LONGWORTH OF ST. MICHAEL’S HALL.
The family of Longworths, inhabiting St. Michael’s Hall until the early part of the eighteenth century, was descended from the Longworths, of Longworth, through Ralph, a younger son of Christopher Longworth, of Longworth, by his wife Alice, the daughter of Thomas Standish, of Duxbury. Ralph Longworth married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Kitchen, and had issue two sons and one daughter. Robert, the younger son, espoused Helen Hudson, whilst Elizabeth, his sister, married Richard Blackburne, and afterwards Thomas Bell, of Kirkland. Richard, the elder son and heir, is the first of the Longworths, described as of St. Michael’s Hall, in Upper Rawcliffe. He married Margaret, the daughter of George Cumming, of Upper Rawcliffe, and had issue—Ralph, Thomas, Lawrence, Christopher, Anne, Elizabeth, and Katherine. Ralph, the eldest son, espoused Jane, the daughter of Richard Cross, of Cross Hall, in Chorley parish, but further than this fact, we have no information concerning him. The family of the Crosses, into which he married, belonged to Liverpool, and their old country seat, Cross Hall, is now converted into cottages and workshops. Thomas Longworth, the second son, born in 1622, resided at St. Michael’s Hall, and married Cicely, the daughter of Nicholas Wilkinson, of Kirkland, by whom he had one son—Richard Longworth. The latter representative, having succeeded in course of time to the Hall and estates, was a justice of the peace for the county of Lancaster, and on terms of intimacy with Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, Edward Veale, of Whinney Heys, William Hesketh, of Mains Hall, and a number of other leading gentry in the district. He married Fleetwood, the daughter of Edward Shutteworth, of Larbrick, and Thornton Hall, and left at his demise one son—Edward Longworth, who became a doctor of medicine, and resided at St. Michael’s Hall until 1725, about which time he removed to Penrith, in the county of Cumberland.