1618, in which year he was translated to the see of Lichfield and Coventry. He was afterwards instituted bishop of Durham, from which he was ejected, and after enduring confiscation, imprisonment, and other severe hardships, with exemplary patience, he sought refuge at the seat of Sir Henry Yelverton, at Easton Manduit, in Northamptonshire, where he died; an epitaph placed on his tomb in that parish church describes his "many and rare virtues." The appointment of John Wilkins, D.D. as fourteenth bishop, affords a striking instance of moderation and forbearance on the part of Charles II. Wilkins, who had married the sister of Oliver Cromwell, at the breaking out of the civil war, sided with the parliament, and having taken the solemn league and covenant, in 1648, was made warden of Wadham College. Eleven years afterwards he was appointed, by Richard Cromwell, master of Trinity College, from which at the restoration he was displaced; but ecclesiastical honours and emoluments were successively conferred upon him until 1668, when he was instituted bishop of Chester, on which occasion Dr. Tillotson, who had married his daughter-in-law, preached the consecration sermon. "The Diary of Dr. Thomas Cartwright, bishop of Chester," recently published by the Camden Society, has furnished many interesting particulars of the secret history of that prelate, who was consecrated in October, 1686, on the death of Dr. Pearson, the fifteenth bishop, author of the "Exposition of the Creed." Throughout his "Diary," this protestant bishop is found in constant communication with many of the leading Roman Catholics of the time; not only with those whom he found in his own diocese, but those who were more especially the agents of the Pope, in the design of re-uniting the church of England to that of which Rome was the head. He was so warm a supporter of the measures of James II, "being ready upon all occasions to run with his humour, purposely to obtain a translation to a better bishopric," that upon the landing of the Prince of Orange he was obliged to seek refuge in France. During his residence there, he was made bishop of Salisbury by James; accompanying * Anthony Wood, who will never be suspected of partiality to the political opinions of Wilkins, says "He was a person endowed with rare gifts; he was a noted theologist and preacher, a curious critic in several matters, an excellent mathematician and experimentalist, and one as well seen in mechanism and new philosophy, of which he was a great promoter, as any man of his time. He also highly advanced the study and perfecting of astronomy, both at Oxford, while he was warden of Wadham, and at London, while he was fellow of the Royal Society; and I cannot say that there was anything deficient in him, but a constant mind, and settled principles." He died at Dr. Tillotson's, in 1672. that monarch to Ireland, he was attacked by a disease then prevalent, and finished his earthly career in March, 1689.* It is from the interference of the learned Dr. Francis Gastrell, the nineteenth bishop, who died in 1725, that the collections of the Randle Holmes have been preserved to the public; they were offered to the corporation of the city, who declining to purchase, the prelate recommended them to the earl of Oxford, by whom they were bought; from these and the episcopal registers Dr. Gastrell compiled his excellent manuscript compendium of documents, relating to the benefices of the diocese, entitled "Notitia Cestriensis." During the prelacy of Edmund Keene, the twenty-first bishop, the clergy of Cheshire were relieved from the excessive mortuaries to which they alone had continued subject from the time of Henry VIII. until 1755. The archdeacon of Chester, upon the death of every rector and vicar within his jurisdiction, was entitled to the best horse or mare that had belonged to the deceased, together with the best bridle, saddle, boots, and spurs; also his best hat, book, upper garment, coat, cloak, or gown, cassock and doublet, girdle, shoes, stockings, tippets, garters, shirt, gloves, band, and cuffs; seal and ring, with finally his purse, and all the money in it, at the time of his decease.† William Markham, elected twenty-second bishop in 1771, preceptor to the late king George IV, and the duke of York, held the see only five years before he was translated to the Archbishopric of York; he died at a very advanced age, in 1807. He was succeeded by Dr. Beilby Porteus, who was born at York, of American parents, in 1731, and was the youngest but one of nineteen children. He was translated to London, and there died in 1808, but was interred near Tunbridge in Kent, where he had built a chapel, which he endowed with £250 per annum. * Burnet thus speaks of him, “The other two Bishoprics were less considerable, so they resolved to fill them with the two worst men that could be found out. Cartwright was promoted to Chester. He was a man of good capacity, and had made some progress in learning. He was ambitious and servile; cruel and boisterous; and by the great liberties he allowed himself, he fell under much scandal of the worst sort. He set himself to raise the king's authority above law; which he said was only a method of government to which kings might submit as they pleased: but their authority was from Ged, absolute and superior to law, and which they might exert as oft as they found it necessary for the ends of government." † By the 21 Henry VIII, mortuaries as regarded all persons within the realm, were for the first time regulated according to the value of the personal property of the deceased; the ancient rights of the Archdeacons of Chester were especially excepted, but these were abolished in 1755, and the Rectory of Waverton annexed to the see of Chester in lieu thereof. The charities of Dr. Porteus were unbounded. Among others, in his life time he transferred near seven thousand pounds stock to the Archdeacons of London, as a permanent fund for the poorer clergy in that Diocese. Dr. Cleaver was advanced to the see of Chester in 1787, through the interest of the Marquis of Buckingham, whom he had attended as chaplain when his lordship was lord lieutenant of Ireland. He was succeeded by Dr. Majendie, who was translated to the see of Bangor in 1810, when Dr. Sparke, dean of Bristol, was consecrated bishop of Chester. George Henry Law, D.D. Prebendary of Carlisle, was consecrated twentyseventh bishop of Chester, on the 5th July 1812, on the translation of Dr. Sparke to the see of Ely: twelve years afterwards, Dr. Law was removed to Bath and Wells, the bishopric of which he still retains. To him succeeded Charles James Bloomfield, D.D. Rector of the parish of St. Botolph, London, who held the diocese only four years, when he was translated to the metropolitan see, over which his lordship yet presides. John Bird Sumner, D.D. Prebendary of Durham, was instituted bishop of Chester in the year 1828, and is at this time (1844,) zealously occupied in fulfilling the duties of his exalted station. The vastly increasing population of the manufacturing parts of Cheshire and Lancashire, all of which are included in the diocese of Chester, has long shown the necessity of a division of this widely extended see, the boundary of which is not less than five hundred and seventy miles. The incessant labours of Dr. Sumner rendered this, if possible, still more apparent, and at length the legislature enacted, that upon the determination of certain existing interests, Lancashire north of Morecambe Bay should be annexed to the see of Carlisle, and the southern part of that county form the diocese of Manchester; a corresponding portion of ecclesiastical duties and jurisdiction being accordingly transferred from Chester. The foundation of the see of Manchester is delayed, until the consolidation of the dioceses of Bangor and St. Asaph, which according to the present law is to take place upon the death of either of the prelates that preside over them. Most vehement opposition to the union of these two bishoprics is evinced in Wales, and Earl Powys, last session, introduced a bill to repeal the act by which their amalgamation is enacted; but her Majesty's ministers having withheld the Queen's consent, the bill, which had been read a second time, was withdrawn, in accordance with the forms of the House. The extensive Diocese of Chester is at present divided into two Archdeaconries, those of Chester and Richmond. In that of Chester are twelve deaneries, viz: Chester, Wirral, Bangor, Malpas, Nantwich, Middlewich, Macclesfield, Frodsham, Manchester, Warrington, Blackburn, and Leyland. The Archdeaconry of Richmond contains eight Y deaneries, viz: Amounderness, Lonsdale, Kendal, Furness, Richmond, Catterick, Copeland, and Boroughbridge. The Deanery of Wirral comprehends the entire hundred, containing fifteen parishes, and several extra-parochial places or chapelries. According to the late census, the population of the Diocese amounts to considerably more than one-eighth of the inhabitants of England and Wales; there being in Cheshire 395,660, in Lancashire 1,667,054, in Yorkshire 106,117, in Cumberland 71,464, in Westmoreland 37,144, and in North Wales 14,461: total, 2,291,900. The following, (accidentally omitted on p. 122,) will supply the list of donations subsequently made by the Earl and his followers, to the Abbot and Convent of Chester, of lands and other properties in Wirral; and it is useful in shewing how much of the other parts of the hundred passed into their hands. After the earlier of the endowments, "the Earl (Lupus,) conferred on the Convent the great tithe of Calders, (Caldy,) which grant was confirmed by Robertus Filius Serlonis, when he obtained that lordship; and he also gave the tithes of Greasby and Storeton, which Nigel de Burceio confirmed, when the townships fell into his possession. Walkeline, the nephew of Walter de Vernon, gave certain lands in Nesse, with all the tithes of Prenton, Ledsham, and the third part of his own, and his wife's goods. Ranulph, the son of Ermiwin, gave some lands in Woodchurch, with the tithes of Barnston, and also of all his mares. Seward gave the chapel of Bebington, with four oxgangs of land, and the tithesof all his lordships. Richard de Mesilwerin, (Mainwaring,) gave all the tithes of Blachenol, (Blaconhall, Blacon-cumcrabwall,) including fish, as well as corn and everything titheable. After the death of Earl Lupus, his son Richard, not only confirmed all his father's grants to the Abbey, but he made considerable additions to them, as did his barons; one of whom, Matthew de Rodelent, supposed to have been an illegitimate son of the great Baron of Rodelent or Rhuddlan, on his brother Simon professing at the shrine of St. Werburgh, presented the abbot and convent with the church of Turemstone, (Thurstaston.) Randall, the second earl of that name, in recompense for some damage done to the monastery, or for some personal injury done to the monks, gave them the lordships of Eastham and Bruneberg, (Bromborough,) in perpetual alms." .. THE HUNDRED OF WIRRAL. Where Mersey for more state, Assuming broader banks, himself so proudly bears DRAYTON'S POLYOLBION, Canto xi. T is unquestionable that great changes have taken place in the aspect of this part of the kingdom since the Romans had dominion in Britain. In their time the Ribble seems to have been the chief river of this district, and Ribchester, (Rivecastrum,) the Rerigonium of Antoninus, is said to have been a city as great as any out of Rome. "The port was Poulton, below Preston, at the neb of the naze, so vastly inferior at the present time, to various situations on the Mersey and the Dee, that it is impossible not to admit, that some extraordinary change has taken place in their physical condition since that period. Tradition says, that the port of Ribble was destroyed by an earthquake, and also that there were tremendous inundations in Cheshire and Lancashire about the termination of the Roman sway in England; and various phenomena we have seen, seem to point to some such catastrophe.* In ignorance of everything connected with these events, various have been the speculations made upon the former state of the HUNDRED OF WIRRAL, which from several reasons, is considered to have once been an island, separated from the greater part of the county by water, covering the present valley of Broxton. The Hundred of Wirral now forms a narrow peninsula. The majestic waters of the Mersey and the Dee wash its shores on the east and the west; the north is bounded by the Irish sea, and a low valley which runs in an angular direction, from the Dee Report of the Commisioners of Enquiry into Municipal Corporations. Nov. 1833. Appendix, cxxii. |