Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/82

 castellan of Windsor at the time when Domesday Book was compiled. William, son of Walter, adopted De Windsor for his family name; but his brother Gerard was content with his ordinary patronymic, and became the ancestor of the Gerards of Bryn, now represented by Sir Robert Gerard of Garswood Hall. The family of Ince is also very ancient, dating nearly, if not quite, from the conquest. Private documents show that Richard de Ince, in 1322, held one-sixteenth of a knight's fee in Aspull; and a grandson of this Richard left, as sole heiress, a daughter Ellen, who married John the third son of Sir Peter Gerard, of Bryn, about the year 1368. The township of Ince was conveyed to him by this marriage, and the family resided at the old Hall for many generations. Maurice Fitz-Gerald, or Gerard, was a younger son of this family, and was one of the adventurers who accompanied Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, on his expedition to conquer Ireland in 1170. The present Earls of Macclesfield are also lineally descended from the same John Gerard of Ince. This portion of the property subsequently belonged to a branch of the Walmsleys, whose parent stock resided at Showley, near Blackburn, and is now owned by Richard Walmsley, Esq., of Bath. The mansion which has obtained the name of Ince Hall, without the designation of "old," was built by Roger Browne during the reign of James I. He was descended from Roger Browne de Ince, who is designated as a "gentleman," and held some lands here in the 14 Richard II., or 1390. A descendant named William resided here in 2 Elizabeth, or 1559, and was succeeded by his son Roger, who mortgaged his estates in order to defray the expenses of this costly erection. He died comparatively poor, but the mortgages were redeemed