John Crombleholme [Cro0070]  - Minister at Tosside Chapel  

John Crombleholme [Cro0070] was the second son of Richard Crombleholme [Cro0064] and his wife Tryphena (nee Bymsome) [Cro0097]   of Huntington Hall in Dutton  in Lancashire.  John also had named his daughter with the same unusual name as his mother. John Crombleholme [Cro0070] was baptised in Ribchester on 3rd February 1611. 

No records of John Crombleholme's [Cro0070] clerical history / ordination have been found to date, although it was common that a bishop could ordain anyone he wanted to with or without training as long as he was satisfied that they were "called of God" and capable of pastoring the people. Once ordained, they were as much priests as those with formal qualifications. (information via MP's friend Rev R F Keys BA of Surrey). 

The early history of the chapel is obscure. According to Thomas Whitehead, a parliamentary survey in the time of the Commonwealth in 1652 stated that Houghton Chapel in the Forest of Gisburn was about four miles from the parish church. The report recommended that it become a parish church and have some maintenance as it was dependent entirely on the benevolence of the people. Whitehead states that Mr. John Cramblecome [Cro0070] (sic) *was preaching there. 

During the Commonwealth period, the chapel was used by Presbyterians or Independents but was neglected after the Act of Uniformity in 1662. Under the Toleration Act of 1669, it was certified to the Quarter Sessions as a Chapel for Dissenters by Henry Robinson, but the decision was referred to the Archbishop. Evidently permission was not granted by the Archbishop but other properties in the area were registered for worship by Dissenters. 

A Mr. John Chromleholme,[Cro0070] minister at Tosside, was buried at Long Preston on 5 May 1682. (Source : Extract from Thornber family history website - Houghton Chapel Tosside, Gisburn Forest by Craig Thornber March 2001 [MM 07/2017]

Note : A leaflet in the present day Church (St Bartholomew) suggests that the original building may have been a barn (repairs on the west wall in 1989 revealed evidence of this). There is a font of local stone (above) dated 1619 which has eroded probably having been outside at one time ? The present pulpit is from another church. The two oldest pews date from about 1694.

 Tosside is thought to have originally been Tossett from the Norse word Tod = Fox and saeter = Hill or summer pasture. (Source : RC site visit August 2017 + church leaflet - donation made !)

John Crombleholme - Minister at Houghton (Tosside)

1611 - 3rd February : John Crombleholme [Cro0070] was baptised in Ribchester (Source : Ribchester P Reg)  

Note : the son of Richard Crombleholme [Cro0064] and his wife Tryphena (nee Bymsome) [Cro0097]   of Huntington Hall in Dutton  

c1635 - Robert Crombleholme [Cro0659] baptised at ??; buried in 1640 in Whalley   (possibly son of John C [70] ?  (Source :  ) 

c1651 - John  Crombleholme [Cro0070] remarries ??  wife : unknown [Cro1365] - a daughter born in 1652 (see below)

1652 - John  Cramblecome [Cro0070] preaching at Tosside Chapel (*see above article)

Note : At this time, he is recorded as preaching at Tosside Chapel in 1652 (aged 41) and appears to have remained as minster here until his death aged 71 years in 1682. It is probable that he preached in nearby villages such as Giggleswick and Chapham as well as Tosside. It is not known when he left Dutton in Lancashire as a young man and settled in this area.

1652 - 17th April : Tryphena Crumbleholme [Cro0095] daughter of John Crumbleholme [Cro0070] clerk of Tosside Chapel christened at St Mary's Church, Gisburn, Lancashire.  (Source : Gisburn Par Reg 1538-1910 - LCRO FHL m/film 1,657,526 folder 004438530 image 00080)

a second record :

1653 - 7th March : Tryphena [Cro0095] baptised daughter of John Crumblehorne, [Cro0070] of Tosside Chapel at Gisburn (Source : YPRS Vol 114 p118)

Original record : Tryphenia filia Johis Crumbleholme de Tosside Chapel,  Clerc - Septimi die Marcij 1653  (Source YPRS Vol 114 Soc of Gen London Nov 1988)

1661 - John Crombleholme [Cro0070] min2  Clapham - Yorkshire Clergy  (Source : Soc of Gen London - Great Card Index)  

Note : Chapham is a village about 10 miles north west of Long Preston.

1662 - Mr Cromlome [Cro0070/422 ??] : From the Will of Agnes Houghton widow of Hugganhouse in the parish of Giggleswick, widow of Henry Houghton deceased.... a sermon to be preached att my Funerall which I desire may be preached by Mr. Cromlome, [Cro0070] (Source : Borthwick.York. Ref : v45 f409) 

1666 - Indictment citing John Crombleholme [Cro0070 ??] (in Latin with costs noted = what is this ?)  (Source :  Wakefield Quarter Sessions at North Yorkshire Archive Service - from Ancestry via MM )

1668 - 2nd July to 19th February 1669 : Trephanah (Tryphena) Crumbleholme* [Cro0095]   was called as a witness as a former servant of Mary Sharples of Ormskirk, Lancashire in an appeal in Consistory Court. 

        Plaintiffs : John Bretherton and John Chorley executors of last will of Mary Sharples widow 

  (Note : Mary Sharples of Ormskirk  had died in December 1666 and Tryphena [95] would have only been 13 years old then - this does seem very young ?  If it was, in fact, Tryphena C [85] (and not Tryhena [95]), Tryphena [85] would have been 27 years old  - we may never know !

        Defendants : Anne Senhouse & ..... (male) Whrightington. 

        Other Witnesses : William Watkinson; James Hulme; Silvester Such, male 34, gentleman of Ormskirk; John Hill, male 28, husbandman of Newton Manchester.

        Outcome Plaintiffs won.              (Source : Borthwick Institute GB 193 Ref CP.H.2842)  

Note : *She would have been 16 years old in 1668. 

1682 - 25th May : Mr John Chromleholme [Cro0070] [Crombleholm], minister at Tosside Chapel buried at Long Preston. (Long Preston Par Reg see above) 

Note : He was born in 1611 so he would have been 71 years old

End

There has been a lot of confusion regarding John Crombleholmes living at this time.

My co-researcher Mike Murtha has been re-visiting this (Jan 2024) and I thank him for his usual thorough and logic approach to this :

We have 5 Johns listed for that time and general locality:

38 John, the blacksmith; he's part of the Loud Mythom family, identified through family wills that mention siblings and children

70 John, the minister at Tosside; clearly identified as the father of 95 Tryphena in the Gisburn baptism record of 1653; born at Huntingdon Hall in 1611

422 John; married 423 Anna Ouldham at Whalley in June 1634; she died at Whalley in Feb 1651

433 John; husband of 434 Elizabeth/Izabell who was buried at Mitton in April 1633

1373 John, father of 659 Robert who was buried at Mitton in 1640

Is there duplication between John 38/John 70 and the latter three?

John 422

·  We have nothing that links John 70 to Whalley

·  We do know that John 38 lived in Whalley/Billington (1642 Protestation Return and his will and two children’s records) but we don’t know when he moved there

·  Anna 423 was married in Whalley in 1634 and died there 17 years later in 1651

·  Anna 423 cannot be the mother of 95 Tryphena who was born 2 years after Anna's death

·  On balance, I think that John 38 and Anna 423 were a married couple, with 5 children i.e. that John 422 is the same person as John 38

John 433

I'm still a bit unsure about John 433, the Mitton connection; here are my thoughts about each:

John 38

·   John 38 was born in 1583 so he would have been 50 when Elizabeth 434 died in April of 1633. Perhaps she was his first wife and buried in Mitton, not Whalley, because it was her family's home church? Or perhaps she died there?

·   John 38 was the father of five known children; four are identified in his will – Richard 43, William 45, Alice 50, Elizabeth 51; his son George 441 died young, 1637-1642

·   Richard 43, like his father, declined to sign the 1642 Protestation Return; his presence in the list indicates he was an adult, so he would have been born by 1621 at the latest

·   Alice 50 married Matthew Croasdail at Mitton in August 1634, two months after her father John 38 and Anna 423 married; assuming Alice was about 20 years old, she would have been born no later than 1614, when John would have been 27

·   There is no information about William’s age

·   Robert 659 died at Mitton in 1640; there is no information about his age but he was a minor (“son of”), born in the 1620s or 1630s

·   Richard 43 and Alice 50 were born long before John married Anna so he had had a first marriage and they were children of that marriage

·   Elizabeth 51 (1646-1668) and George 441 (1637-1642) were children from his second marriage

·   William 45 and Robert 659 could have been from either marriage; given that Robert was buried in Mitton it is more likely that Elizabeth 434 was his mother

·   From the above it is possible that Elizabeth 434 was John’s first wife; she died in April 1633 and John married Anna in June 1634; this would mean that John 38 and John 433 are the same person

John 70

·  He was born in 1611; had a daughter Tryphena 95 in 1653 when he was a 42 year old minister at Tosside and he was still a minister there when he died in 1682

·  If he was married to Elizabeth 434, he would have been 22 years old when she died

·  He would most likely have trained to be a minister in his later teens and early twenties, somewhere outside of the Ribble valley; he might not have been in the area in the early 1630s

·  If he had been married to Elizabeth 434 and then Anna 423 the birth of his daughter Tryphena 95 in 1653 would mean he had a third marriage; not impossible but not very likely

·  Another possibility is a first marriage to Elizabeth 434, followed by a second marriage to an unknown wife; no information has been found about John’s marriages or any other children

·  In the absence of other biographical information there is much uncertainty about John 70

Given the Mitton connections, I’m inclined to think that Elizabeth 434 was the first wife of John 38 and thus that John 433 is the same as John 38. Additionally I suggest that Robert 659 is a child of this marriage and that his father John 1373 is also the same as John 38.

I’ve revised Dr21 to reflect these possibilities – that John 422, John 433 and John 1373 are the same as John 38. He was married to Elizabeth 434, then Anna 423. He was the father of Robert 659 as well as his five known children.

Mike Murtha

Jan 17 2024