The Feildens are
believed to have originated in Great Harwood, probably descended from
Rudolf of Hapsburg and came over to England in the fifteenth century.
They may well have been descended from Flemish weaver emigrés
that were settling in the north of England at that time. The Feildens
were great landowners in Blackburn, having bought the lordship of
the manor in 1721 and their family tree includes the Asshetons, Claytons
and Whittakers. Witton Park in Blackburn, some 485 acres (195 hectares)
of wood and farmland, was the site of their country seat, Witton House,
built in 1800 by the Fielden family, who held it until 1947. At this
time Major-General Feilden sold the estate and park to Blackburn Corporation
in the sum of £64,000, with some of the purchase cost provided
by local benefactor Mr R E Hart, after which 400 acres of land were
made available for public use. Unfortunately, having suffered the
ravages of time, Witton House was demolished in 1952. However, the
stables and outbuildings survived and these former stables and coach-houses
were renovated in the late 1970s. They were officially opened in 1980
as the visitor centre for the country park.

The Foden family
name first appeared in Cheshire during Anglo-Saxon times, possibly
originally derived from Odin (the pagan god of the Saxons) and has
several alternate spellings including Fodin, Fowden, Fodon, Vodden
and Voden. Later, as surnames tended to indicate place of birth,
it possibly simply meant someone who came from the village of Foden,
(now Foden Bank in Prestbury). By the 18th century they held significant
farming lands around Astbury and Prestbury in the County of Cheshire.
There were emigrations of family members to both America and Australia
in the 18th and 19th centuries. The earliest record of the name
appears to be one Philip Fowden, who married Katherine Broke at
Prestbury Church in 1563. Shortly after, in 1568, Hugh Fowden and
Mary Stubbs were also married at the same church. Foden and ERF
lorries were founded by Edwin Foden (1841–1911) and other members
of the Foden family in Sandbach. Neither company now remains, having
been taken over and production moved elsewhere. and the former mansion
home of the Foden family at Westfields was demolished to make way
for a new council building, but the celebrated Foden’s Brass Band,
originally created for employees, is still based in Sandbach and
was British Open Brass band Champions in 2008.

The name ‘Gee’
probably originated with the arrival of the Normans in England and
is perhaps a corruption of the Norman surname ‘Gui’ or ‘Guy’. According
to some sources, the Gee surname cannot be traced further back than
the 17th century, however, the Gee name seems to have existed in
Leicestershire from 1400, Nottinghamshire from 1460, and Lincolnshire
from about 1340.
It is disputed whether the village of Gee Cross, in Hyde, Greater
Manchester, is named after the well-to-do Gee family, or is perhaps
a corruption or abbreviation of ‘Gerrard’s Cross’, a local stone
cross which has long stood there. But it is clear, however, that
the Gees held important positions in the neighbourhood from very
early times and were known to be local philanthropists from the
16th century up to recent times. Later, American immigrants may
have changed the name to ‘Jay’.

An ancient and
powerful land-owning family in Lancashire, particularly around the
districts of present-day Wigan. The name Gerrard (sometimes spelt
Gerard, Garret, Garrett or Gerart) is an old Anglo-Saxon name meaning
“spear carrier” and is recorded in the Doomsday book of
1086. The Fitz-Gerrards of Brynne boasted an ancient ancestry going
back to the times of Alfred the Great.
DeBretts identifies the Gerrard family as deriving its origin from
the same ancestor as the Duke of Leinster, the Marquess of Lansdowne,
the Lords Windsor, and many others. The descendants of Gerald or
Gerard, third son of Walter Fitz-Other, continued the surname of
Gerard, and eventually settled at the Brynne in Lancashire. Sometime
around 1250 William Gerrard inherited Brynne Hall by marriage to
the daughter and sole heiress of Peter de Brynne. The family seat
Brynne (Bryn) Hall dates from the fourteenth century.
Documentation shows that the family owned lands around the Winwick,
Standish, Hindley and Ashton-in-Makerfield districts of Lancashire
in the mid-16th century.
In 1544 Thomas Gerratt had been made Earl of Hertford at Leith in
Scotland and by 1555 William Garrett had become Lord Mayor of London.
Subsequent family members became Attorney General and Chancellor
of Ireland.
The family name is still recorded by Gerrard’s Bridge on the nearby
Leeds & Liverpool Canal as well as the Gerrard Arms pub in Aspull.
The Gerrard family tomb is at All Saints Church in Wigan.

The lands of
Glazebrook, just under 3000 acres of historic lands once held by
the Glassbrook family, lies within the County of Lancashire, six
miles to the north east of Warrington. It is the most easterly township
in the West Derby hundred, bordering the Salford hundred, with its
southern boundary the River Mersey. This was the Earldom of the
de Glasebrook family, and old Norman French family who owned it
in the eleventh century – originally given by William the Conqueror
to his illegitimate son Galfe. Ownership is recorded in the Domesday
Survey of 1086. Its existence predates the County Palatine of Lancashire,
which was not created until 1297, and there are many deeds in existence
related to the history and ownership of the lands.
The lands contain a railway station and the village of Glazebury,
as well as the River Glazebrook, which itself runs into the Mersey.
The source of the river is a lake called ‘The Flash’ or the ‘The
Glaze’.
The Glassbrook family once successfully defended the lands against
the advancing Scots, whilst the Grosvenors held the west against
the Welsh, and the de Trafford’s the east as well as 10 other families
who held the line, including the de Botteliers (Bootle).
In the 1800 survey the district was known as Glassbrook. Nowadays,
the township comes under the administrative authority of the County
of Cheshire. Other family name derivations include Glazebrook, Glassbrook
and Glasebrook.

We
are indebted to Alan Glassbrook for providing the information on
the Glassbrook family.

The Harrison family name has existed in Lancashire
possibly from Anglo-Saxon times, well before the Norman Conquest of
1066. It occurs in many manuscripts, from time to time with various
spellings, including Harryson and Harieson.
Towards the mid 1850s the family purchased Samlesbury Hall, which
had been in danger of falling into dereliction, until the Harrisons
saved it for the nation by investing large amounts of money into its
restoration.

Descended from William Fitz-Nigel,
who died without male heirs, the family passed through marriage of the
female side to the Duttons, Warburtons and Hattons, and possibly the
Leghs and the Daniels families. All these were major ruling families
of Cheshire throughout several centuries right up to modern times. The
township of Tabley was held by William Fitz-Nigel in the time of William
the Conqueror and is recorded as thus in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Sometimes
spelled Heton, the first appearance of the family name is one Randle
de Heaton, around 1135, of Heaton-under-the-Forest. In 1199 King John
granted land to Roger de Heton around the River Lune in North Lancashire
in the Manor of Heton-in-Lonsdale. Many sub-branches are followed along
the way including Heatons of Heaton-under-the Forest, Heatons of London,
Heatons of Billinge, Heatons – Clouch Branch and Ravenhurst Branch.
The family came south to live in the parish of Deane in Bolton. The
Heatons gradually enlarged its possessions over the following two centuries
and their family name appears as far south as Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey
and Heaton Chapel and grew in power and influence, holding various public
appointments. In the 13th century two heads of the family received knighthoods.
Later, the lands was divided amongst several sons and when finally,
on the death of William de Heton in 1387, most of the lands in Lancashire
were inherited by his two daughters they subsequently passed out of
the hands of the Heton family on their marriage, inheritance then only
passing down through the male line.

The Henshaw family are particularly numerous in
North East Cheshire. Based on the hamlet of Henshaw in Siddington,
the landed family have existed here since Saxon times and saw later
migrations to Ireland and America. Henshaw is noted in the Domesday
book as “Hofinchel”. Other variant spellings found in English
records are Henshawe, Henshall, Hanshaw and Hinshaw. Henshaw Hall
Farm in the village of Siddington occupies a place formerly known
as Henneschae (‘hens’ copse’). This family existed in the area from
about 1250 according to some books on Cheshire history. One member
was slain at the Battle of Blackwater, during the O’Neil rebellion
around 1596.

The Heskeths originally acquired the Manor of Rufford
through intermarriage with the Fitton Family, when in 1275 Maud Fitton
married Sir Thomas Hesketh of Holmeswood, and half of Rufford came
by way of a dowry Their grandson, Sir John de Hesketh, later married
Alice Fitton, and thereby secured the rest of the estate and became
Lord of the Manor. Heskeths had for some time lived at Martholme but
eventually Rufford became the family’s main home.
The Heskeths were great benefactors of the Church of St Lawrence at
Great Harwood. Thomas Hesketh founded a Chantry at the Church in 1521
and bequeathed it an endowment of land. His son, (also Thomas), was
knighted at the coronation of Mary Tudor in 1553. Despite being a
fervent supporter of Queen Mary and himself a Roman Catholic he managed
to retain some status when the Protestant Queen Elizabeth came to
power in 1558 and went on to serve with distinction becoming High
Sheriff of Lancashire in 1563. Subsequent generations married well
into other powerful Lancastrian families, notably the Stanleys, as
well being elected as Members of Parliament for Lancashire and High
Sheriffs of the County. In 1593, Richard Hesketh was involved in the
plot to place the 5th Earl of Derby on the throne, in succession to
Elizabeth, but was betrayed and sentenced to death. Family lands in
Great Harwood, Tottleworth and the house at Martholme eventually passed
by marriage to the de Hoghtons.
During the early 19th century the family fortunes fared badly as new
mechanisation and better transport systems hit the farming and weaving
industries hard, markets fell and tenant’s rents went unpaid so that
in 1819 Sir Thomas Dalrymple Hesketh sold the estate to Richard Grimshaw
Lomax of Clayton-le-Moors for the sum of £75,000. This sale
ended all Hesketh power in Rufford, their Lordship of the Manor having
lasted over 500 years. Henceforth it was Richard Lomax who would own
almost the entire district having already purchased most of the reminder
of the Lower Town earlier in 1772.

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