A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Baldmony Hooks in North Meols, with right to carry 

 hay, &c., in carts or on horseback.' 



The family, which then ranked among ' gentr)- ot 

 the better sort," adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, 

 and in 1590 John, son and heir of James Gorsuch, was 

 ' a recusant and indicted thereof." Probably John died 

 before his father, for it was another son, Edward, 

 who succeeded to the estates.* The latter, as a con- 

 victed recusant, paid double to the subsidy of 1628,' 

 and dying in 1641 ' was succeeded by his son James, 

 who was then thirty-one years of age.' Under the 

 third Confiscation Act, 1652, the land and estates of 

 James Gorsuch ' a Papist delinquent,' was declared 

 forfeit and ordered to be sold.' In October, 1653, 

 he petitioned for restitution ; but in November two- 

 thirds of his lands were sold to George Pigott and 

 William Smith.' 



A pedigree of the Gorsuch family was entered in 

 the visitation of Lancashire by Sir William Dugdale 

 in 1665, and is headed by a trick of an interesting 

 canting coat shewing three sprigs of gorse between 

 two chevronels. A contemporary note states that 

 these arms are on an old seal of Queen Elizabeth's 

 time in the possession of the family ; and James 

 Gorsuch, no doubt, put the seal forward as evidence 

 for the traditional coat-armour of his house. It is 

 noteworthy, however, that no tinctures are shewn 



in the tricked shield ; and the heralds do not 

 appear to have allowed these arms to the family. 



James Gorsuch appears, however, to have regained 

 part, if not the whole, of his estates. He married 

 Anne Harrington of Huyton, and was succeeded 

 by his grandson James, the son of his second son 

 Edward by Mary Eccleston.'" The younger James, 

 born in 1656, was buried at Ormskirk on 21 Decem- 

 ber, 1752." His surviving son John obtained the 

 Eccleston estate in virtue of a settlement made by 

 Father Thomas Eccleston, S.J., as being a descendant 

 of Mary Eccleston, and took the name of Eccleston ; 

 he died without issue in 1742, when this estate went 

 to Basil Thomas Scarisbrick, whose son succeeded to 

 Scarisbrick also. 



At a very early period land called Aspinwall was 

 given by an ancestor of the lords of Scarisbrick to the 

 church of Ormskirk. The gift was confirmed early in 

 the thirteenth century by Richard, son of Gilbert de 

 Scarisbrick, who describes it as lying within Harleton." 

 The place gave a surname to the tenant." 



The inquisition after the death of George Aspin- 

 wall, 4 December, 1559, shows that he held a 

 messuage and small parcels of land in Harleton and 

 Scarisbrick of Richard Hurleton, Edward Scarisbrick, 

 and others; his daughter and heir was Jane Aspinwall, 

 then one year of age." Later (1562 to 1579) occurs 



^ Scarisbrick D. n, 194. 

 ^ A branch settled in London ; /7i/V. of 

 1633-4 (Harl. Soc). 



^ Gibson, L\Jiale Hall, 246. 

 * Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 63, 

 m. 94. The inventory of James Gorsuch, 

 dated 161:;, is preserved at Chester. 

 » Norris D. (B.M.). 

 ' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, n. 58. 

 The hall of Gorsuch was then held of 

 the earl of Derby, as of the late dissolved 

 priory of Burscough, in socage by fealty 

 and the rent of a pound of cummin. 

 For a suit of his in 1639 see Excb. Depo- 

 sitions (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 26. 

 His widow Elizabeth and sister Frances 

 appear in the recusant roll of 1641 ; 

 Tram. Hilt. Soc. (New Ser.), xiv, 235. 



' James and his sons James and Ed- 

 ward were foreign burgesses at the Pres- 

 ton Guild in 1642 ; GuiU R. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 1 12. 

 •* Index of Royaliits, 42. 

 ' Royalist Comf. P. (Rec. Soc Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iii, 88-90. A survey made 

 in Aug. 1653 shows that the reserved 

 rents and boons were worth 7*3 js, 

 Gorsuch Hall consisted of a hall, kitchen, 

 larder, two butteries and seven other 

 lower rooms, a long upper room called 

 the chapel chamber, four other large and 

 small upper rooms and four closets : a 

 wash-house ; a decayed mill house, a 

 brick kiln house of six bays, a fair slated 

 barn of five bays, nine other bays of out- 

 housing ; with gardens, orchards, courts, 

 fold or milking yard, &c. One-third had 

 been sequestrated (like her other dower 

 lands) for the recusancy of Elizabeth, 

 widow of Edward Gorsuch ; the other 

 two-thirds were occupied by James Gor- 

 such. The lands comprised the Brand- 

 earth, Broad Heys, Maud Hey, hop yard, 

 Muscarrs and Hawkshead (in Burscough), 

 the Hooks (North Meols) ; there was a 

 conigree in the dower lands. The evi- 

 dences had been ' lost in time of the late 

 wars, when the house aforesaid was ran- 

 sacked and plundered." The lands 

 granted out on lease are then described ; 

 two days' reaping and one day's filling of 



dung were among the services to be ren- 

 dered ; S.P. Dom. Interreg. G. 58a, fol. 

 524, 4c. 



10 /7im. of 1664-5 (Chet Soc), 123. 

 On this Mr. GiUow remarks : * Dugdale's 

 Gorsuch pedigree, like most of his 

 Catholic pedigrees, is very deficient. 

 For instance, Edward Gorsuch's brother 

 George is said to have died young ; as a 

 matter of fact he was a priest and passed 

 under the " alias " of Talbot. Of course 

 it was absolutely necessary to suppress such 

 matters, and hence the returns of Catholics 

 to the heralds are generally very imperfect.' 

 ^^ Nicholas Blundell of Crosby was one 

 of the bearers and William Molyneux of 

 Mossborough was another ; the latter's 

 son William in 1732 married Frances 

 daughter of James Gorsuch ; BlunJell's 

 Dijrj, 4, 212; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 

 2';4; Piccope MSS. iii, 250 (R. 5 of 

 Geo. n). James Gorsuch had four sons 

 — Thomas, who resided at Burscough 

 Hall, and died without issue ; John, who 

 succeeded to Eccleston ; George, who 

 died childless ; and James, a priest serv- 

 ing the Burscough mission. This last, 

 at Douai in 170;, was described as son 

 of James Gorsuch and Abigail Metham, 

 born 29 Apr. 1683 ; Douai Diaries, 54, 

 90. A settlement by the father concern- 

 ing Gorsuch Hall mentions 'Thomas my 

 eldest son ' and ' John my son ' ; Piccope 

 MSS. iii, 172 (from R. 2, n. 266, of 

 the Papists' Estates registered under the 

 Act of I Geo. I in the Court-house, 

 Preston) ; Eng. Cath. Non-jurors, 108. 

 John Gorsuch in 1732 married Winifred, 

 daughter of Anthony Low, M.D., de- 

 scribed as ' late of Milnhouse, in the 

 county of Chester"; ibid. 348 (R. 16 of 

 Geo. n). Gorsuch Hall appears to have 

 been acquired by the Scarisbricks towards 

 the end of the seventeenth century, and 

 leased to the original owners ; ibid. 20, 

 (R. 12 of Geo. II) and 194 (R. 9). 



" Burscough Reg. fol. 23 ; he expressly 

 says that his ancestors had given it in 

 times past. One of the witnesses is 

 Richard de Lathom, who died in 1232. 

 Geoffrey, prior of Burscough, granted 



274 



Aspinwall in Harleton to Walter, son of 

 Gilbert de Scarisbrick, at a rent of 21. ; 

 D. in poss. of Scarisbrick Trs. 



" In 1292 Avice, daughter of Simon de 

 Nathelargh, Adam de Aspinwall, and 

 others alleged that Gilbert de Scarisbrick 

 and Robert de Hurleton, chief lords of 

 Harleton, had disseised them of 80 acres 

 of moor, moss, and pasture, and their 

 claim was sustained ; Assize R. 408, m. 52. 



Adam de Aspinwall occurs down to 

 1307; Scarisbrick D. n. 48. On 24 Nov. 

 1 3 10, Henry, son of Adam dc Aspinwall, 

 was pardoned for the death of John de 

 Aykescough; Cal. of Pat. 1307-13, p. 296. 

 In Aug. 1315, Henry de Aspinwall was in 

 the king's prison at Stafford for the death 

 of John de Aspinwall at Ormskirk ; Cal. 

 Close R. 13 1 3-1 8, p. 242. 



Simon son of Adam early in 1306 

 granted to his daughter Emma 'all his 

 land and manor ' in Harleton, Scarisbrick, 

 and Snape which he had had from James 

 de Snape, rendering the services due to 

 the chief lord and a rent of i6d. He was 

 still living in 1316 ; Scarisbrick D. ». 46, 

 49, 51. A Gilbert de Aspinwall was con- 

 temporary with him, or perhaps later ; 

 ibid. nn. 33, 40. Thomas de Aspinwall 

 appears from 1364 to 1398 ; ibid. nn. 96, 

 99. '3', 137- 



John de Aspinwall in 1371 made a set- 

 tlement of two-thirds of his lands in Harle- 

 ton and Scarisbrick on his daughter Joan 

 and her heirs ; Scarisbrick D. n. 114, Sec. 



One Hugh de Aspinwall occurs in 1414 

 and 1429, and another in 1490 ; ibid. 

 nn. 148, 155, 177. In 1474 Margaret, 

 wife of Richard Male (MaghuU), received 

 dowry in AspinoU (Aspinwall) and Augh- 

 ton from Hugh Aspinoll : she had been 

 wife of Owen Aspinoll ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 42, m. 10. 



^* Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. xi, n. 36. 

 A grant by feoffees to Thomas son of 

 Hugh de Aspinwall, ancestor of George, 

 is recited ; the pedigree being : Hugh — s. 

 Thomas (1375) — s. Hugh — s. Evan — s. 

 Hugh — s. James — >. William— «. George, 

 whose brother and heir male in 1565 was 

 James AspinwalL 



