 However, in this case the founder William Marshal had given an altar within the church to the village, and provided a priest along with it.The villagers petitioned to be allowed to keep the church as it was their only place of worship, and this was granted.Despite the villagers' being allowed to keep the church, the lead was stripped from the nave, and until 1618 when George Preston, a landowner at nearby Holker Hall, provided considerable finances to allow the roof to be reinstated, the villagers actually worshipped in the choir, rather than the nave of the church.