(391) Barlow of Slebech Hall and Lawrenny Castle, baronets

Barlow of Slebech, baronets

The Barlow family of Pembrokeshire are perhaps very distantly connected to the Barlows of Barlow Hall (for whom see my previous article), but the connection cannot be fully established. Their connection with Pembrokeshire begins only with Roger Barlow (c.1485-1553), whose ancestry has been given erroneously in most previous accounts of the family, perhaps because it was deliberately massaged in the late 16th century to appear more grounded in the landed gentry than was, in fact, the case. The diligent researches of Heather Dalton have, however, recently shown that Roger's father, Robert Barlow (d. c.1516?), was a customs official from Colchester (Essex), whose own father belonged to a minor gentry family from Missenden (Bucks) and whose uncles were both cloth merchants in London. Roger Barlow, who was the eldest of Robert's four sons, was apparently educated for a mercantile career, and was based in Spain for more than fifteen years before settling in about 1531 in Bristol. During his time in Spain he was associated with Sebastian Cabot and in 1526-28 he participated in Cabot's expedition to the delta of the River Plate; he later wrote the earliest surviving eyewitness account of the Americas by an Englishman. Roger's three brothers all entered the church, and appear to have been enthusiastic supporters of the Reformation and of Thomas Cromwell's efforts to reform the administration of Wales on English lines. In the mid-1530s, Roger began leasing and buying land in Pembrokeshire, where his brother William was for a time Bishop of St. Davids. The core of his estate was an estate and preceptory of the order of Knights Hospitaller at Slebech, which he was leasing by 1538 and purchased from the Crown in 1546, after the order had been dissolved. His Pembrokeshire estate passed to his eldest legitimate son, John Barlow (1532-1610), who further enlarged it between 1563 and 1579, and then to the latter's son George Barlow (c.1560-c.1630), who also purchased additional lands during his father's lifetime. Whereas Roger Barlow seems to have shared his brothers' reformist Protestant views, his son was 'an obstinate notorious recusant' and most members of the family subsequently adhered to the Roman Catholic faith down to the 18th century. Perhaps partly on account of his religious views, George was unpopular with both his neighbours and his tenants, and was much oppressed by legal actions, which eventually led him into debt. One such action was a long-running dispute with the Prince of Wales (later King Charles I). Despite this, George's son, Col. John Barlow (c.1588-1671), was a zealous Royalist during the Civil War, and raised a company of 140 horse for the King's cause. In 1646 he led his troop in a catastrophic attempt to relieve the siege of Raglan Castle, in which many of them were killed. John himself fled abroad and his estates were seized by Parliament and regranted to leading officers in the parliamentarian army. John remained abroad with his family for much of the Commonwealth period, living at Bruges with Charles II's court in exile, but 'in a very miserable condition', and largely dependent on charity. Three of his sons fought for the Venetian army against the Turks at this time, and two of them were killed. He seems to have returned to England in 1658 and recovered his estates at the Restoration, but his property had been despoiled by its Commonwealth owners, his woods being cut down and his library (which is said to have contained valuable manuscripts) burned - perhaps because it included Roman Catholic works. John's final years were further soured by the death of his eldest son and heir, George Barlow, in 1662, so when he died in 1671 he was succeeded by George's young son, John, who was a few years short of his majority.

Charles II, who lacked the resources to reward those who had been most loyal to his father and himself, or to offer reparation for their sufferings, commonly resorted to offering honours in lieu of money, lands or patronage. Honours cost the Crown nothing, and indeed generated fees for the exchequer (which seem rarely, if ever, to have been waived). It seems likely that Col. Barlow was offered a baronetcy in the years after the Restoration in recognition of his loyalty, but if so he did not accept it, perhaps because the could not afford the fees. By 1677, however, the estate finances had recovered somewhat (and had been reinforced by advantageous marriages) and his grandson felt able to accept a baronetcy, which was conferred in that year. Sir John Barlow (c.1652-95), 1st bt., was one of the few members of the family who conformed to the established church, but he continued to support the Stuart cause after King James II fled into exile, as did his brother William (c.1655-c.1737), who is said to have gone into exile with the king and not to have returned until after the king's death in 1701. Sir John's son and successor, Sir George Barlow (c.1678-c.1722), 2nd bt., married a Roman Catholic and took little trouble to conceal his Jacobite views. He became an MP so he must nominally have remained attached to the established church, but the rumours of his private Catholicism were probably true. His choleric temper led him into disputes with his great-aunt and his wife, from whom he was separated after a very messy but inconclusive adultery case came to an end in 1707. She then retreated to her native Lincolnshire, where their son, Sir George Barlow (b. 1704), 3rd bt., grew up and lived until he moved to the continent in the mid 18th century. The younger Sir George did not inherit Slebech because his father, who had substantial debts, had sold it in 1708 to his brother John Barlow (c.1682-1739), from whom it passed to the latter's son, George Barlow (1717-56), who has often been confused with his cousin, the 3rd baronet. George's only child was his daughter, Anne Barlow (1737-82), who carried Slebech to her second husband, John Symmons (1745-1831). They rebuilt the house in the 1770s to the designs of Anthony Keck (1726-97), but after Anne's death John Symmons sold it in 1784 and it passed out of the family. John Barlow (c.1682-1739), who, in contrast to his brother, was a staunch Anglican but nonetheless a high Tory MP, seems to have been helped financially by his first marriage to Anne Harcourt (1682-1733), whose father was a senior member of the Government. It was presumably her wealth which enabled him to buy not only his brother's Slebech estate but also the smaller Colby estate. The latter was eventually left to his daughter by his second marriage, Catherine Barlow (1738-82), an accomplished young lady who became the first wife of Sir William Hamilton (1731-1803), kt., the Naples-based diplomat and art collector, whose second wife, Emma, was so famously later the mistress of Admiral Lord Nelson. Hamilton inherited Colby from his wife and it was later sold with his other Pembrokeshire properties.

When John Barlow (1532-1610) died, his estates were divided between his sons George (c.1560-c.1630), who as we have seen received Slebech, and William (c.1570-1636), who received Cresswell and Lawrenny. William made his home at Cresswell, where he incorporated the small existing house in a larger quadrangular building with corner towers that suggested the romantic form of a medieval castle with an elegant economy. William founded a cadet branch of the Barlow family which persisted almost exactly as long as the senior branch at Slebech. The Barlows of Lawrenny appear not to have shared the Catholicism and Jacobitism of the senior line, however, and as a result played a more active part in the administration of the county over the following two centuries. William, who was High Sheriff in 1612, was succeeded by his son Lewis Barlow (c.1605-81), who held the same office twice, in 1641 and 1668. Nothing seems to be known about his role in the Civil War, which may imply that he managed to avoid a public commitment to either side, although his instincts are likely to have been Royalist. His eldest son died during his lifetime, and he was succeeded by his second son, John Barlow (c.1636-1701), who was sufficiently acceptable to King James II to be appointed High Sheriff in 1686. He moved from Cresswell (which he sold to John Barlow of Slebech) to Lawrenny, where he was probably responsible for building a striking four-storey house that remained one of the showplaces of Pembrokeshire for more than a century. His son, another John Barlow (c.1682-1718), served as Whig MP for Haverfordwest, 1715-18, having been defeated by his Tory kinsman, Sir George Barlow of Slebech, at the polls, but having succeeded in unseating him on appeal. 

Over several generations, the Barlows of Lawrenny intermarried with the Owens of Orielton, to a degree which makes one wonder whether the short life-span of many members of the family in the 18th century could be a result of genetic disadvantages from so much in-breeding. John Barlow (d. 1718) was succeeded by his son Lewis Barlow (c.1702-37), who seems to have been unmarried and certainly died without issue. Lawrenny then devolved on his brother Hugh Barlow (c.1703-63), who also died without issue. He left the place to his nephew Hugh (1729-1809), the son of his sister Anne (c.1701-63) and her husband Wyrriott Owen (d. 1755) of Great Nash (Pembs). Hugh Owen took the additional surname Barlow and improved the house and grounds at Lawrenny, but although he married twice he too was childless, and on his widow's death in 1788 the Lawrenny estate passed to his first cousin once removed, Sir William Owen (d. 1851), 8th bt., who had inherited the Owen family baronetcy. Sir William did not live at Lawrenny, and during his ownership the house fell into ruin. He was obliged by the terms of his inheritance to take the additional surname Barlow, but his career will be considered as part of a future post on the Owens. After his death without male heirs, the baronetcy expired and the estates passed to another cousin, George Lort-Phillips (1811-66), who built a new house at Lawrenny. His descendants still own the estate, and will also be the subject of a future post.

Slebech Hall, Pembrokeshire

Slebech belonged in the Middle Ages to the Knights Hospitallers, and was the site of their chief preceptory in west Wales. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, their church became the parish church (replaced and unroofed in 1844, but still a picturesque ruin), while the domestic buildings were converted into a house for the Barlow family, who purchased the freehold of the estate from the Crown in 1546. The medieval buildings, no doubt altered and patched up over the years, remained their seat until the 1770s, when Anne Barlow and her second husband, John Symmons of Llanstinan, demolished the old house and made a fresh start with a completely new house on virtually the same site. Rather surprisingly, the appearance of the old house seems to be unrecorded.

Slebech Hall: entrance front, photographed by John Piper, c.1950. Image: Tate Gallery Archive 8728/3/12/166.

The new house was no doubt begun soon after John Symmons and Anne Barlow were married in 1773 and was complete by 1776. The design can be attributed with confidence to Anthony Keck, a Gloucestershire joiner who turned successfully to architecture in the 1760s and developed an extensive regional practice across south Wales and the west Midlands over the next thirty years. 

Slebech Hall: design for the library by Anthony Keck (not as executed).
Image: Welsh Government. Some rights reserved.

Although Keck's name does not appear in the accounts and the surviving drawings for the house are unsigned, they are in Keck's hand, and the house exhibits a number of features of both composition and detail which are as distinctive as a signature. John Calvert of Swansea was either the site architect or the clerk of works, and the 'Mr Miller' whose name appears on one drawing is probably Millard, a marble mason who was one of the team of craftsmen regularly employed by Keck. 

The 1770s probably marked the apogee of Keck's career, and one of his other major works, Penrice Castle in Glamorganshire, was building at almost exactly the same time (1773-80). Keck's career was based, not on any startling originality of design, but on a reputation for reliability and for delivering simple elegance on a budget. His houses exhibit a limited range of standard design formulae, executed with variations, and one of these was a plain astylar neo-classical block with bows at either end of the main front. At Slebech, which was perhaps Keck's largest single commission, this formula was applied to both main fronts. There are five bays between the bows on the entrance front and four on the garden front, which also has an extra storey because of the fall of the land. A short three-bay service wing extends to the north of the house. The most notable departure from Keck's standard idiom was the addition of battlements to the parapet concealing the roof on all sides of the house. This was, perhaps, the suggestion of the client, John Symmons, who would no doubt have been aware of the battlements which were being constructed at Wenvoe Castle and Gnoll Castle (both Glamorganshire) while Slebech was under construction. Pencilled annotations on several of the surviving drawings for the house suggest that architect and client discussed other suggestions for improvements: adding a colonnade between the bows, inserting an oval colonnade in the entrance hall, and adding a bow to the side of the drawing room, although none of these additional features, which would have added to the cost, were executed.

Slebech Hall: entrance hall. Image: Welsh Government. Some rights reserved.

The interior is grand in scale but exhibits little originality in its layout. The entrance hall leads into a spinal corridor running from end to end of the main range, from which all the main rooms are accessed. Either side of the entrance hall there are plain but elegant staircases, and the centre of the garden front is occupied by a three-bay saloon. The four corners of the house are occupied by rooms opening into the great bow windows, each of which has a delicate classical chimneypiece and an elegant frieze that are designed en suite so that the motif in the central panel of the chimneypiece is picked up in the frieze in the same room.  The drawing room originally also had large oval and square wall panels of plaster, since removed, but the other rooms relied for their effect on these chaste details, excellent proportions and the superb quality mahogany doors which Keck himself supplied from his own workshop.

Slebech Hall: drawing room chimneypiece, probably carved by Millard.
Image: Welsh Government. Some rights reserved.

Slebech Hall: detail of the morning room chimneypiece. Image: Welsh Government. Some rights reserved.

Slebech Hall: in each room the plaster frieze echoes the decoration of the mantelpiece below.
Image: Welsh Government. Some rights reserved.

Two of the original chimneypieces have been lost: that in the hall is now 17th century in style, with strapwork, while that in the saloon is a much more flamboyant piece by Henry Cheere, executed in multi-coloured marble, which was salvaged from Stackpole Court when that house was demolished in 1963. Otherwise the house survives remarkably little-changed. In 1803 Thomas Bedford of Llandeilo was paid for 'altering offices' and in 1805 the antiquarian John Carter noted 'many artificers... busily employed on some external repairs'. There were further repairs, supervised by Thomas Rowlands, in 1830. The major and most regrettable change was the removal of the battlements and the replacement of the low pitched roof with a flat roof in 1955.

Slebech Hall: aerial view showing the garden front of the house and the stable block. Image: Welsh Government. Some rights reserved.

The house stands in a fine position above the eastern branch of the Cleddau estuary. Immediately to the east of it is the fine former stable-yard, presumably also by Keck, which consists of three ranges around an open yard. The two ranges facing the house and the river are castellated to echo the styling of the house, and the corners project slightly and are carried up into sham towers by an extra attic storey which has nothing behind it. The house is approached from the west down a picturesque woodland drive about a mile long from a lodge designed by P.F. Robinson, which he published in his Designs for Lodges and Park Entrances (1833) and which was widely imitated. Sadly it has lost its broad porch and round-shafted chimneys. To the south-west of the house there are remains of the late 17th century terraced gardens laid out by the Barlows, and another early survivor is a ruined square tower in the park, about a mile and a half north-east of the house. This is thought to have been a 16th or 17th century hunting stand, originally of three storeys, with a corner stair and a heated room on the ground floor. It is ironically known today as the Temple of the Four Winds.

Descent: Crown sold 1546 to Roger Barlow (c.1485-1553); to son, John Barlow (1532-1610); to son, George Barlow (c.1560-c.1630); to son, Col. John Barlow (c.1588-1671); to grandson, Sir John Barlow (c.1652-95), 1st bt.; to son, Sir George Barlow (c.1678-1726); sold 1708 to brother, John Barlow (c.1682-1739); to son, George Barlow (1717-56); to daughter Anne (1737-82), wife of William Trevanion (1727-67) and later of John Symmons (1745-1831); sold 1784 to William Knox; sold 1795 to Nathaniel Phillips (d. 1813); to son, Nathaniel Phillips (1798-1824); to sisters, Louisa Barbara Catherine (c.1802-79), wife of Thomas William Anson (1795-1854), 1st Earl of Lichfield and Mary Dorothea (d. 1860), wife of Charles Frederick de Rutzen (1795-1874), Baron de Rutzen; to son, Frederick Leopold Sapieha Manteuffel de Rutzen (1825-90), Baron de Rutzen; to brother, Rudolph (1828-1915), Baron de Rutzen; to nephew, Alan de Rutzen (1876-1916); to son, John Frederick Foley de Rutzen (1909-44), Baron de Rutzen; to widow, Sheila Victoria Katrin de Rutzen, later wife of Lt-Col. Randal Plunket, 19th Baron Dunsany, who sold to Hon. William Philipps (d. 1974); to son, Geoffrey Mark Phillips, who converted the stables into an hotel in 2003 and sold 2013 to Traverse Developments Ltd.

Cresswell Castle, Pembrokeshire

Cresswell Castle: the ruins from the east, showing the gable-end of the north range and one of the corner towers, and the new block added to the east side of the house in the late 17th or early 18th centuries. Image: Charles Taylor.

The site belonged to Haverfordwest Priory before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and was one of the many Pembrokeshire properties acquired in the second half of the 16th century by the Barlows of Slebech. They seem to have built a small house here on the banks of the Cresswell river, which in the early 17th century was remodelled and incorporated into a rectangular courtyard house built for William Barlow (d. 1636). Although only ruins survive today, it is apparent that this house was romantically castellated, in the same way as Ruperra Castle (Glamorgans.) and Lulworth Castle (Dorset), but on a much smaller scale. The house had overall dimensions of about 30ft by 40ft, and the internal courtyard was some 20ft square. The two-storey round corner turrets, linked by castellated walls, are simply garderobe towers, except for the south-east tower, which was used as a dovecote. Against the inside of these mock fortifications was built a more ordinary house, of which only footings and low walls now survive.

William Barlow's grandson, John (d. 1701), relocated to a new house which he built at Lawrenny, and seems to have sold the house to his kinsman and namesake, John Barlow (c.1682-1739) of Slebech, who no doubt let the house to tenants. The south range has an inserted 18th century fireplace, and outside the east curtain wall is a large and clearly later two-storey gabled range probably of the same time, which no doubt provided additional or improved accommodation for the tenant. The property was among the estates left by John Barlow to his daughter Catherine (1738-82), who later became the first wife of Sir William Hamilton (1731-1803) of Naples, the famous diplomat and art collector, and seems finally to have been abandoned in the late 18th century. It had fallen into ruin by 1842, if not before. So completely were its origins forgotten, that its ruins were until recently widely assumed to be those of a genuine 13th century castle.

Descent: John Barlow (1532-1610); to son, William Barlow (d. 1636); to son, Lewis Barlow (c.1605-81); to son, John Barlow (c.1636-1701), who apparently sold it to his kinsman, John Barlow (c.1682-1739) of Slebech; to daughter, Catherine Barlow (1738-82), later wife of Sir William Hamilton (1738-1803), kt.; abandoned c.1800.

Lawrenny Hall (later Lawrenny Castle), Pembrokeshire

Lawrenny Hall: detail of a view by Hendrik de Cort, c.1795. Image: Adrian Lort-Phillips

John Barlow (d. 1701) built a tall four-storey classical house here, known as Lawrenny Hall, the front of which is said to have been articulated with giant pilasters. According to Burke's Visitation of Seats (1855), it was built in 1680, but it could easily be rather later. The house may have been improved and the setting landscaped by Hugh Owen Barlow at the end of the 18th century, as in 1798 when Henry Skrine visited the place he noted it was 'much improved by the taste of its present owner' and 'may justly be called the finest in Pembrokeshire, both from its internal decoration and its commanding position at the extremity of a high ridge clothed with thick woods'. A few years later another visitor expressed the view that 'the house, though of that unpicturesque species of building peculiar to this country about a century ago, a tall cube, and in its external... form not much entitled to admiration, yet is within disposed of with much taste and convenience, and is well connected with its offices; and from the breakfasting-room you walk into a neat conservatory well-furnished with rare plants'. In 1809, Sir William Owen Barlow (d. 1851) inherited a life interest in the property, and it was advertised to let. The accommodation then consisted of a spacious dining parlour, drawing room, breakfast parlour; conservatory; library and offices, with four principal bedrooms with dressing rooms on the first floor and seven further bedrooms with three dressing rooms on the second floor.

Lawrenny Hall: the house in ruins in 1843, from a drawing by Emma Allen
of Cresselly Hall. Image: Adrian Lort-Phillips.

Perhaps because it failed to find a tenant, the house was abandoned in the early 19th century and was a complete ruin by 1843. It was finally demolished after George Lort-Phillips inherited the estate in 1851 to make way for a new house. Surviving fittings from the old house were reused in the fortified rectory at Carew Cheriton, including an excellent early 18th century mahogany staircase with spiral balusters and fluted newels, and some fine early 18th century panelled mahogany doors.

Lawrenny Castle: entrance front, from an old postcard.

The new house which George Lort-Phillips built in 1856-58 was designed by Henry Ashton in the picturesque castle style, and solidly constructed of grey limestone blocks. The entrance front had a large four-storey central porch-tower, complete with machicolations and crenellations, with a yet higher tower behind with a tall and spindly stair-turret at one corner. The garden front was more elaborately modelled, with a complex arrangement of square towers and bay windows generating rather restless movement. Like so many 19th century houses, the interior seems to have been essentially classical in style, and the drawing room is said to have been in the Adam style. It is said that money ran out before the house was finished internally, and that some of the rooms on the upper floor were never decorated.

Lawrenny Castle: garden front, from an old postcard.

In the 1930s, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis was asked to make proposals to adapt the house for modern living, but failed to come up with anything that met the approval of the family. As a result, the house fell into disrepair and was eventually blown up in 1950 and the ruins cleared away. The Lort-Phillips family moved to a farmhouse on the estate, which was remodelled by Williams-Ellis for their use.

Descent: built in late 17th century for John Barlow (c.1636-1701); to son, John Barlow (c.1682-1718); to son, Hugh Barlow (c.1703-63); to widow, Elizabeth Barlow (d. 1788); to nephew, Hugh Owen (later Barlow) (1729-1809); to first cousin once removed, Sir William Owen Barlow (d. 1851), 8th bt. as life-tenant, and then to his first cousin once removed, George Lort-Phillips (1811-66); to nephew, John Frederick Lort-Phillips (1854-1926); to great-nephew, Lt-Col. Patrick Herbert Shoubridge (later Lort-Phillips) (1911-79); to son, David Owen John Shoubridge Lort-Phillips (b. 1937).

Barlow family of Slebech Hall, baronets

Barlow, Robert (d. c.1516?). Son of John Barlow (fl. c.1460) of Marsworth and Missenden (Bucks), who is said to have been distantly connected to the Barlows of Barlow Hall. Member of Colchester borough council in the 1490s and a deputy customs officer in that port, but closely connected with the London cloth trade through the activities of his uncles, Roger and Robert, who were both London cloth merchants. In 1494, his landlord at Heybridge, the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, William Worsley, was found guilty of high treason for his association with the Pretender, Perkin Warbeck, and either because of this link or a more direct family connection with Warbeck, Robert was required to provide a bond guaranteeing his lifelong allegiance to the king. He married Anna [surname unknown] and had issue*:
(1) Roger Barlow (c.1485-1553) (q.v.);
(2) Rt. Rev. William Barlow (d. 1568); Augustinian canon at St. Osyth's Priory (Essex); prior of Tiptree Priory (Essex), 1509; ordained exorcist, 1511; deacon, 1518 and probably priested soon afterwards; he is said to have studied at Oxford University and to have obtained a doctorate in theology, but there is no official record of this; prior of Little Leighs Priory (Essex), 1515-24; he seems already to have held reformist views and in the later 1520s he may have travelled abroad, in which case he was no doubt the author of two works published under the name 'Friar Jerome Barlow', The Burial of the Mass (Strasbourg, 1528) and A Proper Dialogue between a Gentleman and a Husbandman (Antwerp, 1529–30), which are known to have been written by a William Barlow; he was certainly the author of an anti-Lutheran pamphlet published in 1531, and was appointed, as a result of Anne Boleyn's patronage, as prior of Haverfordwest by 1534; by then he was a fervent reformist whose actions as an agent of Thomas Cromwell provoked bitter opposition among the local clergy and threats of violence; as a result he was moved to be prior of Bisham Abbey, 1535-37 and employed on embassies to Scotland in the hope of persuading King James V to embrace the Reformation; he was appointed Bishop of St. Asaph, 1536, but, before he could be consecrated, was translated to be Bishop of St. Davids, 1536-48, and later to Bath & Wells, 1548-53; with the accession of Queen Mary he was committed to the Tower of London but allowed to recant in 1555 and to go abroad, travelling to Germany and later Poland; on the death of Queen Mary he returned to England and was made Bishop of Chichester, 1559-68; he married, before 1544, a former nun, Agatha Wellesbourne (d. 1593) and had issue two sons and five daughters (who all married bishops); he died 13 August 1568 and was buried in Chichester Cathedral;
(3) Rev. John Barlow (fl. 1517-54); educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (BA 1517) and Fellow of Merton College, 1520 (MA 1521); rector of South Benfleet, Great Bentley, and Hawkeswell, 1521-27; rector of Hever (Kent) and chaplain to Anne Boleyn; Dean of Westbury College, Westbury-on-Trym (Glos), 1530; chaplain to King Henry VIII, 1531; prebendary of Peterborough Cathedral, 1541-43 and Bristol Cathedral, 1544; Dean of Worcester Cathedral, 1544-54 (deprived); JP for Pembrokeshire, 1543; he was described in 1532, while visiting Louvain, as a small man with red hair and of sober habits; he disappears from the records after being deprived of his position at Worcester in 1554, and perhaps fled the country and/or died soon afterwards;
(4) Rev. Thomas Barlow (1493-1558); rector of Abberton (Essex), 1519-41 and Catfield (Norfk), 1541-58, but seems to have lived with his brother John at Westbury; prebendary of St. Davids, 1542-58; joined with his eldest brother in the purchase of Slebech, perhaps as a mortgagee, and released his interest in the estate to Roger in 1553; will proved 6 December 1558.
He owned or leased property in Heybridge and Colchester (Essex)
He perhaps died in about 1516. His wife's date of death is unknown.
* Some older sources also identify as a daughter, Elizabeth (d. 1518), who married 1st, Lord Elphinstone and 2nd, Lord Forbes, but she was probably only a distant relation.

Barlow, Roger (c.1485-1553). Eldest son of Robert Barlow of Colchester and his wife Anna, born between 1480 and 1490. He seems not to have served a formal apprenticeship but was probably placed in the house of a merchant in London or Bristol to learn the trade; he also seems to have received some formal education, as he later exhibited considerable skill in mathematics and a fluency in Latin, Spanish and Portuguese. There is evidence that he visited Morocco and San Tomé in the early part of his career, and by 1515 he was established as a merchant in Seville (Spain), trading in wine, cloth and leather. His network of close business associates included the navigator, Sebastian Cabot, and from 1524 he was involved in sponsoring a Spanish expedition (1526-28) led by Cabot, which aimed to find a route through the Amazon basin to the 'Spice Islands' of southern Asia. Barlow himself took part in the expedition, which spent two years exploring the River Plate estuary, during the course of which he became the first Englishman to set foot in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil. In about 1530-31 he moved permanently to Bristol, where he became a burgess in 1532. He remained interested to the possibility of discovering a short route to southern Asia, and in the early 1540s he prepared for King Henry VIII a manuscript entitled 'A Brief Summe of Geographie', which included the first detailed eyewitness account of America by an Englishman, and which was apparently designed to stimulate royal sponsorship of an expedition to find a northern passage to India. In the 1530s he and his brothers were closely associated with Thomas Cromwell's reorganisation of the administration of Wales, and he seems to have been sympathetic to the religious changes of the Reformation. By 1538, and perhaps as early as 1535, he had property interests in Pembrokeshire and from 1538 he may have been living at Haverfordwest or even at Slebech; he was appointed a Commissioner of Sewers on the Pembrokeshire coast and in the Teifi and Towy valleys in that year. In 1543 he acted as an agent of the Privy Council in enquiry into the looting of goods and gold from a Spanish vessel wrecked in Milford Haven. He became a JP for Pembrokeshire, 1543, was Escheator for Pembrokeshire in 1548, and was appointed Vice-Admiral for the coast in Pembrokeshire, 1549. He married, 1532, Julyan (d. 1600), daughter and co-heiress of Roger Dawyes, thrice mayor of Bristol, and had issue including:
(1) John Barlow (c.1532-1610) (q.v.);
(2) Mary Barlow (d. 1572); married, after 1553, Dominic Chester (d. 1575), merchant and mayor of Bristol in 1567 and MP for Minehead, 1572, and had issue ten children; buried at St Stephen, Bristol, 23 April 1572;
(3) Roger Barlow;
(4) Stephen Barlow (d. 1614); married, before 1596, Mary [surname unknown] and had issue four sons and two daughters; will proved 19 May 1614;
(5) Lewis Barlow; fifth son; educated at Middle Temple (admitted 1567);
(6) Robert Barlow; lived at Worcester;
(7) Elizabeth Barlow;
(8) Katherine Barlow;
He also had the following children, mentioned in his will, who were apparently older than their half-siblings, and who probably resulted from a relationship in Spain:
(X1) Francis Barlow (fl. 1539-58), born 'a subject of the [Holy Roman] Emperor' and thus presumably in Spain; naturalised in England, 5 June 1539; admitted a burgess of Bristol. 1550/51;
(X2) Martin Barlow; apprenticed to the Prynne family in Bristol until 1555; convicted of serious offences apparently relating to piracy before 1560, and threatened with execution, but released by 1564 to work as a factor for his brother-in-law, Dominic Chester; perhaps died soon afterwards;
(X3) Robert Barlow (fl. 1558).
In 1546, he and his brother Thomas purchased from the Crown the Slebech estate, which he had leased from the Knights Hospitallers since 1538, for £705 6s 3d. The purchase included the site of the preceptory of Slebech, and the manors of Slebech and Minwear. He also bought the sites and lands of the priory of Pill, the monastery of Haverfordwest, with Cresswell chapel, and the house of the Black Friars in Haverfordwest. He continued to actively buy lands, including a further purchase of the Slebech woodlands from the Crown, until 1548. In 1553 his brother Thomas (whose interest may have been as a mortgagee) released his share of the estate to Roger. At his death, his widow was left Slebech and other property during her widowhood, but their son John was in possession by 1557.
He died 30 December 1553; an inquisition post mortem was held 15 February 1554 and his will was  proved 25 June 1554 and again 20 May 1558. His widow died 5 September 1600.

Barlow, John (1532-1610). Eldest son of Roger Barlow (c.1485-1553) and his wife Julyan, daughter and co-heiress of Roger Dawyes of Bristol, born before 20 August 1532. Educated at Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1556). His father had set his age of majority at 25 and he was only 21 when his father died; his wardship was granted to George Owen, one of Queen Mary's physicians; he came of age and had livery of his estates in 1557. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1562-63, 1575-76. In 1601 he was described as 'an obstinate notorious recusant', whose loyalty to the Crown was doubted in 1588 at the time of the Armada crisis and was still doubtful 'in these queasie times'. He married Elizabeth (d. 1599), daughter of John Fissier of Marton, and had issue including:
(1) George Barlow (c.1560-c.1630) (q.v.);
(2) William Barlow (c.1570-1636) [for whom see below, Barlow family of Cresswell and Lawrenny].
He inherited the Slebech estate from his father in 1553, and was confirmed in possession of Slebech in 1557. He expanded the estate by a series of purchases between 1563 and 1579.
He died 25 December 1610; an inquisition post mortem was held 6 October 1614. His wife died 25 May 1599.

Barlow, George (c.1560-c.1630). Elder son of John Barlow (1532-1610) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Fissier of Marton, born about 1560. He was educated at Clement's Inn and the Inner Temple (admitted 1584), and a legal training no doubt helped to sustain him through a long series of legal disputes with neighbouring landowners and with his own tenants, among whom he was a conspicuously unpopular landlord. In 1613 he became involved in a feud with Sir William Wogan of Wiston Castle and his sons, who were apparently intolerant of his suspected recusancy and resentful of his purchase of additional lands adjoining their estates; this resulted in a suit in the Star Chamber. From 1617-24 he was engaged in litigation with Charles, Prince of Wales, about rights in the manors of Caneston, Newton and Newhouse, Welfrey and Robeston and Talgh Wood, which he had purchased in 1601-02, which was eventually decided in his favour. He served as High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1618, but declined to provide the traditional entertainment to the assize judges on circuit, for which he was fined £150. In 1628 he was imprisoned for at least five weeks in the Fleet Prison in London for contempt of court for failing to answer an indictment brought against him by some of his tenants. Despite his poor relations with his neighbours and tenants, he is said to have maintained traditional hospitality at Slebech, and despite his suspected recusancy he endowed the vicarage at Slebech and offered to provide a house for the incumbent. He married 1st, 1582 (settlement 1 September), Jane [surname unknown] (d. 1582) and 2nd, c.1585, Anne (b. c.1570), daughter of John Vernon of Hodnet (Shrops.) (and niece of Walter Devereux, 2nd Viscount Hereford and 1st Earl of Essex), and had issue, perhaps among others:
(2.1) Col. John Barlow (c.1588-1671) (q.v.);
(2.2) Thomas Barlow (b. c.1590); educated at Middle Temple (admitted 1608).
He purchased the manors of Caneston, Newton & Newhouse, Welfrey & Robeston, and Talgh Wood in 1602. He inherited the Slebech estates from his father in 1614 and had livery, 1 February 1615.
He died in about 1630. His first wife died 29 September 1582. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Barlow, Col. John (c.1588-1671). Elder son of George Barlow (c.1560-c.1630) and his second wife Anne Vernon, born about 1588. Educated at the Middle Temple (admitted 1605) and Jesus College, Oxford (matriculated 1607). Possibly the man of this name who was mayor of Haverfordwest, 1628. During the Civil War he raised a company of 140 horse at his own expense for the Royalist cause and had the rank of Lt-Col., but after a catastrophic failure to relieve Raglan Castle he was forced to flee abroad and his estates were confiscated and conferred on Parliamentarian officers; it was recorded in the 18th century that his library, with a valuable collection of manuscripts relating to the Slebech preceptory, was burnt by Col. Horton. In 1657 he was living at Bruges, where Charles II had established his court, and was in 'a very miserable condition' and likely to be arrested for debt; Edward Hyde arranged for the King to send him 300 guilders to provide some relief. By 1658 he was living at Abbey Dore (Herefs), and at the restoration in 1660 he successfully petitioned the King for the restoration of his estates, claiming that he "raised 140 horse at his own charge for the late King... his estate, worth £2,000 a year, was given to the soldiers, his woods worth £14,000 were destroyed, and his personal estate of £5,000 was plundered, so that in his very old age, he lives an exile in a strange country, on the charity of good men". He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Francis or Thomas Love of Norfolk, and had issue:
(1) George Barlow (d. 1662) (q.v.);
(2) John Barlow (d. 1660); arranged for himself and his younger siblings to be assigned one fifth of his father's estate for their maintenance in 1650; died on or about 14 July 1660, when he made a nuncupative will which was proved in the PCC, 16 July 1665;
(3) William Barlow (d. 1702?); who served in the Venetian army against the Turks and returned to England after the Restoration; probably the man of this name who lived at Martletwy House (Pembs); married Anne [surname unknown] (fl. 1702); died 26 May 1702; administration of goods granted to Lewis Wogan of Wiston, February 1704;
(4) Lewis Barlow (d. 1676) of Minwear; will proved in 1676;
(5) Charles Barlow; served in the Venetian army against the Turks during the Commonwealth years, and was killed in action;
(6) Thomas Barlow; served in the Venetian army against the Turks  during the Commonwealth years, and was killed in action;
(7) Anne Barlow; married 1st, 1663, Nicholas Lewis (fl. 1666; dsp) of Hean Castle (Pembs) and 2nd, before 1675, Lewis Wogan (d. 1694) of Kilrhue (Pembs), by whom she had issue; living in 1695;
(8) [forename unknown] Barlow; a nun in France;
(9) [forename unknown] Barlow; a nun in France.
He inherited the Slebech estate from his father in about 1630, but his estates were confiscated by the Parliamentarian regime and not recovered until the Restoration. In 1649 he attempted to settle the estates on his son to avoid sequestration.
He died before October 1671; his will was proved at Carmarthen, 7 June 1672. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barlow, George (d. 1662). Eldest son of Col. John Barlow (d. 1671) and his wife Dorothy Love, born before 1633. He married, c.1648, Joan (b. 1630), daughter and co-heiress of David Lloyd esq. of Cilciffeth (Pembs), and had issue:
(1) Hester Barlow (c.1649-68), born about 1649; married, c.1667, as his second wife, Sir Herbert Perrott (1617-83), kt., of Wellington (Herefs), and had issue one daughter (Hester (c.1668-1715), who married, 26 August 1700, Sir John Pakington of Westwood (Worcs)); died, probably in childbirth, 1668;
(2) Sir John Barlow (c.1652-95), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(3) William Barlow (c.1655-c.1737) of Haroldston (Pembs), which he presumably leased from his brother-in-law, Sir Herbert Perrott; a Roman Catholic in religion, he registered his estate as the Act required in 1723-25; he prospered under King James II, when he became an officer in the army (Cornet, 1685; Capt-Lt., 1685-87; Capt., 1688-89); MP for Pembrokeshire, 1685 and JP for Pembrokeshire, 1687-89; he accompanied James II into exile, 1689 and is said to have returned only after the king's death in 1701; refused to take the oath of allegiance to William & Mary and was described in 1693 as a ‘known enemy of their Majesties and their Government’; President of the Society of Sea Serjeants (a high Tory group) until 1733; will proved at St Davids, 7 July 1737;
(4) Anne Barlow (fl. 1670); mentioned in her grandfather's will, 1670.
His widow continued to live at Slebech with her second husband.
He died in the lifetime of his father, 1662; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 16 July 1663. His widow married 2nd, c.1662, Walter Vaughan (d. 1663) of Derwydd (Carmarthens.) and 3rd, before 1670, Walter Middleton (d. 1708) of Slebech, and died between 1694 and 1699; she was buried at Slebech.

Barlow, Sir John (c.1652-95), 1st bt. Eldest son of George Barlow (d. 1662) and his wife Joan, daughter and co-heiress of David Lloyd esq. of Cilciffeth (Pembs), born about 1652. He was created a baronet by King Charles II, 13 July 1677. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1681-82; JP and DL for Pembrokeshire and Haverfordwest, 1685-88. In 1688 he obtained letters patent for the operation of a market and three fairs at Narberth (Pembs). Unlike his eldest son, he seems to have conformed to the Protestant faith but he was reported in 1694 as among those in Pembrokeshire who had refused to take the oath of allegiance. He married 1st, 3 February 1671/2, Beatrice, daughter and eventually heir of Sir John Lloyd, 1st bt. of Forrest (Carmarthens.) and Woking (Surrey) and 2nd, c.1677, Catherine (d. 1707), daughter of Christopher Middleton esq. of Middleton Hall (Carmarthens.), and had issue:
(1.1) Beatrice Barlow (d. 1736); married 1st, as his second wife, Sir Anthony Rudd (d. 1706*), 3rd bt., of Capel Evan (Carmarthens.), and had issue two sons and one daughter; married 2nd, 27 September 1709, Griffith Lloyd (d. 1713) of Cwmgwilly (Carmarthens.), but had no further issue; said to have died February 1735/6; her will (as Dame Beatrice Rudd) was proved in the PCC, 24 January 1736/7;
(1.2) Anne Barlow (d. 1710); married, 1691 (settlement 29 July), Owen Ford (d. 1704) of Berry Hill, Nevern (Pembs), son of Alexander Ford, and had issue two daughters; perhaps the Anne Ford buried at Nevern, 5 March 1709/10, although this is hard to reconcile with the fact that her will (as Anne Barlow) was proved in the PCC, 16 January 1709/10;
(2.1) Sir George Barlow (c.1678-c.1722), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(2.2) John Barlow (c.1682-1739) (q.v.);
(2.3) William Barlow (fl. 1718), apparently lived with his brother at Colby, Wiston (Pembs);
(2.4) Katherine Barlow (d. c.1718); living in 1709, but died unmarried in or before 1718.
He inherited the Slebech estate from his father, but in 1677 leased the house to his mother and her second husband. He lived at Minwear, on the opposite side of the river, where the ruins of his house are now known as the Sisters' House. He probably bought the Cresswell estate from John Barlow (c.1636-1701) of Lawrenny.
He died in 1695; his will was proved 27 June 1695, with a further grant of probate in Ireland in 1701. His first wife died in 1679; administration of her goods was granted 7 July 1679. His widow died in 1707; administration of her goods was granted to her principal creditor, 8 October 1707.
*Not 1725 as stated in the Complete Baronetage and some other sources.

Barlow, Sir George (c.1678-c.1722), 2nd bt. Eldest son of Sir John Barlow (c.1652-95), 1st bt., and his second wife Catherine, daughter of Christopher Middleton of Middleton Hall (Carmarthens.), born about 1678. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 1695. His wife  was a Roman Catholic, and he was both a Tory and a Jacobite in politics; he was elected MP for Cardigan Boroughs, 1713-15 and for Haverfordwest, 1715 (but was unseated on appeal). In 1721 his name was included on a list of potential sympathisers given to the Pretender. In 1702 he was described as 'a very hott and passionate gent' when he fell out with his great-aunt over the will of her husband, William Barlow (d. 1702) and was said to have used threats and actual violence against her and her property. He married, 31 May 1695 at St James, Duke Place, London, Winifred (1676-1731), daughter of George Heneage of Hainton (Lincs), from whom he was estranged in 1707 after a messy and inconclusive adultery case lasting four years in the Court of Arches and the High Court of Delegates, during which she was accused of adultery with several different men and he was accused of consorting with prostitutes. They had issue:
(1) Faith Barlow (b. c.1700); married Andrew [Andrieux] Debenson (fl. 1745) of London; living in 1746;
(2) Sir George Barlow (b. 1704), 3rd bt., baptised at Haverfordwest (Pembs), 10 September 1704; succeeded his father as 3rd baronet in c.1722; lived at Kirmond-le-Mire (Lincs) and later in France; married, before April 1741, Ursula [surname unknown] (d. 1775), but had no issue; he died in France between 1755 and 1775, when the baronetcy became extinct; administration of his goods (with will annexed) was granted, after the death of his widow, to her niece, 7 December 1775.
He inherited the Slebech estate from his father in 1695, and acquired lands in Lincolnshire through his marriage. In about 1708, having fallen into debt to the tune of £8,000, he sold the Slebech estate to his brother John (c.1682-1739) and thereafter lived partly in Lincolnshire, although he continued to be described as 'of Slebech'. His widow lived at Islington (Middx).
He died in or before 1722. His estanged wife died 31 December 1731.

Barlow, John (c.1682-1739). Second son of Sir John Barlow (d. c.1695), 1st bt., and his second wife Catherine, daughter of Christopher Middleton of Middleton Hall (Carmarthens.), born about 1682. He seems to have abandoned his family's traditional Recusancy and became a staunch Anglican, but he was regarded as 'violent Tory'; in the 1720s he became a member of the high Tory Society of Sea Serjeants of which his uncle was President. JP for Pembrokeshire by 1701; MP for Pembrokeshire, 1710-15; purse-bearer to his father-in-law as Lord Keeper, 1710-13 and Lord Chancellor, 1713-16. He was he was actively involved in the charity school movement in Wales, and took a close interest in ecclesiastical patronage, trying to ensure that clergymen of Tory views were preferred to Whigs. He married 1st, 1 May 1708 at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), Anne (1682-1733), daughter of Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, Lord Chancellor, 1710-14, and 2nd, 6 September 1735 at Claverton (Somerset), Anne (c.1712-70), daughter of Richard Skrine (1691-1737) of Warleigh, Bathford (Somerset), and had issue (with five further sons by his first marriage who died young):
(1.1) George Barlow (1717-56) (q.v.);
(1.2) Anne Barlow; probably died young;
(2.1) Catherine Barlow (1738-82), 'a virtuous, good-tempered woman with a little independent fortune'; she inherited the Colby estate and was such an excellent harpsichord player that she was complemented on her sensitivity by Mozart; she married, 25 January 1758 at St George, Hanover Square, London, Sir William Hamilton (1731-1803), kt., the famous art collector and diplomat (minister plenipotentiary in Naples), but they had no issue; she died in Naples (Italy) 'of a putrid fever', 25 August 1782, and after being embalmed was returned to Wales to be buried at Slebech, 22 February 1783.
He perhaps inherited the Cresswell estate from his father in 1701. He purchased the Colby estate at Wiston (Pembs) for £2,300 in 1708/9, and he apparently rebuilt the house there. He also acquired the Slebech estate from his brother in 1708, but was sometimes described as 'of Colby' after that. 
He died 29 October 1739; his will was proved at St. Davids, 7 November 1739. His first wife died 17 November 1733. His widow died in 1770.

Barlow, George (1717-56). Only son of John Barlow (c.1682-1739) and his first wife Anne, daughter of Simon Harcourt, 1st Baron Harcourt, born 6 November 1717. Tory MP for Haverfordwest, 1743-47. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1753. He is said to have married*, before 1737, Anne (d. 1795), daughter of Joseph Blundell of Haverfordwest (Pembs), and had issue including:
(1) Anne Barlow (1737-82) (q.v.).
He inherited the Slebech estate from his father in 1739.
He died 10 December 1756; his rather peculiar will was proved at St. Davids, 1757, and provided that he should be buried on the terrace in the garden at Slebech, although his widow was given permission to dig up his bones to be buried with her corpse later if she so wished; it is not known if his wish was carried out. His widow died in 1795; her will was proved in the PCC, 2 December 1795.
* Curiously, the baptism of their daughter is in the form "Anne, the daughter of Anne Blundell (who affirms herself to be wife of George Barlow of Slebetch)", which suggests the minister had doubts about the legitimacy of the child, and the marriage has not, in fact, been traced.

Barlow, Anne (1737-82). Only child of George Barlow (d. 1756) and his wife Anne, daughter of Joseph Blundell of Haverfordwest (Pembs), said to have been born 8 June and baptised at Haverfordwest, 7 November 1737. She married 1st, 19 May 1758 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, William Trevanion (1727-67) of Caerhayes (Cornw.) and 2nd, 27 March 1773, at Bath Abbey (Somerset), John Symmons FLS FRS (1745-1831) of Llanstinan (Pembs.), antiquarian, bibliophile and botanist, but had no issue.
She inherited the Slebech estate from her father in 1756. Her second husband sold it in 1784 (for £70,000) to William Knox of London, who also bought his paternal estate at Llanstinan (Pembs), and in 1790 he purchased Buwchllaethwen (Carmarthens.), near which he owned colleries and ironworks. Thereafter he seems to have pursued a restless existence. In 1791 he bought Richmond House, Twickenham (Middx), but sold it the following year, and a few years afterwards he settled at Paddington House, a villa on Paddington Green (Middx). In 1797 he took a lease of Britwell House, Burnham (Bucks), and in 1805 the lease of Chesterfield House, Blackheath (Kent), but in 1804 he was 'of Buwchllaethwen'. By 1823 he was living at Ewhurst Park (Hants).
She died before 18 April 1782. Her first husband died 24 January 1767 and was buried at St Michael Caerhays (Cornw.). Her second husband married 2nd, 11 April 1811 in Edinburgh, Elizabeth Mary (d. 1813), daughter of Richard Sessions, by whom he had previously had two sons, and 3rd, Charlotte Evans (c.1792-1869); he became bankrupt in 1828, and his library was sold at auction; he died at Tournai (Belgium), 20 August 1831; his will was proved in the PCC, 30 September 1831.

Barlow family of Cresswell and Lawrenny

Barlow, William (c.1570-1636). Younger son of John Barlow (c.1532-1610) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Fissier of Marton, born about 1570. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1612. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Price of Richardston (Pembs) and had issue:
(1) Lewis Barlow (c.1605-81) (q.v.);
(2) Thomas Barlow (fl. 1638); unmarried in 1638;
(3) Elizabeth Barlow (fl. 1638); married, before 1636, John Williams of Panthowell (Carmarthens.);
(4) Margaret Barlow (fl. 1638); married, before 1636, James Phillips of Pentybach (Pembs).
He inherited Cresswell Castle and Lawrenny from his father in 1610.
He died 7 March 1636 and was buried at Lawrenny. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Barlow, Lewis (c.1605-81). Elder son of William Barlow (c.1570-1636) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Price of Richardston (Pembs), born about 1605. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1641, 1668. He married, c.1631, Marie (d. 1688), daughter of John Owen of Orielton, and had issue:
(1) William Barlow (b. c.1634); educated at Middle Temple (admitted 1651/2); presumably predeceased his father;
(2) John Barlow (c.1636-1701) (q.v.);
(3) Rowland Barlow (d. 1712); administration of his goods granted to his brother and brother-in-law, 11 February 1711/12;
(4) Arthur Barlow (d. 1693); will proved 15 March 1693;
(5) Lettice Barlow (fl. 1681);
(6) Anne Barlow (fl. 1681-1704); mentioned in her brother Stephen's will in 1704, when she was unmarried;
(7) Dorothy Barlow (fl. 1681); perhaps mentally or physically disabled as her father's will provided for her care for life;
(8) Mary Barlow (d. 1695); married, before 1681, George Bowen; died about March 1695; administration of goods granted to her husband, 11 April 1695;
(9) Stephen Barlow (d. 1704); will proved in 1704;
(10) Elizabeth Barlow (fl. 1704); married, before 1704, Edward Phillips.
He inherited Cresswell and Lawrenny from his father in 1636.
He died 6 August 1681 and was buried at Lawrenny, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved at Carmarthen, 8 September 1681. His widow died about 1688; administration of her goods was granted to her son, 5 July 1688.

Barlow, John (c.1636-1701). Second but oldest surviving son of Lewis Barlow (c.1605-81) and his wife Marie, daughter of John Owen of Orielton, born about 1636. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1686. He married Anne [surname unknown] and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Barlow (b. c.1681); mentioned in her father's and grandfather's wills, but was still under the age of twenty in 1700; 
(2) John Barlow (c.1682-1718);
(3) William Barlow (fl. 1700); mentioned in his father's will, when he was a minor, and from whom he inherited the estate of East Williamston in Begelly (Pembs);
(4) Stephen Barlow (fl. 1700); mentioned in his father's will, when he was a minor.
He inherited Cresswell and Lawrenny from his father in 1681. He built Lawrenny Hall and sold Cresswell Castle to his kinsman, Sir John Barlow of Slebech.
He died in 1701; his will was proved in the PCC, 15 March 1700/01. His wife evidently predeceased him.

Barlow, John (c.1682-1718). Son of John Barlow (d. 1701) and his wife Anne [surname unknown], born about 1682. High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1705. Whig MP for Haverfordwest, 1715-18, having been defeated at the polls by his Tory kinsman, Sir George Barlow, but overturned the result on appeal. He was elected Mayor of Pembroke, 1715, but declined to serve because there was an epidemic of smallpox in the town. He married, c.1700, Anne (1683??-1732), daughter of Sir Hugh Owen, 2nd bt., of Orielton (Pembs), and had issue:
(1) Anne Barlow (c.1701-63) (q.v.);
(2) Lewis Barlow (c.1702-37); said to have been baptised at Lawrenny, 1702; MP for Orford (Suffk), 1734-37; died without issue and was buried at Lawrenny, 22 October 1737; will proved 18 September 1737;
(3) Hugh Barlow (c.1703-63) (q.v.);
(4) Arthur Barlow (b. c.1708); living in 1731;
(5) Thomas Barlow (b. c. 1710); said to be an officer in the army; living in 1743;
(6) Elizabeth Barlow (c.1712-80); married 1st, 1732 (post-nuptial settlement, 3 April), Joseph Walter (d. c.1739) of Rosemarket (Pembs), son of Sir Richard Walter, kt., and 2nd, before 1746, Alexander Eliot (d. 1756) of Earwear (Pembs), High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1754-55, son of Griffith Eliot of Tenby (Pembs); will proved in the PCC, 23 June 1780;
(7) Dorothy Barlow (c.1714-55?); married, 1742 at Haroldston (Pembs), John Lort (d. 1800) of Prickston, High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, 1775, and had issue two daughters (including Elizabeth Lort, who married George Phillips, and from whom the present owners of Lawrenny descend); probably the woman of this name who was buried at St Augustine the Less, Bristol, 15 May 1755;
(8) Katherine Barlow (1716-c.1778), baptised at Lawrenny, 24 September 1716; married, 8 September 1744 at Lawrenny, Charles Owen (c.1710-83) of Toke's Court, London and Lincoln's Inn, and had issue two daughters (Dorothy Owen (fl. 1783) and Elizabeth Owen (fl. 1783), executrix of her aunt, Elizabeth Eliot, with whom she was then living as a companion); died before 1780;
(9) John Barlow (b. 1718), born posthumously and baptised at Lawrenny, 26 March 1718; died young before 1731.
He inherited Lawrenny Hall from his father in 1701. 
He died in London, 30 January 1717/18; his will was proved in the PCC, 20 March 1717/18. His widow married 2nd, 18 April 1723 at St Martin-in-the-Fields (Middx), Hon. Thomas Cornwallis (d. 1731), and died in 1732; her will was proved 12 April 1732.

Barlow, Hugh (c.1703-63). Son of John Barlow (c.1682-1718) and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Hugh Owen, 2nd bt., of Orielton (Pembs), born about 1703. Mayor of Pembroke, 1737; Whig MP for Pembrokeshire boroughs, 1747-61. He married, 20 December 1736, his cousin, Elizabeth (d. 1788), youngest daughter of Sir Arthur Owen, 3rd bt., of Orielton (Pembs), but had no issue.
He inherited Lawrenny Hall from his elder brother in 1737. At his death the estate passed to his widow for life, and then to his nephew, Hugh Owen (later Barlow).
He was buried at Lawrenny, 29 November 1763. His widow married 2nd, William Owen, and was buried at Lawrenny (as Elizabeth Barlow), 31 December 1788.

Barlow, Anne (c.1701-63). Elder daughter of John Barlow (d. 1718) and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Hugh Owen, 2nd bt., of Orielton (Pembs), born about 1704. She married, 7 December 1725, Wyrriott Owen (d. 1755) of Great Nash (Pembs), and had issue:
(1) Lt-Col. Charles Owen (c.1726-57) (q.v.);
(2) Hugh Owen (later Barlow) (1729-1809) (q.v.);
(3) John Owen (fl. 1780); mentioned in the will of his aunt, Elizabeth Eliot;
(4) Anne Owen (fl. 1780); married, 1761 (agreement 27 January), James Lloyd of Kilrhue; mentioned in the will of her aunt, Elizabeth Eliot in 1780.
She died in 1763 and is said to have been buried in Bristol. Her husband died at Bath (Somerset) in 1755 and was buried in Bristol; his will was proved in the PCC, 27 October 1755.

Owen, Lt-Col. Charles (c.1726-57). Elder son of Wyrriott Owen (d. 1755) of Great Nash, Llangwm (Pembs) and his wife Anne, daughter of John Barlow of Lawrenny. An officer in the 46th Foot (Maj., 1752; Lt-Col., 1756). He married Grace [surname unknown] and had issue:
(1) Wyrriott Owen (1752-80); Governor of Milford Haven; died unmarried but left acknowledged illegitimate issue by his mistress and servant, Maria Seaborn, one son (Charles Owen) and one daughter (Elizabeth Owen); buried at Llangwm, 16 January 1780; his will, leaving Maria Seaborn as his executor and principal legatee, was proved 6 April 1780;
(2) Anne Owen (fl. 1780); married, 1 July 1765 at St Mary, Haverfordwest (Pembs), Roger Davids of Haverfordwest.
He inherited Great Nash from his father in 1755.
He died at Haverfordwest, 5 February 1757. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Owen (later Barlow), Hugh (1729-1809). Younger son of Wyrriott Owen (d. 1755) of Great Nash, Llangwm (Pembs) and his wife Anne, daughter of John Barlow of Lawrenny. MP for Pembrokeshire boroughs, 1774-1809. He took the name Barlow, 24 March 1789, after inheriting the Lawrenny estate. He married 1st, 9 January 1787 at Lawrenny, Emma (1749-88), daughter of Lt-Gen. John Owen, and sister of Sir Arthur Owen, 7th bt., of Orielton (Pembs), and 2nd, 24 August 1791 at Aldeburgh (Suffk), Anne (1768-1844), daughter of Peter Champion de Crespigny of Burwood (Surrey), but had no issue.
He inherited Lawrenny Hall from his aunt, Elizabeth Barlow, in 1788 and Great Nash (which he unroofed and left to go to ruin) from his nephew, Wyrriot Owen, in 1780. At his death the estate passed to his first cousin once removed, Sir William Owen (later Barlow) (d. 1851), 8th bt. for life, and then to their mutual cousin, George Lort-Phillips (1811-66).
He died 23 January and was buried at Lawrenny, 3 February 1809, where he is commemorated by a large monument; his will was proved 26 May 1809. His first wife was buried at Lawrenny, 7 January 1788. His widow died at Bath (Somerset), 7 July 1844 and was buried at Lawrenny; her will was proved 2 August 1844.

Principal sources

Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 2nd edn., 1841, pp. 38-39; G.E. Cokayne, The complete baronetage, vol. 4, 1904, pp. 88-9; B.G. Charles, 'Records of Slebech', National Library of Wales Journal, vol. 5 (3), 1948, pp. 179-98; N.W. Kingsley. 'Modelling in the provinces', Country Life, 20 October 1988, pp. 138-41 and 'Vision of villas', 27 October 1988, pp. 126-29; C. Charles Jones (ed.), Historic Pembrokeshire homes and their families, 2001, pp. 56-57, 137-38, 261-62; D.M. Turner, Fashioning adultery: gender, sex and civility in England, 1660-1740, 2002, pp. 145-68; T. Lloyd, J. Orbach & R. Scourfield, The buildings of Wales: Pembrokeshire, 2004, pp. 450-54; H. Dalton, Merchants and Explorers: Roger Barlow, Sebastian Cabot, and Networks of Atlantic Exchange 1500–1560, 2016;
http://www.pembrokeshirehistoricalsociety.co.uk/the-last-of-the-symmons-of-llanstinan/

Location of archives

Barlow family of Lawrenny: deeds, estate and family papers, 17th-19th cents [Pembrokeshire Archives, D-LLW]. Some additional records remain with the current owners of the estate.
Barlow family of Slebech, baronets: legal and estate papers and correspondence, 13th-18th cents. [National Library of Wales, SLEBECH; MS 6104F]

Coat of arms

Argent, on a chevron between three crosses crosslet fitchy sable, two lions passant counterpassant supporting an Eastern crown or.

Can you help?

• As far as I am aware, there are no visual records of the old house at Slebech , but if anyone knows of a view of it, I should be most interested.
• I should be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.
• As always, any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 23 September 2019. I am grateful to Adrian Lort-Phillips for assistance with illustrations.

(390) Barlow of Barlow Hall

Barlow of Barlow Hall

A branch of the Barlow family was settled at Barlow Hall in the parish of Didsbury (Lancs) as early as about 1200, and for nearly six centuries they remained lords of the manor of Barlow and resident at Barlow Hall, a courtyard house on the north bank of the river Mersey, in a section where it forms the historic county boundary with Cheshire. The family begins to emerge from medieval obscurity in the early 16th century, when Ellis Barlow (d. 1521), with whom the genealogy below begins, died in the lifetime of his father leaving one son and one daughter. His daughter Margaret (d. 1559) married, as his second wife, Edward Stanley (1509-72), 3rd Earl of Derby, who was a prominent courtier through four reigns and whose extensive lands and offices in the county made Lancashire almost his personal fiefdom. The kinship of the Barlows and the Stanleys was useful to the former in various ways over the following century, and enabled a modest rise in their social status.

Ellis Barlow's infant heir was Alexander Barlow (1521-84), and it seems probable that he was brought up partly in the household of Lord Derby, since he is recorded as a member of Lord Derby's council as early as 1546 and in the following year became MP for Wigan, a seat then controlled by the Stanleys, which he continued to represent until 1557. In the 1570s he rebuilt Barlow Hall, and the earliest parts of the present building date from his time. Alexander was, however, an opponent of the religious changes introduced by Henry VIII and gradually reinforced by Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I, and although perhaps protected to an extent by his connection with Lord Derby, his refusal to conform to the new religious settlement left him increasingly vulnerable to arrest and penalties. Shortly after his wife's death in 1583 his house at Barlow Hall was raided and he was arrested. He was then in poor health, and perhaps for this reason he was held under house arrest in the house of a Protestant magistrate rather than being imprisoned; he died there in August the following year.

His eldest son, Alexander Barlow (1557-1620), perhaps mindful of his father's difficulties with the Elizabethan regime, was outwardly conformist in religion but seems secretly to have continued to support the Catholic cause. Three, and perhaps four, of his younger sons were sent to the continent to be educated in Catholic institutions and became monks and/or priests, and at least one of his daughters became a nun in a Bridgettine convent in France. One of the sons (Edward Barlow, known as Father Ambrose) was sent back to Lancashire as a Catholic priest and operated clandestinely as such for nearly a quarter of a century before being arrested and executed in 1641; he was recognised as one of the forty English martyrs in 1930 and canonised (as St. Ambrose Barlow) by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

At the beginning of the reign of King James I there was a brief period when Catholics hoped that the new king would be more tolerant of their faith that his predecessor, and both Alexander Barlow and his son, Alexander Barlow (1579-1642), were among the large number of men knighted at the new king's coronation. Hopes of a new toleration were, however, quickly disappointed, and when Catholic disillusionment led to the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, the result was a new wave of anti-Catholicism and even harsher legislation. Two-thirds of Sir Alexander Barlow's estate was seized by the Crown in 1608 and granted away, although some if not all of it seems later to have been recovered. The younger Sir Alexander Barlow (1579-1642) seems to have had a rather less troubled tenure than his father, perhaps because under Charles I there was less active and continuous persecution of Catholics than formerly. Sir Alexander was succeeded by his eldest son by his first marriage, Alexander Barlow (d. 1654), who evidently conformed in religion with some sincerity. He was sufficiently trusted by Parliament to be appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1652-53, but he died soon after his term of office and was succeeded by his half-brother, Thomas Barlow (c.1618-84), who seems to have preserved his Catholic faith. The lives of Thomas and his successor, Anthony Barlow (c.1663-1723), were greatly conditioned and limited by the anti-Catholic penal laws, and the continual financial pressure from fines sapped the resources of the estate. Two of Anthony's sons, his heir Thomas Barlow (d. 1729) and Anthony Barlow (d. 1722), were implicated in the Jacobite rising of 1715 and apparently attainted and imprisoned on suspicion of high treason. They seem to have been freed before Anthony's death, possibly by the operation of the Indemnity Act of 1717, and Thomas seems to have been free to inherit his father's estate in 1723. 

The family's box of troubles was not yet full, however, for in the 1720s Thomas' relationship with his wife Mary deteriorated to the point where he discharged a pair of pistols at her, and she was grazed by a bullet. Although, by modern standards, the law of the time was disturbingly relaxed about violence within marriage, this event was viewed as attempted murder, and Thomas was imprisoned at Lancaster to await trial, while Mary decamped with her children to stay - presumably with relatives - in Lincolnshire. Thomas never came to trial, however, for he died of gaol fever (typhus) at Lancaster in 1729, and his widow subsequently returned to Barlow Hall, where she seems to have lived until her death in 1761. The heir to the estate was Thomas Barlow (c.1720-73), who seems to have let Barlow Hall after he gained possession, and was evidently in serious debt. When he died without issue, he vested his property in trustees who were to pay modest sums to his widow and surviving siblings and their families until his debts had been cleared. The trustees sought instructions from Chancery and were advised to raise mortgages on the estate to pay off the debts, but they failed to raise sufficient sums, and in 1784 they obtained a private Act of Parliament for the sale of the estate. It was sold the following year to William Egerton of Tatton Park (Cheshire), and the house was thereafter let to gentry tenants until the early 20th century, when it became a golf club house, which it remains today. 

A coda to the troubled story of the Barlows is provided by The Public Advertiser of 28 September 1786, which recorded that the eventual major beneficiary of the residue of Thomas Barlow's estate would be his great-nephew, Thomas Anthony John Bredall (b. c.1778), who was the grandson of Barlow's sister, Catherine, and a London apothecary, Francis Bredall, who was a Catholic. Although young Thomas had been brought up by his parents as a Protestant, when he went on a visit to his grandfather he was 'secretly taken off to a Papist seminary in the country', and his father had to have recourse to the law to force Francis Bredall to reveal what he had done with the boy. He had, in fact, been sent to a Catholic college in Wolverhampton (Staffs), from which he was eventually returned to the bosom of his family. It is, perhaps, fitting that religious conflict continued to dog the family to the last, and even into the years when religious toleration increasingly existed in practice, if not yet in law.

Barlow Hall, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Lancashire

The manor of Barlow was held by a family who took their surname from the place as early as 1200, and there were a house and mill here by the 13th century. The oldest visible parts of the present building date, however, from the 1570s, when it was rebuilt or remodelled for Alexander Barlow: a sundial on the north wall of courtyard carries the date 1574. The house stands about a quarter of a mile south of Barlow Moor Road between Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Withington, on slightly rising ground on the north bank of the River Mersey. 

Barlow Hall: the house in 1910 before the demolition of the entrance range.
Image: Victoria County History/University of London

The building is of two storeys, and was originally an irregular quadrangle in plan (the courtyard being about 40 ft from north to south and with a width varying from 32 feet at the southern end to 38 ft at the northern end), but the east (entrance) range was demolished in 1962. The west range contained the great hall (of which little evidence is left after a fire in 1879 and subsequent rebuilding), and from this wings project to the east. The north wing probably contained the original family rooms, but in later centuries, the south wing, which was much altered in the 17th and 18th centuries came to have the chief living rooms, while the kitchen and offices were moved to the west range. The house was originally timber-framed, and the hall bay and a square gabled room above it still have visible timber framing. 

Barlow Hall: the courtyard in 1902. Image: Manchester Library & Archives

Most of the rest of the house has been encased or rebuilt in brick of many periods, creating a very irregular impression. In the 17th century, it was modernised by the addition of corridors round all four sides of the courtyard, making the court even smaller than before, and the corridor cuts through the hall bay window, which was seven-sided, as at Ordsall Hall; its plaster ceiling of seven sections was, however, preserved. In the late 17th or early 18th century the east end of the south range was rebuilt and extended, and in the early 19th century a large semicircular bay window was added at the south-west corner. 

Barlow Hall: the ceiling of the hall bay window, as restored after the 1879 fire. Image: Historic England.

In 1776, the house contained a hall, dining room and drawing room and nine bedrooms, as well as the service accommodation. After the fire in March 1879, the house was extensively rebuilt with new fittings and contemporary decoration for the tenant, Sir William Cunliffe-Brooks, possibly to the designs of George Truefitt, who worked for him elsewhere. The cost of the work was covered by insurance, and the restoration was put in hand immediately, so that the house was due to be habitable again by Christmas 1879.  The hall bay window preserves heraldic stained glass of the 1570s and a scratched inscription dated 1580 in one of the plain quarries which may identify the glazier as W. Smythers. The fire of 1879 revealed a good deal of the original timber framing, but this was covered up again when the house was restored.

Barlow Hall: the house in 2014, showing the current appearance of the house after the demolition of the entrance range.
Image: © Andy Robertson

The house has been a golf club house since 1905, and the water meadows below the house are now the golf course. There was formerly a rectangular canal with rounded ends below the 19th century semicircular bay window, running at a diagonal to the house; this was filled in in 1966 and the site is now marked by a row of hornbeams. Beyond the canal is a flat terrace which seems to have been a formal garden and orchard.

Barlow Hall: the house and grounds as shown on the 1st edn 6" Ordnance Survey map of 1845.

Descent: Roger Barlow (c.1461-c.1525); to grandson, Alexander Barlow (c.1521-84); to son, Sir Alexander Barlow (1557-1620), kt.; to son, Sir Alexander Barlow (1579-1642), kt.; to son, Alexander Barlow (d. 1654); to half-brother, Thomas Barlow (c.1618-84); to son, Anthony Barlow (c.1663-1723); to son, Thomas Barlow (c.1686-1729); to son, Thomas Barlow (c.1720-73), who let to William Marriott (d. 1778); sold under a private Act of Parliament, 1785 to William Egerton (1749-1806) of Tatton Hall (Cheshire); to son, Lt-Col. Wilbraham Egerton (1781-1856); to son, William Tatton Egerton (1806-83), 1st Baron Egerton; to son, Wilbraham Egerton (1832-1909), 2nd Baron and later 1st Earl Egerton of Tatton; to brother, Alan de Tatton Egerton (1845-1920), 3rd Baron Egerton, who sold c.1914 to Manchester City Council. After its acquisition by the Egertons the house was normally leased. Tenants included, in 1802, William Myers, from 1816-47, Shakespeare Phillips esq. (d. 1855), and from 1848-1900, Sir William Cunliffe-Brooks (1819-1900), 1st bt. The house was leased by Chorlton-cum-Hardy Golf Club from 1905 and this arrangement was continued after the purchase of the estate by Manchester City Council.

Barlow family of Barlow Hall

Barlow, Ellis (c.1492-c.1521). Son of Roger Barlow (c.1461-c.1525) and his wife Catherine, daughter of Ellis Prestwich of Hulme (Lancs), born about 1492. He married Anne, daughter of Otes Reddish, esq., of Reddish, and had issue:
(1) Margaret Barlow (d. 1559); married, as his second wife, Edward Stanley (1509-72) KG, 3rd Earl of Derby, but had no issue; died 19 January 1558/9;
(2) Alexander Barlow (c.1521-84) (q.v.).
He died in the lifetime of his father, in about 1521. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Barlow, Alexander (c.1521-84). Only son of Ellis Barlow (c.1492-c.1521) and his wife Ann, daughter of Otes Reddish of Reddish, born about 1521. He was  a member of the Earl of Derby's Council, 1546; MP for Wigan, 1547-57; and a Trustee of Manchester Grammar School, 1556-81. He adhered to the Roman Catholic religion and was eventually arrested as a recusant and imprisoned. He married Elizabeth (c.1525-83), daughter of George Leigh of Adlington Hall (Cheshire) and had issue:
(1) Mary Barlow; married John Leigh, younger son of Richard Leigh of West Hall, High Legh (Cheshire);
(2) Margaret Barlow (d. by 1617); married Edward Scarisbrick (d. 1599) and had issue; died before April 1617;
(3) Anne Barlow; married, Richard Halsall (c.1552-1609) of Halsall;
(4) Elizabeth Barlow (d. 1578); died unmarried and was buried at Didsbury, 24 September 1578;
(5) Jane Barlow (fl. 1583); a Bridgettine nun on the Continent; wrote to her father in 1583 complaining that she was "in great distress and want in a foreign land" and that she was forced to borrow money for her profession as a nun;
(6) Sir Alexander Barlow (1557-1620), kt. (q.v.)
(7) Edward Barlow.
He inherited Barlow Hall from his grandfather as an infant and rebuilt it in the 1570s.
He died while under house arrest near Manchester and was buried at Didsbury, 26 August 1584. His wife was buried at Didsbury, 26 December 1583.

Barlow, Sir Alexander (1557-1620), kt. Elder son of Alexander Barlow (c.1521-84) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of George Leigh of Adlington Hall (Cheshire), baptised at Chorlton, 28 June 1557. He apparently conformed to the Protestant church and was knighted at the coronation of King James I, 1603, but he later recanted and died ‘a true and perfect recusant Catholic’, in the words of his will.  He was married* 1st, 22 September 1562 at Middleton (Lancs), while a child of four, to Elizabeth Bellfield of Clegg, who was about the same age, but he refused to ratify the marriage on reaching his maturity, and obtained a divorce or annullment in 1574; he married 2nd, c.1578 at Handforth (Cheshire), Mary (d. 1627), daughter of Sir Urian Brereton of Handforth, and had issue, with two other sons and one daughter who died in infancy:
(1) Sir Alexander Barlow (1579-1642), kt. (q.v.);
(2) Margaret Barlow (1581-1628), baptised at Didsbury, 16 September 1581; married Sir John Talbot (c.1582-1659) of Salesbury Hall, Ribchester (Lancs), and had issue four sons and three daughters; died 26 December 1628;
(3) George Barlow (b. 1582; fl. 1617), baptised at Didsbury, 4 March 1581/2; living in 1617;
(4) William Barlow (c.1584-1656); educated at Douai College and Salamanca (Spain) (DD); professed as a Benedictine monk (Fr. Rudesind) in Spain, 1605; ordained priest 1608; monk at Douai Abbey; prior of St. Gregory's Abbey, Douai, 1614-21; professor of theology at Douai, c.1616-56; died at Douai, 1656;
(5) Edward Barlow (1585-1641), baptised at Didsbury (Lancs), 30 November 1585; converted to Roman Catholicism, 1607, and trained at the English College, Douai (France), and at Valladolid (Spain) as a Benedictine monk; ordained as a priest, 1617 (taking the name Father Ambrose Barlow); he then returned to England as a missionary and lived under the protection of Sir Thomas Tyldesley of Morleys Hall, Astley (Lancs); he suffered a stroke in about 1640 which left him partially paralysed, but continued his ministry until he was arrested while conducting mass on Easter Day, 1641, and taken to Lancaster, where he was tried and executed by hanging, drawing and quartering and being boiled in oil, 10 September 1641; his head was subsequently exposed on a pike but was rescued by his cousin, Francis Downes of Wardley Hall (now the residence of the RC Bishop of Salford), and the skull has been preserved there to the present day; one of the 'forty English martyrs' beatified in 1930 and canonised as St. Ambrose Barlow in 1970;
(6) John Barlow (d. by 1616); died in Spain, where he too was perhaps training for the priesthood;
(7) Robert Barlow (d. c.1633); professed as a monk at Douai Abbey, 1630; died there about 1633;
(8) Frances Barlow (fl. 1617);
(9) Mary Barlow (fl. 1616);
(10) Jane Barlow (b. 1589), baptised at Didsbury, 21 July 1589;
(11) Katherine Barlow (d. 1636); died 26 December 1636 and was buried at Brere (Essex).
He inherited Barlow Hall from his father in 1584, but two-thirds of the estate was seized by the Crown in about 1608, and granted away.
He was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church (now Cathedral), 20 April 1620; his will was proved at Chester and an inquisition post mortem was held in 1620. His widow was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 10 July 1627; will proved at Chester, 1627.

* For the possibility of another marriage or other relationship in the 1570s with Ellen or Helen Jonson, see the comments below.

Barlow, Sir Alexander (1579-1642), kt. Eldest son of Sir Alexander Barlow (1557-1620), kt. and his second wife Mary, daughter of Sir William Brereton of Brereton Hall (Cheshire), baptised at Manchester Collegiate Church, 18 September 1579. He was knighted with his father at the coronation of King James I in 1603. He married 1st, Hon. Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Parker, 12th Baron Morley, and 2nd, 18 May 1616 at St Mary Mounthaw, London, Dorothy (b. 1584), daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley of Drakelow Hall (Derbys), and had issue:
(1.1) Alexander Barlow (d. 1655); evidently conformed to the Protestant religion; High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1652-53; married, 4 March 1632 at Northenden (Lancs), Frances (b. 1592; fl. 1655), daughter of William Brereton of Ashley and sister and co-heir of Thomas Brereton, but died without issue and was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 22 May 1655; will proved in the PCC, 15 December 1655;
(1.2) Dorothy Barlow (fl. 1631); married James Gorsuch (b. 1610) of Gorsuch in Scarisbrick (Lancs);
(1.3) Katherine Barlow (d. 1675); married Henry Norris (1601-76?) of West Derby (Lancs) and had issue; buried at Walton-on-the-Hill (Lancs), 6 December 1675;
(2.1) Thomas Barlow (c.1618-84) (q.v.);
(2.2) Henry Barlow (b. & d. 1619); baptised at Didsbury, 27 June 1619; died in infancy and was buried at Northenden (Lancs), 24 October 1619;
(2.3) Anne Barlow (1620-89), baptised at Didsbury, November 1620; professed as a nun (Sister Ann Mary) of the Poor Clares at Aine (France), 4 October 1652 and held office in that convent as sacristan, infirmarian, novice mistress, vicaress and sick mother & dispenser; died at Aine, 8 July 1689;
(2.4) William Barlow (b. & d. 1622), baptised at Manchester Collegiate Church, 25 March 1622; died in infancy and was and buried in the same place, 1 April 1622;
(2.5) Mary Barlow (d. 1662); married, c.1650, Caryll Molyneux (1622-1700), 3rd Viscount Molyneux, and had issue three sons and five daughters; died 6 February 1661/2 and was buried at Sefton (Lancs);
(2.6) Elizabeth Barlow (fl. 1654); married, by 1654, as his 4th wife, Thomas Vavasour (c. 1613-78) of Weston (Yorks), and had issue.
He inherited Barlow Hall from his father in 1620. After his death it passed in turn to his two eldest sons.
He was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church (now Cathedral), 6 July 1642; his will was proved at Chester, 8 July 1642. His first wife died in or before 1616. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Barlow, Thomas (c.1618-84). Eldest and only surviving son of Sir Alexander Barlow (1579-1642), kt. and his second wife, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley of Drakelow Hall (Derbys), born about 1618. He married, 28 September 1657 at St Peter, Leeds (Yorks WR), Winifred (c.1622-90), daughter of Anthony Meynell of North Kilvington (Yorks) and widow of Thomas Killingbeck (1626-55) of Allerton Grange (Yorks), and had issue:
(1) Thomas Barlow (c.1658-74?);
(2) Alexander Barlow (fl. 1664; d. 1681?); married and had issue;
(3) Anthony Barlow (c.1663-1723) (q.v.);
(4) Mary Barlow (fl. 1664-88);
(5) Winifred Barlow (d. 1688), buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 17 April 1688; her will proved at Chester, 1688.
He inherited Barlow Hall from his half-brother in 1654.
He was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 1 September 1684. His widow was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 11 July 1690.

Barlow, Anthony (c.1663-1723). Second son of Thomas Barlow (c.1618-84) and his wife Winifred, daughter of Anthony Meynell of North Kilvington (Yorks) and widow of Thomas Killingbeck of Allerton Grange (Yorks),  born about 1663. He married Magdalen (d. 1715), daughter of Sir Charles Golding, 2nd bt., of Colston Bassett (Notts), and had issue:
(1) Thomas Barlow (1686?-1729) (q.v.);
(2) Charles Barlow (d. 1698); died young and was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 16 December 1698;
(3) Anthony Barlow (d. 1722); his Jacobite sympathies led to his attainder for high treason after the 1715 rebellion, along with his brother, but he may have been pardoned before his death; buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 1 September 1722; administration of his goods granted to his sister Winifred, 10 November 1722;
(4) Edward Barlow (d. 1735?); perhaps the man of this name buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 3 February 1735;
(5) Magdalen Barlow (d. 1707); buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 22 July 1707;
(6) James Barlow (d. 1718); buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 19 June 1718;
(7) Winifred Barlow (d. 1753); buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 11 February 1753;
(8) Mary Barlow (d. 1755); buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 18 October 1755;
(9) Elizabeth Barlow (d. 1721?); perhaps the lady of this name buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 3 October 1721;
(10) John Barlow (fl. 1725), of Manchester, gent.;
(11) Roger Barlow (d. 1763?), of Wigan, gent.; perhaps the man of this name buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 8 December 1763.
He inherited Barlow Hall from his father in 1684, and as a papist registered his estate as the law required in 1715.
He died 8 September and was buried in Manchester, 10 September 1723; his will was proved at Chester, 24 May 1733. His wife was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 5 September 1715.

Barlow, Thomas (1686?-1729). Son of Anthony Barlow (c.1663-1723) and his wife Magdalen, daughter of Sir Charles Golding, 2nd bt., born about 1686. His Jacobite sympathies led to his attainder for high treason after the 1715 rebellion, but he was apparently pardoned before he succeeded his father. He was later accused of attempting to murder his wife and imprisoned at Lancaster Castle; she moved to Lincolnshire for about a year with her children (except for the youngest, who was still at nurse), returning after his death. He married, c.1716, Mary [surname unknown] (c.1686-1761) and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Barlow (c.1718-94); professed as a nun (Sister Frances Clare) at the convent of Poor Clares, Gravelines, 1 January 1741, aged 23; died at Gravelines, 20 May 1794;
(2) Thomas Barlow (c.1720-73) (q.v.);
(3) Catherine Barlow (c.1720-95); married, before 1744, Francis Bredall (c.1718-88*) of Gt. Maddox St., London, citizen and apothecary in York and London, and had issue two sons and two daughters; probably buried at St Giles-in-the-Fields (Middx), 29 January 1795;
(4) Mary Barlow (d. 1734); buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 1 April 1734;
(5) Humphrey Barlow (b. c.1726; fl. 1784); married and had issue;
(6) Dorothea Barlow (fl. 1784).
He inherited Barlow Hall from his father in 1723.
He died of gaol fever in Lancaster Castle and was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 15 July 1729. His widow was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 24 April 1761.
*Francis Bredall of London, a papist, was buried at Stourton (Wilts), 7 October 1788.

Barlow, Thomas (c.1720-73). Son of Thomas Barlow (d. 1729) and his wife Mary [surname unknown], born about 1720. He married, 11 December 1760, at St Lawrence Jewry, London, Mary Worrall (c.1732-85?), but had no issue.
He inherited Barlow Hall from his father in 1729. At his death he left his property to trustees to clear his debts, but they were eventually forced to sell the estate under a private Act of Parliament obtained in 1784.
He died 3 March and was buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 5 March 1773; his will was proved at Chester, 8 June 1773. His widow may have been the person of this name buried at Manchester Collegiate Church, 21 February 1785, and whose will was proved at Lancaster, 28 February 1785.

Principal sources

J. Booker, A History of the Ancient Chapels of Didsbury and Chorlton, in Manchester Parish, 1887, pp. 288–91; B. Camm, Forgotten shrines, 1910, pp. 202-46; VCH Lancashire, vol. 4, 1911, pp. 297-302; Sir M. Barlow, Barlow family records, 1932; C. Hartwell, M. Hyde & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Lancashire - Manchester and the south-east, 2004, pp. 412-13;

Location of archives

No significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Sable, a double-headed eagle displayed argent, beaked and membered or, standing on the limb of a tree raguled and trunked of the second

Can you help?

• If anyone is able to provide additional genealogical information or portraits to augment the rather thin account above, I should be most grateful.
• As always, any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 11 September 2019 and was updated 16 June 2026.