Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/191

 The diarist, Thomas Tyldesley, died in 1715, before the outbreak of the rebellion, and was buried at Churchtown, near Garstang. Edward Tyldesley, his eldest son, who succeeded him, had two children by his wife Dorothy—James and Catherine. He was accused, tried, and acquitted of taking part with the rebels of 1715, although the evidence clearly convicted him of having led a body of men against the king's forces. At the death of Edward Tyldesley, in 1725, Myerscough no longer belonged to the family, but Holcroft, acquired by marriage in 1679, passed to his son James, who twenty years later served with the troops of Prince Charles, the younger pretender, and died in 1765. The offspring of James Tyldesley by Sarah, his wife, were Thomas, Charles, James, Henry, and Jane, all of whom with their descendants seem to have sold or mortgaged the remnants of the once large estates, and gradually drifted into poverty and obscurity.

It will not be out of place in concluding the notice of a family connected with the earliest infancy of Blackpool, to state something of the character and habits of Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, as disclosed by, and deduced from, the entries in his diary, which unfortunately comprises only the last three years of his life. At the present time the appearance of a party of gentlemen in this neighbourhood decorated with curled wigs, surmounted by three-cornered hats, and habited in long-figured waistcoats, plush breeches, and red-heeled boots, would excite no little astonishment, yet in the days of the diarist the sight must have been one of usual occurrence, for such was the style of costume worn by the wealthier classes. The lower classes were clothed in garments made from the undyed wool of the sheep and called hodden gray.

Thomas Tyldesley was a great equestrian, his journeys being so frequent and rapid that it is difficult to be certain of his whereabouts when he finished his day's work and its minute record, with the final "soe to beed." He was on terms of intimacy and friendship with the Rigbys of Layton, the Veales of Whinney Heys, the Westbys of Burn Hall, and all the wealthy families in the neighbourhood. Fishing, hunting, coursing, and shooting were his favourite recreations. Nor was he unmindful in the midst of these amusements of the interests of his farm, as the accompanying remarks amply testify:—"Very bussy all morning in my hay;" and "Alday in the house and my garden,