Goosnargh, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Goosnargh is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1721 from chapelry in Kirkham Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Inglewhite, Whittingham, and Newsham.

Goosnargh (pronounced /ˈɡuːznə/, Gooze-Ner) is a village and civil parish on the north side of Preston, Lancashire, England. The village lies between Broughton and Longridge, and mostly lies in the civil parish of Whittingham, although the ancient centre lies in the civil parish of Goosnargh.

Only one side of one road in Goosnargh village lies within Goosnargh parish; almost all of the village lies within adjacent Whittingham parish. This may explain why the village is sometimes referred to as “Goosnargh and Whittingham”, as if there were two villages. Some road signs on entering the village display “Goosnargh and Whittingham”.

The name, meaning "Gosan's or Gusan's hill pasture", derives from (an Old Irish personal name) and erg (Norse for "hill pasture"). The name appeared in the Domesday Book as "Gusansarghe" but by 1212 had changed to "Gosenargh", closer to today's pronunciation. However, one reference suggested "Gusansarghe" was from Norse gudhsins hörgi (related to hörgr), meaning "at the idol's (god's) temple."

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

GOOSNARGH, a township, and an ecclesiastical [chapelry], 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.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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