died whilst clergyman of Oldham, and was buried February 16, 1695. His successor was the Rev. J. Sugden, who was curate till 1712. During his incumbency, the church was considerably repaired, and a gallery erected. In 1712, the Rev. John Halliwell, A. M., of the family of the Halliwells, of Pike House, near Rochdale, had become the minister. He married, in the year of his induction, Mrs. Mary Tetlow, of Fog-lane. The ministry of Mr. Halliwell ceased about 1729, and he was followed by the Rev. J. Sugden, junior, who was only curate for rather more than three years, being succeeded in I732, by the Rev. Samuel Townson, who was incumbent for the long period of thirty-eight years. In his day the spirit of manufacturing enterprise began gradually to develope itself, and as a consequence, population slowly but steadily increased. He was one of those clergymen who distinguished themselves during the last century by the diminished interest they manifested in the political affairs of their localities. Not deficient in intellectual acquirements, he was tolerant in his views, and refined and pacific in his conduct; He exerted himself in conjunction with the wealthy of the parish, in doing all the good he could to the deserving poor in an unobstrusive way. For want of practising the art of speaking "with the proper ornaments of voice and gesture," many of his hearers were attracted to dissenting congregations, "for no other reason in the world but because the sermons were spoken extempore." During the latter years of Mr. Townson's incumbency, subsequent to 1763, the living was augmented by a grant from the royal bounty. Nothwithstanding this circumstance, and principally owing in a great measure to the increase of the population, consequent upon the rapid progress of the cotton manufacture, a new Episcopal chapel dedicated to St. Peter, was erected in the town by subscription in 1765. The venerable pastor of the parish church only survived this event a few years, and dying in 1770, he was succeeded in the curacy by the Rev. Thomas

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