RIMMER of AINSDALE On 27 September 1758 at Formby chapel (Walton parish, south-west Lancashire) John Rymer an 18- year-old yeoman of the adjacent coastal parish of North Meols and son of Thomas Rymer the miller of Churchtown (North Meols) married by licence Elizabeth Rymer, daughter of Thomas Rymer of Ainsdale mill house (in Formby chapelry): the witnesses were John Sumner and Richard Rymer.1 It seems clear that that Elizabeth Rymer was a daughter of Thomas and Alice Rymer, baptised at Formby on 23 December 1739. Elizabeth’s descent is part of the complicated story of the Ainsdale Rymer/Rimmer families: her descent cannot be traced with precision beyond her father, but it is a rich field for further work. The name Rimmer is an occupational one meaning ‘rhymer’ or poet and became particularly common in south-west Lancashire from an early period: in Formby and North Meols its occurrence was frequent to an extraordinary degree and led to nicknames being added to the name to make identification possible. The spellings Rymer/Rimer/Rimmer and Rimmer were all absolutely interchangeble and the variations are not to be seen as significant in any way. As elsewhere in this work the surname has usually been spelled according to the variation used in the source being quoted.2 Beginnings The search for Thomas Rimmer’s origins has to turn first to all the known Rimmers connected with Ainsdale mill prior to his occupation in c. 1734 and then to others elsewhere in Ainsdale. Early Ainsdale millers The mill house at Ainsdale lay in the far north-east corner of the township on the boundaries of Birkdale (North Meols) and Downholland (Halsall). Virtually all the land in Ainsdale and Birkdale was owned from 1631 by the family of Blundell of Ince Blundell. The first reference to Ainsdale windmill comes in a lease from Robert Blundell in 1631, when ‛the now windmill’ was ‘in the possession of Cuthbert Rimmer’.3 … Ainsdale windmill and its Mill House, one of whose buildings actually lay across the Birkdale —Ainsdale boundary. This mill dated back to the early seventeenth century at least, and was presumably built well inland near the mosses, as part of the new community of Ainsdale, re-established after the previous settlement had been washed away. Until the mid-eighteenth century it served both Birkdale and Ainsdale, and was thus situated on their joint boundary. It was almost certainly originally a timber post-mill.4 In 1679 John Rymer ‘de Milne, Ainsdalle’ appears in the Formby Book of Fifteenths (together with 38 other persons named Rymer/Rimmer).5 He was doubtless John Rymer, the Ainsdale miller who made his will on 8 August 1694, mentioning his wife Mary and daughter Jennett. He died later that year: his [undated] inventory had the second highest valuation (£127 15s 4d) of all extant ones [from Birkdale and Ainsdale] for the century from 1650; it included ‛materials in the millne’, ‛loose wood about the house & millne’ & materials ‛in the kilne’. There was also a £10 debt owing from Nicholas Rymmer: the will was proved on 23 October.6 John’s widow Mary made her will on 21 March 1697.7 She was buried on 30 March 1698 and an inventory was taken on 6 April, totalling £77, including millstones and £39 in silver. 8 John Rymer of Ainsdale mill (doubtless a son of John, above) made a tithe hay payment in the adjacent parish of Halsall on 4 November 1720.9 Other early Ainsdale Rimmers In 1626 recusants at Formby included Richard Rymmer and Jennet; Margaret, wife of Henry; Jane, wife of Hugh; Richard, carpenter and Isabell.10 The 1637 court roll lists the following Rimmers in Ainsdale and in the adjoining North Meols township 1 of Birkdale: ‛Thomas Rymer Elizabeth’; Thomas, senior; Nicholas; John, senior; John, junior; Peter, son of Thomas; Peter, son of William; ‛Peter Rymer James’; James, senior; John; Richard; Gilbert; Thomas, son of William; Hugh; Cuthbert; Peter; Thomas, son of Gilbert.11 Recusants in 1641 included ‛Thomas Rymer de Aynesdale’ and his wife.12 Rimmers giving evidence in 1664 in a disputed over the boundaries of Ainsdale, Birkdale and Downholland included John Rymer of Ainsdale; Dorothy Rimmer of Ainsdale, widow (70); William Rimmer (Black Dick) of Birkdale; Richard Rymer (Black Dick, 94); Thomas Rymer of Birkdale (78); Richard Rymer of North Meols (54); and William Rymer, mariner (56).13 The hearth tax returns for the same year show in Ainsdale John, Elizabeth and Gilbert Rymer.14 John, son of John Rimmar of Ainsdale was baptised at Halsall on 3 June 1669. In 1679 there were 31 Rimmers in Formby and the following in Ainsdale: Ailes [Alice Rymer], widow (buried 27 October 1712); Dorothy, widow (buried 20 November 1683); Gilbert, senior (died 1681/2); Gilbert, junior (buried 22 April 1719); John (Crosse House); John (de Milne); and ‘[John?] Toms’ [sic].15 An inventory after the death of John Rimmer of Ainsdale taken on 29 September 1680 showed no sign of milling and included 3s-worth of ‛lines for the sea’.16 There was no sign of milling in the inventories of Thomas Rymer (1681) and Anne Rymmer (21 March 1689), both of Ainsdale.17 In 1686 Rimmers at Ainsdale included Gilbert and Margerie.18 Recusants in 1705 at Formby, Ainsdale and Ravenmeols included the following Rimmers: Edward and wife; Thomas and wife; Cuthbert; Richard and wife; John and wife;Widow; Ellen; Richard and wife; William; Jennet; Ann; Lawrence and wife; William and wife; and John and wife.19 Thomas Rymer of Ainsdale Mill The Ainsdale Rimmer millers, remarks Harrop, were ‘men of substance’: the family was one of those able to ‘make a lot of money’ in the first few decades of the nineteenth century.20 After the mention of John Rymer in 1720, Ainsdale mill next occurs on 22 September 1734 when Ann, the eldest child of ‘Thomas and Alice Rymer de Mill’ was baptised at Formby. This Thomas (c. 1714—?1797) was the father of Elizabeth Rymer (1739—1829), with whom this account began. It seems most likely that Thomas was baptised at Formby on 18 April 1714, a son of Richard Rymer of Ainsdale: this is an identification supported by local researchers.21 There is however a strong alternative possibility that Thomas was a son of William Rimmer (Grey) (1675- 1737) and his wife Jane Burtch, who were married in 1712/13. This possibility is examined in the Appendix. Richard Rymer, senior (butcher) of Ainsdale (died 1722) It seems most likely that Thomas’ grandfather and father were Richard Rymer senior, butcher of Ainsdale and Richard Rymer junior, also of Ainsdale. Richard senior’s birth probably occurred during the Formby register gap of 1642—1662. He may have been the Richard Rimmer of Formby who married Ann Rimmer of Liverpool, spinster by licence at Walton on 22 October 1684.22 A further hiatus in the Formby registers (1685—1689) may conceal the birth of Richard’s [only] son Richard. It may have been Richard junior who married Ann Norres of Formby at Walton on 4 September 1710. Richard senior made his will on 16 February 1715/16. He mentioned a son Richard and a grandson Thomas, provided also for his wife Ann and another grandson Richard. He left the houses where his son Richard and one Richard Harrison lived, to his wife Ann for life and then to Richard junior, who was also to have his clock, cart and wheels, while Robert Sutton of Ainsdale was to have the field called Suttons 2 Hey. His grandsons Richard and Thomas were to receive two ewe lambs and one black heifer each. 23 As Richard Rymer of Ainsdale, butcher he was buried at Formby on 1 June 1722. An inventory was appraised on 6 June by James Longton and Richard Rymer and the will was proved on 15 November 1722. There was however another Richard Rymer of Ainsdale (also a butcher) who died intestate in the plague year of 1728/9 and was buried at Formby on 5 January. Administration was granted to his widow Ann on 13 November 1729. Unfortunately we have no information about any children of Richard and Ann. A vital source should be the Blundell lease granted on 6 May 1728 to William Massam, in trust for Richard Rimmer’s children Thomas (15, born c. 1713), Richard (9, born c. 1719) and Ann: unfortunately the lease itself has not survived.24 Ann Rimer, Ainsdale widow, buried at Formby on 1 January 1737/8 or Ann Rymmer, widow buried on 19 January 1760 may have been the wife of either of these two Richards. Children of Richard Rymer baptised at Formby were Cuthbert, son of Richard Rimmer (9 November 1696); Ellizabeth, daughter of Richard Rymer, cat[erer] (28 January 1702/3; ‘Richard [THOS], son of Richard Rymmer’ (24 June 1711, Richard buried 18 April); Thomas, son of Richard Rymer, Ainsdale (buried 29 March 1711); Thomas, son of Richard Rymmer (baptised 28 October 1711); Thomas, son of Richard Rymmer, Ainsdale (18 April 1714); Anne, daughter of Richard Rymmer (24 March 1716/17; Anne, daughter of Richard Rymmer, butcher, was buried on 23 February 1718/19); Richard, son of Richard Rymmer (9 February 1717/18); Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Rymmer, butcher (8 November 1719); Mary, daughter of Richard Rimmer, papist (13 February 1720/1); Catherine, daughter of Richard Rymer, Cattan (sic) (3 September 1721). Anne, daughter of Richard Rymer of Ainsdale was baptised at Halsall on 26 March 1732.25 Richard Rimmer, junior of Ainsdale We have seen that an hiatus in the Formby registers (1685—1689) may conceal the birth of Richard senior’s [only] son Richard, junior.