Croston Church

Croston’s Church of St Michael and All Angels lies between Preston and Ormskirk, and is an interesting looking building, though it was locked up when I called. Two items aroused my curiosity in particular. The first is the remains of a medieval cross base, with a modern cross sticking out of it for good measure. The village may derive its name from this: Cross Tun (ie settlement or town). The first cross may have been a wooden one erected by Aidan of Lindisfarne who travelled through these parts preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ; before a church building could be erected, a preaching cross sufficed, from which the scriptures might be recited and prayers offered. The English (‘Angles’) were largely pagan at the time so it was missionary work indeed.

The second is a schoolhouse in the church’s grounds, built by the Reverend James Hyett at his own expense ‘for the good education of the children of the said parish’, including free and paid places. Although he had been appointed by the anti-puritan Charles I in 1625, by 1662 he was refusing to submit to the new Anglican prayer book and was consequently ejected from his vicarage and living under the Act of Uniformity. His conversion to puritan practice under Cromwell and the Commonwealth was therefore sincere, and not just a another weathervane turning around in the wind as it was with so many others. He left instructions in his will that he was to be buried without it being read, to which his successor consented, the funeral taken by Mr Welch who had been similarly ejected from Chorley church along similar lines.

So an ancient cross, a love of learning, and firm, Protestant conviction. Croston is a holy site if e’ere there was one.

A.