Christopher Towneley (1604-74) and his nephew Richard Towneley (1629-1707) were members of a Catholic gentry family from Towneley in Lancashire. Christopher Towneley is known as an antiquary but these papers also reflect his interest in scientific research, particularly astronomy. He befriended a number of the northern astronomers, Jeremiah Horrocks, William Crabtree, William Gascoigne and John Stephenson, and collected their papers. His nephew, Richard Towneley, working with other local collaborators, conducted experiments into the relationship between air pressure and volume which became known as Boyle's Law. He also perfected the micrometer and was a pioneer of meteorology. For further details of Christopher Towneley see Dictionary of National Biography and for further details of Richard Towneley see Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York, 1970-80). See also C. Webster, 'Richard Towneley, 1629-1707, and the Towneley Group', Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 118, 1966.