Ecclesiastical History

A good deal of information is to be found in the collections of local historians and antiquarians, especially those of J.E. Bailey, F.R. Raines, John Booker and J.H. Partington. Readers are advised to search through the general Handlist of Manuscripts for these collections.

Works on religious history comprise one of the largest categories of manuscripts, and the Library holds a wealth of sermons, commonplace books and other papers that were written by local clergymen. This list to the right includes some of the works of particular importance to the early history of the church in the north west.

Papers of John Huntingdon, first Warden of Manchester Collegiate Church, including his will of 1458. (E.3.9)
Bursar’s rent roll of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Cockersand, Lancashire for 1501. (A.4.89)
Licence by James Stanley, 7th Warden of Manchester Collegiate Church, authorising services to be held in the James Chapel, 1506. (E.5.8)
Prayers and meditations of John Bradford (1510-1555), Protestant reformer (A.4.84)
Papers of Laurence Vaux, Warden of Manchester Collegiate Church (1557-8). (A.6.81)

For the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries see:

William Hinde, The Life of John Bruen (1560-1625) of Stapleford, Cheshire. (A.4.88)
The diary of Henry Newcome (1627-95) of Cross Street Chapel, Manchester. (A.2.140)
Commonplace books of Nathaniel Banne (1671-1736) Rector of St. Anne’s, Manchester. (A.6.83-5)
Churchwarden’s accounts of St. John’s, Deansgate, 1769-1828. (A.1.6)

For the nineteenth century see:

Papers of the Manchester Association for promoting a Reform in the Ecclesiastical Provision for the parish of Manchester, 1847-50. (E.3.12-E.4.1)
Papers of the Manchester Diocesan Church Building Society, (1851-). (A.6.38)
Autobiography of John Clowes, Rector of St. John’s Deansgate, 1814-18. (A.3.51-52)
Papers of James Fraser, 2nd Bishop of Manchester. (16 vols.)
E.F. Letts’ draft, illustrations and prospectus for a history of the Church of Manchester, c.1850. (A.0.6-7)
Lists of the clergy of the dioceses of Chester and Manchester, 1789-1852. (A.6.44)
Frank Renaud, Contributions towards a history of the ancient parish of Prestbury, c.1876. (A.6.99)