Ebook Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories From the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester

The Wills now submitted to the Members of the chetham society were transcribed by the late Rev. John piccope, m.a., Incumbent of Farndonffrom the Archives in the Ecclesiastical Court of Chester. By the kind permission of the Rev. Henry raikes, m.a., late Chancellor of the Diocese, he had access to the various documents in the Registry, a privilege of which his peculiar taste for such pursuits and his intimate acquaintance with the pedigrees of Lancashire and Cheshire families, induced him eagerly to avail himself. The entire collection, from which the present volume is taken, consists of nearly three hundred wills and inventories, embracing every class of society in the two counties palatine of Lancaster and Chester. They were originally selected with a view to their future publication by the Society, but a protracted illness unfortunately pre vented my father's hopes being realised during his lifetime.