Coppull Puritans

By the middle of the 1600s, Coppull had a close-knit group of non-conformists, perhaps what we would now refer to as Puritans. One of the earliest probable references to the radical new protestantism comes in the will of Henry Maudsley, written in 1617. Henry used the following form of words "I comit my soule into the handes of Almightye God my maker & redeemer trusting to bee one of his blessed elected children in the kingdome of heaven". The doctrine of "election" was a defining feature of the new radical protestant theology. Henry was a chapman and may, like Edward Holt and

Ralph Lowe died in 1668 and in his will he had said “first I commit my soul unto the hands of Almighty God faithfully trusting through the merits  and ???? of Jesus Christ my saviour to be made a partaker of the kingdom of heaven”. This was a very Protestant form of words to use. One of his witnesses was George Browne, who was one of the trustees of Coppull Chapel. Margaret Green was the mother of William Crook. She died in 1675, leaving £100 to Coppull Chapel. Her stepson John Green of Hindley had sought the recording of Hindley Chapel for dissenters.

One of the witnesses to Margaret’s will, Thomas Alker, died in 1677 leaving an even clearer statement of his faith in his will: “I doe first resign up my soul to God my maker and preserver to be received to himself and his kingdom upon the above account of his Son my Lord Saviour Jesus Christ.” He went on to leave “twenty pounds towards a stock for the maintenance of an orthodox protestant preaching minister” at Coppull Chapel. His beneficiaries included Margaret Green’s son William Crook and John Brownlow of Rivington who was a member of a local presbyterian family, and he also left 40 shillings to the poor of Coppull. William Crook died in 1687, and although he had no religious preamble in his will, one of his executors was Richard Fisher, one of the original trustees of Coppull Chapel.