Extremity of Park Road

From Memorials of Liverpool....second edition, revised, with additions.

Pursuing our route to the extremity of Park Road, we notice at the foot of the hill a plain stone structure at the corner, with a small graveyard attached, very neatly planted and in trim order. This is usually designated the "ancient" chapel of Toxteth Park, and has a story to tell.
In the latter part of the reigh of Elizabeth, Puritanism began to spread in South Lancashire, probably as a reaction against the influence of Popery, which was very strong in the district. It did not exhibit itself as tending to separate from the church, but rather as a protest against ritualistic forms and ceremonies. In the reign of James 1 the Puritan influence grew stronger, and displayed itself in a resistance to the King's Book of Sports (See Neal's History of the Puritans, 11. 264, where Toxteth Chapel is mentioned). Toxteth Park, then very thinly inhabited, was almost entirely Puritan; the family of Aspinwall, who possessed landed property in the district, being strong supporters of the cause. (The Aspinwalls subsequently inherited the property of the Irelands of Hale by the marriage of Edward Aspinwall with Eleanor, sister and heiress of Sir Gilbert Ireland. His great-grand-daughter, Mary Aspinwall, married Isaac Green. In the early part of King James's reign, a choolmaster was wanted for a school recently established in Toxteth Park; and a youth from Lowton, near Winwick, named Richard Mather, only fifteen years of age, who had been educated at Winwick Grammar School, was recommended and appointed to the office. His education had been by no means of a Puritan character; but when brought under the influence of the learned and pious Mr. Aspinwall, under whose roof it would seem he resided, he embraced the religious views of his patron, and was sent to Brazenose College, Oxford. A meeting-house appears to have been erected about this time on the site of the present chapel- possibly identical with the school-house.The young probationer having displayed considerable talent as a preacher, he was urged, without completing his college course, to return to Toxteth and becomethe minister of the congregation. Puritanism at this period was not exactly Nonconformity, and the young divine applied to Morton, Bishop of Chester, (1618-20) for ordination. As the strict church principles of the bishop were known, there was some apprehension of a difficulty; but the prelate readily assented to the application, and expressed a desire to speak with Mather in private after the ordination. Instead of a lecture on the irregularities of Puritanism, as he had expected, the bishop expressed an earnest entreaty to be remembered in his prayers; for, said he, "the prayer of a good man availeth much."

After some years of active clerical life, his ministrations were disturbed by the authority of Neile, Archbishop of York, who sent down a commission into Lancashire to inquire into the conduct of the Puritanical clergy, who refused to wear the surplice, or to make the sign of the cross in baptism, and who administered the sacrament to the copmmunicants in a sitting posture. By this commission Mather was silenced, and threatened with fine and imprisonment if he again ventured to officiate without giving security for his conformity.

Tradition has handed down the memory of nocturnal assemblages in the valley of the Dingle hard by, where the Puritans met by stealth to listen to the exhortations of their beloved pastor; but when Archbishop Laud came into the ascendant, a few years subsequently, his vigilant emissaries let nothing escape them, and even the seclusion of Toxteth Park was no security. Harassed and persecuted, Mather turned his longing eyes towards America, where the "May Flower" had already landed her precious cargo, the pioneers of a new world of thought and progress. After consultation with his friends, he travelled in disguise to Bristol, where, in the spring of 1635, he set sail for Boston. Here he was received with open arms, and settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he long exercised his ministry with a large amount of influence among the New England churches. His son, Increase Mather, and his grandson, Dr. Cotton Mather, both became celebrated in their day as authors and divines.

It must be observed that Toxteth Chapel was never consecrated; but, in the first instance, no objection appears to have been raised by the bishop to allowing an ordained clergyman to officiate. After the removal of Richard Mather a regularly ordained Episcopal clergyman was appointed.

Should the above be of interest to you, you are advised to view the original article, as this is not necessarily an exact 'transcript'.