“Here lyes the body of John Veale, late of Whinney Heys, Esq., who dyed the 20th Jan., 1704, aged sixty.”
“Here lyes the body of Susannah, wife of the late John Veale, Esq., of Whinney Heys, Esq., who departed this life the 20th of May, 1718, aged 67 years.”
“Here lyes the body of Edward Veale, late of Whinney Heys, Esq., who departed this life the 11th of August, 1723, aged 43 years.”
“Here lyes the body of Dorothy Veale, eldest daughter of John Veale, late of Whinney Heys, Esq., who departed this life the 9th day of January, in the year of our Lord, 1747, and in the 77th year of her age.”
Beneath these tablets, the only ones in the church, was the family vault of the Veales, of Whinney Heys, now covered over by pews. During the year 1875 the nave was re-seated, and at the time when the flooring was taken up numerous skulls and bones were found in different parts of the building, barely covered with earth, plainly indicating that interments had once been very frequent within the walls, and causing us to wonder that no mural or other monuments, beyond those just given, are now visible, or, indeed, remembered by any of the old parishioners. None of the stones in the graveyard are of great antiquity, and the most interesting object on that score is a portion of an ancient stone cross, having the letters I.H.S. carved upon it, on the broken summit of which a sun-dial has been mounted. Tradition has long affirmed that Beatrice, or Bridget, the daughter of Oliver Cromwell, who espoused General Ireton, and after his death General Fleetwood, lies buried here, but this is a mistake, probably arising from the proximity of the Rossall family, having the same name as her second husband; the lady was interred at Stoke Newington on the 5th of September, 1681. There are no stained glass windows, and the walls of the church are whitewashed externally.
| PERPETUAL CURATES AND VICARS OF BISPHAM. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Institution. | Name. | On whose Presentation. | Cause of Vacancy. |
| Before 1559 | Jerome Allen | Abbey of Syon | |
| About 1649 | John Fisher | ||
| In 1650 | John Cavelay | Resignation of J. Fisher | |
| Before 1674 | Robert Brodbelt | Death of J. Cavelay | |
| ” 1689 | Robert Wayte | ||
| ” 1691 | Thomas Rikay | Death of R. Wayte | |
| In 1692 | Thomas Sellom | Richard Fleetwood | Death of T. Rikay |
| About 1715 | Jonathan Hayton | ||
| Before 1753 | Christopher Albin | Edward Fleetwood | |
| In 1753 | Roger Freckleton | Roger Hesketh | Death of C. Albin |
| ” 1760 | Ashton Werden | Roger Hesketh | Death of Roger Freckleton |
| ” 1767 | John Armetriding | Roger Hesketh | Death of A. Werden |
| ” 1791 | William Elston | Thomas Elston | Death of John Armetriding |
| ” 1831 | Charles Hesketh, M.A. | Sir P. H. Fleetwood | Death of W. Elston |
| ” 1837 | Bennett Williams, M.A. | Rev. C. Hesketh | Resignation of C. Hesketh |
| ” 1850 | Henry Powell, M.A. | Ditto | Resignation of B. Williams |
| ” 1857 | W. A. Mocatta, M.A. | Ditto | Resignation of H. Powell |
| ” 1861 | James Leighton, M.A. | Ditto | Resignation of W. A. Mocatta |
| ” 1874 | C. S. Hope, M.A. | Ditto | Resignation of J. Leighton |
| ” 1876 | Francis John Dickson | Ditto | Resignation of C. S. Hope |
The living was a perpetual curacy until lately, when it was raised to the rank of a vicarage. The Rev. Charles Hesketh, M.A., of North Meols, has been the patron for almost half a century. Divine worship, according to the ritual of the Roman Catholics, was last celebrated in Bispham church during March, 1559, immediately after the death of Queen Mary, when her protestant successor, Elizabeth, ascended the throne. The pastor, Jerome Allen, a member of the Benedictine brotherhood, assembled his flock at nine in the morning of the 25th of that month, and previous to administering the holy sacrament, addressed a few words of farewell and advice to his congregation. “Suffused in tears,” records the diary of Rishton, “this holy and good man admonished his people to obey the new queen, who had succeeded Mary, the late one, and besought them to love God above all things, and their neighbours as themselves.” It is said that after vacating his cure at Bispham, the Rev. Jerome Allen, retired to Lambspring, in Germany, where he spent the remainder of his life in the strictest religious observances enjoined by his creed. In 1650 the following remarks concerning Bispham were recorded by the ecclesiastical commissioners of the Commonwealth:—“Bispham hath formerly been a parish church, containing two townships, Bispham-cum-Norbreck and Layton-cum-Warbreck, and consisting of three hundred families; the inhabitants of the said towns desire that they may be made a parish.” In the survey of the Right Rev. Francis Gastrell, D.D., bishop of Chester, the annexed notice occurs:—“Bispham. Certif. £8 0s. 0d., viz., a parcell of ground, given by Mr. R. Fleetwood, worth, taxes deducted, £5 per year; Easter Reckonings, £3. Richard Fleetwood, esq., of Rossall Hall, settled upon the church in 1687 a Rent Charge of £10 per ann. for ever. Bispham-cum-Norbreck, and Layton-cum Warbreck, for which places serve four Churchwardens, two chosen by the ministers and two by the parish.” In 1725 Edward Veale, of Whinney Heys, gave £200 to augment the living, and a similar amount was granted from Queen Anne’s Bounty for a like purpose. Three years later £400 more were acquired, half from the fund just named, and half from Mr. S. Walter. The parish registers commence in 1599.
William le Botiler, or Butler, held the manors of Layton, Bispham, and Warbreck, according to the Duchy Feordary, in the early part of the fourteenth century, and in 1365 his son, Sir John Botiler, granted the manors of Great and Little Layton and Bispham, to Henry de Bispham and Richard de Carleton, chaplains. Great Bispham probably remained in the possession of the church until the dissolution of the monasteries. Norbreck and Little Bispham appear to have belonged to the convent of Salop, and were leased by William, abbot of that house, together with certain tithes in Layton, to the abbot and convent of Deulacres, by an undated deed, for eight marks per annum, due at Martinmas.[121] In 1539 the brotherhood of Deulacres paid rent for lands in Little Bispham and Norbreck, and an additional sum of 2s. to Sir Thomas Butler, for lands in Great Bispham.[122] After the Reformation, Bispham was granted by Edward VI., in the sixth year of his reign, to Sir Ralph Bagnell, by whom it was sold to John Fleetwood, of Rossall; and in 1571, Thomas Fleetwood, the descendant of the last-named gentleman, held Great and Little Bispham and Layton.[123] The manors remained invested in the Rossall family until the lifetime of the late Sir P. H. Fleetwood, by whom they were sold to the Cliftons, of Lytham, John Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham Hall, being the present lord.
The subjoined account of a shipwreck on this coast is taken from the journal of William Stout, of Lancaster, and illustrates the uses to which the church was occasionally put in similar cases of emergency:—