CATHOLIC REGISTERS OF ROBERT HALL AND HORNBY
319
No. VIII
THE CATHOLIC REGISTERS OF ROBERT HALL AND HORNBY, CO . LANCASTER, 1757-1851 CONTRIBUTED BY
THE RT REV. MONSIGNOR WILLIAM WRENNALL , D.D. ROBERT
HALL, IN THE PARISH OF TATHAM 1757-1811 THE ancient Faith but gradually lost its hold in this locality, and for generations Mass was continuously said in private chapels in the houses of the leading gentry. Robert Hall was the seat of the Cansfields, who also at times resided at Cantsfield Hall in the neighbouring parish of Tunstall, from whence they derived . They were staunch Catholics , their names appearing yearly in the recusant rolls , and several of them devoted their lives to the service of the Church . Fr Brian Cansfield, S.J., younger son of Thos. Cansfield, of Robert Hall , Esq. , and his wife Frces. , dau . of Brian Fowler , of St Thomas's Priory, co. Stafford , Esq. , was baptized at Tatham Church , Dec. 17, 1580, and died in 1643. His sister Elizabethjoined the newly established English Benedictine convent at Brussels in 1598, and died in 1611 . Only occasional glimpses are obtained of the priests who served the Catholics about Robert Hall during the earlier days of the penal laws. There is now in HornbyChapel a stone holy water font , bearing the initials E.C. and the date 1612, which was formerly in the chapel at Robert Hall. The Rev. John Redman came to the mission from Rome in 1592, and probably settled here about that date . Anyhow he was residing here some few years later, and was still chaplain in 1632, and probably died here about 1645. He also appears to have attended to the faithful at Cantsfield Hall, where he reconciled Richard Garnett , who subsequently was ordained priest at Rome in 1606. Dom Jno . Huddleston notes Mr Redman's anniversary on Nov. 8.
was in 1645, about the time of Mr Redman's death , that the Rev. Charles Cansfield alias Ashton returned homefrom Rome, and no doubt , even he was notfor some time in charge of the mission , he would often say Mass here . Hewas the younger son of Sir John , the noted cavalier who commanded the Queen's regiment of horse in the second battle of Newbury , Oct. 10, 1644, on which occasion he is said to have savedthe lives of Charles I and the Prince by a decisive charge . Subsequently Mr Charles was elected a canon of the Old Chapter , and was held in high esteem by his brethren till his
It
if
death in 1694.
The Rev. Peter Winder alias Bradley , son of Wm . Winder, of Caton, yeoman , came to England from Lisbon in 1644, and was stationed in his native district . It is very probable that he served Robert Hall for some time before he undertook the charge of the chapels at Quernmore and Bulk. Sir Thomas Preston established an annuityfor the use of the priest attendingto Quernmore in 1677, and it is probable that Mr Winder settled there about that time, for in 1680 his name appears in a list of fines for recusancy at that place. Another priest associated with Robert Hall was the Rev. Thomas Weedon alias Williamson. He was son of Thomas Weedon , of Hanley Castle, co. Worcester, Esq. , and left the English College at Rome in 1663. After being five years chaplain at the English Augustinian Convent at Bruges , he came to Lancashire , and would appear to have been chaplain at