Chap. 6.] 



OLD HALLS, &c. 137 



It has been said that the HothersaUs were staunch Catholics, and 

 had suffered much for the faith. The foUowing account of the hiding 

 of Sir Walter Vavasour, a great friend of the HothersaUs, is very 

 interesting, and shows the risks the CathoHcs ran at this time in 

 adhering at all openly to theii- religious convictions :— 



" Sir Walter Vavasour, of Haslewood, Bart., was a Jesuit serving 



the mission in the Midge HaU district. At this period he resided in 



Alston, perhaps with Eichard Bilsborrow, who was outlawed for taking 



part in with the Chevalier de St. George in 1715, though it is pretty 



certain that Mr. Vavasour frequently said mass in the domestic chapel 



at HothersaU HaU, the seat of Thomas HothersaU, Esq., a cousin of 



the Haydocks, a celebrated Eoman Catholic family, of Broughton. 



John Harrison, of Balderston, on Nov. 24th, 1716, laid an information 



before the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates, in which he stated :— 



'John Harrison did, on Friday, Hth Nov., 1715, at Preston, see Mr. 



Vavasour (brother of Sir Walter Vavasour), who is said to be a Jesuite, 



appear there openly in the streets and particularly did see him go into 



the White BuU Inne, in Church Gate Street, in company m the several 



persons who had aU or most of them cockades in their hats— that the 



said Mr Vavasour had then a sword by his side,' etc. On the previous 



Oct 17 George Green, the High Constable of the Hundred of Amoun- 



derness, adviled the Commissioners that 'Mr. Vavisor, who is a 



reputed priest, harboured in our town [Alston-cum-HothersaU.]' Sir 



Walter Vavasour afterwards succeeded Fr. James Thomson, S.J., to 



the mission at Preston."* 



" Edward Winstanley, of Alston, sworn this 18 July, 1718, saith that 

 he knows Mr. Vavasor, who Uves in one of the four houses caUed the 

 Bough, ^ and that he hath seen the said Vavasor perfoi-m the ceremony 

 which is caUed mass in the said house. 



" Joseph Key, of the same, saith that he knows Mr. Vavasor, that he 

 has Uved about 15 years, and hath seen him officiate as a Eomish 

 priest at the altar in the service of the Eucharist. That Vavasor is 

 tenant to this deponent, and pays him £3 per annum, and this deponent 

 is tenant to James Bleasdale [and] is to pay £25 per annum by lease, 



which expired last year. 



'Probably the Boot, now a farm 

 iThe Haydook Papers." touse ; spelt in 1680 " Boght." 



