Sharrock –
where did they go?
Maybe, as
the Visitation of Cornwall suggests “the most part of this family
fled” (from Lancashire) but it is obvious that many of those with the Sharrock and Shorrock name
remained..
Even today
the heaviest Sharrock concentration, let alone Shorrock, is in Lancashire. A look at Mormon records shows
many more entries for Lancashire than elsewhere. Some years ago I counted the
number of pre 1625 births and
marriages on microfiche and found Brindle, close to Shorrock
Green and Blackburn, the nearest large city, to contain a heavy
concentration. There were many more
in nearby parishes.
By the
fifteenth century enclaves had spread to London, Hampshire and Cornwall.
Largely they are evidenced by early Parish registers, but also by Wills,
University and Clergy records.
In the mid
sixteenth century a large number can be found in the parish of Micheldever, in Hampshire. I have a Will of Nicholas Sharrock, Priest of Steep, also in Hampshire, which was
proved in 1540. In view of the subsequent connection the Cornish
“visitation” family had with Hampshire I wondered if one stemmed from the other but
later found the Visitation family moved away from Cornwall and later inherited
property in Hampshire..
Towards the
end of the sixteenth century members of the Cornish Visitation family can be
found in the Registers of Cornwall.
The marriage entry for Robert Sharrock, of
both Creed, near Truro and St Tudy, who married
Elizabeth Adams, in 1555, can be found in London. He appears in the 1568 Muster
roll for St Tudy and paid the subsidy in Creed in
1594. He is the first substantiated member of the tree. Presumably he would
have been born about 1530.
The
Visitation gives him only one child, John Sharrock
who lived at Tregon- John, a farm, now, still to be
found just a few hundred yards from Creed Church. John married Elizabeth
Mathew, a prominent
St. Kew, Cornwall, family and they had three sons.
As was
usual the youngest went into trade, Matthew became a vintner, moved to London
with his wife Phillipa, had many children, and died
in 1640 leaving a Will.
The second
son went into the Church and later became Rector of Adstock
in Buckinghamshire. His own son, another Robert, became Archdeacon of
Winchester and is mentioned in the Dictionary of National Biography.
John Sharrock, the eldest, would seem to have obtained estates
in Norfolk. The detail from Carthews Hundred of Launditch, I believe, is open to suspicion but does seem to
suggest that although the family moved to Gateley, in
Norfolk there was a connection with Hampshire still. Certainly later members of
the family were brought from Norfolk to be buried in East Meon
Church.
This fairly
well documented side of the family does seem to have moved away from Cornwall
and if I'm to find my own ancestors maybe I have to look at some of the other Sharrocks still left in Cornwall.