12 ha). [9] Richard Pilkington, whose son became the Bishop of Durham, appealed to Doctor Bird, the Bishop of Chester, to dedicate the chapel and chapelyard. They were consecrated in October 1541. [6] At the consecration, the village residents stated on oath they had worshipped at the site for generations. Queen Elizabeth I, at the petition of Bishop Pilkington in 1566, granted letters patent for a free grammar school [10] and licence to provide a curate or minister and allow baptisms, marriages and burials at the church for the inhabitants of Rivington, Anglezarke, Hemshaws and Foulds. Before this time the inhabitants had to travel to the surrounding parishes. [6]
The Reverend Samuel Newton was ejected from the church on "Bartholemew Sunday" in 1662 and most probably the staunchly Puritan congregation followed him and many became Presbyterian. [11] This event led to the eventual founding of Rivington Unitarian Chapel. [6]
The church remains primarily as rebuilt in 1666 with alterations and restoration in the late-19th century. [2] The restoration in 1861 cost £500 and involved building an "inward-jutting porch" to the west entrance, laying Minton tiles in centre aisle, raising the altar and adding railings, restoring the rood screen, panelling the walls to a height of five feet, replacing the box pews and installing a small organ. [6]
Rivington was created a parish out of the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors. In 1856, and at their own cost, and by a privilege that few churches in the country possessed, the parishioners were able to elect their own minister. [6]
In 2014 an extension was added to the church's west end providing a reception and display area, toilet and kitchen. [12]
The church is built of irregularly coursed sandstone with large quoins, some measuring five feet, at the corners and a slate roof. It is a small, plain building with three three-light windows on each side. The nave is 55 feet 6 inches in length by 27 feet 6 inches in width and the chancel, 13 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches.
The gabled porch is between the centre and western windows on the south side and a modern vestry is on north side. The entrance was moved and alteration to make a porch was work done in the 19th century, with a large chimney once towering over where the current doorway is. The west gable wall has an elliptical-headed doorway and the octagonal bell turret has a square base and a conical roof with a weather vane. The roof is covered with green slates and finished with overhanging eaves.
The three-bay nave has square-headed windows of three square lights on the north side, and round heads on the south side. There is a doorway between the second and third windows from the east on each side and a door at the west end. [13] The chancel has three round-headed lights in each side and a five light east window. [2]
In the graveyard, the earliest gravestone is marked 1616. Some graves stones still present now laid flat at ground level were in the nineteenth century raised with stones sides and some other slabs originally laid at ground level were once surrounded by wrought iron railings, The iron was removed for the war effort in World War II. [14] The churchyard contains three Commonwealth war grave burials of British Army personnel, one of World War I and two of World War II. [15]
Stones near the entrance include the 'Anderton Stone' which depicts shack bolts from the Anderton coat of arms and a crucified figure with 'INRI' believed to originate from Anderton Hall chapel. [16] Above it is a carved with a Sator Square reading "SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS" which possibly predates the Christian era. [17]
The roof has four collar trusses with bracing to tie-beams and collars. The church is furnished with a late-medieval oak screen and a late 16th-century octagonal, oak pulpit on a stem with two linen-fold panels in each side. [2] The screen and pulpit are considered to predate the church building. [13] [18] On the north wall is a genealogical painting copied, in 1835, from a 16th-century painting relating to the Pilkington family which was damaged by fire in 1834. There is an 18th-century brass chandelier with fluted body and two tiers of arms. [2] The earliest memorial in the church is dated 1627.
The church contains a pipe organ by Lewis & Co dating from 1884. It was overhauled in 1927 by Jardine and Co. [19]
The war memorial here reads, 'To the Glory of God And in Memory of the Men who fell in the Great War 1914.1919' [20]
1939-1945
The belltower, a Grade II Listed building in the churchyard close to the church, is a small, square, single-storey building with a basement and outside steps built in sandstone with a stone slate roof. It was built to hold a large bell bought from All Saints' Church, Wigan in 1542. [21] The bell was sold by church commissioners around 1551. [22] The detached bellhouse, the only such structure in Lancashire, was used as a charnel house but is now used as a tool house by the sexton and grave digger. [23]
Horwich is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. It is 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Chorley, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) northwest of Bolton and 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Manchester. It lies at the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors with the M61 motorway passing close to the south and west. At the 2011 Census, Horwich had a population of 20,067.
Rivington Pike is a hill on Winter Hill, part of the West Pennine Moors at Rivington, Chorley in Lancashire, England. The nearest towns are Adlington and Horwich. The land and building are owned and managed by Chorley Council. The Pike Tower is a prominent local landmark and is located at the summit, it is part of Lever Park. The area is popular with hill walkers and for mountain biking.
Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917.
Blackrod is a town and civil parish situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Nestled in the historic County of Lancashire, Blackrod is positioned 3.9 miles (6.3 km) northeast of Wigan and 6.6 miles (10.6 km) west of Bolton. According to the United Kingdom Census of 2021, the town has a population of 5,345.
Rivington is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying 2,538 acres. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Chorley and about 8+1⁄2 miles (13.7 km) northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of agricultural grazing land, moorland, with hill summits including Rivington Pike and Winter Hill within the West Pennine Moors. The area has a thriving tourist industry centred around reservoirs created to serve Liverpool in the Victorian era and Lever Park created as a public park by William Lever at the turn of the 20th century, with two converted barns, a replica of Liverpool Castle and open countryside. Rivington and Blackrod High School is located here. Rivington and its village had a population of 109 at the 2011 Census.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin is on Church Lane, Prestwich, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Radcliffe and Prestwich, the archdeaconry of Bolton and the diocese of Manchester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. Pevsner refers to it as "a major church".
The Church of St Wilfrid is in Market Place, Standish, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The authors of the Buildings of England series describe it as "one of the most interesting churches in Lancashire".
Rivington and Blackrod High School in the North West region of England is a Leverhulme Trust multi-academy comprehensive school. Alongside Harper Green School, it operates as a Church of England teaching environment with a sixth form school. The school is located at two sites, with the upper school situated on Rivington Lane in Rivington, Lancashire, and the lower school situated on Albert Street in Horwich, Greater Manchester.
St Peter's Church is in the village of Heysham, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Lancaster, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn.
Lancaster Priory, formally the Priory Church of St Mary, is the Church of England parish church of the city of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. It is located near Lancaster Castle and since 1953 has been designated a Grade I listed building. It is in the deanery of Lancaster, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the Diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is combined with that of St John and St Anne.
Rivington Unitarian Chapel is an active place of Unitarian worship in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1703, although its congregation dates to 1667. It is designated as a Grade II* listed building with some restoration in 1990, and hs ongoing preservation.
Rivington Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It was the manor house for the Lords of the Manor of Rivington. The hall is of various builds as successor to a 15th-century timber-framed courtyard house that was built near to the present building of which no trace remains. It is a private residence.
The Manor of Rivington at Rivington in Lancashire, England was the past feudal means of control over land with manorial rights above and below ground. The manor history commences 1212 when the Pilkington family owned six oxgangs of land. Records are within a book Leverhulme sponsored, authored by William Fergusson Irvine using the same sources as an earlier work by Harland, the antiquarian who had inspected the Rivington Deeds and Documents, at Rivingon Hall in 1864. The manor was divided in moieties and in the 16th century the Pilkingtons of Rivington Hall owned a 5/8 share, the Cromptons who later occupied the Hall are reputed to have sold their share to William Hesketh Lever in 1900. Lever in turn agreed compensation for the majority of his freehold at Rivington from the Liverpool water company through the Liverpool Corporation Act 1902, the act makes no mention of the manor and there is no record of any later sale of manorial rights by Leverhulme or his heirs. Other owners of shares included a quarter owned in the past by the Lathoms of Irlam and an eighth owned by the Shaw family. The manor was not voluntarily registered under the Land Registration Act 2002 and resultingly no reference is made to it in modern title deeds. There are no manorial records at the National Archive.
The Pilkington family has its origins in the ancient township of Pilkington in the historic county of Lancashire, England. After about 1405 the family seat was Stand Old Hall which was built to replace Old Hall in Pilkington. The new hall was built on high land overlooking Pilkington's medieval deer park. Stand Old Hall was replaced by Stand Hall to the south in 1515 after the Pilkingtons were dispossessed. Stand Old Hall became a barn. It is possible that Sir Thomas Pilkington had permission to “embattle” his manor house in 1470 building a stone tower. It was a ruin by the 1950s and demolished in the early 1960s.
Holy Trinity Church, commonly known as Horwich Parish Church, is a Grade II listed building in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Church of England parish church and part of the Deane deanery in the archdeaconry of Bolton, diocese of Manchester. Holy Trinity Church is now part of the United Benefice of Horwich and Rivington, which includes the other two Anglican churches in Horwich, St Catherine's Church and St Elizabeth's Church, and Rivington Anglican Church.
Thomas Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby of Parham (c.1602–1691/92) was an English peer of the House of Lords. He was born in about 1602, son of Sir Thomas Willoughby and Mary Thornhaugh (Thornley), and grandson of Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham and Lady Margaret Clinton.
St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church on the A59 road as it passes to the south of the village of Tarleton, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It is described by the Churches Conservation Trust as a "picturesque early Georgian chapel" with "a lovely unspoiled interior".
St Andrew's Church is an Anglican church in Leyland, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn and the archdeaconry of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
St Laurence's Church is in Union Street, Chorley, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
St Aidan's Church is in Main Street, Billinge, St Helens, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool. It was built in 1716–18 to replace a chapel of ease on the site, and was remodelled and extended in 1907–08. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
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