Place:Hepworth, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

Hepworth is a small village to the southeast of Holmfirth and southwest of Jackson Bridge in West Yorkshire, England. It is in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees and the modern parish of Holme Valley.

Hepworth was made an urban district in 1894 (the year urban districts were established), but this was short-lived. It became part of New Mill Urban District in 1895 which itself was split between Holmfirth Urban District and Penistone Urban District in 1938. Hepworth became part of Holmfirth.

In the 19th century it was a township in the parish of Kirkburton in the Agbrigg division of Agbrigg and Morley Wapentake and part of the Huddersfield Registration District.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Toponymy

The name Hepworth is Anglo-Saxon. It may have been that Heppa, an Anglo-Saxon, was of great “worth”. There is also the view of H. T. Moorhouse who states, in his History of Kirkburton and the Graveship of Holme (1861), that the name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon “Hep” meaning high and “worth” meaning place of residence. Another reference cites –worth as meaning an enclosure, hence enclosure of a man called Heppa. In the Domesday Book it is given the name Hepeuuord and is described as the King’s land with steep streets.

Early history

In medieval times the wool trade was the chief source of employment. During the fourteenth century Hepworth was in the parish of Kirkburton, which covered around fifty square miles. It incorporated the townships of Wooldale, Cumberworth, Cartworth, Fulstone, Shepley amongst others. In the fifteenth century a church was built at Holmfirth and during the Civil War a petition was submitted asking for Holmfirth to be made a parish in its own right. The petition was granted by Minister Gamaliel Abraham in 1651. Hepworth and its neighbour Scholes thus became part of the parish of Holmfirth.

The Great Plague

In 1665 – 1666 the Great Plague struck England. It wrought devastation in London, then spread across the country. Hepworth was the most northerly point that it reached. According to local legend it is supposed to have come in on cloth brought from London.

In an effort to save the village the residents split the village into two parts at Barracks Fold. Those that were infected remained, isolated from the world, in one half. Thirteen of the residents died from the disease, which was a considerable percentage of the population in such a small village and thirteen trees were planted to remember them. The trees still stand today, by the local football pitch. Two subsequently fell down and in 2004, replacements were planted at a small ceremony by Parish Councillor, Ruth Jackson. The end of the plague in Hepworth is still commemorated on the last Monday in June every year with Hepworth Feast.

Hepworth's spiritual founding

In 1777 a mighty storm caused the River Holme to swell and flood over its banks in Holmfirth, sweeping away people and property, including the parish church. It was rebuilt in its present state a year later with funding from local clothiers. During this period Wesleyan evangelicals were active in the Holme Valley and Hepworth. They encouraged the local residents to demand that church services be held at the Old Town School. This led to Hepworth becoming a separate parish. In 1863 Holy Trinity Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon further boosting spirituality in Hepworth.

19th century

In 1822 Thomas Langdale recorded a population of 1,048 for the township of Hepworth.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Hepworth from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"HEPWORTH, a village, a township, and a chapelry in Kirkburton parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands on a declivity, under the backbone uplands of England, 2 miles SE of Holmfirth [railway] station, and 7 S by E of Huddersfield; and has a post office under Huddersfield.

"The township includes also the hamlets of Barnside, Foster Place, Meal Hill, Jacksons Bridge, and Law. Acres: 3,370. Real property: £4,398; of which £500 are in mines, £30 in quarries, and £568 in iron works. Population: 1,530. Houses: 276. The manor belongs to S. W. L. Fox, Esq. Iron works were established in 1858; and ironstone and coal are worked.

"The chapelry was constituted recently. Population in 1865, about 3,000. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value: not reported. Patron: the Vicar of Kirkburton. The church was built in 1863; is in the decorated English style; and consists of nave, chancel, and transepts, with vestry and bellturret. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, an endowed school with £24 a year, and other charities with £5."

Research Tips

• British History Online (Victoria County Histories) do not cover the West Riding of Yorkshire
• GENUKI has a page on all three ridings of Yorkshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical parishes in the county. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. The list is based on a gazetteer dated 1835 and there may have been a number of alterations to the parish setup since then. However, it is worthwhile information for the pre civil registration era. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and the submitter is very firm about his copyright. This should not stop anyone from reading the material.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851 which gives the registration district and wapentake for each parish, together with statistics from the 1851 census for the area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Yorkshire West Riding, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72.

• Map of the West Riding divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1917 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. In other counties, the map for 1900 has been used, but it is not coming up in Vision of Britain's list.
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time

• The above three maps indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.
• Yorkshire has a large number of family history and genealogical societies. A list of the societies will be found on the Yorkshire, England page.
• In March 2018 Ancestry announced that its file entitled "Yorkshire, England: Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1873" has been expanded to include another 94 parishes (across the three ridings) and expected it to be expanded further during the year. The entries are taken from previously printed parish registers.