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

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

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

The place: WOOLLEY.     Church dedication: ST. MARY.

Area, vide Royston. Staincross wapentake. -Population, 553 *1, vide Royston ; Chapel-room, 400 *2; Net value, £200.

Patron, W. Godfrey Wentworth, Esq.

By Ordination of Archbishop Corbridge, the Monks of Bretton were bound to find a Chaplain to officiate in the Chapel of Woolley.

Valued in 1707, at £21. 14s. 4d. per annum ; in the King's books, at £4. 13s. 4d. per annum ; and in the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xviii. page 418, it is stated : " Chapel, £4. 13s. 4d. per annum. About 160 communicants. Two miles from Royston. To be made a distinct parish."

Augmented in 1721, with £200, to meet benefaction of lands worth upwards of £15 per annum from William Wentworth, Esq.; and in 1760, with £200, to meet benefaction of £200 from Godfrey Wentworth, Esq., the patron.

" Woolley, a parochial Chapel, in the parish of Royston. All manner of tithes are impropriate. The Archbishop allows fourteen nobles to the Curate per annum. The Countess of Eglington (then Lady Grace Wentworth) gave an augmentation of £5 per annum for a constant preacher ; otherwise to go to the poor of the parish or town of Woolley. Matthew Husband left by will 20s. per annum to the minister, to be paid on Sunday before St. Thomas's day, a rentcharge. Grace Husbands left by her will 10s., to be given to the minister at Whitsuntide ; and Mr. Thomas Ellis left by will £100 to the Church, the use thereof to be paid to the minister on St. Thomas his Festival." -Notitia Pa-rochialis, No. 395.

A Chantry is named in the Valor Ecc.

For the arms, inscriptions, and catalogue of Curates, see Hunter's South Yorkshire.

3rd June 1794, faculty to re-pew the Chapel and erect gallery.

There is no glebe house.

The Register books commence in 1651.

Charities:
The Dole Land. About eight acres. The rent is divided equally among sixteen poor persons, after deducting from each share 1s. for the parish clerk for winding up the chapel clock.

Matthew Husband's gift, by will, dated in 1687. Rents-charge of 20s. a year to the minister, and 10s. a year to the poor on St. Thomas's day.

Charity:
unds. The sum of £130, being amount of benefactions for the poor, and £70 given for educating poor children, is secured by bond. The interest of the £130 is applied in purchasing coals for the poor, and the interest of the £70 is paid to the schoolmaster.

The School, endowed by Nicholas Burley, by deed, dated 3rd December 1726, with eleven acres of land, for teaching ten poor children to read and write. -Vide 17th Report. page 760.

Post town: Wakefield.

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References:
Bodleian MS., No. 5,101. Abp. Sharp's MS., vol. i. page 268. Hunter's South Yorkshire, ii. page 383. Torre's MS., page 1069.

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Notes:
*1 Woolley and Emley. In 1834, the return was 540.

*2 In 1818, the Chapel-room was 560.