Goosnargh
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Christ-Church, Oxford; net income, £150, with a house. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is of great antiquity: the present edifice is deemed a restoration of the reign of Henry VIII., and was repaired in 1778; it has a square tower, and in the north aisle is a choir called Middleton chapel. The Independents have a place of worship; and there is a Roman Catholic chapel, built about a century ago by the Franciscans, and transferred to the Benedictines in 1834, when the building was enlarged; it stands on an eminence, and has an endowment of 30 acres of land, with a house attached: the Rev. Edward Dinmore is the priest. A school possesses an endowment of land in Whittingham, producing £32. 10. per annum; another school is endowed with £25 per annum, left originally by Henry Colborne, but now paid by the Drapers' Company, London, who appoint the master. A girls' school was founded by Richard Oliverson, Esq., of London, who in 1840, at a cost of £1000, built premises in which all the schools are now held: Mr. Oliverson allows the mistress £30 per annum. An hospital for decayed gentry was founded, and richly endowed with land, under the will of William Bushell, Esq., M.D., who died in 1735: the building is in the village, near the church, and is a large and handsome structure of freestone, with accommodation for about thirty persons. The benefits of the charity are limited to the townships of Goosnargh, Whittingham, Elston, Fulwood, Preston, and Euxton, the recipients to be Protestants: the number at present maintained is 26, eight males and eighteen females. The income, which in 1809 was £902, is now about £1500 per annum; and on the expiration of a lease of part of the property in the hands of the Earl of Derby, the income of the hospital will be increased many hundreds more.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.