แ Yorkshire, bought part of the Moore estate in Liverpool, about 1695, and from his family Plumbe Street in Liverpool derived its name. From the Altcar parish accounts we learn that the supervisors for the Town Row division in 1764 were, "Mr. "Richd Goore for Rev. Thos. Plumb, and Jas. Rigby for chantrels." In "A true List of "Freeholders of Altcar, which is to serve as Jewryers at the Quarter Sessions of the peace "and County Assizes taken this 17th day of September, 1771," we have the name of Mr. John Plumbe, of Aughton. One striking thing in this list is that to the name of every Roman Catholic is added the word "papist." The Rev. Thomas Plumb became Rector of Aughton in 1734, and the Rev. William Plumb in 1769; and the advowson of Aughton, and considerable property in Aughton parish, is still in the possession of a representative of the Plumbe-Tempest family. A black-letter Elizabethan New Testament is now in the possession of Mrs. Thomas, widow of the late Vicar of Altcar, picked up by her husband at a farmhouse in Altcar, with an inscription on the back of the title-page, from which it would appear that a Thomas Plumb was born in this neighbourhood in 1643, in the reign of Charles I, twenty-one years before the Altcar registers commence, and three years before the Presbyterian "Mr. Robert Seddon," became minister of Altcar. We have here, probably, his signature at fifty years of age. He died in 1724, in his eighty-second year. This leaf informs us that Jane Plumb died in March, 1760, but from the Halsall registers I find it was March, 1750, and therefore three years after presenting the paten and chalice to "Alker Chappel." The chronicle stops short when about to record the age of Jane Plumb. We have further evidence of the connection of the Plumbe family in "Plumb's Moss," and "Lane to Plumb's Moss." Upon the walls of the last Altcar Church was a list of benefactors (which is lost), and a marble tablet in memory of the Rev. E. Heyes, A.B., who died in 1839. The name Heyes occurs frequently in the registers, and members of the family served as officials in the parish again and again. Robert Heyes was married at Altcar in 1695, in the last church but one, probably a wood and plaster one, and the one represented in the Harleian map previously given. When the last church was pulled down, in 1878, the representatives of the family removed the tablet before-mentioned, and placed it, with other mural records, within iron palisadings upon the site of the family burial ground, which was inside the church. In Picton's History of Liverpool, Heyes is mentioned as of the original Everton families. One of the Everton houses bore the inscription— "Thos. Heyes, 1734. It is possible that this was a branch of the Altcar family, for several Liverpool and Altcar families seem to have been closely connected in the middle of the eighteenth century, as is seen by the Altcar list of freeholders in 1771, which includes "Edward Heyes of Altcar." The oldest and most prominent name in the registers is that of Goore. It occurs on the first page of the register, in 1664. This family gave the name to one of the divisions of the parishthe Goore House Division. The oldest gravestone (marked E G 1671) was that of a Goore. One of the churchwardens in 1688 was Robert Gore. In the 1771 list of jurors we have Richard Goore, of Liverpool, merchant, and James Goore of Ince Blundell. The name appears again and again in the parish accounts, and usually has the prefix "Mr.," which is never used for any other person, unless it be a clergyman, and in that case both Rev. and Mr. are used, as in the 1726 account, which is headed, "An Acct. of Richard "Goore, for ye Reverend Mr. William Clayton," where the ecclesiastic, for whom Richard Goore acts, swallows up the Mr., and leaves plain Richard Goore. In looking over the old churchwardens' accounts, we are reminded of Coleridge's lines 99 66 "The wedding guest here beat his breast, Every year there appears an item for "reeds for bassoon," "letter about bassoon," " repair of bassoon,' gamut for bassoon," or "a new bassoon," but no other instruments are mentioned. Clarionet, cornet, violin, and violoncello were more or less used, but the instrument par excellence was the bassoon. The tunes were marked air, counter, tenor, and bass, and abounded in fugues, rests, solos, and duets, which it would puzzle many a modern choir to execute, even with the aid of an organ. In the year 1879 the present church was consecrated. Like the previous churches, it was dedicated to St. Michael. It was built from plans by Mr. Douglas, of Chester, at the sole expense of Lord Sefton, who generously made a gift of it to the parish. A good organ was also provided. The churchyard was enlarged, a new wall built, trees planted, and a new road made; and there are few country churches which surpass that of Altcar in architectural beauty and neatly arranged surroundings. To the deep and continuous interest in the plans and building of the church exercised by Colonel Wyatt, a great deal of the success is due. The present church is probably a return to the style of architecture which was exemplified in the earliest Altcar church. It is not built upon the site of the previous one, but somewhat to the north of it, and at the corners of the quadrangle which formed the site of the old church poplar trees have been planted. It has a lich-gate, i.e., a corpsegate (A.S., lych, a dead body), so called because the body rests there while the funeral procession is formed. Over the lich-gate is inscribed, "Grant, "O Lord, that through the grave and gate of "death we may pass to our joyful Resurrection,' and the inscriptions in all parts of the church have been exceedingly well chosen. Some years ago the Vicar of Altcar's stipend was very small, but Lord Sefton has given £100 a year rent-charge and the vicarage house, which gifts have been supplemented by Queen Anne's Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, so that at present the living of Altcar is worth about £240 a year and a vicarage house. With regard to the incumbents of Altcar, neither the episcopal nor the parish registers lead us further back than 1724. In that year the Rev. William Clayton became incumbent. His successor seems to have been the Rev. William Naylor, who for fifty years was master of the Ormskirk Grammar School. In 1774 he was incumbent of Altcar, but the churchwardens' account-book before that date has been lost, and there is no evidence as to the time when he became incumbent. He died in 1823, but in 1821 the Rev. T. Garrett had been ordained as stipendiary curate, and on the death of Mr. Naylor he succeeded to the incumbency. Mr. Garrett resided at Burscough, and came over on Saturdays, to be ready for the Sunday duty. He left in 1827, and was succeeded by the Rev. C. Forshaw, B.A., who, like Mr. Naylor, was master of Ormskirk Grammar School. His incumbency lasted from 1827 to 1856, when he was succeeded by the Rev. J. Pearson, M.A. During the first part of Mr. Pearson's incumbency he resided out of the parish; but before he left, a vicarage was built by Lord Sefton, in 1858. Mr. Pearson had charge of Altcar from 1856 to 1862, when he exchanged livings with the Rev. John Thomas. For the long period of twenty-seven years, from 1862 to 1879, Mr. Thomas held the Vicariate of Altcar, and ministered in the last two churches, the present church being built eleven years before he was called away. He was interred near the porch of the new church. The present Vicar, and the writer of these notes, was appointed by Lord Sefton in 1889. THE PEOPLE. Up to recent years, when arrangements were made by Lord Sefton for pumping the water out of the ditches and small water-courses, the inhabitants, especially in winter, were subjected to many inconveniences. At hay-time the grass had often to be conveyed from the lower to the higher levels to be dried, and barn doors were utilized as barges. At one farmhouse a small boat was attached to the door-latch, and when milking-time arrived, the milker paddled in this boat across the inundated fields to the shippon, to milk the cows. It is also stated that occasionally people proceeded to church in boats, and that, on one occasion, the water was so high that the boat was actually floated over the churchyard wall. In the winter skating was possible from Altcar to Sefton meadows, and, during the absence of frost, water was so abundant that stepping stones were needed to enable the villagers to pass from one cottage to another; and the dragging of children out of the water, whose eyes and limbs had not become accustomed to this amphibious life, was not an unfrequent occurrence. |