Goosnargh lies just below Longridge Fell on the edge of the Forest of Bowland.  It is six miles from Preston and 23 miles from Lancaster.  The name which appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Gosenarghe is thought to be derived from an Irish Norse word for hill pasture.  In 1835 it was in the Parish of Kirkham but became a Parish in its own right in 1846.  The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin was built in 1330 and the story goes that fairies kept moving the building materials during the night from the site where it was planned to be built, to the place where it stands today.  The village is famous today for its Goosnargh Cakes.

Our record of the Cottam family begins in Goosnargh with the baptism of Richard Cottam on 23^rd April 1797 in St Mary’s Church, then known as Goosnargh Chapel. We know that his father was William Cottam of Goosnargh but there is no record of his mother.  We know that he had several brothers and sisters, some older and some younger.  We also know that William was buried in the churchyard on July 26^th 1806. Richard Cottam (1797) left Goosnargh and he married Jane Mosley who was born in Manchester.  Their first boy William was born in Preston but their second son Thomas was born in Manchester.