HI Peter,
a wild guess, but could he possibly have been Welsh and his name John Ap Richard? I think that was an early version of the name Prichard/Pritchard, and Cressage does look fairly near the border with Wales in my road atlas.
Just a thought
Roger
EDIT: This confirms what I thought about Ap Richard
http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/p/prichard.php
