Uttley Heptonstall Connections

Uttleys in Heptonstall,
West Yorkshire, England

Welcome to Uttleys in Heptonstall Homepage. The information included here is strictly for your enjoyment.

This page has two purposes: to provide simple background information on the Heptonstall area with pictures and to give support to an Genealogy Project on the Uttley name in Canada with roots that have been traced back to Wheatacre in Norfolk County in the early 19th century. The trail has gone cold in Norfolk to trace the family roots back further. But the search will continue.

The origin of the Uttley surname is in the upper Calderdale Valley. A 'ley' is a word used in West Yorkshire since the seventh century to describe a clearing in the forest. Place names like Warley (formerly Werlafsley), Midgley, Chisley (once Chesewaldley) go back to medieval times. An Ut-ley (the double tt came later) would have been a man "from the clearing" or "out of the clearing". Surrounding the Heptonstall Moor today are many 'ley' placenames like Bingley, Burnley, Chisley, Ilkley, Keighley, Otley, Shipley and the hamlet Utley can be found north of Heptonstall up the A6033 highway.

The origin of the name is pure speculation but the facts support that Heptonstall was where the major concentration in England of people with this unusual surname were located. The marriage registries from 1594 to 1837 at the Church of St Thomas a Becket at Heptonstall and its daughter church of St Paul's at nearby Cross Stone shows Uttley (or Utley) as number 13 in the list of common surnames. The name has survived in the upper Calderdale until today.

The pictures below come from a short trip in late May of 1998 to the area of the southern Pennines including Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall. A visit to Heptonstall is worth a journey for the history and the ambience of a community in the past. Clicking on any of the thumbnail images will display a larger version of the image (about 20K each).

	Map of Heptonstall Area in 1610.
	Map of local townships in the Heptonstall area today.
	Heptonstall -- the source of the family of Uttley. The origin of the name is from the Old English Hep meaning "Wild Rose" and Tunstall which is a farm where cattle were pastured. So this place called Heptonstall was once "Rose Farm". This hilltop town lacked fertile agricultural land for farming but grew as a centre of the woollen trade. Cloth was woven at home on hand-looms and sold to merchants at the Cloth Hall the first of which was built in 1545. The area thrived, its population growing to 4,000 people. This came to an end at the end of the 1700s when water powered mills and canals for transportation were built in the valleys. Heptonstall was abandoned and has survived until today in a preserved state as a Southern Pennine hilltop settlement. The decline didn't end until the early 1970s, and the population today is around 2,000.
	Main intersection at the heart of Heptonstall. When the asphalt paving in the village needed to be renewed, the locals decided to remove the paving that had been done earlier to restore the cobblestone street underneath.
	Church of "St. Thomas a Becket", Heptonstall, Yorkshire. A church existed on this site after 1256, named for the archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in 1170 and canonised as a saint three years later. The church was added onto and the ruins that remain today are mostly from the fifteenth century.
	Tower of the old church of "St. Thomas a Becket", Heptonstall, Yorkshire. John Wesley preached here five different times. He was heard to say in 1786 that "I preached in Heptonstall Church, the ugliest Church I know". Perhaps this foretold the great storm of 1847 that brought down the West face of the tower and instigated plans for a new "St. Thomas" beside it in 1854.
	IN Memory of the Rev Jonas Uttley Curate of Luddendon and Son of Jonas Uttley in Heptonstall who Departed this Life on the 27 day of March 1781 in the 29 Year of [life] ALSO Sarah Uttley of Heptonstall who died Oct 26 1866 Aged 67 years. This marker is located in the floor, very near the centre of the old church -- a position of some distinction. The curate was the priest in charge of Heptonstall Chapel at the time and not an assistant cleric. The Uttleys often named their children with biblical names (not in itself unusual at the time) but this is the first Uttley I've encountered that was a man of the cloth.
	Headstone of Abraham and Elizabeth Uttley It is said there are over 10,000 graves in the churchyard of the two St. Thomas churches. Often the headstones lay flat on the grave and many of these have seen multiple duty with extra names appended later and even flipping the stone over so a new inscription could be written on what was originally the back. Until the 17th century burials in the Calder Valley could only take place in Halifax or Heptonstall which accounts for the large number. This Abraham Uttley died in 1878. My grandfather Abraham, son of Nathan and Mary Ann was born in 1879. Just a coincidence I'm sure, but interesting nonetheless.
	In Memory of ALICE daughter of Thomas & Betty Uttley of Heptonstall who died Feb 8th, 1882, Aged 5 Years. ALSO of William Uttley of Heptonstall who died April 11th, 1887 aged 77 years Another sample of an UTTLEY headstone in the churchyard or which there are many. So far, no connection has been established between the Uttleys in Yorkshire and Norfolk, but this is only a matter of time.
	Weavers' Square The square was built in 1967, designed by a local architect. It replaced some weavers' cottages and the old band room that had been here before. The square overlooks the churchyard of the two St. Thomas churches. The tower of the old St. Thomas is to the left and the new St. Thomas is on the right and behind.
	UTTLEY and Phone Book It is obvious that the name of UTTLEY has survived locally.

Copyright © 1998 Bruce Uttley
Last Modified December 1998