Rossall

Rossall is a settlement in Lancashire, England and a suburb of the market town of Fleetwood. It is situated on a coastal plain called The Fylde. Blackpool Tramway runs through Rossall, with two stations: Rossall School on Broadway and Rossall Square on South strand. Early history Before the Norman conquest of England of 1066, the manor of Rossall was—as part of the ancient hundred of Amounderness—in the possession of Earl Tostig, the brother of King Harold II. In the Domesday Book of 1086, the manor was listed as Rushale, and in later documents as Rossall (1212) and Roshale (1228). In 1086, the area of Rossall was assessed at two carucates of land. King John gave the estate to Dieulacres Abbey in Staffordshire in 1206. Later in the 13th century, the moiety of Little Bispham and Norbreck was added to the estate. The abbot of Dieulacres leased Rossall to George Allen, who was a relative of his. The Allens, a prominent Roman Catholic family, occupied the manor until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Cardinal William Allen was born at Rossall in 1532. Dieulacres Abbey was dissolved in the 1530s and Rossall was sold to Thomas Fleetwood. Later, when George Allen's grandson Richard died, Thomas Fleetwood's son Edmund evicted Richard's widow and daughters, and they went to live with Richard's brother, Cardinal Allen. Rossall Hall In 1733, Margaret Fleetwood, heiress to the Rossall estate, married Roger Hesketh of North Meols and Tulketh Hall, bringing Rossall into the Hesketh family. The couple chose to live at Rossall and it is likely that Roger Hesketh built the hall that existed into the 20th century. Previous houses on the estate were said to have been eroded or swept away by the sea. A chart drawn for Hesketh in 1737 shows a ruined "Old Rossall" slightly north of Rossall Hall.