Nathaniel Brindle family of Wigan, Lancashire, England
Last update: May 6, 2013
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Nathaniel Brindle Family
of
Wigan, Lancashire, England
Alice Brindle Ward
b. 3 Oct. 1792, daughter of Nathaniel Brindle.
My grandmother (Jackie
Leatham's)
was Margaret Alice
Jones, 
whose
mother was Mary Alice
Melling, whose mother was Margaret Ward, whose mother was
Alice Brindle,
who was a daughter of Nathaniel Brindle who died 7 September
1814
The following received
from
Freda Chorlton in regards to Nathaniel Brindle family
history.
Freda is descended from James Brindle, son of Nathaniel
Brindle, who
married Ann Rimmer.
Please contact me if you would like to add to this family history
page.
The TREASURE of PARK LANE
by Freda Chorlton
When I first began doing my Family Tree as I thought of it in the
beginning, I was delighted to find all the names and dates
concerning
my ancestors. I did exactly the same as everyone else, that is birth
certificates, marriages, burials and of course followed them every
decade on the censuses as they moved around the districts. I have
been
fortunate in the fact that all my forebears (with the exception of
an
Irish great-grandmother) lived between St. Helens on one side of
town
and Bolton on the other, each generation moving closer to Wigan
until
my parents met.
Along the way, as I was researching my late mothers family
background,
I found one or two surprises. To begin with I was always led to
believe
that they originated in the Woodhouse Lane / Beech Hill area, which
I
suppose was true as they obviously only knew as far back as their
grand-parents. However as I moved back through the generations
I
found that the Brindle family (my mothers maiden name) had moved
into
the afore mentioned area via Goose Green from Ashton-in
-Makerfield (or Ashton-in-the-Willows as it was called then).
When I was looking for the baptisms of the ancestors from there I
was
looking at the larger Churches first without much success, and then
I
looked
on the film for “Park Lane Presbyterian Chapel” and there they
were. I don’t need to tell you the satisfaction I felt when I
found several generations baptized and buried there. But this
is
only the beginning of a more interesting story to me and my family ,
and one that I would like to share with you.
After studying the films for Park Lane I was told that the History
Shop
also had a small photo copied booklet “The Register of Park Lane
(Unitarian) Chapel with baptisms from1786-1837 and burials from
1800-1837”. So
as it contained numerous entries concerning my family I had the
complete
booklet photo copied.
In the introduction to the register is a passage which reads
“further information on the Park Lane Chapel is contained in
Nightingale’s Lancashire Nonconformity and in greater detail in
George
Fox’s History of Park Lane Chapel of 1897”. The History Shop
had
both of these books so I browsed through them. The latter of
these two books was an actual treasure because
it not only told about the chapel but about the congregation as
well. The book was over 250 pages so I couldn’t just deposit
myself in the History Shop until I had read it, besides which I
WANTED
it.
I had no idea where the chapel was or had been, but I was soon put
right by our friends in the library, it is still there, still in use
and this year is its tri-centenery. For anyone else who
doesn’t
know where it is--- it is on the A49 from Wigan to Ashton a little
way
past the M6 junction
at Bryn. I passed it every day for years on my way to Ashton
Grammar
School and never noticed it.
I decided to take a look at the chapel but unfortunately the gates
were
locked, I looked over the wall and there were the tombstones
of
several members of the Brindle families along side families they had
married into. I contacted the Chapel secretary and asked if it
was possible to look around the church yard and she kindly unlocked
the
gates for me. There then followed a discussion about the
book (History of Park Lane) and she informed me that she had a copy
belonging to the chapel which I begged to borrow for a few
days.
My first surprise on opening the book was that someone had written
in
child-like writing M.Brindle, so the book had obviously belonged to
a
long gone member of my family. I photo-copied the complete
book, all 250+ pages.
When I read this book my names suddenly became real people who had
lived and breathed and no doubt struggled in those hard times.
The interesting little tales told about the congregation including
ones
like the following that refers to my great-great-great-great
grandfather:----“In 1750 a singing club was established at the
chapel
to meet once every week at ye said chapel, namely, every Thursday at
half an hour past seven of ye clock in the evening...............
and
gives a list of rules and regulations, then
continues.................
Some years later the choir master was Nathaniel Brindle, who was
also
the sexton. In his days, it is said, one of the female singers was
unable
even to read. It thus became Nathaniel’s duty to teach
her
the
words of the hymn before she could practice the tunes.
Fortunately,
the young woman had a good memory; so that the labour was not very
difficult. The double task was assuredly a somewhat unusual
one
for a choir-master”.
In 1785/86 the Reverend John Brownlow retired, and the
congregation including Nathaniel signed a letter asking the Reverend
Hezekiah Kirkpatrick to take over the duties of Park Lane
chapel. After Mr Kirkpatrick came Rev. Thomas Broadbent,
and later in 1812 Rev Thomas Smith took over the flock. In his
first year there, a Sunday school was established and in a
description
of the running of, and the cost of this venture is a passage which
says
“The chief expense seems to have been the stipend of Peter Blinson
and
that of his assistant, James Brindle, who received threepence per
Sunday for his labours”.
A section written concerning the period around 1830 states “ During
its
history as a secular institution, the school has been directed by a
number of devoted superintendents and teachers. Among them may
be
mentioned Mr David Shaw, Mr Peter Blinston, Mr Henry Lowe, and
others. Some
special mention is merited by two zealous men, Thomas Baker and
Thomas
Brindle
who worked together in the most self-sacrificing manner for the good
of
the school. The one was a joiner, who willingly made the
simple
articles
of furniture needed in the school; the other was an excellent
writer,
and
he prepared the heads for the copy books, besides in other ways
utilizing
his beautiful penmanship for the benefit of the scholars. In
those
days of small wages and small collections, the two frequently,
out
of their hard earned wages, purchased articles necessary for school
purposes.
Sunday by Sunday, with undeviating regularity, these good men
attended
the school, though in the week-days they had toiled long
hours.
Baker
working twelve hours a day at the factory, beside utilizing his
spare
time
in the evenings as village coffin maker.
Instead of the ordinary extra Sunday dinner at home, they
contented themselves with a cake eaten in the school-room, so that
they
might be ready for their afternoon teaching duties. In
addition
to his labours in the school, Thomas Brindle, as his father before
him,
was leader of the chapel choir. In this capacity, he wrote an
anthem, entitled “The Power of Truth”(( “It is without
accompaniment and crude; but it must have cost him many hours of
trouble”)). So writes a great-great nephew of his Mr Joseph
Leyland, himself a professional singer and a pupil of the celebrated
tenor Mr Sims Reeves.
Some differences eventually arose between Mr Baker and Mr Brindle
and
the then minister of the chapel, the Rev Francis Knowles. In
consequence, they resigned their positions, both in school and
chapel. But this did not alter Mr Knowles’s esteem for them.”
Later on in a letter of invitation to a minister, there are
the
names of members of the congregation who signed the letter, amongst
them
are James, John, Thomas and Ann Brindle.
Another passage reads:----JOHN BRINDLE ---- A valuable side-light is
thrown on the religious life of Park Lane congregation at this time,
by
an obituary notice which appeared in the “Christian Reformer” of
December 1824. A young man, named John Brindle, aged 29, the
son
of Nathaniel Brindle, has died. He had been brought up in the
Unitarian faith, and he had found it sufficient to influence his
moral
character for good, and to support him in the hour of sickness and
death................... A simple gravestone preserves the name of
John
Brindle, upon which is engraved the following verse:-
Reader, beware! Bad courses shun,
Or quit them if they are begun;
Be not to any vice a slave;
There’s no repentance in the grave”.
In 1831 an institution was formed for the benefit of the
congregation
and the Sunday school, this was known as Park Lane Unitarian Sunday
School
Sick Society for which Thomas Brindle was the collector, and a
committee
member. It is very interesting but it would take too long to
cover
this venture here.
One passage in the book which I find extremely touching is as
follows,
this concerns a brother of my great-great-great-grandfather James
Brindle. written in 1897. “Between thirty and forty years ago, the
congregation possessed a “chapel-cleaner” named Nathaniel
Brindle. He was grandson of the Nathaniel
Brindle, who signed the requisition in favor of Mr Kirkpatrick’s
invitation
to Park Lane, and who was the leader of the chapel choir.
Nathaniel
the younger was unique in his devotion to the chapel, no labour in
connection
with the chapel was too great for him. He kept the building,
with
the
adjacent school-rooms, scrupulously clean. He spent many
unnecessary hours in the place just for the love of it. On Sundays,
in
winter, the stove was the special object of his attention. He
had
fashioned a piece of iron for the purpose of opening the
stove-door. He was accustomed to use this implement to close
the
door, which had however, only an imperfect fastening. In the
interval between the services, he would stand patiently keeping the
door closed with the iron above mentioned, so that the proper degree
of
heat should be maintained. He was the general factotum of the
congregation, rendering it essential, if unobtrusive service, and
this
for the slenderest compensation, though himself but
poor. A
newly-settled minister being asked by him on Boxing-day for a gift
to
him as chapel-cleaner, elicited a fact which indicates a primitive
method of operation in such
affairs at the chapel. The man was paid no regular salary; but
he
received donations from certain members of the congregation at
Christmas
time. Formerly, his compensation amounted to as much as
twenty-five
or thirty shillings; but, owing to the death of the most liberal
givers,
that sum had been reduced to about a guinea! Meager as was
this
uncertain
stipend for the work so willingly done by him, the good man seemed
pleased
and thankful for what he received. Nathaniel was subject to
epileptic
fits. They were of frequent occurrence, and attacked him at
all
sorts
of unseasonable times. Through them he had often been placed
in
danger,
and by them he lost his life. He was found one day lying in a
ditch
in Sougher’s Lane, with his face downwards. When he was lifted
up
he
was quite dead,. It was evident that, overtaken by one of his
fits,
he had fallen into the ditch, from which he had been unable to
extricate
himself, and so had perished. Thus passed away one of the most
faithful,
if humble, friends of Park Lane Chapel.”
On a lighter note, there is mention of the author George Fox taking
over the flock in 1864, and a passage reads:- “ After making
the
acquaintance of his little flock, Mr Fox began active operations in
the
church. Fortunately, there was a body of teachers in the
Sunday
School, for the most part young, who quickly showed themselves
sympathetic to the minister. The greater number of them lived
at
a long distance from the chapel, some coming even from Wigan and
Ince,
a distance of from three or four miles. They were
accustomed to bring their dinners, which they eat in the school-room
in
friendly intercourse with one another. Two young women,
sisters,
named Mary and Ann Brindle, after their removal to Wigan, and even
beyond, were for years so regular and punctual in their attendance,
that the people of Worsley Mesnes were able to set their clocks by
them
as they passed.”
“At a teachers’ meeting, held at the Parsonage in the year 1865, a
proposition was made by Mr James Brindle, one of the teachers, that
new
schools should be built.” The new building was erected in
1867.
As the Chapel became more prosperous it became necessary to
run
things even more business-like, and monthly meetings were
instituted,
and a passage reads:- The secretary was Mr James Brindle,
whose
family had been connected with the congregation for nearly a hundred
years. He had been a scholar and teacher in the Sunday
School. For some years, he gratuitously played the harmonium
in
the chapel. He remained the secretary until his business
engagements compelled his withdrawal.”
So now I hope you will understand my wish to share my treasure
with you, because these little passages about my ancestors seems
like
something too good to be true.
It just goes to show, you never know where you will find snippets of
information about your family. I have just one more article to
relate, and that is in another publication in the History Shop and
in
the local library, “The Unfortunate Colliery” by Ian
Winstanley
which is the story of High Brooks colliery, also at Park Lane there
is
also mention of the Brindle family,
as follows,---- after the explosion on 1st April 1869 one of
the
victims, namely “Peter Gerard aged 12 years, a drawer of
Pemberton. He was
an orphan and lived with his uncle. He was identified by Ellen
Brindle,
of
Goose Green, wife of James Brindle, a hand loom weaver”.
The really sad fact about all this , is that I can’t tell my mother
or
any of her sisters or her brother , because I left it too late. But
there are still my children and grand-children, etc. and hopefully
many
generations to come who will be interested in their FAMILY HISTORY
as I
now call it. I just feel so privileged to have had so much
information
left by others for
me to find.
If only I could find as much about my fathers family ( the name
being
Monks, the family coming from Aspull). I shall continue to scour the
pages
of local publications, for who knows what is there waiting to be
found.
Freda Chorlton
