Scarisbrick

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Scarisbricks in 1881 Census (England & Wales) Descendants of Gilbert de Scarisbrick (1170-1238)

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Introduction

Welcome to "Scarisbrick - on the Internet"… and a special "Hello" to those of us just known as "Scaz/Skaz" or "Scazzer/Skazzer". I have created this website for the information of all members of the Scarisbrick family and for anyone researching (or just having an interest in) the Scarisbrick name. Whilst researching my family tree I entered "scarisbrick" into the Google search engine and was surprised to see that there were nearly 11,000 responses (there are now 136,000!) On closer investigation I noticed that there were several repeat entries and so, after many hours of filtering and sorting, I have compiled the lists you can now see on this site. I hope that it will significantly reduce the time spent trawling through all those pages of the internet. Most of the information shown on the site has been collated from websites and web pages readily accessible on the internet, using various internet search engines. The UK Electoral Roll information was found on the 192.com website and on UK-Info Disks. I do not, in any way, wish to cause any offence, so if anyone has an objection to their details being shown on this site, please let me know, as soon as possible, via my email address. There are probably many duplicate entries but, until a link has been found between them, I have entered each name, or item, separately. The majority of the information shown on the site was found on the internet during July and August of 2003 but I am reviewing and updating the information as regularly as possible, so please keep returning to the site to check for new or amended entries. If you see any errors please email me directly with details. If you would like to share information with other Scarisbricks or make any comments about the site, please sign the Guestbook or if you are not listed on the site but would like to be, click here. I hope you find the site interesting. Enjoy!

Rob Scarisbrick (Liverpool, England). Email: rob@scarisbrick.co.uk 16 Jan 2004, 3 Feb 2006.

Scarisbrick – The Village

Scarisbrick (commonly pronounced as “Scays-brick”) is a village in West Lancashire, England. It is spread out along the main road between Ormskirk and Southport, so there is no real village centre. On the main road are three eating places and pubs: the Blue Elephant (formerly the Red Lion), the Morris Dancers, and Master McGraths. On the back road through the village is another canalside pub, the Heaton’s Bridge Inn. It also boasts a rainbow trout fishery and an 18-hole championship golf course.

Scarisbrick parish, the largest in Lancashire, was, in early times, an area much avoided by travellers. With its vast tracts of poorly drained peat marshes and the huge lake of Martin Mere, forming its northern boundary, it was difficult terrain to cross. The original small scattered farmsteads of the parish now form the basis of today’s hamlets of Barson Green, Bescar, Carr Cross, Drummerdale, Hurlston, Pinfold, and Snape. Many interesting features of Scarisbrick’s past can still be seen today. The Old School House opposite the Morris Dancers (once the Maypole Inn) was built in 1809 and has, in the past, been a school, a doctor’s house, a post office, and a shop. It is a listed building and is now divided into two dwellings. The canal is now used for leisure purposes, and the Blue Elephant (formerly the Red Lion) is the base for the popular Mersey Motor Boat Club. At Heaton’s Bridge, over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, there remains one of the many defensive pillboxes erected as a precaution against invasion during the Second World War.

The village now has its own official website at www.scarisbrick.org.uk which was set up for the benefit of the Scarisbrick community and it also produces a quarterly newsletter sponsored by a grant from the Community Champions Fund which informs residents about what is happening in the village.

Scarisbrick – The Family Name

The English surname Scarisbrick, also found as Scarsbrick, Scarsbrook, Scarasbrick, and Scarrisbrick, is local in origin, belonging to that category of surnames derived from the name of the place where an original bearer dwelt or where he once held land. In this instance, therefore, the surname signifies simply "(descendant of) one who hails from Scarisbrick", this being the name of the township in the Lancashire parish of Ormskirk, in what was formerly known as the West Derby Hundred. The placename itself comes from the Old Norse, and literally denotes "(the Norseman called) Skar's hill-slope." Scarisbrick appears to have been a village of some size during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, being first mentioned c.1200, with the first person known to have had a bye-name derived from it being Gilbert de Scaresbrec in the early thirteenth century. Succeeded by his son Walter, his family continued to hold Scarisbrick for centuries to come, and the historian Richard McKinley notes that "Most, and possibly all, the people named Scarisbrick found in Lancashire during the Middle Ages were members of the land-owning family." (The Surnames of Lancashire, English Surnames Series, IV).

References to the name after this date include one to Thomas Scarysbrig, Doctor of Divinity registered at the University of Oxford in 1508, and one to the marriage of Anthony Scarisbrick, mercer of London, to Jane Glascocke in 1615. The surname did not in fact become prolific until the late sixteenth century, when it multiplied in the parish of Ormskirk, spreading from there, albeit in small numbers, to the neighbouring parishes, such as Halsall and West Derby. Finally, it is interesting to note that when it reached London, the name became Scarysbrig, and also that it was among the first surnames to reach the New World, a list of passengers on the ship ‘Paul’, bound for St. Christopher's out of London in April, 1635, including one William Scarisbrick.

It is believed that the Scarisbrick Coat of Arms was granted to Sir Henry de Scarisbrick who fought at Agincourt and died in 1420. He was knighted by King Henry V shortly after the battle of Agincourt, which would probably be when he received the coat of arms. However, there is no recorded incident of him using these arms.

The first recorded instance of the arms is in a deed by Sir Henry de Scarisbrick’s son, another Henry de Scarisbrick, dated 1440. This deed has an armorial shield displaying three mullets between two bendlets engrailed; the helmet is surmounted by a dove; the legend is “sigillum henrici scaresbrec” (1).

There is a brass of an unknown member of the Scarisbrick family in Ormskirk Parish Church, discovered beneath the floor of the Scarisbrick Chapel during a renovation of the church, and now hanging in the chapel. There is no inscription remaining so the name and date of the piece is unknown but the style of the armour fixes the date to the end of the 15th Century. The surcoat of the figure is embellished with the Scarisbrick Coat of Arms. There has been some debate concerning the identity of this Scarisbrick family member, with the current consensus being that it is of James Scarisbrick who died in 1495, the son of Henry and grandson of Sir Henry de Scarisbrick, above (2).

The Coat of Arms has continued to be used through to the 19th Century, where the last male line of the Scarisbrick family was Charles Scarisbrick (1801-1860) who was the High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1839.

(1) Victoria County History of Lancashire.

(2) The Monumental Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire – James L. Thornely.

BLAZON OF ARMS: Gules three mullets in bend between two bendlets engrailed argent.

CREST: A dove sable beaked and legged gules holding in the beak an olive branch proper.

ORIGIN: England.

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Scarisbricks (by First Name): A B - D E F - I J K - M N - S T - Z Unknown

Scarisbricks (by Residence): English Counties/Unitary Authorities Rest of the World

Scarisbrick Hall Scarisbrick Locations, Businesses & Websites Scarisbrick Family Tree

Scarisbricks in 1881 Census (England & Wales) Descendants of Gilbert de Scarisbrick (1170-1238)

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