No. VII.
THE CATHOLIC REGISTERS OF ST. PETER'S, LYTHAM, LANCASHIRE.
1753-1829 .
CONTRIBUTED BY THE VERY REV. JOHN REILLY , V.F. HISTORICAL NOTES BY JOSEPH GILLOW .
Towardsthe close of the twelfth century, in the reign of Richard I , the cell of Lytham was founded by Richard Fitz - Roger, supposed to be of the Banastre family , who by charter granted all his estate at Lytham to the Benedictine prior and monks of Durham to establish a cell or priory to be dedicated to Our Lady and St. Cuthbert. Previous to this the founder's grandfather had pulled down the ancient church of Lytham, built of shingle , and erected another of stone , dedicating it to St. Cuthbert. After the suppression of the priories in the reign of Henry VIII , the cell and all its possessionspassed to the Crown , and the "' lordship and manor " was granted by Queen Mary, Aug. 23, 1555 , to Sir Thomas Holcroft , of Vale Royal, co . Chester, a younger son of Sir John Holcroft , of Holcroft Hall , co . Lancaster, and a great trafficker in monastic property. By the Holcrofts the manor was conveyed to Sir Richard Molyneux, of Sefton Hall , who sold it in 1606 to Sir Cuthbert Clifton, of Westby Hall. Meanwhile , the priory had fallen into a dilapidated or ruined state , and about 1625 Sir Cuthbert erected a mansion on part of the site , incorporating a small portion of the old monastic buildings. He was a staunch recusant , and as such appears as residing at Lytham Hall in 1626, and there he died in 1634. The family has continued to live at Lytham Hall since that date , but about 1757 Thomas Clifton erected a new mansion , incorporating, in the rear , part of the old structure containing the chapel in which Mass was said till 1800, as well as the room occupied by the chaplain. In that year a tythe -barn , just outside the park , was fitted up as a chapel, and the priest removed from the hall to a house called the Woodlands . This was replaced in 1839 by the present church, dedicated to St. Peter. The following is an amplified list of the chaplains and priests to that contributed by the writer to Colonel Fishwick's History of the Parish
of Lytham in 1907. Fr. Lawrence Anderton alias John Scroop and Hart, S.J. , who wrote many learned works , under the pseudonym of " John Brereley , Priest, " was the first resident chaplain in the hall at Lytham after its erection
by Sir Cuthbert Clifton in 1625. This famous preacher , controversialist, and poet was the son of Thomas Anderton, of Chorley , gent. , and was baptised at Chorley , Aug. 12, 1575 , his father being a younger brother of Christopher Anderton, of Lostock Hall , Esq ., whose wife was Dorothea, daughter of Peter Anderton, of Anderton Hall, Esq . From Blackburn GrammarSchool he entered Christ's College, Cambridge , where he took his B.A. in 1596-7 , and subsequently proceeded M.A. At the University his brilliant genius and eloquence was so greatly admired , says Anthony à Wood , Athenae Oxon . , that it gained for him the epithet of " silver- mouthed Anderton." This is not the place to enter into full details of this remarkable man's career , which appears CC