GATEACRE CHAPEL (continued)

The Ancient Chapel built c.1618 in Toxteth Park was not in any parish, the building was not consecrated, and from its beginning the congregation and ministers were Puritan. Even so, Richard Mather was under the control of the Bishop of Chester when his ministry was suspended in 1633 & 1634 because of non-conformity.

In 1656 Thomas Crompton, 1632-99, became the Presbyterian Minister at the Ancient Chapel; he is described as "curate" by one authority, and said to be "licensed" by another, but as his coming was during the Commonwealth it would be not a Bishop, but the Presbyterian governing body - the meeting called the Warrington "Classis" - who appointed him. In 1665 it is recorded of Crompton and two other local ministers that they were "late prisoners (who) were released on single security for good behaviour ..." so though the Ancient Chapel was 2 miles outside Liverpool it was evidently not safe from the "Five Mile Act". Our next reference to Crompton says that "before 1685 (he) moved to live at Gateacre" though he was still preaching at the Ancient Chapel. In the Association Oath Rolls of 1696, which many people signed all over the kingdom as an oath of loyalty to William III (after an assassination attempt) the name "Tho: Crompton, Minister" heads the roll of signatures for Little Woolton. Some time later Crompton is said to have gone to Monton Chapel, Eccles, where perhaps he was the first preacher. He died in 1699 and was brought back to Childwall to be buried in his parents grave behind the East end of the Church. He left £20 to buy books for children and to pay for their schooling. (Matriculated BNC, Oxon, 5.4.1650.)

In 1691 we hear of "Thomas Collins, a young man, att Leigh in Little Woolton, is lately come, yet his stay must be short without some aide (in money) and if this meeting failes ye country for 9 or 10 miles long and 5 or 6 miles broad is utterly destitute. Several on dying beds have told Mr Crompton they never heard anything of the Gospell (before) he came among them" - the appeal was to national funds through the Warrington Classis. It was Thomas Collins, with Richard Mercer & Lawrence Fletcher, who made application to the Liverpool Magistrates in 1692 for a house at the end of Lord Street to be set apart for religious worship, and Collins served there alternately with Gateacre.

continued . . .