Malcolm Bull's Calderdale Companion : Foldout
Heptonstall
Contents:
General Notes on Heptonstall |
Heptonstall is a hilltop village about 8 miles west of
Halifax, at a height of 480 ft above sea-level, on a plateau between
Hebden Water and Colden Clough.
The name is recorded as
Heptone in Domesday Book,
Heptonstall [1253],
Hebtonstall [1361],
Hemsall [1695],
and
Hepenstall [1798].
The name Heptonstall has been said to
mean hill-top military station but, more likely – using
the elements hep and tunstall – it may mean
wild-rose farmstead,
farmstead by the Hebden Water,
or
Hebden stable.
Pronunciation:
The name is pronounced as it reads, with the stress on the first
syllable.
The second syllable uses the neutral
schwa
vowel: hep-tən-stall
The road through Heptonstall – the Buttress – was an important 17th
century packhorse route from Halifax to Colne and Burnley,
Lancashire.
The Cloth Hall was built between 1545-1548.
In the 7th century, Paulinus preached a sermon here in an effort to
persuade king Edwin to accept Christianity.
In the 12th century, the Halifax district became too large for the
single parish church at Halifax, and two additional churches were
established at Elland and Heptonstall.
The 13th century Parish Church of St Thomas à Becket, was
abandoned after damage caused by a storm in 1847, and a new Parish
Church of St Thomas the Apostle was built nearby in 1850-1854 – the
township thereby having two churches within the one churchyard.
In 1631, there was an outbreak of the plague in the
town, and the population decimated when over 100 people – including
the vicar – died.
In July 1642, the will of the Rev Thomas Greenwood endowed
Heptonstall Grammar School with lands and tenements, then of the
annual value of £20.
This is now Heptonstall Museum.
During the Civil War, in 1643, Heptonstall was a Roundhead garrison
under Colonel Robert Bradshaw.
In the Battle of Heptonstall, part of the town was burned to the
ground.
The graves of David Hartley – the Cragg Vale coiner – the Gibson
family, and Sylvia Plath, the American poet, are to be found in
the village.
The Octagonal Methodist Chapel, designed by John Wesley and
built in 1764 and rebuilt in 1802, is the oldest surviving chapel
still in use (a claim contested by a similar chapel at Yarm), and
Rudyard Kipling's grandfather was a minister at the chapel before
going out to India.
On 4th October 1854, the village was lit by gas for the first time.
In July 1933, Heptonstall abandoned the village pump in favour of the
new public water supply.
Hebden Water forms much of the boundary between the townships
of Heptonstall and Wadsworth.
The place is mentioned in the Weavers' Rhyme
The last handloom weaver in the village lived on Silver
Street and died in 1902
Some sites, sights and other entries for Heptonstall |
Bank Cottage, Heptonstall
Bent Head, Heptonstall
Bents Knoll Cottage, Heptonstall
Black Clough, Heptonstall
Black Dyke Farm, Heptonstall
Blake Dean
Broadstone, Heptonstall
The Buttress, Heptonstall
Cage, Heptonstall
Cant Clough, Heptonstall
Chantry House, Heptonstall
Cloth Hall, Heptonstall
Clough Head Hill, Heptonstall
Club Houses, Heptonstall
Cross Hill, Heptonstall
William Darney
Dick Booth, Heptonstall
Everhill Shaw, Heptonstall
Furley House, Heptonstall
Great House on the Northgate, Heptonstall
Great Lear Ings, Heptonstall
Greenwood Lee, Heptonstall
Greenwood
Rev Thomas Greenwood
The Halifax Cavaliers & the Heptonstall Roundheads
Halifax-cum-Heptonstall, Manor of
Halstead Green Farm, Heptonstall
Hardcastle Crags
David Hartley
Hebden Bridge & Heptonstall Temperance Society
Hempston Stalle
Heptonstall Band Room
Heptonstall, Battle of
Heptonstall Book Society
Heptonstall Brass Band
Heptonstall British Restaurant
Heptonstall Cattle Fair
Heptonstall constables
Heptonstall Co-operative Society
Heptonstall Drum & Fife Band
Heptonstall Eaves
Heptonstall Female Friendly Society
Heptonstall Glee Club
Heptonstall Male Union Benevolent Society
Heptonstall, Manor of
Heptonstall Mechanics' Institute
Heptonstall Moor
Heptonstall Museum
Heptonstall New Female Friendly Society
Heptonstall New Friendly Society
The Heptonstall Octagon 1764
Heptonstall Old Friendly & Mechanical Society
Heptonstall parish
Heptonstall Parish Church
Heptonstall Parish Council
Heptonstall, Parish of
Heptonstall Park
Heptonstall Parochial Chapelry
Heptonstall pinfold
Heptonstall Players
Heptonstall Police Station
Heptonstall Post Office
Heptonstall Prosecution Society
Heptonstall Royal Union Society
Heptonstall Service Reservoir
Heptonstall Slack
Heptonstall Slack Mechanics' Institute
Heptonstall stocks
Heptonstall Vicarage
Heptonstall village pump
Heptonstall War Memorial
Heptonstall Well
Heptonstall Workhouse
Heptonstall Working Men's Club
High Greenwood, Heptonstall
Higher Colden, Heptonstall
Higher Greenwood Lee, Heptonstall
Hippings, Heptonstall
Hoar Side Farm, Heptonstall
Hollings, Heptonstall
The Hollins, Heptonstall |
Hollock Lee, Heptonstall
Holme Ends Bridge
Ingham Well Farm, Heptonstall
Ivy Cottage, Heptonstall
Jack Bridge, Heptonstall
Knowl Top, Heptonstall
Lane Head House, Heptonstall
Learings Commons, Heptonstall
Learings, Heptonstall
The Lee, Heptonstall
Less Colden Farm, Heptonstall
Lily Hall, Heptonstall
Little Manor, Heptonstall Slack
Longfield House, Heptonstall
Longtail, Heptonstall
Lower Fold, Heptonstall
Lumb Bank House, Heptonstall
Lumb Cottage, Heptonstall
Mid Slack Farm, Heptonstall
Mount Pleasant, Heptonstall
Mount Skip
Needless Road, Heptonstall
New Edge Farm, Heptonstall
New House, Heptonstall
Noah Dale Bridge, Heptonstall
North Gate End, Heptonstall
North Well, Heptonstall
Northfield, Heptonstall
Northgate House, Heptonstall
Northwell Cottage, Heptonstall
Northwells, Heptonstall
Old Edge, Heptonstall
The Pasture, Heptonstall
Peacock House Farm, Heptonstall
Sylvia Plath
Pogley Barn, Heptonstall
Popples Bottom, Slack
Popples Close Farm, Heptonstall
Popples Common, Slack
Preaching House, Heptonstall
Priest Earth, Heptonstall
Rabbit Rock, Heptonstall
Raistrick Greave, Heptonstall
Reaps Cross, Heptonstall
Reaps Cross, Heptonstall
Rough Head, Heptonstall
Royd House, Heptonstall
Slack House, Heptonstall
Slack Top, Heptonstall
The Slack, Heptonstall
Smithwell House, Heptonstall
Stag Cottage, Heptonstall
Standing Stone Hill, Heptonstall
Star Chamber Farm, Heptonstall
Stone Slack Farm, Heptonstall
Stone Slack, Heptonstall
Stoneshey Gate, Heptonstall
Stony Turgate Hill, Heptonstall
Sutcliffe's Restaurant, Heptonstall
Sweet Briar Cottage, Heptonstall
Tinker Cross, Heptonstall
Top o' th' Town, Heptonstall
Upper Pilling, Heptonstall
Walshaw Lodge, Heptonstall
Waterloo House, Heptonstall
Halifax is made of Wax
West Laithe, Heptonstall
Whitehall, Heptonstall
Widdop Gate Hostel, Heptonstall
Workhouse Farm, Heptonstall
Workhouse Green Farm, Heptonstall
The Gibson family of Heptonstall
The Sutcliffe family of Heptonstall |
See
Parish statistics
©
Malcolm Bull 2017 /
[email protected]
Revised 16:12 on 7th August 2017 / kk_162 / 18