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THE ORIGIN OF THE SURNAME GORNALL (Written and Researched by Dr, Richard Guest Gornall in 1975.)
Hereditary surnames came into use in England earlier than anywhere else, that is from 1250 onwards, and were descriptive of a person's parentage, appearance, occupation, place of residence or land holding and official status. Often the meaning is fairly obvious but sometimes it is a word that has gone out of use or is actually in a foreign or forgotten language and is not easily recognizable. The name GORNALL was originally so uncommon as to have no mention or explanation in lists of surnames up to now. It's origin is the 'middle English' word CWEORNHALGH meaning 'the granary", and is therefore derived from the vernacular or commonly spoken language which persisted in a remote and isolated area like the Amounderness District of Lancashire well into the 15th Century. Up to the year 1600 the name was not found anywhere else except that district north of the River Ribble. Originally at the beginning of this research in the 1970's, the name appeared to have arisen in several areas of northern Lancashire at the same time. It was believe that it probably did not descend from one particular ancestor and is, like many names, descriptive of an occupation. (i.e. John o'th' Girnall) However, now in 2005 as we have continued our research into the early Gornalls and their locations it would seem that there is a possibility that the name may have come from one area and possibly one family. Time will tell if this is to be the case. It could indeed have been one family of lay workers from a monastery area who started out with this name. Many of the family trees that are being researched now are linking up together as one tree in the area of Garstang and Cockerham in the 1500's, and it appears those people came from further north. The name appears to be entirely restricted to this isolated part of Lancashire, north of the River Ribble, until about 1600 when the chief landowners and employers of agricultural labour, the Abbeys of Furness and Cockersand, with their granaries at Hawkshead and Garstang respectively, were dispossessed and freer movement of labourers who needed to look for work was possible. Before that, at Furness, for instance, the 'regime of Citeaux' within a hundred years of it's foundation was employing 200 lay brothers working on the farms, recruited from the people of mixed English and Viking descent living in these lakeland valleys. (John, Robert, Thomas and Matthew Gornall - Furness Coucher Book 1537). Cartmel Priory owned farms (John Gornall, Spooner's Close, Burblethwaite, Cartmel Fell, a tenant of Cartmel Priory 1508) while Cockersand Abbey founded by Hugh the Hermit in 1184 and dissolved in 1539 owned extensive lands in Garstang and Claughton. References and Dates:- 1127 Foundation of Furness Abbey, 1179 Incorporation of the Town of Preston, Lancs by Henry II 1184 Foundation of Cockersand Abbey by Hugh the Hermit 1287 Fylde Forest Eyres 1328 First Preston Guild 1350 John Gornall of Arkholme, Duchy. Lancashire Assizes Parish of Melling 1377 - 1381 - Poll-Tax Record 1397 - First Recorded Roll of Preston Guild. (Refer Lancashire Record Office in Preston). 1400 - Furness Abbey employed 200 lay brothers working on the farms, recruited from the people of mixed England and Viking descent, who lived in the lakeland valleys. 1451-1461 Cockersand Abbey Tenant Rentals. Cockersand Abbey owned extensive lands in Garstang and Claughton. 1508 - John Gornall a tenant of Cartmel Priory , Lived at Spooners Close, Burblethwaite Cartmell Fell. He was a tenant of Cartmel Priory in 1508. 1508-1509 - Vale Royal Rentals of Kirkham 1524-1525 - Subsidy Returns 1537 - John, Robert, Thomas and Matthew Gornall are recorded in the Furness Coucher Book (which contained all the properties, farms and tenants owned by the Monastery) 1537 - Dissolution of Furness Abbey 1568-1704 - Hawkshead Parish Register. 1642 - Hugh Gornall of Preston appears in the Protestant Attestation Rolls of 1642 and has taken the Oath required of him. In the list of names of those in Preston who took the oath, he appears as the only one one by the name of Gornall. This leaves us to believe he was the first person by the name of Gornall to move to Preston and live and do business there. 1643 - Thomas Gornall married to Jenet Waller - Cartmel 1662-1674 - Hearth Tax Returns
The name GORNALL was spelled in an endless variety of ways up to the year 1700; although some different spellings persist, for the most part the present spelling (GORNALL) was adopted. The pronunciation had always been the same, with the emphasis on the first syllable, Gornl., and with the guttural local speech which is there to this day, as a northern 'burr' and the local habit of clipping the last syllable of place names, a member of the family living at either Goosnargh or at Grimsnargh would even now be referred to as 'Mr. Gurna of Goosner' or of 'Grimser' amongst the locals. Other spellings of the name as seen in the Preston Guild Merchant Rolls are GORNELL and GORNER. In other places the name was spelled as it was heard, and can be found as GURNELL, GURNALL, and in Hampshire it was James Gornall of Preston who moved to Stockbridge whose name was spelled as GARNALD in parish records. It was in 1642, as they began to be more mobile in search of work, that a person of the name Gornall moved from Claughton to Preston, a distance of a mere ten miles, and this Hugh Gornall having employment there, probably as an Alehouse Keeper or an Innkeeper, was entered amongst the in-burgesses of the town in the PRESTON GUILD MERCHANT that year, and the records show that a good number of his male descendants claimed their birthright of entry from then on every twenty years at the PRESTON GUILD. This practice continued long after it was actually necessary in order to trade in the town of Preston, and boys were entered by their freeman parents at the first GUILD after their birth to safeguard their future livelihood. Now, just a traditional custom, it provides a useful historical and genealogical record. It is worthwhile to note that the PRESTON GUILD MERCHANT IS STILL HELD EVERY TWENTY YEARS. THE NEXT ONE HAPPENS IN 2012. Many of the Gornalls who were Preston Guild Members moved further away to do business as the competition became too much for them in Preston. This accelerated by the middle of the 18th Century, as Preston became a large prosperous city of Business and Fashion, and the Guild began to lose it's power. No longer was a Burgess in the Guild able to stop others from coming into Preston to do business without first becoming accepted by the council and joining the Guild. After the 1770's the Guild was no longer able to fine anyone doing in business in Preston without being a Guild Member. Some of those Preston Guild Burgess Gornalls who went away from Preston to do business were: JOHN GORNALL - Linen Draper of London - Burgess in 1762 and 1782 WILLIAM GORNALL - Linen Draper of Bristol - Burgess in 1722 and 1742 PHILIP GORNALL - Hair Dresser and Perfumer of Bloomsbury, London - Burgess in 1782, 1802 and 1822 JAMES GORNALL - Waiter of Stockbridge, Hants. - Burgess in 1762, 1782 and 1802 PHILIP GORNALL - Steward for General John Burgoyne in Ireland, and later Wine Merchant of Mayfair, London - Burgess in 1762, 1782 and 1802 GEORGE GORNALL - Butcher of Liverpool - Burgess from 1802 to 1842 JAMES GORNALL - Brush Maker of Derby - Burgess from 1802 to 1822 JOHN GORNALL - Cabinet Maker of Liverpool - Burgess from 1782 to 1822
Sources and acknowledgements for this article - The Rolls of the Preston Guild Merchant from 1642 to the present day. Dr. Richard Guest-Gornall, 1975, Warrington, Lancashire, England. Denis Gornall.
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