which the resident curate had exclusive authority; being in fact, though a part of the parish of Manchester, a parochial chapel, or reputed parish of itself.

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It is dedicated to St. James, as far as can now be ascertained, and is thus styled in the latest Faculty obtained for its restoration, though by the Rev. Canon Raines it has been committed to the guardianship of St. John. One argument in favour of the earlier supposition is founded on the fact that the village rush-bearing is held on the 5th of August, which answers to the 25th of July old style, or St. James's Day, and the wake is held the Sunday following and the two or three succeeding days, coincidence not accidental, but illustrative, of that close connexion which is found always to subsist between that annual festival and the patron saint's day, village wakes being the anniversary of the consecration of the church, nigh to which the wakes are held, the church itself uniformly receiving consecration on the day of the saint to whom it was dedicated. If this conjecture be well-founded, it is not a little remarkable that three other of the more ancient chapels in Manchester parish are dedicated to the same saint, namely Birch, Gorton and Denton.

Its subordination to Manchester Church is shewn in the payment of tithe to the Warden and Fellows as rectors of the entire parish. In 1701 the tithes of Didsbury township were leased by the Warden and Fellows to Mr. Thomas Wood for the sum of £33 10s. per annum. Withington and Burnage, in the chapelry district, are classed together, and the tithes from the two townships, leased to Mr. W. Birch, produced to the Warden and Fellows in that year £32; the tithes of Heaton Norris (in part within the chapelry limits) were leased to Mr. H. Hulme for £50 per annum; - making a total of £115 10s. In 1848 the rentcharge payable to the Dean and Chapter of Manchester in lieu of tithes over the same area was,- Didsbury, £149 (besides 17s. 3d. payable to the Rev. R. M. Mosley the impropriator); Burnage, £72 10s.; Withington, £115 (and £20 9s. to the impropriator); and Heaton Norris, £286 10s. ; — in all, £644 6s. 3d.

In 1573 injunctions were given to the Warden of Manchester by the Archbishop of York and the Queen's Commissioners for causes ecclesiastical within the province of York, respecting the more strict residence of the Warden and Fellows and diligent and constant preaching every Sunday in the church of Manchester, or in one of the chapels of Stretford, Chorlton, Didsbury, Gorton, Denton, Newton or Blackley.'

The more ancient limits of the district assigned to the chapel were doubtless of wide extent, embracing the townships of Didsbury, Withington, Burnage, part of Heaton Norris, Rusholme and Chorlton; and it is interesting to trace the gradual development of the parochial system in Didsbury, as shewn by the repeated subdivisions into which that extensive district has been partitioned in order to meet the requirements of a gradually increasing population. Didsbury Chapel is venerable not only from its antiquity but also as the progenitor of descendants so many in number and so prosperous:

The population within the limits of the parochial chapelry, numbering in 1704 about 540 souls, now exceeds 19,000.

In 1650 an Inquisition was taken at Manchester before certain Commissioners under the great seal of England. The object contemplated by the commission was the readjustment of ecclesi1 Hollingworth's Chronicles of Manchester, p. 83.

astical districts. It was recommended that Heaton Norris having no parsonage or vicarage, nor any spiritual benefice, and being seven miles distant from the Parish Church of Manchester, should be severed from Didsbury and united with Reddish, and that these two should be formed into a separate parish, and that a church should be erected for their accommodation: this was not then carried into effect. The Commissioners assert moreover that “in the township of Wythington are the four chapels of Diddesbury, Birch, Chorleton and Denton, which chapels are fit to be made a distinct parish;"'-in this assertion they are so far incórrect as to confound the word township with manor; not one of the four chapels indicated is within the limits of the township, though all situated within the manor of Withington.

The erection of the chapels of Chorlton and Birch, the latter in the reign of Elizabeth and the former some years earlier, had diminished considerably the extent of territory over which Didsbury Chapel and its resident Curate exercised jurisdiction; though perhaps of Birch it may be affirmed that it was never more than a private chapel appended to the hall of that name.

In 1658 the townships of Didsbury, Withington, Burnage, and part of Heaton Norris, comprised the whole district included within the limits of the parochial chapelry of Didsbury, which disposition continued unchanged till the year 1765, when the suggestion of the parliamentary commission of 1650 was acted on, and Heaton Norris severed from Didsbury. No further alteration took place for nearly a hundred years. In 1841 the severance of Withington and Burnage was effected, when Didsbury township alone remained of the once far-spreading ecclesiastical district appertaining to this ancient chapel.

The present boundaries are as follows: A line commencing at the eastern end of Fog Lane and proceeding westerly along the middle of that lane as far as the road leading to Manchester from Didsbury, crossing over the road into Lapwing Hall Lane and proceeding up the middle of Lapwing Hall Lane as far as Burton

1 Lamb. MSS. fo. 196.

Farm Lane; thence southerly along the middle of that lane to the boundary of the township of Didsbury; thence following westerly the boundary-line separating the township of Didsbury from the township of Withington until they reach the township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy; thence proceeding in a southerly and westerly, again southerly and easterly direction, along the boundary-line separating the township of Didsbury from the township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy to the point where they meet the boundary-line of the parish of Northenden, Cheshire; thence continued along the boundary of the township of Didsbury and the said parish of Northenden until it meets the township of Heaton Norris; thence northerly as far as the township of Burnage at Fog Lane, where the said line commenced, including the two detached portions of Burnage which lie one to the east and one to the west of Burnage Lane and south of Fog Lane.

In 1850 Didsbury was returned as a district chapelry under 59 George III. cap. 134. The chapel was stated to contain five hundred sittings, three hundred and eighty of which were appropriated and one hundred and twenty free.

It seems probable that at no distant time a further abridgment of the ancient chapelry limits will be made. The schoolroom at Barlow Moor has been licensed for divine service, and it is expected that a church will ultimately be built.

The earliest approach towards an endowment fund for Didsbury Chapel we find at the close of the sixteenth century. It consisted of "stock" contributed at different periods and by different individuals, the interest of which was applied to the support of a curate, and though of small amount this constituted the only fixed and settled income of the resident minister, aided perhaps at times, as exigency might suggest, by voluntary offerings on the part of the inhabitants. In 1613 John Twyford the chapelwarden and Robert Brooke deposed that for the years 1610 and 1611 it was "agreed by the consent of the better sort of the inhabitants of the Chapelry, that Mr. Rycroft should have £17 a year for his wages in serving that cure, to be gathered amongst the inhabitants and

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made out of the stock of the chapel, to be gathered and payed to the churchwardens, besides his provender oats." But small as was this settled endowment, it was rendered scarcely less precarious than the voluntary offerings which occasionally served to augment it, by reason of the bad faith of those to whom the money had been lent; for in the year 1652 there was a formal presentment made of all "such persons as have in their hands sums of money paid towards the maintenance of a preaching minister at Didsbury, for which they do neither pay the interest nor renew the securities, though they have been called upon by us (the chapelwardens) thereunto." This list includes the names of no fewer than fourteen persons who had out at interest chapel-stock in sums varying from ten shillings to ten pounds, and for which they were rendering no acknowledgment to the curate or chapelwardens.

The p'sentment of the Wardens of Didsburye of such p❜sons as have in their hands such sōmes of money as have been .... p'sons, lost, towards the maintenance of a preaching minister at Didsbury, for wch they doe neither paye the interest nor renew the securities thoe they have been called uppon by us thereunto. Imprimis

1. John Blomeley alias Bancks, hath in his hand thirtie shillings, for wch wee know not when hee payd any interest. Edward Blomeley of Didsbury is bound wth him for the

2. Item. Laurence Walker of Didsburie gent. hath in his hand ffiftie shillings, the interest whereof hee hath not payd many yeares, ffor wch James Birch th'elder of Little-heath and Edward Chorleton th❜elder of Milgate in Didsburie is bounde wth him.

3. Itm. Alexander Walker th'elder of Didsburie hath in his hands ffiftie shillings, the interest whereof hee hath not payd many yeares, neither will renew his securities, his form securitie being dead, vizt George Chorleton of Eaton Norris.