This short article is reproduced from our newsletter number 106.
I was curious to find a reference to a ‘Chapel of Saint Ellyn in Turton’ in an old document at Lancashire Archives the other week. It piqued my interest because I wasn’t aware that there were any chapels in Turton dedicated to Saint Ellyn or Ellen.
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| …the Chappell of Saynt Ellyn in Turton in the Countye [of Lancs]…. |
The document is dated 21st May 1528 (‘xxj day of may in the xxth yere of the Reign of our Sovign lord Kynge Henry the viiith’), and relates to a land transaction between James Hunt of Turton and William Orrell, lord of the manor of Turton. Hunt had an interest in a property called Nicodean, on the border of Turton and Edgworth, it now being submerged under Wayoh Reservoir. He was to pay £40 to Orrell, ‘upon the altar of the chapell of Saint Ellyn in Turton’.
It is well known that Saint Anne’s at Turton was previously dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, but has anyone come across Saint Ellen’s before?
SJT
