First of all i would like to thank you for taking a look at my web site, and  hope you like it. If any of my Norris or the other names are the same as yours  please let me know and then i can add them thank you.

The Norris Family of Speke
 The Norris Family of Speke are thought to have Saxon origins dating well  before the Norman Invasion of 1066. There are many variations in the spelling  of the Norris family name, including Norrys, Norries, Noris, Norreys, Noreis,  Noriss, Norrish, Norie, Norrie, Norse and Norice. The name is probably derived  from the Old English/Scandinavian words "nord" (north) and "hus" (house),  indicating that the original family probably lived in a house at the north end  of the settlement. Historically speaking, the Norris family is first known at  Speke, near Liverpool in 1314, when the region still lay within the county of  Lancashire. 
 It was William Norris II who began building the present day Speke Hall over  450 years ago, with funds accrued as the spoils of war. William also began the  long family tradition of standing as Member of Parliament for Liverpool.  Isobel Norris was the first wife of Robert Charnock who rebuilt Astley Hall,  and promoted the building of the first school in Chorley in 1611.  Like many old Lancashire families, the Norrises were staunch Roman Catholics -  until in 1651, that is, when Thomas Norris became the first head of the family  to convert to Protestantism. Nevertheless he was regarded as a Royalist during  the Civil Wars which resulted in the punitive confiscation of the Norris  Estates by Parliament - these were not regained until 1662.
 The Norrises held the Speke estates, on and off, until the mid-18th century,  by which time it amounted to around 2,400 acres. In or around 1795 the family  vacated the house and moved to live in a fashionable district of London, and  the house gradually fell into disuse and ruin.
 The 20th century saw the virtual obliteration of all traces of the Norris  estate, though several restorations to Speke Hall itself were undertaken by  later owners and residents during the 19th century. Standing as it does today  at the edge of a modern industrial estate, bordering on the runway of  Liverpool Airport, it is an unlikely setting for a fine restored Tudor house,  now in the (hopefully) safe-keeping of the National Trust.