ROBY
(extracted from the main text)
As far as records go back there have been Robys both in Longshaw and in Billinge. There are still quite a few around now but in which spot they originated, or if they all stem from a common ancestor, I have not yet been able to establish. The opinion expressed in the web page of an American Roby is that Castle Donington, south-east of Derby, was built in the eleventh or twelfth century to command the crossing points of the river Trent. Although the castle is now merely a mound on the northern edge of the village there still remains a thirteenth century church in the village today. Many Robey, Roby, Robie lines can be traced to this village. As the history of Billinge goes back much further that the eleventh century there is no need to suppose that our local Roby clan have their origins in Castle Donington. It may be so; it may be just the opposite. Early documentation is hard to find.
It was Henry VIII's able administrator, Thomas Cromwell, who ordered the keeping of church registries from 1538. A 'Chapel of Ease' was constructed at Billinge on the site of the present church, around 1534. There is a record of James Roby, a churchwarden at St Aidan's Billinge, wrongfully detaining £7 from money collected from the worshipers in 1539. Early registries were kept on sheets of parchment. Many were lost or destroyed as the years progressed. It would be some considerable time before marriages, baptisms, and maybe burials, were performed at the Billinge Chapel of Ease. There is a recording of Lawrence Roby of Billinge marrying Ann Wilson of Winstanley 3rd February 1698 in the registry of St. Thomas at UpHolland. Few early Billingers could have married in the village. The church was rebuilt in 1717 and was eventually consecrated in 1882. The earliest reference to a Roby in the surviving registry of Billinge Church is of Catran Roby, who died 2nd November 1702. No other information is given. The name is strange and I've never seen it elsewhere. It's probably another form of Catharine.