Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/468

 the eldest son, inherited the mansion and land on the death of his father in 1708, and married, in the following year, Mary, the daughter of Thomas Hawett, of Ormskirk, by whom he had Thomas; George, who died in 1776, leaving several children by his wife Mary, the daughter of — Field; John, died unmarried; Cuthbert, died childless; and Jane. Thomas Westby came into the estate in 1745, when his father was accidentally killed, and espoused Margaret, the daughter and heiress of William Shuttleworth, of Turnover Hall, and Bridget, his wife, who was one of four daughters, the sole offspring of John Westby, of Mowbreck. The children of Thomas Westby, of White Hall, and, ultimately, of one fourth of Mowbreck, were John, who died unmarried in 1811; William, died unmarried in 1811, just before his brother; Joseph, died young; Robert, died childless in 1800; Thomas; Bridget, an abbess at Liege; and two Marys, one of whom died in infancy. Thomas, the fifth son, held Mowbreck, White, and Turnover Halls and estates, on the decease of his eldest brother, and at his own death in 1829, without issue, was succeeded, in Turnover, by Thomas the only surviving son of his uncle, George Westby, whose death occurred in 1776; whilst he bequeathed Mowbreck and White Hall to George, the eldest son of this Thomas Westby, by his wife Anne, the daughter of John Ashley, of London. The Westbys, of White Hall and Mowbreck, sold their property at the former place in recent years to the late John Stevenson, esq., of Preston and Lytham. Reverting to the earlier Westbys, we find that the active parts played by George and Bernard Westby in the Civil Wars resulted in the confiscation of the White Hall estate by Parliament; and in 1653 it was sold by the Commissioners of State, being purchased for the Westbys again by, and in the names of, some of their Protestant friends.

Upper Rawcliffe Hall was rebuilt about the time of its purchase by the Westbys, who conferred upon it the new title of White Hall. This mansion stood by the side of the river Wyre, and was approached through a noble gateway. The windows were mullioned, and two bays projected from the north-west front; within were secret chambers and a private chapel. The Hall is now a farm house. Turnover Hall, the ancient seat of the Shuttleworths, and afterwards one of the mansions of the Westbys, as already shown, presents nothing of special interest to our notice.