James Wood (minister)

His father was imprisoned in 1670 for defying the law and preaching in the homes of sympathisers after Atherton Chapel had been closed by the Act of Uniformity 1662.

In addition, the act affected his grandfather, also James Wood (d. 1667), a powerful orator and reformer who was ejected from the perpetual curacy of Ashton in Makerfield, forbidden from preaching in his church and deprived of his living.

[4] The Atherton Estate Survey of 1734 reveals Wood was also a farmer, occupying a house with an orchard and fields covering 12 Cheshire acres and a smithy which was rented to a nailor.

James Wood received a letter from Sir Henry Hoghton, countersigned by General Charles Wills, requesting him to "raise all the force you can, and bring arms fit for service—scythes in straight poles—spades and bill hooks and draw them to Cuerden Green about two miles from Preston."

Minister Wood assembled a force of Chowbent men and led them to Cuerden Green where, in the Battle of Preston, they were given the job of guarding the bridge over the River Ribble at Walton-le-Dale and the ford at Penwortham, both of which were successfully defended.

The dissenters left quietly and met in local barns and houses, including the minister's home at Gib Fold, until they had built Chowbent Chapel, completed in 1722 on land donated by Nathan Mort at Alderfold.