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Can someone enlighten me as to why the Church of England Schools attached to Christ Church, Ince-in-Makerfield, are not given a name related to the Parish? This may be related to the fact that St Mary's Church Schools were known as 'The Hall of Ince Schools' from their inception in 1866(whilst the district was part of the Parish of Christ Church)until the Vicar of St Mary's, the Revd. Samuel Bryson, seemed gradually, during the late 20s and early 30s, to refer to them increasingly as 'St Mary's Schools'. As Christ Church Parish was carved out of St Cathe(a)rine's Parish in the 1860s, perhaps the Schools were founded whilst the area was still under St Catharine's control?

You know Irene... I just knew you were a goodie two shoes at school! :-) What the heck happened!

Only joking!

Hi, Dennis! I can hear you thinking "How can she have had that book fifty years when she's only twenty-nine"?...(in her dreams!)

Hello, Rev. Long. Although Ince CE School is connected to the church,I'm not certain that it always was. It is not Ince Church of England School, as you would expect from the abbreviations CE, but Ince Central Elementary School.

As it happens, yesterday I was doing to some forward work for future issues of our Parish Magazine, in scanning in the 1930s magazines to be reprinted each month this year - and in the issue for May 1930 the Vicar, the Revd. Samuel Bryson, wrote about the Cost of Education in Ince, pointing out that it cost less than half to educate a child in a Church School compared with that of a child in a Council School. He lists the Church Schools existing then: Central CE, Belle Green CE, St Mary's CE, St Williams & Holy Family RC, and Rose Bridge Wesleyan. So it was definitely a Church School then - and CE stood for Church of England.

It cost less than half !!!! to edjukate uz lot from Ince That explanes a lot dunt it..

rev Long
as you probably know that Ince is mentioned in the Doomsday book.
Ince Parish records show a deer park up Ince Hall avenue with deer lying under wide spreading trees.
Ince was like that up until the early 19th Century when coal was found in them thar hills.
The Government at the time pleaded with the Bishop of Chester, ( Ince being part of Chester Diocese at the time) to provide spiritual welfare for the thousands of people who were crowding here.
Ince Parish did not come from another Parish, it is unique in this.
the legal things regarding this did in fact come through St.Catherines.
the first task was to build a school and through the generosity of the National Society the old school was built
The Rev Canon Fergie was the first vicar of Ince and it was he who started the St mary`s Parish, he used the upper floor of a barn which stood opposite Westwood lane, this was the start of St. Mary`s parish
For years there was only the one church ( Christ Church)which was consecrated on March 17th 1864 and it was to here that children from Belle green and St. Mary`s came in procession every Sunday.
Mine owners provided St. mary`s school and from the parish of Ince was carved Ince Parish, Ince St. Mary`s, plus that portion of Ince in Platt Bridge for St. Nathaniels and Amberswood Common was readjusted for the Parish of St Peter`s Hindley.
i hope this helps you

Thankyou Peter, that was really interesting; I had no idea of all that history. Many thanks. Irene.

We recently received a photo of the barn, and have thus been able to print a booklet illustrating all the buildings which have been used for worship by the people of this area from 1861.
I'm not sure what you mean by saying that the Parish of Christ Church is in some way unique in its origins. Every corner of England is in a Church of England Parish - and practically all of the Parishes in the Deanery of Wigan were once in the Parish of Wigan - and the Rector is still the Patron (i.e. he officially 'appoints' the Vicar) of many of them, from Abram to Billinge to Pemberton to Haigh - including St Catharine's. When a new Parish is formed, even now, it usually has a 'midwife' in the form of the existing church adjacent to a developing area providing ministry for the area which grows until the new area is deemed to be self-sufficient enough to sustain its own ministry. At one time the final break would be when a new 'Parish Church' had been built. At that point formal, legal boundaries would be defined. As far as I understand it, the line from Ince being the ancient responsibility of Wigan Parish leads through St Catharine's (which originally covered as far as the Hindley boundary, which runs across Amberswood to Platt Bridge bridge), to Christ Church, which then took over all of Ince from the Borough boundary, to St Mary's, which took the area of Ince roughly south and west of the line to Wigan Central Station, through to Platt Bridge. In turn, as you say, St Nat's Parish was formed from part of St Mary's Parish (in which the first church and vicarage were built) and St Peter's Hindley - in which area the new church was built, and the new Parish created in 1904. St Mary's was not only nurtured by Christ Church, but its first Vicar, Thomas Taylor, married Canon Fergie's daughter. Christ Church Vicarage was also actually situated on Westwood Lane, in St Mary's Parish, for most of the life of the Parish.

I never thought my old shcool prize would have brought out all this history and information! My friend's auntie used to work for Mr. Bryson at the old St. Mary's Vicarage and she also used to clean the two chapels in Ince Cemetery; I'm glad she can't see the state they're in today.I imagine they will have to be demolished at some point for safety reasons, but I would hate to see them go. They have been part of all our lives for so long.....I hate to see things disappear.

I to was awarded the herbert stoneley prize when i was at ince central.for outstanding influence conduct and service to the school.My book was princess and the pea.not sure of year.

Can anyone tell me anything about Herbert Stoneley? I am researching family history and wonder if he may be a relative.