Acknowledgements

Duxbury acknowledgements

As I have lived in Germany during the whole of this research, none of these findings and conclusions would have been possible without the enormous help and support between my visits to England by many Duxbury relatives and interested local friends and associates, to whom I here express my deep gratitude in public (and hope that I have expressed this adequately face to face or via phone and mail in private over the years). These 'stalwarts' (my term in many missives over the years) are listed here in chronological order of contact about historical details, unless my memory has played me false. From my point of view, they all deserve a 'Duxbury medal' and many deserve an additional 'Myles Standish medal' and a 'Shakespeare in Lancashire medal'.

Ray Aspden (ex-Darwen, also with a Duxbury grandma), a rediscovered early school-mate after I found his work on the shelves of Darwen library back in the mid-1990s, provided many early Duxbury and later Midlands details. He has always been historically minded, is a great Shakespeare fan, and his regular visits to London and Stratford in recent years (to libraries, talks and performances of plays) have provided me with many highly relevant documents, reports and details. (This is all apart from our joint interest and travels in recent years among Bronze Age Cultures, Ancient Greeks and Romans, and anyone else from Eastern Europe who might have contributed to our Lancashire heritage.) Many years ago he produced a hilarious booklet of verses re Shakespeare and his Works (to be sung to well-known tunes). Maybe some of us 'Duxbury cousins' will all get together some day and hear Ray's one-man show or have a singalong. Ray and I met up again a few years ago, rather appropriately, in Duxbury.

Bill Taylor (of Darwen for decades), almost my Geography teacher at Darwen Grammar School, ex-President of the Lancashire History and Heraldry Society, has been another valued supplier of any local history details requested.

Margaret nee Riding (ex-Darwen Grammar School, then and now of north Bolton) located, bought and sent to me all detailed modern OS maps of Duxbury and surrounding areas. She was also present at the meeting under George Whewell's skull, as mentioned in the next paragraph. Our friendship and connections go back to early school-days, many subsequent connections with Germany, and many subsequent reunions.

Tony Foster (ex-Darwen, also with a Duxbury grandma) was a great help in solving Duxbury and early 19th century Whewell problems and has continued to give valued support. We had a lovely evening together in a pub near Bolton under the blackened skull of George Whewell, executioner of the 7th Earl of Derby in Bolton in 1651. (Owzat for a one liner about an ancestor? Well, not exactly an ancestor - the closest I can place him is some degree of cousin of my n times gt-grandfather, who wandered over the moors and founded the family in Blacksnape.) Margaret nee Riding and the Rev. Malcom Drummond, another old schoolfriend, are witnessses to this meeting.

Alan Duxbury (of Euxton, near Chorley) generously presented me with his own ready made history of the early Duxburys, compiled from various published histories. As the published histories got it wrong, he also got it wrong, but his many visits to Chorley Library subsequently helped us both to get it right. His reports from local Parish Registers and the draining of the local marshes, among many other matters, were also invaluable. Thanks for these and all the cups of tea.

Stanley Duxbury (of Morecambe) provided various other early Duxbury details, and we had a delightful afternoon together exploring Duxbury sites.

Jim Heyes (ex-Blackburn, now of Chorley), author of A History of Chorley, who knows his way around Lancashire libraries like the back of his hand, provided details about various early Lancashire gentry families at the drop of a hat. Jim has been magnificent (no other word for it) in his provision of photocopies and requested details.

Bill Walker (ex-Darwen, now of Duxbury), author of Duxbury in Decline, the history of the end of the glory years, provided so many early Duxbury and Standish details, without which my Duxbury, Standish and Shakespeare books would never have been conceived. He gave me my first guided tour of medieval Duxbury, when we were still trying to work out on the ground where Deowuc's burgh, the original Duxbury Hall and The Pele might have been. We found them and aerial photographs confirmed.

Tony Christopher (of Duxbury) was slightly surprised when I turned up one day on the doorstep of his house, which turned out to have been built on top of one of the earliest Duxbury Halls (the cobbles of the courtyard are now under his conservatory), and whose back garden overlooks the site of 'Deowuc's burgh'. He and his dog know every local blade of grass and every square metre of Duxbury woods, and later gave me guided tours of these, which included the 'John Stone' - a boundary marker of a field donated some time before 1387 by the Duxbury Lord of the Manor to the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John. This is still a bit of a secret, but the full story will be told asap. Thanks for articles from the local press, too.

Peter Duxbury (descendant of the Darwen Duxburys, now of this web site) has earned the eternal gratitude of several hundred Duxbury researchers ever since he opened it. There is still a way to go before we have the complete Duxbury story, but maybe we will all get there together in the end with Peter's generous help and support.

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