A family history trip to Calderdale - 1 The boundary stone and Hill End

Every year I make two or three trips to Calderdale to look at places which had some connection to a member of the Hiley/Highley family in times past - for example where they used to live, where they worked, where they were baptised or married, or where they were buried.

My latest trip was to a part of Calderdale on the edge of Halifax and just north west of it. The map below shows this area and the numbers show the places of interest visited. Remember that you can click on the map to see an enlarged version.

The next few posts will give short summaries of these places and describe the connection to members of the the Hiley family.

On Balkram Edge near Moor End, just past the Crossroads Inn and the football field, is a boundary stone. Erected in 1805, it shows the boundary between the townships of Warley and Ovenden. Warley is to the left and Ovenden is to the right. The camera is looking to the north.

Photo of boundary stone - May 2023

Earlier photo of stone with clearer lettering

The post of 3rd October 2022 told how David Hiley obtained a 'Settlement Certificate' from the parish of Warley regarding his move to the parish of Ovenden. 

David made the move with his three sons, Mark, James and David. Mark and James subsequently made the journey west along the Calder valley to Todmorden and became the patriarchs of the Hiley/Highley families who became established in the Todmorden and Walsden areas. David remained in Ovenden and his descendants became established as the leading family line in the Halifax area.

In the background behind the stone can be seen a rising hill to the right. This is Hill End.

Hill End

Mary (Mally) Highley was born at Hill End in 1789. She was a descendant of Henry Hiley who died in 1732. On 1st January 1811 in Halifax Parish Church the marriage was recorded of James Crowther of Ovenden, weaver, and Mary Highley of Warley, spinster. 

Mary and James had 7 children, the first 4 being born in Yorkshire and the last 3 in Abbeville, South Carolina, U.S.A. The couple were buried in First Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Anderson, South Carolina.

The inscription on Mary's gravestone reads: 

Mary Crowther 

wife of James Crowther

Born in the township of

Warley Yorkshire in England

Feb 28 1789 and came

to America in 1819

Died June 29 1854

Mary and James feature in some of the other posts about this trip.

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 4 - Burial in Luddenden)

David's body was brought back from Morton Beck and buried at St Mary's Church in Luddenden with his wife Dorothy who had died 34 years earlier.

St Mary's Church, Luddenden

There is a record of the inscription on the gravestone of David and Dorothy:

Here lieth the Body

of Dorothy the wife

of David Hiley of

Warley who depart

ed this life the (13?)th

day of January Anno

Domini 1733 in the

51: year of her Age.

Also the abovesaid

David Highley who

departed this Life

the 4th Day of Au

gust 1767 in the 68th

Year of his Age.

The grave was in the yard south of the church but there is no sign of it today. We know that some gravestones have been moved and areas grassed over and some have simply been lost over the years. Some have been stolen and used for building purposes, and some have been broken or damaged and removed. It is thought that for most burials the flat slab was the usual graveyard monument.

There were many Hileys/Highleys buried at Luddenden but only a handful of their gravestones can now be seen. Although none of David and Dorothy's 3 children stayed in Warley a number of the descendants of their son David were buried at Luddenden. Many of those buried were descendants of James, son of Henry, who was born in 1694, and some were descendants of Michael, born in 1692. At the moment it is not possible to confirm the relationship between David, James and Michael.

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 2 - David's children and his Settlement)

The parish registers for St Mary's Church in Luddenden record these two baptisms:

Mark Hyley, son of David Hyley of Warley, on 11th September 1720 and David Hyley, son of David Hyley, on 16th January 1725.

David's wife Dorothy died in 1733.

In 1744 David obtained a 'Settlement Certificate' from the parish of Warley regarding his move to the parish of Ovenden.

The Settlement Certificate

At this time every parish was responsible for looking after its own poor. 'Overseers of the poor' were officers who could give out poor relief to those who were unable to support themselves. The money came from a rate which the overseers levied on the better off households in the parish.

In 1662 an Act of Settlement was passed to define which parish had responsibility for providing a poor person with relief. A person's parish of settlement was usually his or her birthplace, but married women took their husbands' settlements and children their fathers'. 

After 1697 the poor were allowed to enter a different parish in search of work, so long as they had a signed Settlement Certificate guaranteeing that their parish of settlement would be responsible for paying their poor relief and would take them back if necessary. Without one, a migrant was liable to be sent back to his or her parish of settlement. An examination could be made if the parish of settlement was uncertain or if the new parish felt that the person was likely to become chargeable to them.

David's certificate

Reproduced by courtesy of Halifax Antiquarian Society, West Yorkshire Archives, Calderdale, HAS:73(236)80

The certificate confirms that David and his children Mark, James and David, have their legal settlement in the township of Warley and that this township will provide for them if they become chargeable to the township of Ovenden. The map below shows that Warley and Ovenden were neighbouring townships.

We have no record of a baptism for James but the order in which the children are listed suggests that Mark was the eldest, David the youngest with James in the middle. So given that Mark was baptised in September 1720 and David in January 1725 it seems likely that James would have been born in about 1722 or 1723. 

At the time of the Settlement, the approximate ages of the 3 children would have been: Mark 23, James 21 and David 19. Mark and James subsequently made the journey west along the Calder valley to Todmorden and became the patriarchs of the Hiley/Highley families who became established in the Todmorden and Walsden areas. David remained in Ovenden and his descendants became one of the leading family lines in the Halifax area.

Next post : Part 3 (Morton Beck)

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 1 - David's baptism)

The next few posts will describe what we know about David Hiley who was married in 1720 and died in 1767. David was a 6 x Great Grandfather.

 

Marriages at Halifax Parish Church in June 1720
David and Dorothy were married on the 7th
(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

David married Dorothy Maud in Halifax Parish Church on 7th June 1720. The record of the marriage  shows that he was a weaver and Dorothy was a spinster from Warley.

There is no record of a baptism for David so we do not know when he was born or who his parents were. However the inscription on his gravestone said that he died on 4th August 1767 in the 68th year of his age. This means he was born between 5th August 1699 and 4th August 1700.

At this time there were a number of baptisms for children whose father was shown as Henry Hiley.  Because of the timings of the baptisms it is likely that these were children from two marriages - Henry Hiley who married Maria Whittaker on 2nd February 1685/86 and Henry Hiley who married Sarah  Cockcroft on 20th December 1691.

Sarah was buried on 19th January 1700/01 and there are no more baptisms after this date. There were gaps between the baptism dates of the children where David might have been baptised so it is possible that he was the son of Henry but we can't be sure who his mother was.

Anne Mealia, Genealogist at Evergreen Ancestry writes:

David may not have been baptised: although the majority of children were baptised a few were missed; he may have been baptised but the baptism was not noted in the register; again this was not unusual as clerygmen often noted baptisms on pieces of paper before writing them up and sometimes these pieces of paper were lost. This is often why parish registers and the copies sent to the Bishop each year differ in some of the entries. He may have been baptised in a Non-conformist chapel for which records no longer exist or he may have been baptised a Catholic and registers for Catholics do not survive for this area. He may have been born elsewhere and in a place for which registers do not survive. His name may have been wrongly recorded or he may have been baptised with a name but used either a different first name or a different surname. If his mother was unmarried when he was born and she later married he may have taken his stepfather's name.

Between 1695 and 1706 there was a tax on each baptism and some families decided not to baptise their children. Some children were then baptised later after the law was repealed but there is no record of a possible later baptism.

Next post: David's children and his Settlement

On this day... Marriage of Tabitha Highley and James Naylor

Tabitha Highley and James Naylor were married in Halifax Parish Church on this day 27th February 1781.

Tabitha's parents Mark and Mary (nee Law) were married in St Thomas's Church in Heptonstall on 26th March 1754. Their first two children, John and William, were baptised in Heptonstall and their last three children, Tabitha, James and Hannah were baptised at St Mary's Church in Todmorden.

The post of 2nd November 2020 told how Mark and his brother James moved west away from Warley at some time in the 1750s and thus became the first Hileys to take up residence in the Todmorden area. Tabitha was baptised on 7th February 1760 and was the first member of the family to be baptised in Todmorden.

St Mary's Church, Todmorden

Tabitha and James's marriage record shows that they were both from the township of Warley in the parish of Halifax. James was a Comber - his job was to disentangle and straighten out the wool fibres ready for spinning. The couple had several children and grandchildren, one of whom was called Tabitha after her grandmother.

Warley Poor Rate Assessment 1790

An entry for James Naylor appears in the Ancestry catalogue of West Yorkshire Rate Books, Accounts and Censuses, 1705-1893.

Rates were collected in each parish for support of the sick and poor, maintenance of roads and churches, and other parish expenses. The rate payer was the person responsible for paying the local taxes and could be the owner or occupier of the property. Rates were assessed based on a dwelling’s value. 

The Warley Poor Rate Assessment for 1790 shows that James Naylor owned or occupied a property valued at £7 10sh and was required to pay a poor rate of 2sh 11d in the pound, and so had to pay a sum of £1 1sh 10½d.

(In today's money, £7 10sh = £7.50, 2sh 11d = 14½p, £1 1sh 10½d = £1.09)

Warley First Poor Rate for the year 1790

An Assessment for the necessary relief of the Poor and for the other purposes in the several Acts of Parliament mentioned relative to the Poor for the Township of Warley in the West Riding of the County of York made and Assessed the 21st Day of June being the first rates at 2 Shilling and 11 pence in the Pound for the present year.

We having carefully viewed and valued the above said Township of Warley and have Regulated the same in the following manner as contained in this Rate as Witness our Hands

Thos Forster

Wm Horsfall

Wm Bancroft

Entry for James Naylor in the Poor Rate Assessment

Extracts from the Ancestry catalogue included with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

Swineshead

David Hiley married Dorothy Maud on 7th June 1720 at Halifax Parish Church. David was a weaver, Dorothy a spinster, and the couple were both from the township of Warley. David and Dorothy had three sons, Mark, James and David.

James and Mark both moved west from Warley along the Calder valley whilst David stayed in Warley. James was a webster (a weaver) and he married Martha Greenwood on 3rd October 1761 at Heptonstall. Their first child Mary was baptised later that year when the family were living in Castle, just east of Todmorden.

By the time of the baptism of  James and Martha's 4th child Bettey in 1768 the family were living in Swineshead New House on the road heading out of Walsden towards Lumbutts. They stayed there until James's death in 1795. 

Their address is given as Swineshead Cottage for Salley's baptism in 1772 and just Swineshead on the record of James's burial, and it is not clear which of the existing buildings they were living in at the time. Swineshead is now a listed building. Historic England describes it as built in the mid 17th century and then rebuilt in the early to mid 18th century.

The buildings at Swineshead:

The view down to Walsden from Swineshead

James's brother Mark had already made the journey west from Warley. Mark was a comber and he married Mary Law at Heptonstall on 26th March 1754. Their second child William was baptised while the couple were living at Swineshead Rough. The Rough is the land opposite Swineshead between Lumbutts Road and Langfield Moor.

The view from Swineshead across The Rough to Langfield Moor

The buildings at Swineshead, taken from The Rough looking towards Todmorden

'Top O' th' Rough'

High Lee today

Below are some recent photos of High Lee and the surrounding area. Part of the property is now a Care Home and part private residences.

High Lee taken from Sowerby Lane

Looking from Hathershelf across to High Lee Green. In the distance on the left is the Warley hillside across the Calder valley

From above Luddendenfoot on the Warley hillside 

looking west across the Calder valley

From behind the cricket field of Luddendenfoot C.C.

The buildings at High Lee

Hiley signatures

Going back in time to the 1800s and earlier centuries many people were illiterate and could not sign their own names. Documents like marriage certificates would often show the bride and bridegroom making their mark, usually a cross, next to their name as written down by the official.

On 8th June 1845 Thomas Highley and Sarah Jackson (and the two witnesses) both made their marks on the certificate when they were married in St Chad's Church in Rochdale.

Marriage of Thomas Highley and Sarah Jackson (Ancestry record)

The signatures of 6 generations of Hileys are shown below:

6 generations of Hileys, fathers and sons

John Highley, marriage to Grace Ogden in 1783

John Highley, marriage to Mally Unsworth in 1810

Charles Highley, marriage to Betty Harrison in 1844

Samuel Hiley, letter about his property in Walsden, 1931

Harold Hiley, marriage to Grace Annie Heyworth, 1925


Henry Hiley, document from Service Record, 1945






The Blogpost of 5th June 2019 showed the inventory of Henry Hyley of Warley from 1732/3. The inventory accompanied an 'admon', or letters of administration, which was issued if there was no valid will and was a formal permission allowing the administrator (usually a relative, appointed by the court) to deal with the deceased person's estate.

In this case, Henry's widow Sarah was the administrator. Her signature appears at the bottom of the document. Also witnessing the document is John Hily, referred to elsewhere as 'Johannes Hiley of Warley the Clothmaker'.

Excerpt from the will of Henry Hyley 1732/3

These are the earliest Hiley signatures so far found.

Double dating

The last Blogpost (11th December 2019) mentioned the baptism of Agnes Hylyle on 24th February 1539/40.

Before 1752 the calendar year started on 25th March rather than on 1st January so the year used for dates between 1st January and 24th March was the same as for the preceding December.

Dates between 1st January and 24th March before 1752 are often recorded using a technique called 'double dating'. They are given as two years. So Agnes's baptism on 24th February took place in 1539 under the old style (Julian calendar) and 1540 under the new style (Gregorian calendar). 1539 was the year the baptism appears in the parish register and 1540 is the modern year equivalent. Hence 1539/40.

The Blogpost of 5th June 2019 showed the inventory of the goods and chattels of Henry Hyley of Warley. The date of the inventory is properly recorded as 23rd February 1732/3. The record of the entry for Henry's will in the Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York Probate Index is shown below.
(1732/3 Martii (March), Hyley Henrici de Warley P (Parish) Hallifax).

Record of entry for Henry Hyley's will

Glossary of items listed in Henry Hyley's Inventory

A glossary of some of the items listed in Henry Hyley's Inventory:

(see the last 2 blogs)

The Inventory of Henry Hyley (part 2)

Last week's blog showed the Inventory of Henry Hyley's belongings, produced after his death in 1732/3. A transcription of the items is shown below. The next blog will give explanations of some of these items. Underlined are the 7 parts of his house where items were found.

An Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of Henry Hyley of Warley

Henry Hiley, a Weaver from Warley near Halifax, was buried on 22nd February 1732/3 in St Mary's Church, Luddenden. On 23rd February the following Inventory of his belongings was produced, valued and apprised by the four men shown at the end.

The next blogs will give a transcription of the Inventory and an explanation of some of the items.