Laying Of The Memorial Stone Of Thornton New Church.

( the ley on the headland ) where they re-erected the mansion-house in the days of Queen Elizabeth , the western wing bearing the inscription " W . Midgley , 1589 , " and the porch on the eastern ( or newer ) part , " J . M ., 1604 . " A more

interestingmemorial of their possession of Thornton manor was , however , provided by the will of John Midgley , of Headlej'' , gentleman ( proved at York about 166 S ) who bequeathed to his brother Josias , Headley aud the royalty and chief rents of the

manor of Thornton and also Holling Park , charging his rents of Headley and Holling Park with the following perpetual bequest : —

" And as I allwayes hold it my duty and the duty of every good Christian to pray and prayse God rather then heare sermons , I doe hereby give and bequeath unto the Minister of Thornton ffor the tyme being and his successors ffor ever , the

yearly anuity or sume of tenn shillinges upon condition he reade divine service every St . Thomas day in Christmas , both in the morning and afternoone of the same day anually att the chappell of Thornton . "

It is remarkable that this bequest , like the record of the builder of Thornton chapel , has failed to preserve the memory of the donor , whilst his object is also perverted . The Charity Commissioners find that Miss Mid gley gave a rent charge

of 10 s . out of a farm iu Thornton , 6 s . 8 d . out of Upper Headley , and 3 s . 4 d . out of Doe-park , to the Minister of Thornton chapel " for sermons on the afternoon of Christmas Day , and the mornin g of St . John the Evangelist ' s Day . " The brother ,

Josias Midgley , held the manor for the greater part of his life . In 1703 he , with his son William ( who was curate of Sowerby , and died there in

1706 ) , mortgaged it ; and in 1715 Josias conveyed it with the Headley estate to John Cockcroft , of Bradford , attorney , by whom a moiety of ib was sold to John Stanhope , Esq ., in 1746 , who had married Mr . Cockcroft ' s daughter , Barbara , the

other moiety having been purchased by the Hortons , from whom it descended to Captain Rhys , who sold it to Michael Stocks , Esq . James Sagar , who by will , dated 15 th February , 1665 , devised a close called Randalwell , in

Horton , in a charitable trust for the poor of Thornton chapelry , directed that £ 1 a year should be first paid out of it to the minister of Thornton chapel ; and this bequest is duly recorded ; but the great

originator of a more efficient endowment of Thornton chapel has hitherto shared the fate of its builder and first benefactor . Mr . James ( History of Bradford , p . 340 ) says "About £ 7 per annum was settled upon the curate by John Sunderland ,

Esquire . " The real donor was Mr . Samuel Sundei'land , who we are told in the Gibbet Law Book of Halifax , was a woollen draper of London , who had declined to be made Sheriff and Alderman of that City , and who , as appears by his will , spent

the latter part of his days at Harden , where , according to Oliver Heywood , he kept such large sums of money in his house , that , although on the night of the 11 th May , 1674 , nine burglars had stolen about £ 500 in gold , and £ 2 , 000 in silver , he had his chests opened the day before he died , and after his death he was found to own about

£ 17 , 000 in money , besides an estate of £ 1 , 200 a year iu land . The whole of his will , dated dated 26 th January , 1676 , has been printed ( for the first aud only time ) in the 34 th Chapter of " Our Local Portfolio , " in

the Halifax Guardian , of March 14 th , 1857 . In it he devises two messuages , one called the Cloughs and the other Wilcockroyd , in Thornton , to Josias Midgley , of Headley , Gent ., John Sagar , of Allerton , aud James Short , of Thornton , and to their

heirs , to the intent that the rents of the Cloughs should be employed " towards makeing the chappell of Thornton aforesaid parochiall , and the mayntaynance of a preaching minister there from time to time , conformable to the Church of

England , in doctrine and discipline for ever ; " and the rents of Wilcockroyd " towards the maintaynance of a school master to teach the children of

the inhabitants of Ihornton and Allerton-cum-Wilsden aforesaid , to read English and Latin , within the schoolhouse lately erected in Thornton aforesaid for ever . " The Parliamentary Commission , under the

Commonwealth in 1655 , had recommended that Thornton chapel should be made a parish church , with a sufficient endowment for a " preaching mynister . " But it was reserved for Mr . Samuel Sutherland ' s bequest to effect this permanent change . And as

the Registers began in 1678 , little time seems to have been lost in realising it . Nearly another hundred years elapsed before the permanent endowment obtained an increase , first in 1760 , by £ 200 from the parliamentary Grant , and secondly in 1766 , by another £ 200 , to meet a like amount