My AINSWORTHs are an old established Lancashire family. Records of this family going back many generations , even to Norman Times, are to be found in several historical sources. My connection with the Ainsworth name is Ann Ainsworth 1738, my 4gts grandmother, who married John CORT.

Her father,Peter Ainsworth, born 1711, founded the Halliwell Bleachworks in about 1739, whilst his eldest son, also Peter, purchased the lovely old mansion known as Smithills Hall in 1801, now preserved in public ownership and open to the public. I hold a number of records of Ainsworths both before and after the dates mentioned above. Other Ainsworth researchers are invited to contact me.

Several booklets on the Ainsworths are available from Smithills Hall, including one taken from the excellent paper produced by John Keelan for the Domesday Exhibition in 1985. (see Acknowledgement below).
Much as I would like to I cannot claim that my ancestors lived at this beautiful old mansion with its vast estates of farms and coal mines. It came into the Ainsworth family through its purchase by the eldest brother of my 4gts grandmother, who by then was Mrs John Cort.
Acknowledgement: Some of the information about the AINSWORTHs is taken from the work by John Keelan.

Little is known about my FLETCHERs. They were a family from Central Coventry who apparently later moved out to Exhall or Coundon. My records start in about 1759.