Thurland Castle in Lancashire dates to 1402 when Sir Thomas Tunstall, knighted by Henry V at Agincourt, was granted a royal licence to crenellate his manor house. The castle is built on a low mound and is encircled by a moat. My ancestor, Elizabeth Tunstall was born in Therland Castle about 1410.
On the 9th of July 1465, Edward, in consideration of "magnum et laboriosam diligentiam suam circa captionem et retinentiam magni proditoris, rebellis, et inimici nostri Henrici, nuper vocati Regis Henrici Sexti, per ipsum Jacobum factum," gave to Sir James Haryngton a grant of Thurland Castle and other lands, formerly belonging to Richard Tunstell,* a partizan of Henry. --Foedera, XI. 458.
About 1605, Francis Tunstall sold Thurland to John Girlington. The castle was occupied by the Girlington family in the 1600's. John died in 1612. In 1619, Nicholas Girlington, heir to John, mortgaged Thurland Castle. Sir John, son and heir of Nicholas, a knight and Major-general in the Civil War, surrendered the Castle to the Parliamentary forces.
Nicholas Girlington who died in Halifax Co. VA in 1773 left a signed paper in Halifax Court records showing a sketch of a wing of the castle. John Girlington and second wife Margaret Duckett were probably the last Girlington residents of Thurland castle.
Today, the castle has been converted into 7 "luxury apartments" by local developers.
Lynn Garry Salmon <>{