Goosnargh, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Parish History
GOOSNARGH, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish, in the parish of Kirkham, union of Preston, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 6¾ miles (N. N. E.) from Preston; the township containing, with Newsham hamlet, 1621 inhabitants. The first lords of this dictrict bore the name of Goosnargh: Robert de Goosnargh left an heiress, married to Hugh de Mytton, who was living in the reign of John; and an heiress of the latter family brought the estate by marriage to the Cateralls. Subsequently, the Cliftons, Middletons, and Botillers held lands in Goosnargh. The parish, which was formed in 1846, consists of the lower end of Goosnargh, the hamlet of Newsham, and township of Whittingham, and comprises many thousand acres of arable and pasture land, with some moorland and wood; the surface is elevated, the soil mostly clay, and the scenery from the higher parts most extensive. Inglewhite, in the parish, is traditionally said to have been a market-town, and there is still a market-cross in the centre of the green. A fair for cattle is held on the Tuesday in Rogation-week, a fair for sheep on April 25th, and one for calves on October 5th. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Christ-Church, Oxford; net income, £150, with a house. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is of great antiquity: the present edifice is deemed a restoration of the reign of Henry VIII., and was repaired in 1778; it has a square tower, and in the north aisle is a choir called Middleton chapel. The Independents have a place of worship; and there is a Roman Catholic chapel, built about a century ago by the Franciscans, and transferred to the Benedictines in 1834, when the building was enlarged; it stands on an eminence, and has an endowment of 30 acres of land, with a house attached: the Rev. Edward Dinmore is the priest. A school possesses an endowment of land in Whittingham, producing £32. 10. per annum; another school is endowed with £25 per annum, left originally by Henry Colborne, but now paid by the Drapers' Company, London, who appoint the master. A girls' school was founded by Richard Oliverson, Esq., of London, who in 1840, at a cost of £1000, built premises in which all the schools are now held: Mr. Oliverson allows the mistress £30 per annum. An hospital for decayed gentry was founded, and richly endowed with land, under the will of William Bushell, Esq., M.D., who died in 1735: the building is in the village, near the church, and is a large and handsome structure of freestone, with accommodation for about thirty persons. The benefits of the charity are limited to the townships of Goosnargh, Whittingham, Elston, Fulwood, Preston, and Euxton, the recipients to be Protestants: the number at present maintained is 26, eight males and eighteen females. The income, which in 1809 was £902, is now about £1500 per annum; and on the expiration of a lease of part of the property in the hands of the Earl of Derby, the income of the hospital will be increased many hundreds more.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 315-319. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50985 Date accessed: 01 July 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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