Fourth newsletter of the Rigmaiden Family History (One Name Study), July 2013
Thomas Rigmaiden (1746-1803)
Thomas Rigmaiden is an ancestor that probably all of us interested in the Rigmaiden family are descended from, or related to in some way. From the information presently available he would seem to have been baptised on the 13th July 1746 at the church of St Lawrence in Chorley, son of John and Katherine Rigmaiden. The record was found on Ancestry.co.uk.
There is some confusion about his identity because another Thomas Rigmaiden was baptised at St Benet’s, Netherton on the 23rd September 1752, son of William Rigmaiden of Ince Blundell. (Ref: Findmypast.co.uk]
However, when Thomas died and was buried at St Anne’s Church in Liverpool in 1803 on the 3rd April his age was recorded as 58 years, making his birth year approximately 1745. Also the family at Ince Blundell were staunch Roman Catholics and St Benet’s was a, now redundant, Catholic Chapel. The present building, which is Grade II listed by English Heritage, replaced an earlier cottage and barn used by Benedictine priests. However, there is no evidence to link the Liverpool family and ‘our’ Thomas Rigmaiden with the Catholic Church as they all were baptised, married and buried in the Church of England, as far as I know.
In terms of geography, Ince Blundell is much nearer to Liverpool than Chorley but perhaps the existence of distant relatives in Ince drew him there.
It would seem that his father, John Rigmaiden lived at Clayton in the Wood, which was at that time a village three and a half miles NNW of Chorley. He and Catherine had a second child, John, baptised on the 24th July 1748 at St Andrew’s in Leyland. Their abode is stated to be Clayton.
John married Katherine Kitchen on the 17th September 1745, both of the parish of Clayton-in-the-Woods, according to a transcription found on Findmypast.co.uk. There is also in existence a copy of the marriage licence bond in which John Rigmaiden pledges the seemingly astronomical sum for those days of £200 to William Waterworth, a linen weaver. John’s own occupation is given as butcher and they are both 21 years or upward; she is a spinster.
It is possible that this John is the John Rigmaiden baptised on the 16th September 1722 at St Andrew’s, Leyland (near Chorley) and whose parents were Thomas and Isobel, abode Clayton and Thomas’s occupation husbandman (in other words a free tenant farmer or small landowner)
The record of a marriage between Thomas Rigmaiden and Isobel Margeryson on the 31st March, 1719 at St Andrew’s, Leyland appears on the Lancashire Parish Clerk website.
There are no further relevant records for the Leyland area, but there is a baptism record for a Thomas Rigmaiden at St Mary the Virgin, Blackburn on the 23rd January, 1693 to father John Rigmaiden, abode Mellor.
The only marriage that I have found in the right time frame is that of John Rigmaiden to Mary Sprot at Garstang on the 14th June, 1681. This leads to the birth of a John Rigmaiden in 1655, son of Robert of Catherall. Robert of Catherall (Garstang) married a Mary Hodgkinson in October 1654, and a Robert Rigmaiden was baptised at Barnacre in August 1617 whose father was Thomas. Barnacre, of course, is the adjacent parish to Wedacre the family home of the Rigmaiden family who were the lords of the manor there.
At the present time these premises are based on all the available matching online records, but other information may come to light in the future. Short of conducting an intensive search of parish registers in the Chorley area radiating outwards, which haven’t yet been transcribed and which are in the Lancashire Parish Record Office, we will have be satisfied with this line of descent for now. As Rigmaiden is such an uncommon name there are only a certain number of possibilities. Other Rigmaiden family groups in the 18th centuries were in the Chipping, London and Lancaster areas.
In the next newsletter I shall describe something of Thomas’ life and the large family he founded with his wife, Margery in late 18th century Liverpool.
Hi there, I'm currently looking into local history of my area, Lathom near Ormskirk in Lancashire (not too far away from the Chorley/Garstang area you've already mentioned.) looking at local mapping to the east of the Lathom House estate - a hugely important And prominent fortified Manor House, believed to be second in size and scale only to various Royal palaces of the era! - there is a 'gate' called Ringmaidens gate. Looking at older maps online it would appear that modern maps, as happens quite frequently, have misspelt the name which should read 'Rigmaidens gate'. Obviously with Rigmaidens being quite an unusual surname I've done a little research and it looks as though there was a farm near to where the gate is marked now called Ringmaidens. The farm itself seems to disappear sometime between 1830 and 1890's although the name for the gate into this part of the park obviously stuck - I wondered why?!! First clue comes from British History Onlines entry for Lathom (published in about 1906) which mentions several Lathom people had their lands confiscated after the Civil War by Parliament in 1652, one being a George Rigmaiden! Looking at the records for Ormskirk Parish church there are two George Rigmaidens who died at the end of the 17th Century (1680 & 1688) and appear to be buried at the church - maybe father and son? One or both of these I suspect was the George Rigmaiden who had I'm assuming a farm and land to the east of what is now Tawd Vale Scout campsite confiscated, assuming as he was a Royalist supporter of nearby Lathom House and supported during the sieges. No concrete evidence really but hope this helps!!
ReplyDeleteMike
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment about the Rigmaiden connection to Lathom in Lancashire. There seems to have been a cluster of Rigmaidens in the Ormskirk area pre 18th century for whom I have basic data from the parish register sources. Most recently I have been tracking the ancestors of the 19th century Liverpool Rigmaidens who I have traced back to Claughton le Woods near Preston at the turn of the 18th century. There was also a family of Rigmaidens in Sefton, more precisely at Ince Blundell, whose farmhouse still remains. This particular family branch was more overtly Catholic (or Papist as they are referred to in the records) than some of the other branches and were subject to persecution and confiscation of lands as you mentioned. I believe they were known to harbour Catholic priests and attend masses when it was most dangerous to do so.
I have not attempted to put any flesh on the bones of the Ormskirk / Lathom Rigmaidens as yet but I did find a mention of a gold ring being found in Nottinghamshire with the name 'George Rigmaiden' inscribed on it which I believe is in a local museum. The Claughton Le Woods Rigmaidens also had a connection with Nottinghamshire as one of the individuals was apprenticed with a butcher there in another place called Claughton.
One of the Liverpool Rigmaidens died in the 19th century in Aughton and I believe had a connection with a farm there.
As an aside, I went to school in Birkdale and our School Houses were all named after local families and there was indeed a Lathom House though I myself was in Hesketh House!
Best wishes
Julie