Data from the 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum' from the year 1842.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

Data from the 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum' from the year 1842.

The place: BATLEY.     Church dedication: ALL SAINTS.     Church type: Discharged Vicarage.

Area, 6,390 acres. Agbrigg and Morley wapentake, L.D. -Population, 11,335 *1; Church-room, 700 *2; Net value, £192. -This Church was given to Nostell Priory by Robert de Lacy, and after his attainder, was regranted thereto by Hugh de la Val, and confirmed by Henry I., and appropriated to it, and a Vicarage ordained therein, 5th March, A.D. 1253.

The endowment is dated by Burton.

A Chantry was founded in this Church in 1334, by Adam de Oxenhoppe. Another is named in the Valor Ecc. and also one at Batley Hall.

The patronage is alternately in the Earl of Cardigan and the Earl of Wilton.

In Pope Nicholas's taxation the Church is valued at £10 and the Vicarage at £6. 13s. 4d. per annum. In the King's books the Vicarage is valued at £16. 11s. 6½d. and in the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xviii. page 317, at £13. 6s. 8d. Procurations, 7s. 6d. Synodals, 4s.

In the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xviii. page 317, it is stated: " Vicarage 13s. 6s. 8d. Morley Chapel, distant from the Church of Batley two miles. Mr. White is pastor there, who hath no certain maintenance, yet had an augmentation granted him of £50 per annum, out of the Rectory of Burton Agnes, and paid by Sir Henry Griffith, a delinquent. We think fit that Morley Chapel be made a parish Church, and the towns or villages of Gildersome and Churwell, within the same parish, be annexed to Morley Chapel, and united into one parish, they being much nearer Morley than the parish Church of Batley."

Augmented in 1741 with £200, to meet benefaction of waste lands, worth £200, from the lord of the manor, &c.

Inclosure Act, 41st Geo. III.

The glebe house is fit for residence.

By custom the church-rates have been paid in the following proportions, viz. : Batley, two-fifths; Morley, two-fifths; and Gildersome and Churwell, one-fifth.

4th March 1830, a faculty was granted to erect an organ in the Chapel.

Dr. Whitaker gives an engraving of a tomb. Mr. Scatchard also gives the inscriptions, substance of the endowment, and a south view of the Church.

At the Restoration, the Rev. Thomas Smallwood, who had been chaplain to Lord Fairfax, and afterwards to General Lambert, was ejected.

The Register Books commence in 1559. Defective 1639-1642, 1645-1652.

Charities:
Free School. Founded by deed, in 1612, by the Rev. William Lee, for the free education of the children of the inhabitants of the whole parish, as well in learning to read English and to write, as in the Greek and Latin tongues. The rules to be ratified by the Archbishop. In consequence of the great increase in Population, the number of free scholars is restricted to 60. The endowment consists of 48a. 3r. 6p. of land, subject to a debt of £163.

Girls' School, built by subscription in 1787. Fifteen poor girls instructed as free scholars, in reading, knitting, and sewing. Income, interest of £170.

Shipley's gift, by will, in 1719. Rentcharge of £4 for the poor. Also £10 per annum to the minister, for morning and afternoon sermons.

Mrs. Chester's gift, by will. £1 per annum for the poor.

John Watson's charity, by will, in 1753. Interest of £25.

Joshua Scholefield's charity, by will, dated 29th June 1806. Interest of £60 for the education of poor children of the surname of Scholefield or Kitson, and, if sufficient, for the education of other poor children. He also left the interest of £40 to the Sunday SchooL-Vide 17th Report, page 716.

Post town: Dewsbury.

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References:
Torre's MS. page 831. Mon. Ang. vol. page 92. Burton's Monasticon, page 302. Abp. Sharp's MS. vol. i. page 180. Bodleian MS. No. 5101. Whitaker's Loidis et Elmete, page 234. Scatchard's Morley, page 227.

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Notes:
*1 Viz. Batley, 4,841 ; Churwell, 1,023; Gildersome, 1,652; Morley, 3,819.

*2 Exclusive of the Chapels at Gildersome and Morley.