A Short History of

Cresswells Roman Catholic

Community





Philip Bailey S.C.J.
A Short History of Cresswells Roman Catholic Community

Philip Bailey S.C.J.

i
The township of Cresswell can boast of one feature which is rather unusual in England: most of our
villages and hamlets have at least one place of worship, Anglican or Wesleyan, but there are very few
places which have only a Roman Catholic church. The reason for this is because Roman Catholicism has
managed to survive in this part of the parish of Draycott-le-Moors since pre-Reformation times. Its
survival was due mainly to the fact that the Draycott family, who owned most of the land around
Cresswell, never conformed to the Church of England.
From early medieval times the Draycotts were lords of the manor of Draycott, Painsley, Fewton
and Cumshall; in the reign of Henry VIII Sir Philip Draycott also possessed lands in Alstonfield, Warslow,
Butterton, Kingsley, Broddock, Whiston and Leigh. In 1853 the Draycotts' successors owned over two
thousand acres in the parish of Draycott. Such a powerful feudal position naturally gave them a great
influence over their tenants in Draycott, Cresswell and the neighbouring hamlets.

ii
Just before the Reformation a William Draycott, brother of the Lord of the Manor, was parish priest
of St. Margarets, Draycott. There is a copy of his will in the church; it provides for a dole to be distributed
on certain days of the year, to the poorest households within Draycott parish. William Draycotts
nephew, Anthony, son of his brother Sir John, also became a priest. After a distinguished academic career
in the University of Oxford, he received many ecclesiastical preferments, among them the rectorship of
Checkley. The church there still has some items showing his connection with the place; there are bench
ends carved with the rectors initials, A.D. (Anthony Draycott), a dragons head (a family symbol, draco ~
Latin for dragon), and the Draycott coat of arms. On the medieval stained glass window at the east end
of the church there is the inscription Draycot finis Anthon., which probably means that Anthony
Draycott was also responsible for the window.
At the Reformation Anthony Draycott and his brother Philip, who became lord of the manor in
1523, refused to conform to the new Anglican religion. Anthonys career as a churchman was only
gradually affected by the religious changes which took place during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI,
Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I. In common with the majority of the English clergy, Draycott seems not to
have had any scruples about the Oath of Supremacy, declaring the King to be the head of the Church
because, during Henry VIIIs reign, he held various ecclesiastical offices. When Edward became King,
Anthony Draycott still continued to hold positions in the Church. However, in view of his antipathy
towards Protestants during the reign of Mary Tudor, it is extremely unlikely that he favoured the
Protestant reforms legalised under Edward. When Mary Tudor became Queen in 1553 Draycott, as
Chancellor of the diocese of Lichfield, was involved in the persecution of Protestants. The Protestant
historian Foxe describes in lurid detail Draycotts fanatical treatment of those who could no longer
accept Roman Catholicism; his attitude was typical of many Catholics and Protestants at the Reformation;
it was a period when both parties felt deeply their religious convictions.
When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 Antony Draycott was deprived of all ecclesiastical
offices and imprisoned in the Fleet; this was in 1560. He remained in prison until the last year of his life
when he was allowed to return to Painsley. A fellow-prisoner wrote of him, full of admiration for his
fortitude. He says both Draycott and himself rose from sleep at midnight to pray. Anthony Draycott died
on January 20th 1570 and, according to the brass inscription in St. Margarets church, he was buried
there. Undoubtedly Anthonys decision and fortitude influenced his family to remain loyal to the Church
of Rome.

iii
Sir Philip Draycott had, in 1558, made provision in his will for the continuance of Catholic worship:
there are some references to various items connected with the celebration of mass. Already, as early as
1538, when the monasteries were being dismantled, he had bought several sets of mass vestments, and
in his will he asks that they be kept in his chapel. This chapel was the one at Painsley Hall near Cresswell.
The Draycott family had lived there since 1496, when John Draycott let his olde house downe and
builded in another place of Draucote parish, a goodly house called Painsle. The present ruinous hall is
built on the site of John Draycotts Tudor mansion. A Mr Walter Draycott, who came to Draycott from
Canada in 1911, says he saw an ancient painting of the hall, which was then in the possession of a local
resident. He describes the painting of the hall: the facade (of the hall) had a southern aspect, showing
two tall towers resembling keeps and a high wide doorway between the two towers with a gothic
archway or entrance. The moderately large windows were built in the Tudor style. The whereabouts of
this painting is now unknown.
From the accession of Queen Elizabeth until 1649 Painsley Hall was a centre for Roman Catholic
worship. The Draycotts abandoned the parish church and only used it for burying their dead. The present
vestry at St. Margarets contains many Draycott tombs as well as the graves of some of the priests who
served the Catholics at Cresswell.

iv
Extant records tell us about Roman Catholic recusancy in Draycott parish from the reign of Queen
Elizabeth until the anti-Catholic penal laws were repealed between 1791 and 1829. (So, when Elizabeth
was journeying through Staffordshire in 1575 she had John Draycott and several other gentlemen from
the county arrested. They were charged that they went not to church, and confessing the same, and
alledging their consciences and the examples of their forefathers who taught them so. However, in
fairness to the queen, it must be said that her real motive for this was political rather than religious: at
this time Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in the area. Elizabeth regarded her as a potential rival to
the English throne and many Roman Catholics were prepared to further the Scottish queens claim.)
Hence Elizabeth would feel safer with the Staffordshire Catholic Squires in prison. Nor were her fears
groundless, for Anthony Babbington, a Derbyshire nobleman, married to Margery Draycott, plotted with
a group of Catholics to release Mary from Chartley Castle not far from Painsley; the conspirators were led
into a trap and executed at Tyburn in 1586.
Already, in 1561 a John Draycott had been arrested. In a letter to the Privy Council it was stated:
we are informed that through the example of two Derbyshire gentlemen and John Draycott Esq., being
by us committed to prison and through the bearing and supporting of their wives, kinsfolk, allies and
servants, a great part of the shires of Stafford and Derby are generally evilly inclined towards religion and
forbear coming to church and participating of the Sacraments, using also very broad speeches in
alehouses and elsewhere, and therefore your honours may it please you to have special regard to these
parts.
In 1607, besides the lord of the manor of Draycott, thirty of his tenants in Leigh and seventeen in
Draycott parish were recusants. In 1629, when the Bishop of Lichfield visited Draycott, he complained
that popish recusants were burying their dead in William Lathams field. In 1641 there were twenty six
recusants recorded at Draycott. These numbers represent only the heads of households In the list of
recusants for 1607 a John Warrilow is mentioned, and in the list for 1641 a Charles Fielding is named:
there were still Catholics with the names Fielding and Warrilow at Cresswell in living memory.

v
Between 1649 and 1660 the future of the Roman Catholic community in Cresswell district became
uncertain. This was due to the Civil War between the followers of Charles I and Cromwell. Like most of his
Catholics, the lord of the manor of Draycott and his tenants supported the King. According to the records
only three men from Draycott parish followed Cromwell, whereas at Tean, then a much smaller place,
there were twelve men who volunteered to join forces with the Parliament.
As a result of his loyalty to Charles I, Philip Draycotts manor at Draycott and Painsley was
sequestered by the Roundheads. A colonel named Ashenhurst was deputed to garrison the Hall and
collect rents from the estate for the Parliamentary cause. Ten soldiers were quartered at Painsley and
another detachment at Caverswall Castle. The local Catholic recusants were singled out for special
spoliation, a warrant being issued to authorise seizure of any corn belonging to recusants and
delinquents; at Draycott both titles referred to the same people: Roman Catholics. Ashenhurst, with
typical puritanical zeal, made repeated searches at Painsley Hall for the church furniture and vestments
which he believed had been hidden before his troops arrived; in fact the vestments were discovered over
two hundred years later.
On March 2nd 1644 the Parliamentary committee at Stafford sent word to the local commanding
officer to render Painsly House unserviceable' . On March 11th the committee complained that its order
to demolish the place had not yet been carried out by Major Ashenhurst. Finally, the ancient manor
house of the Draycotts was destroyed. The Draycott manuscript records the tradition of its destruction as
it was preserved and related by Mr J Wright in 1911: Cromwell took away a lot of the old building stone
and timbers after they had destroyed the mansion. Cromwell also took away furniture, carts, horses,
cattle and other livestock. The menfolk who had defended Painsley were taken away to Stafford as
prisoners. This family tradition seems a reasonable account because the only apparent remains of the
Tudor Painsley Hall are the large stone chimney and a wainscoted room. This catastrophe for the
Draycotts and their tenants might have seen the end of the Roman Catholic community around Cresswell
but for several factors. By 1644 the papist cause had flourished around Cresswell for a hundred years;
when Charles II became King in 1660 the Draycott family rebuilt the family seat on a modest scale; and,
most important of all, Cresswell was now recognised by the English Roman Catholic authorities as an
influential Catholic centre in the Midlands. Because of these factors the Cresswell congregation could be
certain of a resident priest.
After the death of the Rev Anthony Draycott in 1570 there is no certain evidence that a priest
resided permanently at Painsley. Between 1570 and 1652 there were other Catholic centres besides
Painsley in north Staffordshire. Thus for a time there were Catholic squires at Sandon, Thornbury Hall
(Cheadle), Biddulph and Hilderstone, not to mention the house of the Fowlers at Stafford where the last
Catholic bishop of Peterborough lived after he had been deposed by Queen Elizabeth. It would have
been very unlikely at this time for all these Catholic houses to have a resident priest, situated as they
were within a few miles of each other. During the Elizabethan and Jacobean era the priest probably
served the whole area staying for a time with each of the Catholic squires, with a more or less permanent
residence in one of their houses. We have no definite evidence as to who the priest was in the Cresswell
area between 1570 and 1667, nor do we know his semi-permanent residence. There was a priest living at
Hilderstone on Lord Gerards estate for some time. He died there in 1658; his name was Walter
Luddington. Another priest who had some connection with Cresswell district was Thomas Hodgson, who
was born at Draycott in 1601. In 1617 he was received into the Catholic Church by his uncle, also named
Thomas Hodgson, who was a Jesuit. This nephew became a secular priest and worked in England from
1625 using the name More in order to conceal his identity. Both nephew and uncle may have been
resident priests at Painsley. In fact, we have some slender evidence that the nephew did work around
Cresswell: Walter Draycott copied the following words from an ancient title deed in 1911 ~ F. Mouer
(More?) chap...ne (chaplaine?) Att Paynsl... (Paynsley?)
The possibility of a resident priest living at Painsley before 1667 is further highlighted by the
curious, but as yet unconfirmed evidence, recorded by Walter Draycott mentioned above. The following
account is taken from his typescript in the Salt Library, at Stafford: While staying at the Draycott Arms, it
was my good fortune to meet some old residents. Draycott goes on to say that a Mr Lovatt, who was
then (1911) over seventy, of an old local family, produced some ancient documents, which turned out to
be title deeds. On these documents there was reference to a Father Babbington, described as howse
chaplayne att Paynesley . This Fr. Babbington, the documents said, was passing by the woods near
Cresswell (Rookery Farm?) , with some junior priests, when they were attacked by armed ruffians lying in
ambush (Cromwellian soldiers?). Babbington, who appears to have been known to the gang, was
specially singled out for attack. He made no attempt at resistance and so was instantly killed. The rest of
the party, being unarmed, fled towards Painsley Hall, though not before they had suffered injury in
warding off attacks. An armed force was sent out from Painsley but the murderers had retreated. They
found the head of the priest had been struck off and mounted on a spear driven into the ground.
Sometime after the deed was committed a cross was erected to his memory and the site named
Killcross. The year of the murder was 1650/1, a Richard Lovatt was present in the sortie from Painsley
Hall.
This strange tale poses a number of questions: where is the document from which Draycott
quotes the story? where is Killcross? So far, no ecclesiastical record has been found which mentions a
priest named Babbington. Was he a son of the ill-fated Anthony Babbington, the husband of Margery
Draycott? Further research may one day provide us with an answer to these intriguing questions.

vi
Throughout the period of persecution the Catholic faith was kept alive in England by men and
women who became priests and nuns. The priests, who were trained on the continent, usually returned
to England to work for the rest of their lives. The penalty of the law, if they were discovered, was death.
However, the Draycotts continued to give members of their family to the Church as priests and nuns. It
was customary to make a declaration of faith when a candidate entered a seminary. The following is a
declaration made by one of the Draycotts: My name is George Draycott, alias Parker. I was born in the
county of Salop, but brought up at Painsley in the county of Stafford. I have brothers, sisters and
relations, all Catholics. I made my residential studies at home, but not with much success. I was always a
Catholic and left England at the age of ten. George Draycott made this humble declaration when he
entered the English College at Rome in 1633.
When he refers to his studies at home, it reminds us that Catholic priests were often engaged
ostensibly as tutors. Thus, one of the first priests known to have resided at Painsley was Francis Gage,
who was tutor to the young Philip Draycott from 1667 until 1675. However, during this period, Fr. Gage
accompanied his charge on a continental tour. The reason he was able to do this was because there was
another priest in residence at Painsley; this was Robert Fitzherbert, who had been there since 1652. He
was related to the Draycotts by marriage, his sister Anne having married into the family. Fr. Fitzherbert
was chaplain at Painsley for almost fifty years. In fact, he was an important member of the Churchs
hierarchy, being archdeacon of Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire. In 1687 there is the first record of
a number of Cresswell Catholics sent by him to Stafford where they were confirmed by Bishop Leyburne,
one of the first Catholic bishops to reside in England after the Reformation. Amongst those confirmed
from the Painsley mission were Mary Catherine Draycott, Jane Fielding, Anne Gallimore, Elizabeth
Hammersley, Thomas Lovatt and Thomas, Williams and John Warrilow.
When Robert Fitzherbert died in 1701 there occurred an incident which illustrates the bitter rivalry
which existed between Catholics and their Protestant relatives. Fr. Fitzherberts Protestant nephews
obtained a court order from the diocesan court in Lichfield allowing them to administer his property,
since he died intestate. His next of kin, his sister Anne, a Catholic, was forced to renounce her claim to
administration. The Roman Catholic clergy were particularly anxious that a certain sum which Fitzherbert
had set aside for their sick members should not be appropriated: there is 100 guineas in gold (at Olton in
ye clergy box) of Mr Robt. Ffitzherbert lately deceased, given to our clergy in general to be remembered
among our benefactors, in case his litigious Prot. nephew does not force it from us, as he has done most
of ye remainder of his uncles concerns.
Between 1652 and the present day there has been an unbroken succession of priests resident in
the Cresswell district. The reason for saying Cresswell district rather than at Painsley is because certain
changes in the Draycott family fortunes occurred during the eighteenth century and, as a result, the
priest did not always live at Painsley itself. However, a number of priests continued to reside at the Hall,
among them Alban Butler who wrote the Lives of the Saints; though he didnt like the area very much.
Walter Fleetwood was there from 1732 to 1735, and it was reported left 1000 to the Cresswell mission
when he died in 1774.

vii
At the end of the 17th century the Draycotts long association with Painsley came to an end.
Before that, there is some evidence to show that the squire may have been involved in the plots to
restore the Catholic Stuart dynasty to the throne. At the Jacobite trials held in Manchester in 1694 a
number of suspected conspirators were said to have been meeting at Philip Draycotts house in Painsley.
It was alleged that he and other like-minded gentlemen were using their houses to store arms to be used
to further the Stuart cause. On this occasion the evidence given could not be proved, however some of
these gentlemen were certainly involved later in the Jacobite invasion of 1715: they were forced to flee
abroad, some were executed. Philip Draycott was not involved because he left England after the trial of
1694 and died four years later on the estate of the Elector of Brandenburgh. This Philip Draycott was the
last, direct, male descendant of the family; his sister Frances joined the Draycott estates with those of
Lord Langdale through her marriage to him. Through him the estate passed to the Stourtons of Yorkshire
and to that branch of the family which took the name Vavasour.
Thus, at the time English Roman Catholics were having their civic rights restored (the penal laws
were repealed between 1778 and 1829) there was no direct descendant of the Draycotts living at
Cresswell. The hall was let out to local tenants and the priest was provided with a house on the estate
since the Langdales, Stoutons and Vavasours were Catholics. While the Rev. Edward Coyney was at
Cresswell an agreement was drawn up between the church authorities and Lord Langdale in which, in
return for an annuity, his lordship would appoint a priest to reside at Painsley or nearby. This latter
provision was probably inserted because Fr. Coyney, a local man from Weston Coyney, had been living
with his relatives at home or with his aunt at Bramshall near Uttoxeter. However, he continued to live at
Bramshall after the agreement was signed so, apparently, it was considered to be near enough to
Painsley and so within the terms of the settlement. When he died in 1772 he was buried at Bramshall, it
was said by his niece Mary Warner that he was obliged to disguise himself as a bagpipe player or a
pedlar in order to gain admittance into Catholic families. Coyneys successor, Thomas Mackworth, was at
Painsley from 1722 until 1726. He had to leave then because of persecution by the parson of Draycott -
the penal laws against priests could still be enforced in 1726. The priests who followed him, however,
were permitted to live in peace either at Painsley, Rookery Farm, Lees Houses, or at the old presbytery in
Cresswell.

viii
The extant records show that the number of Catholics was maintained after the Civil War, at
Cresswell and the surrounding district. The list of Catholic non-jurors for 1715 mentions only property
owners besides Lord Langdale who was not resident. There was, for example, John Coyney of Fole,
Edward How of Leigh and Thomas Lovatt of Draycott; the numerous Catholic tenants were not included
in the list. The number of Papists given for 1767 in Draycott parish was 156: a man aged 54 is the
reputed official priest, many are farmers. There are 4 paupers. The priest referred to was Edward
Granhan who, according to his last will and testament, was a member of the German nation and
Master of Arts in the University of Paris, of Lees Houses in the Parish of Draycott. Judging from the
terms of his will he was probably Irish by birth or adoption since he left a legacy to his brother-in-law in
Dublin; he also made provision for an annuity which shall be for ever employed in having the children of
such poor Catholic parents of the City of Dublin who can not afford it taught to read, write and
particularly instructed in the Christian doctrine.... Edward Granhan died at Cresswell in 1776; his
gravestone in the Draycott chapel at St Margarets has the following text: Underneath this stone lieth
the body of the Revd. Edward Granhan late of Lees House who died April 26th 1776 aged 69 years.
The existing baptismal registers for the years 1780-1841 record 781 baptisms; James Tasker, priest
at Cresswell from 1776 until 1815 baptised 393 children. The names of Cresswell Catholics in these
registers are almost entirely local Staffordshire names. Many are those of Catholic families still associated
with the present parish - for example: Perry, Gosling, Sanders, Shingler, Ridge. The occasional Irish
immigrant is usually mentioned as such; there are only about ten of these - for example: Elizabeth
Goulding, Galway, Ireland. Between the years 1820-1822 there are references to the place of residence:
Tean, Tenford, Totmonslow, Waste Gate. Many children at this time were given Old Testament names in
common with their non-Catholic neighbours: Elijah Dean, Sarah Cope, Hannah Shingler, Rebecca Perry,
Ephraim Knobbs. Occasionally there occurs a typical Catholic name such as Teresa Bagnall. Thus
Cresswells Catholic congregation, at the beginning of the 19th century, consisted almost entirely of local
Staffordshire folk, the descendants of penal day recusants.

ix
In 1791 it became legal for Catholics to own places of worship and so a small church was built next
to the priests house at Cresswell. In 1816 Fr. Baddeley, who succeeded Fr. Tasker in 1815, set about
building the present church. Lady Mary Stourton, a member of the family who owned the Draycott
estate, provided him with funds; there is a tradition that Fr. Baddeley built the church with his own
hands. According to the Directory for 1851 the chapel was built for a cost of 800, a considerable sum in
1816. Thomas Baddeley also began a small college at the presbytery to prepare young men for the
priesthood (many of the English seminaries abroad had been disorganised and dispersed by the French
Revolution). To assist him, Fr. Baddeley had the Rev. Thomas Laken and the Rev. William Wareing, who
later became bishop of the newly constituted diocese of Northampton. The Rev. Edward Daniel,
afterwards priest at Lane End (Longton) completed his course for the priesthood at Cresswell and was
ordained at Aston Hall. The Rev. Charles Jones was ordained in the new church at Cresswell on April 28th
1820. Bishop Milners remarks, when the proposal to use Cresswell as a seminary was put to him, is worth
recording: he said it pleased him to see Cresswell put to some useful purpose instead of being a mere
cheese-making place. It was well known that Bishop Milner disliked cheese. The seminary ceased to
function when Fr. Baddeley died of consumption in 1823. There is a reliable tradition which attributes his
illness to the rigorous journey he made on the outside of a coach to Yorkshire in order to visit his patron,
Lady Stourton. His epitaph seems to confirm this: Sacred to the memory of Revd. T. Baddeley who
departed this life on the eighteenth (18th) of Feb. 1823 in the 30th year of his age. By the zeal in the
discharge of duty and his indefatigable labours in doing he brought himself to an early grave. His mortal
remains repose near this spot in the hope that his flock, the object of his labours and care, will not forget
to make a grateful return, by their prayers for his departed soul.

x
Throughout the 19th century the Catholic church in England as a whole continued to flourish, but
the great increase in population was in the new manufacturing towns where great numbers of Irish
immigrants came to settle. At the beginning of the 19th century Cresswell and Cobridge were the only
Catholic centres in North Staffordshire; at the end of the century there were Catholic congregations,
churches and schools all over the Potteries and North Staffordshire.
In 1834 the Catholic Magazine already had this to say: the mission of Painsley and Cresswell,
formerly called the Draycott mission, extended over a large district and was the mother church of the
whole of N. Staffs. Within its circuits not fewer that seven chapels have been erected within these years,
to wit, Cobridge (?), Newcastle, Caverswall, Lane End, Alton Towers, Cheadle, Leek.
1
When Canon Dunne celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest at Cresswell in 1878, Bishop
Ullathorne wrote to him: from your quiet retreat you have watched many great and unanticipated
changes, changes that would have astonished men of your earlier years, who have dropped off one by
one like autumn leaves, whilst you have kept your greenness. Cresswell continued to have a relatively
high Catholic population during the 19th century so, when a visitation was made by the bishop in 1889,
it was reported that there were about 200 souls in the parish. Only 13 had not made their Easter duties.
Nevertheless, by 1889 Cresswell had long been superseded in size and importance by other parishes in
the area, but its long and continuous tradition of loyalty to the Catholic faith, stretching back beyond the
reign of Elizabeth I, is an inspiring example of people clinging to a faith they value.

xi
A place with a history as long as the Cresswell mission naturally has material evidence of its past as
well as spiritual. The church itself is the first obvious material witness. It is a rather large building
compared with Catholic churches built at the same period in other parts of rural England. At this time
such buildings were constructed small and unpretentious. Often they were so closely combined with the
presbytery as to be almost indistinguishable from it. This was due to prevailing anti-papal prejudice.
There is a drawing of the church made in 1841 kept in the Salt Library at Stafford. The only apparent
difference between the building as it was and the present one are two gothic type pinnacles on either
side of the front gable, a small belfry near the sacristy door and, of course, no entrance porch: this latter
feature was added recently. We do not have an early picture of the interior, but it must have been quite
simple originally; the rood screen, removed in recent years, was a design and was installed some years
after the church was built. The baptismal font was also designed by Pugin and was used for the first time
when Joseph Wooldridge was baptised on April 5th 1845. The altar is apparently not the original one: it is
said to come from Caverswall. The stained glass window is in memory of Lady Mary Stourton,
benefactress of the church. There are two priests buried in the church: Canon Dunne, who served the
parish for 51 years (1830-1881) is buried in front of the altar, and Fr. Baddeley, who built the church, lies
beneath his epitaph. On the north wall there are two inscriptions: they are memorials to Fr. James Tasker
and Fr. Edward Granhan; both these priests graves are in St. Margarets, Draycott. On the south wall there
is an inscription in memory of two members of the Stourton family.
The church plate has a great sentimental value for Catholics with a sense of history. There is a
small chalice which was secretly made in England during the reign of James I; its precise date is about
1612. We are only able to date it by its style; there is no hallmark or makers mark since it was illegal to
make such popish items. The chalice is an imitation, medieval, gothic - style vessel. According to an oral
tradition it was hidden during the Civil War and came to light again during the 19th century. Another
chalice, dating from the end of the 17th century, is unique in design: simple and not ornate. This may be
one referred to in a letter from the Rev. Edward Coyney dated 1781: the old silver chalice belonging to
Mr. Robert Fitzherbert or the chalice which is at Painsley belonging to ye secular clergy. There is also a
small pyx engraved with the Lamb of God symbol and the crucifixion scene. This is also without
hallmark or makers mark; it is of English workmanship, made between 1625-1649. Some of the most
poignant reminders of the past are the two small slate altar stones, on which are incised five crosses.
These slabs were used in the days of persecution for the celebration of mass since there were no
permanent altars.
The ancient embroidered orphreys taken from pre-Reformation 16th century vestments are
perhaps the most impressive reminders of Cresswells history. A number of ancient parishes in England
have similar examples of medieval needlework, but on the whole they are somewhat rare. So far we have
no historical data telling us how these vestments came to be at Cresswell. The most probable
explanation is that they were bought at the Reformation from some local abbey or church by Sir Philip
Draycott. However, those we know he bought are accurately described in the state archives; their
description does not tally with the Cresswell vestments. Sir Philip refers to the furniture of his chapel at
Painsley. When he made his will in 1558 he mentions vestments, presumably pre-Reformation ones: I
leave to my three daughters aforesaid all my new lynen cloth except so much as will make 3 altar clothez
for my chapel, which I wyll my cozen (John Draycott - really his grandson) and heyre shall have with a
chalys and patent of silver and a pyx of silver (ciborium) which I wold shold be halowyd and he to have
my vestments, mass boke and other things to my chapel belonging. He also left some vestments to his
chapel at Upton near Sibson in Leicestershire.
Another, less likely, explanation is that the Cresswell vestments came from Yorkshire. The evidence
for this is contained in a letter written from York to Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1582: I was informed by
Wortley that they (a Mr. Thompson and companion) let a cloak (a bag) full of vestments at Thomas
Watertons house, whereupon I directed a commission for taking him and his wife. But before the
pursuivant came they fled, and, as is supposed, are now with his brother (in law) ~ Mr Draycott of
Painsley in Staffordshire. This Mr. Waterton and his wife settled, for some time at least, at Blythe Ford
(Bridge?). Were they able to bring their church vestments with them to Painsley? Are they, in fact, the
ones found at Cresswell?
In spite of uncertainty about their provenance, the Cresswell vestment orphreys are genuine 16th
century work. They consist of a series of pictures of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and saints. Among the saints
portrayed are: St. Jerome, St. Francis of Assissi, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Mary Magdalen, Moses etc. At present
the chasubles on which these medieval orphreys are mounted are used for the great feasts of the year.
During the penal days the Catholics of Draycott parish often buried their dead secretly near St.
Margarets churchyard. When they were permitted to have their own cemetery, the one near St. Marys
started to be used. In the centre Fr. Thomas Scott lies buried. He was at Cresswell between the years
1882-1922. As we have seen, some of his predecessors were interred in Draycott church. In the Draycott
chapel are the tombs of the lords of the manor and their families. The brass plate bearing Anthony
Draycotts epitaph is attached to a pew in the nave: the slab from William Draycotts tomb is fixed to the
wall at the entrance to his familys chapel. In the chapel itself there are the tombs of Sir Richard de
Draycott, who died around 1260: there are the tombs of John Draycott, Richard Draycott and others but,
most impressive of all, is that of Sir Philip Draycott and his wife, with effigies of their five sons and five
daughters. It was he who began the tradition of Roman Catholic recusancy in the parish of Draycott-le-
Moors.

Finally, one of the most important and impressive testimonies to the continuity of Cresswells
Roman Catholic community is the long list of priests who served the mission for almost four
hundred years.



Priests at St Marys Roman Catholic Church Cresswell


Anthony Draycott 1570
Itinerant Priests:
R Jones (?)
T Smith(?) 1570 - 1652
J. Babbington (?)
Robert Fitzherbert 1652 - 1701
Edward Coyney 1701 - 1722
Thomas Mackworth 1722 - 1726
George Leyburne 1727 - 1736
Walter Fleetwood
(?) Foley 1570 - 1652
(?) Turner
Alban Butler 1749 - 1751
George Hardwick 1751 - 1759
Francis Hinde
Edward Ball 1759 - 1765
James Lolli
Edward Granhan 1765 - 1776
James Tasker 1776 - 1815
Thomas Baddeley 1815 - 1823
William Wareing 1823 - 1830
John Dunne 1830 - 1881
S.E. Bathurst 1881 - 1882
Thomas Scott 1882 - 1922
Timothy Purcell 1922 - 1931
Raymond Walshe 1931 - 1949
Gerard Peuleve 1949 - 1961
Patrick Meagher 1961 - 2001
Peter Foley 2001 - 2003
Jan Nowotnik 2003 -