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I would be very interested in seeing your tree. I have a number of Liverpool Gornall/Gurnall/Gornell family trees in my data base, and I have traced many of them to my own line. Some descend from John Gornall born in Preston in 1771, a cabinet maker, Preston Guild Burgess and brother of my 3X gr. grandfather. The others descend from the Gornalls of St. Michael on Wyre parish, and lived in Upper Rawcliffe and surrounding area. Those Gornalls descend mostly from Robert Gornall of Claughton who is also in my line, but dates back to the 1600's.  Your grandmother was on the right track - I wonder what great stories she had heard about the family?  The earliest record of have of a Gurnall is in 1350 and that was a John Gurnall/Gornall who appears in the court records for Arkholme.  I suspect the Gornalls were originally Vikings, as the name was first of all CEWORNHALGH, which meant a granary or a worker in a granary and was adapted from a viking word. The early records indicate they were a family of farmers and lay workers and no doubt some of the sons were monks who lived and worked in/for the monasteries in Hawkshead and Cartmel.  From the early years from 1000 to the disolution of the Catholic church the Gornalls lived and worked on the farms and in the granaries that belonged to the Church of Rome.  After Henry VIII broke up the church, you begin to see the Gornalls moving away looking for work in other areas of Lancashire.  I can trace my line back to the 1500's in Claughton and Garstang and by 1642 my direct ancestor Hugh Gornall/Gurnall was living in Preston as an Ale House Keeper and was the first in the family to join the Preston Guild. From that year to the present time we have had Preston Guild Burgesses in the family.  It is hoped that some of us will be in Preston for the next Guild in 2012.

I look forward to hearing from you again and you can reach me at proctor-is@shaw.ca or the address on my website www.members.shaw.ca/gornallonenamestudy


Catherine Proctor

I am looking for information on Robert and John Gornall who were tailors of London. Robert was born about 1836 and his brother John about 1825. On Census records they claim to have been born in Liverpool. I cannot find a record of their birth, or Robert's marriage to Sara Cole.  Their father was John Gornall a licensed vitualler. Was he in Liverpool or London?
Any help would be appreciated.

Catherine
www.members.shaw.ca/gornallonenamestudy

With regard to the Golden Cross Pub - in Preston. My ancestor Robert Gornall was the owner in the late 1700's and early 1800's.  I believe it was in our family for 100 years or more. (I'm working on the early part of the family tree to see which pub was in the family in 1604 when Hugh Gornall of Preston was an ale house keeper). When Robert Gornall died about 1830, it passed out of the family.  The building that is there now is not the original one. It is on the original site, but the place was rebuilt in Victorian Times.  Robert Gornall was a Burgess with the Preston Guild Merchant and was registered with the Guilds of 1782, 1802 and 1822. As well as being an innkeeper, he was the Bailiff and a common councillor.  Also the Billet Master.

Catherine Proctor
Gornall One Name Study