The appointment is vested in the archbishop, or, if the see is vacant, in the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. If no appointment has been made within three months of a vacancy the appointment is to be made by the College and failing them by the vicar and churchwardens of the parish.
The parish of Rochdale, 'formerly appropriated to the abbey of Whalley, together with the chapels annexed, having come to Matthew [Parker], afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, the rectorial tithes were leased to Sir John Byron, who, amongst other conditions, engaged to pay an annual stipend to each of the ministers performing divine service in the chapels of the said parishes. As he failed to fulfil this part of the agreement, the archbishop brought him into court. After a protracted and costly litigation, Sir John Byron cast himself upon the clemency of the archbishop, who adjudged that he should, over and above his rent and the stipends to be paid to the ministers, pay £17 a year for the maintenance of schoolmasters of a free grammar school to be founded in Rochdale in the archbishop's name. The £17 a year was to be charged upon the tithes of the parish in perpetuity. The school was accordingly founded by deed of the archbishop, (i January, 1564-5), covenanting with Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and the vicar and churchwardens of Rochdale, the vicar having on 4 November, 1462, already given a plot of vicarage land for the schoolhouse. It was required
that not fewer than 50 nor more than 150 boys should be taught by the master and usher.' [VCH Lancs, vol. 2, p. 606.].
See also Strype's Life of Parker, Book 2, chapter 26.