Inheritance and Identity in Pennine Lancashire: The Stansfields of Inchfield, Walsden, 1591-1767

Abstract

The case study of the Stansfields of Inchfield, Walsden (Transactions, 159, 2010) illuminated the worlds of a Lancashire yeomanry family during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by utilising their (six) surviving wills and (four) inventories to explore their kinship networks, religious perspectives, and farming practices. Following discovery of a further (seventh) family will and (fifth) inventory and other evidences, it is possible to amend assumptions and ameliorate evaluations. The testament and inventory of John Stansfield (d. 1681) facilitates (re-)construction of broader family relationships as well as evaluation of farming interests, usury, and literacy; whilst the case of the (unproven) will of Abraham Stansfield IV (1712- 1741) - as recorded in the notes of the antiquary F.R. Raines - raises questions concerning inheritance and identities.