1638

1. ERIHOLME Denial by Hugh Wyldbore, vicar, that he does not wear the surplice, keeps conventicles, favours the opinions of Henry Burton and visits Mrs Burton (fragile).

2. MIDDLEHAM Bishop of Chester c Joshua Pulleine, dean, for non-payment of 6/8d synodals since 1631. Dean gives details concerning the creation of Middleham as a royal peculiar exempt from episcopal visitation and correction - libel, responsions.

3. SEDBERGH Excommunication for Henry Walker & John Clarke for contumacy and non payment of fees.

4. CLAPHAM Office c James Chrichloe vicar for churching Ann Burton irregularly, marrying Edmund Bentham and Jane his wife without licence and accepting bribe to keep matter a secret - libel.

5. KIRBY IRELETH Bishop of Chester c Antony Latus of Millom farmer of tithes of Kirby worth £150 p.a. for misappropriation - libel.

6. MILLOM Bishop of Chester c William Askew and others impropriators of the tithes for non payment of dues from the rectory since 1628 - libel.

7. LAMPLUGH Henry Bowman apparitor of Copeland Deanery c Thomas Robertson of Winster calling the Commissary's Court a bawdy court and slandering the apparitor - libel.

8. KIRBY LONSDALE John Edmondson c John Westonson for slander - libel.

9. KIRBY LONSDALE John Edmondson c Thomas Middleton for calling him a fornicator - libel.

10. LANCASTER Sentence in tithe dispute between Augustine Wildbore and Laurence Copeland (see 1637 No. 6).

11. LANCASTER Excommunications for persons from Lancaster, Kendal and Sedbergh.

12. OVER KELLETT William Curwen curate c John Cocke for non payment of tithes and dues. Evidence of irregularities by Curwen - libel, depositions, (fragile).

13. OVER KELLETT Charles Knott vicar of Bolton le Sands c William Curwen for abusing vicar pulling him out of his seat, stoning the clerk's cow, committing adultery with a beggar woman in the schoolhouse, permitting penances to be performed in alehouses, solemnising clandestine marriages, stealing the chapel bell. Copy of decree of 1326 creating vicarage of Bolton le Sands with oversight of Over Kellett by Archdeacon Woodhouse - libel.

14. KIRKHAM Office c Edward Fleetwood vicar refusing to allow the vestry to appoint a skilled organist able to teach children music. Vicar has stopped up access to organs, omitted parts of prayer book, substitutes his own prayers, not wearing surplice, no observance of holy days, beating his son in churchyard, removing altar from east end and administering communion to persons standing or sitting but not kneeling - libel.

15. CHIPPING Excommunication for Richard Radcliffe and others who refused to appear in case of Robert Swinglehurst.

16. WHALLEY Excommunication for several persons refusing to appear in tithe cause of Richard Assheton (1637 No. 72).

17. TUNSTALL Excommunication for Henry Patrickson and others for contumacy.

18. HALSALL Excommunication for Henry Halson for contumacy.

19. WESTHOUGHTON Impropriators of tithes c Robert Browne for tithes. Copy of lease of tithes by Christopher Anderton of Lostock July 1635. Lands formerly part of Cockersand Abbey and exempt from tithe - libel. 1637 No. 126.

20. GRESFORD John, Count of Bridgwater, vicar, c Roger Morris for tithes of corn, hay, hemp - libel, depositions (1637-115) repair.

21. DODLESTON Thomas Deane vicar c Hugh Harrison & John Foxley, excommunication for contumacy.

22. EASTHAM Office c Henry Bostock for sheltering Ann Wright who had a bastard child by John Hulme of West Derby - libel, responsions, (fragile).

23. BACKFORD Maria Bennett c John Bennett for beating her when he was drunk - responsions, depositions.

24. STRETFORD Maria Radcliffe c Alexander Radcliffe in separation case - libel.

25. ALTCAR Matrimonial dispute between William and Elizabeth Platt - libel.

26. GUILDEN SUTTON Thomas Stanley impropriatorriator c Roger Meredith for tithes - libel, depositions.

27. WAVERTON George Snell S.T.P. c William Dyerson for predial tithes - libel.

28. PLEMONDSTALL Orlando Bridgman c Richard Broster for tithes - libel, interrogations, sentence.

29. LIVERPOOL Excommunication for Cuthbert Sharples and others.

30. WINWICK Sir John Fortescue c Gautherne Whittle for 30 wagon loads of hay - libel.

31. ALDFORD Joseph Bradwell rector c Ellen Booth calling him "paltry priest who hath undone my mother" - libel.

32. BUNBURY Richard Halton c Arthur Bostock for tithe on gorses faggots, corn - libel.

33. WYBUNBURY Maurice Gwynn vicar c Robert Poole for tithes - fragments only (fragile).

34. DAVENHAM Excommunication for Robert Chedle for contumacy.

35. CHILDWALL Roger Anderton of Birchley c John Whitfield for tithe from Three Acre and Crabtree Closes - libel.

36. PRESTWICH Roger Ashton c Alice Towneley for tithe (fragile).

37. PENNINGTON Bishop of Chester c Thomas Richardson & Richard Coulton impropriators for payment of arrears of dues - libel.

38. LAWTON Responsions in case of Churchwardens c William Lawton concerning election of Thomas Booth (1637 No. 92).

39. WORTHENBURY Bishop of Chester c John Puleston & John Broughton concerning elections of churchwardens - sentence, depositions.

40. BARROW Bishop of Chester c Thomas Picke and Henry Broadhurst churchwardens for negligence in paying former warden money due for repairing church and building side aisle - libel, sentence (1637 Nos. 67,68).

41. ECCLES Edward Bent c Alice Heaward for saying he committed adultery with her and also Ralph Wright - libel.

42. HESWALL Rector of Eccles c Robert Moneley for tithe of crops in Haswall - libel, responsions.

43. ECCLES Anna Darbyshire c John Lomax for breach of a matrimonial contract.

44. STRETTON Maria Starkie alias Camull c Wm Camull in matrimonial dispute - libel, sentence.

45. GREAT BUDWORTH Office c Robert Eaton for adultery with Alice Hough - libel.

46. GREAT BUDWORTH Excommunication for Thomas Vernon of Barneton.

47. CODDINGTON Ann Horton wife of Hugh Orton c Ann Horton wife of John for slander - libel, depositions, sentence.

48. ASTBURY Ann Spode c Elena Acton saying she committed adultery with her husband Richard Acton - libel.

49. WITTON Richard Mather, curate, c John Walton for saying, "Thou art a lying priest and you came thither beggarly and bare as a louse but set a beggar on horseback and he will ride" - libel, depositions, costs.

50. RUNCORN Elizabeth Hough c Robert Cheshire for slander - libel.

51. RUNCORN John Fletcher c Elena Webster calling him, "damned faced Fletcher" - libel.

52. WARRINGTON John Jellebrande c Thomas Mollineux saying he had committed adultery with Isabella Lawrence in Woolley's house - libel, depositions, sentence (fragile).

53. CONGLETON Elena Drakeford c John Whittaker calling her "an old whore" - libel.

54. CONGLETON Prohibition for Magaret Davenport c executors of will of Sir John Davenport deceased.

55. CHURCHULME John Barker c Elizabeth Furnivall saying he was a "knave tinker and base fellow" - libel.

56. WIGAN Churchwardens c Roger Barron for felling three trees growing in the hedgerow of churchyard - depositions.

57. WIGAN Hugh Rigbie c Robert Brown for tithe corn - depositions.

58. SANKEY Office c Elena Bate for adultery with Ralph Bradshaw and James Igby - libel.

59. SANKEY Office c Elizabeth Smith for living unmarried with Henry Roe and bearing him children and so continuing after penance - libel.

60. BARROW Catherine Akerley c Henry Cookson for failing to pay £20 to maintain his child by Catherine - libel.

61. OVER Catherine Oulton c George Oulton for slander - libel.

62. OVER Margaret & John Bostock c Peter Barker for slander - full file.

63. OVER Peter & Ann Barker c Ralph Bostock for slander -libel.

64. OVER Matrimonial dispute Dorothy & Thomas Baker - responsions, interrogations.

65. OVER Peter Minshall of Middlewich c Richard Whittingham accusing him of adultery - libel, interrogations, costs, sentence.

66. CHILDWALL Sir Roger Anderton c John Whitefield for tithes. Ref to Thomas Heckmouth as a recusant - responsions, depositions, excommunication.

67. MIDDLETON Sir Ralph Assheton c Edmund Ryder - sentence (1637 No. 48).

68. MIDDLEWICH Prohibition in tithe dispute of Sir William Brereton c Wm Barrett.

69. SHOCKLACH Orlando Bridgmen c Francis Newton for tithe of herbage - libel.

70. SHOCKLACH Richard Egerton c John Harrison for tithes - libel.

71. SHOCKLACH Richard Egerton c Ralph Moyle for tithe - libel, responsions.

72. KNUTSFORD Office c Ellen Stretch for adultery with Crawlehale - libel.

73. NESTON Mary Bennett c John Bennett for taking her to the sea side and threatened to drown her and for beating her - sentence (No. 23).

74. NESTON Office c John Dunn for violently attempting adultery with Ann Turner wife of Richard Turner - libel.

75. ECCLESTON Appeal to York. (1637 No. 112).

76. NORTHENDEN Thomas Mallory c Roger Worthington for tithe hemp wool, lambs - libel, responsions.

77. NORTHENDEN Jane Moore c Wm Tomlinson saying he committed adultery with her at Fulshaw on Whit Monday - libel.

78. WEAVERHAM Sentence in matrimonial dispute of Richard and Ann Allatt. (1637 No. 95).

79. WAVERTON Prohibition in tithe cause of Wm Dierson c George Snell (No. 27).

80. HOLT Jane Batha c Moyson Joynson of Milton Green for slander - libel, sentence.

81. HOLT Office c churchwardens for allowing Wm Blindeman or Blarman a nonconformist to preach in church, holding private conventicles, not standing for creed or kneeling for communion. Also Anthony Powell refusing alms to a beggar saying, "No sirrah you shall have no alms for shortly you will be prest to warr and fight against us" - libel, interrogations.

82. WARTON Office c Richard Wales for fornicating with several women, hedging and ditching on Sundays - libel.

83. LIVERPOOL Office c John Hackleyt curate for solemnising a clandestine marriage between Wm Eccleston and Anna Molyneux - libel.

84. ROSTHERNE Sentence in dispute of churchwardens c Peter Leigh of High Leigh (1637 No. 34).

85. ROSTHERNE Philip Mainwaringe rector c James Stethill for tithe wheat, rye - libel.

86. COLNE Richard Ashton c Alice Towneley for tithe corn and oats. Reference to rights of way through Maulholme yate and Munckwich and rough Straw. Valuable for study of agrarian history - full file (1637 No. 129).

87. MARBURY Susanna Wicksted of Whitchurch c Thomas Wicksted for slander - libel, sentence.

88. MARBURY Sentence in pew dispute of George Bickerton of Horsall c Thomas Heath.

89. MARTON Edward Fallowes c Roger Johnson churchwardens c Thomas Brown saying they went to John Foster a phanatic to get a mare and a cow blessed and other things - libel, deposition, interrogations, excommunication.

90. ACTON Anna Hatton c Elena Pollet for slander saying she "layd in a field all night with John Bromily" - full file.

91. STOCKPORT Prohibition for Lawrence Wright

92. BOLTON Elizabeth Lomax c Lydia Lomax saying she committed adultery with Richard Bradshaw - libel.

93. BOLTON Office c Gawain Rothwell for adultery - libel.

94. BURY Office c John Key for permitting Robert Bradley a convicted recusant to be buried in churchyard - libel.

95. BURY Arthur Whittaker c Margaret Percivall concerning their marriage in Heywood chapel - libel, depositions, sentence.

96. ORMSKIRK Thomas Stanley c John Broxcopp for holding conventicles and private exercises and breach of Canon 66 - libel, sentence (1637 No. 16).

97. NANTWICH Churchwardens c Ralph Hanks for refusing to pay his assessments to repair of church - libel.

98. NANTWICH Prohibition for Gilbert and Catherine Bratt in a matrimonial dispute.

99. NANTWICH Anna Oulton c Lawrence Davey calling her a drunken queane - libel.

100. PRESTBURY (Adlington) Thomas Lawton clerk c Margaret Richardson for slander - libel.

101. PRESTBURY Thomas Leigh c Thomas Piggott and others for tithes of barley, corn - responsions, depositions (fragile).

102. PRESTBURY Churchwardens c Thomas Dale of Oldwithington for non payment of assessments to repair of church - libel, responsions, (fragile).

103. WRENBURY Wm Cudworth c George Taylor of Audlem abusing him in his seat, kicking him with his spurs and tearing his stockings - libel, interrogations, sentence, costs.

104. WHITEGATE Viscount Thomas Cholmondeley c Thomas Baker for tithes of corn and grain. Detailed account of the descent of tithe ownership following dissolution of Vale Royal - full file, needs extensive repair.

105. WHITEGATE Dorothy Baker c Thomas Baker in matrimonial dispute - libel, responsions.

106. MACCLESFIELD Francis Low c Anna Booth .for brawling over a pew in divine service - libel, responsions.

107. MACCLESFIELD Elizabeth Low c Penelope Ridgway saying she committed adultery with Peter Ridgway - libel.

108. MACCLESFIELD Margaret Brocklehurst c Jane Beswick saying she had twenty bastards - libel.

109. FRODSHAM Churchwardens c John Dutton concerning repairs to the parish church - libel, responsions, interrogation, costs.

110. FRODSHAM Roland Heywood S.T.B. c Wm Pickering & John Dutton for tithes of hay taken from Hey Hall - libel, deposition, sentence.

111. FRODSHAM Margaret Dawson c John Brown for adultery with William Pyke - libel, interrogation, sentence.

112. MANCHESTER Office c Thomas Case for preaching sermons attacking the hierarchy and supporting Scots Presbyterians - libel, interrogations, responsions.

113. MANCHESTER Office c Thomas Smith former bookseller of Barnstaple a "hot zealot and strict nonconformist" sentenced by the High Commission and Star Chamber, and preaching without licence in Denton and other chapels - libel.

114. MANCHESTER Certificate of conformity for Roger Bradley.

115. MANCHESTER Office c Thomas Siddal for adultery with Dorothy Marler - libel, responsions.

116. MANCHESTER Margaret Makand c Elena Heald for slander - libel.

117. MANCHESTER Humphrey Aldington, merchant of London c Thomas Eddison for tithes - libel, interrogation, sentence.

118. MANCHESTER Humphrey Aldington c John Hardman for tithes -libel, sentence, depositions.

119. MANCHESTER Humphrey Aldington c John Whitfield for tithes -libel, interrogation, sentence, (fragile).

120. MANCHESTER Humphrey Aldington c Henry Bate & Randle Hurleston for tithes - libel.

121. MINSHULL Sir Peter Minshall c Richard Whittingham concerning his supposed marriage in Elizabeth Walley's alehouse to Margaret Whittingham - libel.

122. ROCHDALE Samuel Milne c James Taylor committing adultery with a woman and giving her a peck and half of meal to keep quiet - libel.

123. ROCHDALE Ottiwell Worral c Robert Hoult of Lower Place for slander - libel.

124. ROCHDALE Matrimonial case between Alice Hatton and Robert Percival - libel.

125. ROCHDALE Matrimonial dispute between John Butterworth and Elizabeth Hill alias Butterworth of St Sepulchre London - full file (repair required).

126. ROCHDALE Faded case concerning slander by Edmund Turner of Littleborough - (fragile).

127. LIVERPOOL Edward Alcock c Elizabeth Harden and others concerning a clandestine marriage between Wm Eccleston and Ann Molyneux - libel, costs (1638 No. 83).

128. CHESTER (St Michael) Margaret Jones c Margaret Green for slander - libel, costs, deposition, sentence, (fragile).

129. CHESTER (St Michael) Edward Cranke c Thomas Ashton for slander - libel.

130. CHESTER (Holy Trinity) Wm Beddowe c James Scaife of Tunstall saying he was a cheat "to be whipped, stockt, chained to a post" - libel, responsions, (fragile).

131. CHESTER (St Oswald) Elizabeth Darwell c Anna Williams for slander - libel, sentence, costs.

132. CHESTER (St Martin) Wm Clarke curate c Wm Edwardes for tithe wool. Edwardes disputes parish boundaries - libel, interrogations, responsions.

133. CHESTER (St Peter) Depositions in disputed marriage of Robert Wainwright aged 14 to Christina Williamson.

134. CHESTER (St Mary) Matthew Sleane c Thomas Wright for slander - libel.

135. CHESTER (St Oswald) Depositions in matrimonial dispute of George and Jane Hill (fragile).

136. CHESTER (St Oswald) Information on oath by Elizabeth Garrett milk seller at the High Cross, Chester concerning her adultery with Edward Brook (fragile).

137. PRESCOT Churchwardens c Henry Ogle for non payment of his assessments to repaving floor, repewing church, a new communion table, new organs, organ loft and Kings Arms and new bells - depositions, interrogation, sentence.

138. PRESCOT Elizabeth Justice c Alice Roby for slander - libel, depositions, sentence.

139. PRESCOT John Bould c Mary Atherton caught in act of adultery at Marle pit side - responsions.

140. PRESCOT Office c Elizabeth Smith for not performing her penance from Mr Lewis, Rural Dean of Warrington (poor state).

141. ASHTON UNDER LYNE Thomas Walker c Ann Hurst for fornicating with James Dehow - libel, interrogation, (fragile).

142. ASHTON UNDER LYNE Churchwardens c John Sandiford concerning his pew as "too high, a contrary fashion, couched, hinders view of communion table, encroaches into alley - libel, responsions, allegations.

143. ASHTON ON MERSEY James Massie c Edmund Woodhall & Sir Wm Brereton concerning title to a pew in the chancel -full file.

144. WOODCHURCH Anna Stanley of Estham Parva c Richard Hockenhull for breach of contract in marrying Ann Spurston at Rosinghough Green chapel (St Asaph) by Mr Jones - full file (in need of repair before issue).

145. WORTHENBURY Disputed election of churchwardens document in a very bad condition.

146. COPPENHULL Office c Thomas Lea for adultery with Anna Chadderton - libel.

147. WINWICK Office c James Fletcher for adultery with Ellen Hurst in Highfield being his sister in law and presented to Rural Dean of Warrington - libel.

148. LOWER PEOVER Peter and Elizabeth Frodsham c George Mobberly for slander - libel.

149. TATTENHALL Excommunication for Peter Egerton.

150. GRAPPENHALL Responsions of Ellen Bate concerning her penance for adultery.

151. INGLETON, BOLTON, BURY, ROCHDALE, BLACKBURN, MACCLESFIELD Excommunication.

152. Unrelated bills of costs.

153. CHESTER(?) George Hammond c Christopher Harrison lending money in usury.

154. TARPORLEY Sentence in dispute of Wm Heversage and Elizabeth Darlington.

155. MIDDLEWICH Nomination of John Bickerton as schoolmaster.

156. Petition for a licence for George Maddocke as surgeon.

157. MOBERLEY Churchwardens presentment of Robert Atkinson for hindering preambulation and making fun of vicar.

158. Unidentified fragments.