Commonplace book of John Birch, containing miscellaneous notes and a number of extracts from Sessions Records, including copies of a licence for Edmund Trafford, recusant, to travel to Buxton, Derbyshire (1679) and of an authorisation to levy a tax for the erection of stocks and a rogues' post in Eccles, Lancashire (1687). It also contains a number of recipes of cures for various ailments, particularly for the treatment of horses. Examples of treatments include: dressing sores; curing strains; administering purges; 'how to manage mad young horse' (ff. 9-10); 'when grease is fallen into the legs' (f. 22); as well as a 'description of a well shap’d horse' (f. 21v); and 'to keep horse cloths from moths' (f. 5r). Folios 38-42 and 44-103 are blank.
On folio 121v is a note that James Birch son of John Birch of Samlesbury was born on 2 July and baptized on 24 July 1682.