St Luke's Church, Goostrey
Encyclopedia
St Luke's Church, Goostrey is in the village of Goostrey
, Cheshire
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican
parish church
in the diocese of Chester
, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton.
and a church or chapel was present by 1244. By 1617 a timber-framed
chapel was present on the site which consisted of a nave and a chancel with a south aisle belonging to the Booths of Twemlow. In 1667 another south aisle was constructed for Edmund Jodrell and this was enlarged in 1711. In 1792 this chapel was demolished and the present church built between 1792 and 1796.
, named after the burial mounds or 'lows' found in this part of Cheshire, indicating that people lived here over four thousand years ago. The first documented mention of Goostrey
is in the Domesday Book (1086), when most of the parish was held by William Fitz Nigel, Baron of Halton
, and by Hugh de Mara, another follower of the Earl of Chester
. They gave much land in Goostrey
to endow the new abbey of Saint Werburgh in Chester, and later land in the parish was given to help endow the Vale Royal Abbey
, near Northwich
.
The medieval history of the parish is recorded in grants and agreements which regulated the relations between the abbey at Chester and their local tenants. Occasionally these documents give an insight into the personal lives of the period. For example in 1286 Honde Merlun broke into the church at Goostrey and took away all the ornaments; or when five brothers of William Eaton of Blackden were slain together and buried in the chapelyard in 1385.
allowed burials here. The parishioners of Goostrey frequently found the way to Sandbach impassable because of floods and must have rejoiced when the five mile (8 km) journey across the Rivers Dane
and Croco was no longer necessary. The old church was timber framed, as Marton still is today, but all that remains from the Middle Ages of that church is the fifteenth century font.
Three of the bells rang in the old building; the oldest was cast in 1606, the next recast in 1705, when the work cost £5, and the third a little later. Of the other three, two were given in 1869 by Anna Maria Toler in memory of Mrs Thomas Hilditch, and the third is modern, dated 1912. The present ring
consists of six bells, two of which were cast in 1869 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
by Mears & Stainbank, and the rest are by James Barwell, dated 1913. The organ was built in 1876 by Wadsworth.
Some of the Communion Plates are eighteenth century and in 1719 a silver paten
was given by Miss Dorothy Jodrell. It was made in London in 1715 by Samuel Wastell. A chalice and flagon, towards which Randle Armstrong gave £20 in 1759, were made in that year by Fuller White of London. There is a modern paten, dated 1902, made in London, and there is a modern chalice given in memory of Sarah Elizabeth Knowles, made in Sheffield and dated 1931.
in Yorkshire
or Bridgnorth
in Shropshire
, as well as one contribution sent to Hugh Evans 'having his house and his household goods burnt in the county of Salop'. The registers also document how everyone agreed to the appointment of Mr Henry Newcome
as minister on 7 October 1648, and it seems that even into the eighteenth century the inhabitants had some say in which clergyman was given the living of Goostrey, even though the final decision must have rested then as now with the vicar of Sandbach.
Mr Newcome was a strict puritan, and forbade two of his most prominent parishioners from coming to Holy Communion for their frequent drinking. He left after eighteen months to become Rector of Gawsworth.
The Churchwarden's Accounts are preserved from 1638 and explain the economics of parish life in other days. For example in 1661, the font could be releaded for thirteen shillings, or a clock bought for two pounds three shillings and nine pence in 1658. Some things seem very cheap, as when the royal arms were painted and erected for two pounds three shillings and eight pence, and some very expensive, as when the book containing the new Communion Service of 1662, was purchased at a cost of twelve shillings, at a time when a labourer's weekly wage would not be much above half a crown. Sometimes information about the bill is scarce, as when the church was restored in 1711 at a cost of forty six pounds. Other account examples include 5000 bricks for two pounds five shillings in 1750.
In 1876 the church was restored
and the interior re-furnished. It seems likely that the pulpit, lectern and sanctuary panelling were put in then. A new organ was given and a console in 1947 when the pipes were moved to the gallery. In 1961 a new altar was given and other furniture for the chancel which was rearranged to give more space between the choir pews.
The stained glass, which may aptly be called post-Raphaelite, dates from about 1876; the east window being given in memory of Egerton Leigh, the second of that name to live at Jodrell Hall, the south west window being in memory of Mary Susan Armitstead, the young wife of William George, vicar of Goostrey from 1860 to 1907. They married in 1865; she died in 1868.
Across from the church is Goostrey Primary School
. The earliest reference to a school is in 1640 when it was repaired. It was then next to the north wall of the churchyard where the old vicarage now stands, in a house which was also used as the court house for Goostrey Manor. This appears to have been pulled down in 1703. It may be then that the pupils moved across to the old school house, which is one of the oldest buildings in the village. In 1856 the main part of the present buildings were erected when the old days of a schoolmaster who was also the parish clerk came to an end. The last of these schoolmasters, Jonathan Harding (1781–1862), is buried by the west end of the church; he had held his office for fifty two years. In 1977 the building of a new infants' department across the main road was undertaken. With this the old connection of church and school has been severed.
, incumbent in the village from 1735 to 1754, left money to Cambridge University to found a professorial chair, which is still known by his name. Some families have achieved parochial renown by their memorials in church. The Kinseys whose last male representative died in 1814, acquired land here about 1380 by marrying one of the heiresses of the last Goostrey. The Armitsteads, who provided four vicars of Goostrey, three successively from 1859 to 1923, came from Horton in Ribblesdale
in the middle of the eighteenth century, Lawrence whose memorial is on the north wall, purchased the Hermitage and Cranage estates. The Baskervyles whose memorials are in the north east corner of the chancel were squires of nearby Withington Hall from 1266 until 1954 when John Baskerville Glegg was buried at the east end of the church with his ancestors. On the south wall we read of the Booth
family who lived at Twemlow Hall
. The Booths originated from Barton near Manchester
and were a family of note in the North West
by the fifteenth century. Through marriage with a Venables heiress they acquired Dunham Massey
and later a cadet
branch by marriage with a Knutsford
heiress obtained part of Twemlow whilst the other Knutsford heiress married a Jodrell from Yeardsley who obtained the other part. A Jodrell heiress in 1778 married Egerton Leigh of West Hall, High Legh
, and in 1863 their grandson Colonel
Egerton Leigh bought the other 900 acres (3.6 km²) of the Twemlow Manor estate from the Booths. Leigh family
sold most of their Jodrell
and surrounding estates in 1924.
Today most of the land here is owned by the families who farm it, though at the north east corner of Goostrey, Manchester University owns land where their radio telescope, Jodrell Bank
overlooks a collection of Neolithic barrows.
Goostrey
Goostrey is an old farming village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located off Junction 18 of the M6 motorway, near Jodrell Bank Observatory. According to the 2001 Census, the civil parish had a total population of...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
in the diocese of Chester
Diocese of Chester
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester, covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries...
, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton.
History
The parish of Goostrey is first mentioned in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
and a church or chapel was present by 1244. By 1617 a timber-framed
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
chapel was present on the site which consisted of a nave and a chancel with a south aisle belonging to the Booths of Twemlow. In 1667 another south aisle was constructed for Edmund Jodrell and this was enlarged in 1711. In 1792 this chapel was demolished and the present church built between 1792 and 1796.
Parish of Goostrey
The ecclesiastical parish of Goostrey includes not only the civil parish of that name, but also that of TwemlowTwemlow
Twemlow is a civil parish, containing the village of Twemlow Green in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 Official UK Census, the population of the entire civil parish was 168.Twemlow lies along the A535 road.From the 16th to...
, named after the burial mounds or 'lows' found in this part of Cheshire, indicating that people lived here over four thousand years ago. The first documented mention of Goostrey
Goostrey
Goostrey is an old farming village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located off Junction 18 of the M6 motorway, near Jodrell Bank Observatory. According to the 2001 Census, the civil parish had a total population of...
is in the Domesday Book (1086), when most of the parish was held by William Fitz Nigel, Baron of Halton
Barony of Halton
The Barony of Halton, in Cheshire, England, comprised a succession of 15 barons who held under the overlordship of the County Palatine of Chester ruled by the Earl of Chester. It was not therefore an English feudal barony which was under full royal jurisdiction, which is the usual sense of the...
, and by Hugh de Mara, another follower of the Earl of Chester
Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Honour of Chester :The...
. They gave much land in Goostrey
Goostrey
Goostrey is an old farming village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located off Junction 18 of the M6 motorway, near Jodrell Bank Observatory. According to the 2001 Census, the civil parish had a total population of...
to endow the new abbey of Saint Werburgh in Chester, and later land in the parish was given to help endow the Vale Royal Abbey
Vale Royal Abbey
Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England.The abbey was founded in 1270 by Edward I for monks of the austere Cistercian order...
, near Northwich
Northwich
Northwich is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane...
.
The medieval history of the parish is recorded in grants and agreements which regulated the relations between the abbey at Chester and their local tenants. Occasionally these documents give an insight into the personal lives of the period. For example in 1286 Honde Merlun broke into the church at Goostrey and took away all the ornaments; or when five brothers of William Eaton of Blackden were slain together and buried in the chapelyard in 1385.
St Luke's Church
St Luke's Church, a Church of England church, was built before 1220, but it was not until 1350 that the mother church of SandbachSandbach
Sandbach is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements; Sandbach itself, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock....
allowed burials here. The parishioners of Goostrey frequently found the way to Sandbach impassable because of floods and must have rejoiced when the five mile (8 km) journey across the Rivers Dane
River Dane
The River Dane is a river mainly in Cheshire in the north west of England.The river rises in Derbyshire, close to the source of the River Goyt just to the south west of Buxton, on Axe Edge Moor...
and Croco was no longer necessary. The old church was timber framed, as Marton still is today, but all that remains from the Middle Ages of that church is the fifteenth century font.
Three of the bells rang in the old building; the oldest was cast in 1606, the next recast in 1705, when the work cost £5, and the third a little later. Of the other three, two were given in 1869 by Anna Maria Toler in memory of Mrs Thomas Hilditch, and the third is modern, dated 1912. The present ring
Ring of bells
"Ring of bells" is a term most often applied to a set of bells hung in the English style, typically for change ringing...
consists of six bells, two of which were cast in 1869 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
by Mears & Stainbank, and the rest are by James Barwell, dated 1913. The organ was built in 1876 by Wadsworth.
Some of the Communion Plates are eighteenth century and in 1719 a silver paten
Paten
A paten, or diskos, is a small plate, usually made of silver or gold, used to hold Eucharistic bread which is to be consecrated. It is generally used during the service itself, while the reserved hosts are stored in the Tabernacle in a ciborium....
was given by Miss Dorothy Jodrell. It was made in London in 1715 by Samuel Wastell. A chalice and flagon, towards which Randle Armstrong gave £20 in 1759, were made in that year by Fuller White of London. There is a modern paten, dated 1902, made in London, and there is a modern chalice given in memory of Sarah Elizabeth Knowles, made in Sheffield and dated 1931.
Parish records
The parish registers, which are well preserved, date back to 1561. They contain a few interesting notes, such as one in 1661 when Marie Worthington, the wife of the minister of Goostrey, died, and after the entry is written the word 'scould' in a different ink. Another note among the next year's burials tells that Mr Whishall 'married five wives,' and later, in 1674, when James Dean married Margaret Hall, we read that she was his third wife 'all within the year'. At the back of the volume, among a list of notices relating to collections made in the chapelry, are documented donations sent to towns like RiponRipon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
or Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...
in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, as well as one contribution sent to Hugh Evans 'having his house and his household goods burnt in the county of Salop'. The registers also document how everyone agreed to the appointment of Mr Henry Newcome
Henry Newcome
-Life:He was the fourth son of Stephen Newcome, rector of Caldicote, Huntingdonshire. He was born at Caldicote, and baptised on27 Nov. 1627. His mother was Rose, daughter of Henry Williamson, B. D. ,...
as minister on 7 October 1648, and it seems that even into the eighteenth century the inhabitants had some say in which clergyman was given the living of Goostrey, even though the final decision must have rested then as now with the vicar of Sandbach.
Mr Newcome was a strict puritan, and forbade two of his most prominent parishioners from coming to Holy Communion for their frequent drinking. He left after eighteen months to become Rector of Gawsworth.
The Churchwarden's Accounts are preserved from 1638 and explain the economics of parish life in other days. For example in 1661, the font could be releaded for thirteen shillings, or a clock bought for two pounds three shillings and nine pence in 1658. Some things seem very cheap, as when the royal arms were painted and erected for two pounds three shillings and eight pence, and some very expensive, as when the book containing the new Communion Service of 1662, was purchased at a cost of twelve shillings, at a time when a labourer's weekly wage would not be much above half a crown. Sometimes information about the bill is scarce, as when the church was restored in 1711 at a cost of forty six pounds. Other account examples include 5000 bricks for two pounds five shillings in 1750.
Construction
In 1792 the wooden church being very cold, it was decided to build, at a cost of £1,700, a new church to the design of the village bricksetter. No doubt the continual repairing and the alterations when new aisles were added to accommodate the gentry, had made a thorough rebuilding necessary, but the eighteenth century was no respector of ancient buildings. However they did leave us the old yew tree.In 1876 the church was restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
and the interior re-furnished. It seems likely that the pulpit, lectern and sanctuary panelling were put in then. A new organ was given and a console in 1947 when the pipes were moved to the gallery. In 1961 a new altar was given and other furniture for the chancel which was rearranged to give more space between the choir pews.
The stained glass, which may aptly be called post-Raphaelite, dates from about 1876; the east window being given in memory of Egerton Leigh, the second of that name to live at Jodrell Hall, the south west window being in memory of Mary Susan Armitstead, the young wife of William George, vicar of Goostrey from 1860 to 1907. They married in 1865; she died in 1868.
Across from the church is Goostrey Primary School
Goostrey Primary School
Goostrey School is a Community Primary school situated in the centre of the village of Goostrey at the heart of rural Cheshire, England.Across from St Luke's Church, Goostrey is Goostrey Primary School which was originally a Church of England School....
. The earliest reference to a school is in 1640 when it was repaired. It was then next to the north wall of the churchyard where the old vicarage now stands, in a house which was also used as the court house for Goostrey Manor. This appears to have been pulled down in 1703. It may be then that the pupils moved across to the old school house, which is one of the oldest buildings in the village. In 1856 the main part of the present buildings were erected when the old days of a schoolmaster who was also the parish clerk came to an end. The last of these schoolmasters, Jonathan Harding (1781–1862), is buried by the west end of the church; he had held his office for fifty two years. In 1977 the building of a new infants' department across the main road was undertaken. With this the old connection of church and school has been severed.
People of Goostrey
John HulseJohn Hulse
John Hulse was an English clergyman. He is now known mainly as the founder of the series of Hulsean Lectures at the University of Cambridge.-Life:...
, incumbent in the village from 1735 to 1754, left money to Cambridge University to found a professorial chair, which is still known by his name. Some families have achieved parochial renown by their memorials in church. The Kinseys whose last male representative died in 1814, acquired land here about 1380 by marrying one of the heiresses of the last Goostrey. The Armitsteads, who provided four vicars of Goostrey, three successively from 1859 to 1923, came from Horton in Ribblesdale
Horton in Ribblesdale
Horton in Ribblesdale is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in Ribblesdale on the Settle–Carlisle Railway to the west of Pen-y-ghent....
in the middle of the eighteenth century, Lawrence whose memorial is on the north wall, purchased the Hermitage and Cranage estates. The Baskervyles whose memorials are in the north east corner of the chancel were squires of nearby Withington Hall from 1266 until 1954 when John Baskerville Glegg was buried at the east end of the church with his ancestors. On the south wall we read of the Booth
Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington
Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington was a Member of Parliament, Privy Councillor, Protestant protagonist in the Revolution of 1688, Mayor of Chester and author.-Life:...
family who lived at Twemlow Hall
Twemlow Hall
Twemlow Hall is a country house standing on a former moated site in the parish of Twemlow, Cheshire, England. It dates from the 17th century, and was "much altered" in 1810 for William Bache Booth. It was altered again in 1974. The house is constructed in brick on a stone plinth. It has...
. The Booths originated from Barton near Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and were a family of note in the North West
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
by the fifteenth century. Through marriage with a Venables heiress they acquired Dunham Massey
Dunham Massey
Dunham Massey is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The parish includes the villages of Sinderland Green, Dunham Woodhouse and Dunham Town, along with Dunham Massey Park, formerly the home of the last Earl of Stamford and owned by the National Trust...
and later a cadet
Cadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...
branch by marriage with a Knutsford
Knutsford
Knutsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in North West England...
heiress obtained part of Twemlow whilst the other Knutsford heiress married a Jodrell from Yeardsley who obtained the other part. A Jodrell heiress in 1778 married Egerton Leigh of West Hall, High Legh
High Legh
High Legh is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies six miles north west of Knutsford, seven miles east of Warrington and seventeen miles south west of Manchester City Centre....
, and in 1863 their grandson Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Egerton Leigh bought the other 900 acres (3.6 km²) of the Twemlow Manor estate from the Booths. Leigh family
Edward Leigh
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh is a British Conservative politician. He has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire since 1997, and for its predecessor constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle between 1983 and 1997...
sold most of their Jodrell
Jodrell
Jodrell is a surname, and may refer to:* Henry Jodrell , British politician, MP for Great Yarmouth and for Bramber, Sussex* Neville Jodrell , British Politician, MP for Mid Norfolk and for King's Lynn...
and surrounding estates in 1924.
Today most of the land here is owned by the families who farm it, though at the north east corner of Goostrey, Manchester University owns land where their radio telescope, Jodrell Bank
Jodrell Bank
The Jodrell Bank Observatory is a British observatory that hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester...
overlooks a collection of Neolithic barrows.