Hi,Yorky. Thanks for the offer. May take you up on it. I'm over 100 miles away. Relatives in Lancs , so I visit. Spent 2 days in Lancs Archives in July, reading wills. Went to a small archive too, run by a voluntary heritage group. Also day trip with Catholic FHS, NW branch; all v. informative & inspiring.
I didn't find a will of my yeoman ancestor (d.1790) . Later investigation of Lancs Archives catalogue discovered it among George 111 Court Rolls: Catholic Wills, with 2 earlier ones. I have will of son of aforesaid yeoman. Estate "amounted to less than £1000" . IMO that was a respectable sum 200 years ago. A Protestant neighbour & distant relative, with a much bigger property, died same era, possessed of £3,500. He was Churchwarden & Overseer of the Poor. Once I've "tidied up" 18thC I'm hoping to trace those families back. Their ancestor occupied the land in 1580. Leases and other documents are in County Archives. Yeoman's daughter moved to Preston in 19thC where 2 of her sons were corn dealers. Those were my grandmother's ancestors. grand
Scottish ancestor who married at St. Ignatius Church belongs to my grandfather. I suspect opposition to marriage. He & girlfriend had a baby 2 years earlier who died aged 7 months. They married at end of month in which she became 21. He was a shoemaker and active trade-unionist. 2 of his colleagues went to prison; his name featured in evidence. He was very active in Preston but his beginning & end are a mystery. He's a brick wall. St. Ignatius registers are in the Archives.
You may be right about hiding R.C. friends & relations "under the bed". A theory is that in strongly Catholic counties like Lancashire people didn't want to "finger" their neighbours. Even some of those responsible for drawing up lists of Recusants resented the prospect of Catholic landowners being replaced by "foreigners" from outside the county, with proceeds of sale going to Gov't. Some estates were bought by friends of former owner who then formed a trust for the heir. Catholic landowners, in turn, protected their Catholic tenants & servants. Lancashire is fortunately, a long way from London.