petual annuity of £78, 15s. This was to include the previous annuity of £12.

(2) A piece of pasture land containing 6 acres 3 roods 20 poles for a sum of £700.

In 1885 the remainder of the charity property, including 186 acres 3 roods 37 poles, with rights of pasture on Abbeystead Fell, but excepting the school and schoolmaster's house, was sold to Lord Sefton for the sum of £6000, which was invested in the purchase of £5992, 10s. Consols.

In 1896 the question of the ownership of the house and land occupied by the Vicar of Over Wyresdale was settled by an Order of the Charity Commissioners authorising the governors to convey the property to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the benefit of the Vicar of Wyresdale, and the conveyance was completed on the 5th December 1896.

The property of the school therefore now consists of

(1) The school and playground.

(2) The master's house and garden, containing I rood 16 poles.

(3) £5992, 10s. Consols, producing yearly £164, 15s. 8d.

(4) A perpetual annuity of £78, 15s. from the Corporation of Lancaster.

The school is now entirely free, and the average number of children in attendance is 43.

Such is a summary of the history of Wyresdale Church and Abbeystead School. High up on the hillside, on the borders of the moors, exposed to all the winds of heaven, the little church looks upon a vast expanse of fell stretching for many miles to the east, and follows the silver course of the river Wyre until it merges in the Irish Sea on the west. And in the valley below the church stands the school, almost on the site of the old Cistercian Abbey, a

foundation where for more than three hundred years has been carried on the work which William Cawthorne began "for the glory of Almighty God, and for the educating and bringing up of young children and youths to be instrumental to serve Him."

1608.

CURATES OF WYRESDALE.

"Mr. Cragge, Minister at Wyresdale, but noe preacher."-Kenyon MSS.

(?) 1638. Thomas Denny. Mr. Denny was buried at Lancaster 28th November 1668, and his will proved in 1669.

1688. William Gregson, "being chosen Curate of Wyresdale Chappell by the inhabitants

with the consent of Mr. Fenton."

Mr. Washington

1716. Lawrence Washington.

was the son of, Robert Washington of Warton, was baptized 27th June 1685, and was grandfather of Thomas Washington, Vicar of Warton in 1794. Lawrence Washington died 25th November 1768, aged 84. His will was proved in 1771 by his daughter Ellen, the sole executor. 1769. Francis Lee. Appointed by the Vicar of Lancaster to be " Curate of the augmented curacy of Wyresdale vacant by the death of Lawrence Washington." Mr. Lee was Incumbent of Rusland in 1747, Master of Heversham School in 1756, and Curate of Lancaster 1756-69. In 1789 Mr. Lee nominated his son Francis Lee, B.A., born in 1766, of St. John's College, Cambridge, as his Assistant Curate, at a stipend of £35.

1790. James Watson. Appointed by the Vicar of Lancaster to the Curacy of Wyresdale,

void by the death of Francis Lee in December 1789. Mr. Watson was in 1766 Headmaster of Lancaster School, and in that capacity seems to have got into trouble with the Mayor of Lancaster, for it is recorded that "at a meeting of the Council held on the 24th day of June 1779, to take into consideration the Behaviour of the Rev. Mr. Watson, Head Master of the free Grammar School at Lancaster, on the twenty-third day of this instant June, to Master Richard Hinde, son of Thomas Hinde, Esquire, Mayor of the said Borough, and one of the Scholars in the said School: it was unanimously resolved in Council that the behaviour of the said Mr. Watson to the said Richard Hinde hath been unproper and inhuman and unjustifiable, and that by means thereof and from the said Mr. Watson's conduct at this meeting, he hath highly incurred the displeasure of the Council. And it is further unanimously resolved that if the said Mr. Watson shall in future persist in such conduct proper steps will be taken, at the expense of the Corporation, to remove him from his office of Schoolmaster." No further record appears against Mr. Watson. In 1790 he nominated James. Bleasdale, Clerk, as his Assistant Curate, at a stipend of £40, and died in 1799. 1799. James Thomas. Appointed by the Vicar of Lancaster on the death of James Watson. Mr. Bleasdale continued to be the Assistant Curate at a stipend of £42 a year. Mr. Thomas in 1804 obtained licence for non-residence from the Bishop of Chester, and Mr. Bleasdale occupied the Curate's house. Mr. Thomas was Vicar of Bolton le Sands, Curate of

Wyresdale, and Curate of St. John's Church at Lancaster, all at the same time.

1824. Joseph Stuart. Appointed on the death of James Thomas. He was previously

Curate of Admarsh.

1829. Robert Watson. Appointed on the death of Joseph Stuart. Mr. Watson was Curate of Lancaster 1826-29.

1863. Constantine Adolphus de Lusignan. Mr. de Lusignan was Curate of Frodsham from 1854 to 1856, acted as Curate at Wyresdale from 1856 to 1863, was appointed Perpetual Curate in 1863. and continued till 1878, when he became Vicar of Caton. He died in 1888.

1878. Thomas Joseph Brereton. Resigned 1894. 1894. Daniel Schofield.

1 July 1793. At Abbeystead, aged 8o years, Thomas Richardson, for nearly 60 years Master of the School there.—Lancaster Register.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LIVERPOOL CORPORATION RECORDS,

1541-1701

By E. M. Platt, M.A.

Read 29th January 1903

IN dealing with the early history of Liverpool, the difficulty most frequently experienced lies in the meagreness of the available material. But in this paper there is a twofold problem to solve: the difficulty of choosing out of superabundant material, and at the same time-paradoxical though it sounds-the frequent lack of necessary material. For voluminous as these records of the Corporation at first sight appear, immediately an attempt is made to work out from them any one point, or to trace the growth of any one institution or custom, evidence fails, frequently at the most critical point.

The Council Records for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, or, more accurately, from 1541 to 1701, are contained in four bulky volumes, which are preserved in the Municipal Offices. The first volume extends over the years 1541 to 1571, but it is very badly torn in places, and some leaves are wanting. There is a copy, made according to an order of Council passed 6th December 1749, which is fairly accurate, but in which the old orthography is not carefully preserved. The second volume treats of the years 1571 to 1623, the third of 1624 to 1671, and the fourth from 1671 to 1701.