1634

1. WOODCHURCH Petition for a licence for George Bennett to teach school. (Audience).

2. AUDLEM Letters testimonial for Robert Browne to teach school. (Audience).

3. WHALLEY Petition that Mr Swindlehurst be licensed to school since the present master Thomas Waryner M.A. (there for 10 years) is now incapable of efficient teaching. (Audience).

4. LIVERPOOL Excommunication for Eleanor Calver.

5. RIBCHESTER Impropriators c John Ward for tithe barley - libel.

6. SHOTWICK Laurence Swettenham c John & Margery Carter saying he kept a whore in every town - libel.

7. SAUGHALL Dean & Chapter c Richard Chamberlin for tithes of pasture, pease, beans, rye - libel. Copy of grant of tithes in this and manors of Shotwick, Ledsham, Huntington, Churchenheath, Lee, Boughton, Newton, Capenhurst by Elizabeth I 22 Dec 1579.

8. CHESTER (St Oswald) Dean & Chapter c Alderman Richard Dutton for tithes from Harpers Hey - libel, depositions, responsions.

9. CHESTER (St Olave) Sentence in defamation of Richard Waine by Margaret Green - responsions.

10. CHESTER (St Oswald) Sentence in defamation case in Richard Dutton c Margaret Mawson.

11. CHESTER (Holy Trinity) Richard Wilson rector c William Kinge for pasture of animals - libel, depositions.

12. CHESTER (Holy Trinity) Richard Wilson c William Dove for tithe of pasture; refs to tithe books - deposition, responsions.

13. CHESTER (St Mary) Francis Edwards rector c John Burt for tithe - responsions.

14. SAUGHALL Dean & Chapter c Richard Chamberlin for tithe hay - responsions.

15. CHESTER (St John Baptist) Elizabeth Blanchard c John Blanchard for restoration of conjugal rights - libel.

16. CHESTER (St Mary) Elizabeth Yates c Samuel Bradwell clerk for being father to her child - libel, responsions, depositions.

17. CHESTER (St Oswald) Dorothy Jones c Ralph Slade for adultery - libel, interrogations, depositions.

18. CHESTER (St Bridget) Penance for Bathsheba Halton falsely accusing John Longford of adultery to get him to marry her. He was a lodger.

19. PRESTBURY James Baxter c Nicholas Wilson for tithe rye, oats - libel, responsions.

20. PRESTBURY Richard Bosson c Ralph Higginbotham saying he "fathered four bastards on Elizabeth Smith in Bosley and one in Wilmslow" - depositions.

21. PRESTBURY (Adlington) Thomas Legh c Thomas Pigot for tithe oats and corn. Pigot says corn damaged by Legh's deer escaping from the park - libel.

22. MACCLESFIELD Anna Hobbes c James Heys for adultery over five years (see 1633 No.54).

23. PRESTBURY Elizabeth Gaskell c Margery Bate slandering Elizabeth on the way to Pott chapel - libel, excommunication.

24. PRESTBURY (Adlington) Thomas Coughen c Thomas Lawton preacher of God's word for adultery with Mary Beech, tussling with her in a chair and for bastardy - libel, deposition.

25. PRESTBURY (Adlington) Thomas Lawton c John & Matilda Blackshaw saying he committed adultery with Beech in a chair and a barn at Adlington Hall - libel, deposition, responsions.

26. COLNE Impropriators c Henry Shawe for tithe of sheep in Barnoldswick alias Barlicke - libel.

27. BACKFORD Churchwardens c Thomas Pierson for non payment of assessment - responsions.

28. BACKFORD Eleonora Denson c Richard Davies for tithe herbage, - libel, depositions, interrogations, responsions.

29. NANTWICH Geoffrey Minshall c Churchwardens concerning title to a pew in Lady Chapel - libel.

30. THORNTON George Byrom rector c John Troutbeck for tithe of cattle on Dunham Moss and Dunham Wood - interrogations, responsions, depositions.

31. THORNTON Additional articles in divorce case Thomas Gamond c Elizabeth Gamond.

32. WYBUNBURY Thomas Green c Margery Green in divorce case on grounds of her adultery and bastardy with Edmund Church - libel, responsions, depositions, sentence.

33. WYBUNBURY Hugh Slade c Robert Corker and Elizabeth Chambler saying he saw them in bed together - depositions.

34. BUNBURY George Sparstoe c John Swan clerk for irreverent administration of sacrament, disturbing congregation. Swan to prove his institution and induction to living - libel, responsions.

35. SANDBACH Thomas Dod rector of Astbury c Thomas Leadbeater for tithe animals - libel.

36. BARROW Williamn Foster, Bishop of Sodor and Man, rector of Barrow c Thomas Smith & William Spencer for tithe herbage on Whitbie Moor - libel.

37. UPTON Frances Edwards c John Sefton for vicarial tithes -libel.

38. MANCHESTER Rebecca Bosvile c Brenda Percivall calling her Mr Wood's whore - libel.

39. RUNCORN Elizabeth Jackson c Humphrey Johnson for divorce on grounds of frigidity, impotence, inability to copulate - libel, depositions, responsions, interrogations.

40. ADLINGTON (Prestbury) Thomas Lawton c John & Matilda Blackshaw for slander - libel, depositions (No.25).

41. WIGAN Sentence in case of Grace & John Molyneux c Elizabeth Bibby.

42. WIGAN Margaret Culcheth c Hugh Culcheth for restoration of conjugal rights - libel, responsions, certificate.

43. WIGAN Isabella Laithwayte c William Low calling her Roger Makinson, the miller, whore - libel, depositions.

44. WIGAN Peter Rigbie c Alice Dean c Eleanora Mason saying they lived as man and wife at Warrington - libel, depositions.

45. BEDALE Churchwardens c John Lucas and others for non payment of assessments to repair of church and school - libel.

46. POULTON Peter White vicar c William Bamber for tithe on turves - libel.

47. POULTON Anne Crane and others c Margery Taylor and others saying Ann should go to the mill and get her poake ground meaning the miller had her up against the hopper - libel, responsions, depositions.

48. WEAVERHAM Churchwardens c for assessments - responsions (torn).

49. DARESBURY Thomas Pickering c Ralph Halton for dispute over pew on north side - libel.

50. OVER Office c Roger Cumberbach and Catherine Millington for adultery at Marton Hall and several other houses - responsion, exception.

51. OVER PEOVER Edward Humphreys c Thomas Deane saying he committed adultery with Emma Sadler and having a bastard - libel.

52. FRODSHAM Churchwardens c Jane Turner for non payment of assessments to repair of church on land in Manley - libel, responsions, interrogations, depositions (Repair. 1633 no. 40).

53. FRODSHAM Churchwardens c John Dutton for non payment of assessments - depositions, responsions, excommunication (1633 no. 39).

54. HOLT Office c Richard Nowell chapelwarden for playing bowls dice cards at Evening prayer time, committing adultery with Catherine Millington and taking communion table from church to ale house to play cards on - responsions, libel.

55. ASHTON UNDER LYNE Thomas Knott c Thomas Stookport saying he was father to bastard child of Catherine his daughter -libel.

56. ASHTON UNDER LYNE Anna Walker c Alice Smith accusing her of bastardy - libel.

57. ASHTON UNDER LYNE Seth Assheton c (Alice Smith) Margaret Heywood saying he cuckolded his wife - libel.

58. HESWALL Francis Edwards rector c John Hinde for tithe barley and pease from town field - libel.

59. HALSALL James Pye c Ralph Hunt saying he fathered a child - libel.

60. BOLTON John Bradshaw & six churchwardens for falsification of accounts especially burial dues - libel.

61. BOLTON William Carliell c John Butterfield for fornication and bastardy with Alice Sweetlove - libel, depositions.

62. BOLTON Elena Pemberton c Richard Bradley for breach of contract he having lived with her for four months -libel.

63. BURTON Francis Edwards rector of St Mary, Chester c John Bennett for tithe wool, lambs, ewes - libel.

64. COPPENHALL Francis Rowley rector c John Sherratt for not paying Easter dues he living with George Steele a householder - libel.

65. LANCASTER Clandestine marriage between Thomas Atkinson and Anna Nicolson - allegation, patent.

66. LOWESWATER Inhibition of case brought by George Fredall c John Burmanskell clerk and Isabella Gregg for adultery.

67. (?) WYBUNBURY Dorothy Jones c Elizabeth Slade for slander - interrogation, responsions.

68. CHEADLE Mary Nicolson c John Burgess saying that Randle Chorlton had carnal knowledge of her body - libel.

69. Wrapper of cause paper.

70. COCKERHAM Agnes Sowuly c Thomas Mason accusing her of bastardy - libel.

71. THURSTASTON John Anyon c Elena Seene for making her husband drunk - depositions.

72. FORMBY George Byrom rector c (name torn out) for tithes of Dunham Wood and Dunham Moss - interrogations.

73. BARTHOMLEY William Kelsall vicar of Audiley (Lichfield) c Richard Deane for tithe animals - libel.

74. GUILDEN SUTTON Parishioners c John Dutton for a pew - libel, confirmation of seat.

75. ROCHDALE John Milne c Elena Scholefield of Littleborough saying as constable he collected lays to keep his bastards - libel, depositions.

76. ROCHDALE John Milne, constable c Jane Kay calling him whoremaster - libel.

77. ROCHDALE Richard Chadwick c Richard Ogden accusing him of stealing pork and being a rascal - libel.

78. MACCLESFIELD Joan Clarke c Ralph Hollinshead for slander - libel.

79. MACCLESFIELD Ellen Fallowes c Emma Bateman calling her whore - libel, responsions, depositions.

80. TAXALL Anthony Elcock rector c Richard Bennet for tithe animals - libel.

81. PRESTBURY Thomas Lawton rector c Richard Crook and others concerning bastard child of Mary Beech (see no. 25) - libel, responsions.

82. MIDDLEWICH Elizabeth Myles c Mary Lovat for slander - libel, excommunication for contumacy.

83. MIDDLEWICH Ralph Church and others c Godfrey Minshall concerning a pew on north side of church - decree.

84. SHOTWICK Thomas Hicocke c Francis Poole for tithe of animals - libel.

85. STOKE William Seddon vicar c Thomas Heward for tithes - libel, depositions and lease of tithes by Viscount Killmorey to William Seddon.

86. STOKE William Seddon c William Hoose for tithe hemp and other crops - libel, depositions, responsions.

87. BEBBINGTON Anne Linaker c Elena Warmingham accusing her of adultery - libel, depositions, sentence.

88. BLACON Tithe dispute involving c William King lease of tithes by Dean & Chapter of Chester - responsions.

89. ORMSKIRK Edward & Alice Simkin c Ellena Poole for slander - libel, depositions.

90. ORMSKIRK Peter Cropp c John Barnes of Rainforth saying Cecilia Cropp was naughty with her servant - libel.

91. GREAT BUDWORTH James Knott clerk c Hugh Wykerall saying he was drunk in a field - libel.

92. GREAT BUDWORTH Elena Mason c Timothy Worsley calling her jade -libel.

93. GREAT BUDWORTH Richard & Ann Newall c John Hankinson saying that Richard was a cuckold - depositions, libel, sentence.

94. TILSTON Churchwardens c Edward Wright for plow seat money and dues. Valuable information on churchwardens methods of assessing - depositions, articles, interrogations.

95. TILSTON Churchwardens c John Tudor for plow seat money. List of cottagers - libel, responsions, interrogations, depositions.

96. CHESTER CATHEDRAL Visitation Injunctions 1634 with notes added by Edward Mainwaring. Mentions early and late Morning Prayer and the muringers, or repairers of City Walls established in 1506.

97. CHILDWALL Institution and induction papers of Edward Russell clerk 27 Junly 1625.

98. BLACKBURN Margaret Tomlinson c Ann Marshen calling her witch, had betwitched children, saying she would draw her blood - libel.

99. BURY Thomas Hammond c John Croston accusing him of attending conventicles, drunkenness - libel, presentment, letters, depositions, appeal to York.

100. ST BEES William Lickbarrow c William Coats curate at Woodend, ordained by Bishop of Sodor and Man for ignorance.

101. ST BEES Churchwardens c chapelwardens of Ennerdale refusing to contribute to repairs of St Bees - libel.

102. HOLCOMBE William Lowe churchwarden c Peter Lomax and others for non payment of curates salary under Commission - libel, responsions, repair.

103. PRESCOT Churchwardens c Henry Ogle for non payment of rates - libel.

104. TARVIN Thomas Lawson clerk c Thomas Cougher saying he was drunk in the pulpit - depositions, testimonial for Lawson.

105. GAWSWORTH Emma Houshall c William Lowe for slander - libel, penance.

106. GAWSWORTH Thomas Redditch clerk c Thomas Torkington for locking church doors and hindering divine service -libel.

107. KNUTSFORD Office c Timothy Aspinwall officiating without licence and administering Communion to persons sitting - libel.

108. BOWDEN Churchwardens c Robert Vaudrey for non payment of rates - libel.

109. MIDDLEWICH Yardley c Cowper defamation - depositions only.

110. MIDDLEWICH Randle Slack c Dorothy Johns saying he committed adultery with her at Spittle Hill - depositions.

111. BARTHOMLEY Thomas Cowper c Anna Cowper adultery with William Foster - libel.

112. MIDDLETON Excommunication for Wm Ashton for contumacy.

113. WIGAN Jane Heaton c Wm Holland saying she slept with Peter Cropper at Mary Naylor's in Ormskirk.

114. Unidentified Bill of Costs.

115. CROSTON Office c Christopher Bannister for disturbing service on Christmas Day by bringing a corpse to bury - responsions.

116. STRETTON John Catterall c Edward Wright for plow rent on lands bought by his father in 38 Elizabeth 1 from Crown.

117. LECH Citation to Essex Clarke to excommunicate persons from Blackburn, Tarvin and Bolton.

118. DAVENHAM Churchwardens c Thomas Croxton for non payment of assessments - libel.

119. GREAT BUDWORTH James Knott curate c Margaret Hunt saying he was too drunk to go to Budworth - libel.

120. ROSTHERN Report of a Commission of Pious Uses to increase living to 100 marks. Sir Geo. Booth & Thomas Stanley Commissioners sitting at Knutsford.

121. THURSTASTON Syon Venables rector c Gabriel Boardman clerk for intruding into ministers stall, appropriating church keys and preventing Venables from reading service.

122. THURSTASTON Churchwardens c Thomas Reeve for non payment of assessments and Elena saying churchwardens made her husband drunk - libel.

123. Margaret Taylor c Ann Crane for slander - libel.

124. THORNTON (LONSDALE) Churchwardens c Richard Foxcroft for non payment of assessments - libel.

125. BRINDLE Wm Bispham rector c Wm Wilkinson for tithes - responsions (see 1633 no. 4).

126. MACCLESFIELD Edmund Meire c Ann Hobbes in matrimonial dispute - libel (see 1633 No.54).

127. MACCLESFIELD Ellene Fallowes c Ann Bateman (see 1633 No.53) also three unidentified fragments.

128. WIGAN Ellen Pemberton c Richard Bradley in breach of matrimonial contract - full file including appeal to York.