HADFIELD
A Derbyshire Family
(condensed)
by
Roger
Hadfield MA, F.R.G.S.
1925 - 2004
Introduction
This account
of my ancestors in a Derbyshire village was first outlined in the Derbyshire
Family History Society Branch News in 1986 (No.39, page 19).
It shows how a
whole variety of sources can help in genealogical studies and yet at times
there seems to be an excess of information to unravel. An off-shoot of the
former was a short history of Peak Forest and Dove Holes - "A Corner of
the Derbyshire Peak" (1985) - copies now at Matlock in the Record Office
and the County Library.
Recent
research is included in the tale of some humble, yet fiercely independent folk
of these rugged hills whose lives took some quite amazing twists and turns.
Roger HADFIELD M.A.
(Oxon)
1989
Since this account was written
corrections and additions are likely to have occured and some have been
incorporated.
CHAPTER ONE
ARRIVAL of the FAMILY in PEAK FOREST
The name HADFIELD
derives from the Saxon, Old English, HETFELD for ‘open country or heathlands’.
It has several variants including the letter ‘T’. At Peak Forest many of the
family including my grandfather used both versions ‘Hat’ and ‘Had’ and here
this is not significant. It does not appear in any of the early seventeenth
century records of the Parish or Liberty such as the extensive 1617 Cavendish
rental lists, the 1638 Muster Roll, the Peak Manorial records or even the
village Hearth Tax accounts of the 1660’s and the 1670’s. It is also absent in
a list of 49 men of the Parish of 1692 though the bottom of the sheet is
missing. The first reference is in 1684 in the Church Records when the
constable, John Hadfield, appears. Usually, the constable was a young man responsible
to the Headboroughs or officials of the Manor Court.
By 1700, a
John Hadfield is given as a Churchwarden and a Parish Overseer and again in
1706 he was a deputy. In 1702, Anne Hadfield, the daughter of John was
baptised. Unfortunately for a crucial period of twenty years from 1704 to 1724
the Registers, especially the baptisms, are missing and it is probable that
John may well have had up to nine other children. On further fragmentary
records the death of a John appears in 1725 whilst more clearly in 1731 there
is the burial of "Ann, wife of John".
In 1716 the
inventory of Alice Winterbotham of Peak Forest records a John Hadfield owing
her money. A John appears twice in the Lead Records (see list) for 1725 and the
Church records of 1727 mentions John paying for candles and powder. On the 20th
April 1732, John bought a pew from William Winterbotham, which he held for
another 80 years.
Most helpful
however are the Tenancy Records of the Duke of Devonshire in 1754 when for the
Heath Farm of Peak Forest there is "John Hadfield tenant above twenty
years and succeeded his father John". Several other new families appear at
Peak Forest at this time, undoubtedly due to the final extinguishing of the
Peak Forest hunting area and the enclosure of its remaining wastes. As well as
Hadfields there are also Warhursts, Vernons, Hartles and others.
Research to
date (1989) would suggest that John the constable was the son of Thomas of
Edale (who died 1671, son of John) but positive proof has yet to be found.
Whilst it is likely that he was the churchwarden and farmer the possibility
that he came from elsewhere cannot be ruled out entirely. To solve this, papers
have been produced on seventeenth century Hadfields of Edale, Hadfields of
Chapel-en-le-Frith, Hadfields of Hayfield and in preparation Hadfields of
Glossop Dale. In addition the seventeenth century records at Hope and Tideswell
have been combed for spare Johns and many wills etc. examined without success.
He might even have come from elsewhere in Derbyshire or Yorkshire as Peak
Forest lay on an important pack-horse route.
CHAPTER TWO
1725 - 1825
The second
John at Heath, Peak Forest, married Ann Holdgate of Peak Forest in 1732. She
probably died in childbirth for she was buried on 6th June 1741 and her
newly born fifth child, Mathew, went to his grave on 17th June that
year. In 1742 John remarried to Hannah Joule - her family had been at Peak
Forest for centuries. John’s inventory on his death in 1764 has survived - his
goods and chattels were worth £8.12.0d. He was succeeded at Heath by his
remaining eldest son, John (1735-1815).
It is really
the detailed tenancy records from Chatsworth House, which have enabled the
family pedigree to be made because certain baptisms and burials are missing in
the church registers. These records include a fine map of 1772 showing the
occupiers of about two-thirds of the fields of the parish. In 1754, 1770’s and
1790’s the Heath Farm was a messuage and two cottages (rent in 1774 was
£7.10.0d per year). Its fields were tenanted by John (25 acres at £12 a year in
1790) and lesser holdings by Joseph and Thomas
With small
acreages and a harsh climate pastoral farming was hard. Fortunately, the lead
veins under the fields could be mined and three-quarters of a mile to the north-west
of the Heath Farm were some shafts, one was known as "Hadfield’s
Venture" worked by the farmers. (see Hadfields of the Lead records) Girls
were sent off into service - for example, Grace, who died at Back Lane Farm,
Peak Forest in 1781.
John (1735-1815)
had a brother, Samuel (1737-1825), who was at first a cobbler but who in 1766
married Ellen Ely (1749-1825). She was the youngest of the five daughters of
Thomas Ely (1704-1779). Thomas apparently had no sons, so shortly after his
death Samuel took the tenancy of his farm at Near Ridge Close, half a mile from
Heath. Judging by some parts of the present (1989) building that dates from
that period, he rebuilt the farmhouse. He paid £28 a year rent and also took
over the adjacent Lomas tenancy for which he paid a further £16.10.0.
Ellen Ely’s
second sister, Sarah, had married Samuel’s cousin Joseph in 1761 as his second
wife.
Of Samuel and
Ellen’s eleven children six died in infancy (three in 1774) but two, Thomas
(b.1780) and the last child, Rowland (1789-1869) were to follow Samuel’s
brother John as tenants at Heath. Samuel left a detailed will and thus a lot is
known about him. The tenancy of Ridge Close he hoped would pass to his son
Rowland. His eldest adult son John (1775-1822) was already dead and his son,
Samuel’s grandson John, b.1805, was not of age. The next son would seem to have
been an invalid or mentally handicapped, as provision was made for him namely,
Samuel (1777-1872). In addition to monies for Rowland, Thomas and young John,
there was some for daughter Nanny (b.1784) who, in 1803, had married Thomas
Warhurst (b.1781) of Wormhill. Some of their eleven children were to live at
Dukinfield, Cheshire, and a grandchild married Thomas Ely Hadfield (b.1837) -
see later. In the late nineteenth century Warhursts were to tenant Ridge Close.
There is
obviously a connection here with the mortgage Samuel held on land at
Dukinfield. The Peak Forest tramway which passed close to Ridge Close linked
with the Peak Forest canal which in turn linked with another canal at
Dukinfield. Samuel also had invested in the early nineteenth century turnpike
road near Ridge Close and he also had leasehold properties by the side of this
road in Dove Holes. Just how did he acquire all this? He certainly mined lead
near Ridge Close and was probably connected with the early industrial limestone
working hard by. In 1792 he and his brother John of Heath (1735-1815) may have
acquired funds when they wound up the estate of George of Tideswell who was
probably their uncle. Samuel’s signature appears on several documents and gives
the impression of an ability to read and write.
There was
Samuel baptising children from ‘The Coppe’ after who Samuel (1737-1825) may
well have been called and William who died at Old Dam in 1780. It does seem
fairly logical that Joseph (d.1752) and a Thomas were brothers of John (d.1763)
when the tenancy of Heath is examined.
This Joseph’s
son Joseph (1726-1815) was one of the tenants throughout the second half of the
eighteenth century and as mentioned, married an Ely as his second wife. Like
‘Old Samuel’ (1737-1825) he lived to his late eighties and was buried in 1815
"Old Joseph of Smalldale" as that year was his other cousin
"John of Heath" (1735-1815). Despite hard lives many of the Hadfields
of Peak Forest in this account have lived to great ages. Samuel’s son Samuel
(1777-1872) for example, though apparently backwards, was to live on at Heath
well into his nineties!
The other
tenant at Heath and Smalldale, one Thomas, had married Mary Holdgate in 1762 at
Peak Forest, "both of this Parish". The Holdgates however seemed to
have lived in Chapel-en-le-Frith. "Mary of Heath" aged 83 was buried
in 1818 and then Joseph (1764-1835) their eldest son took over the tenancy.
Despite the evidence at his marriage, there is no record of either his baptism
or burial of Thomas at Peak Forest. It can only be conjectured that he was the
son of a Thomas who married a Dorothy at Peak Forest in 1742 who was in turn
the son of Thomas probably to John of Heath (d.1763). Again the only evidence
for this first Thomas in the registers is the death in 1749 "Mary wife to
Thomas". That there was a Thomas about in Peak Forest is however, shown in
the lead records and he probably was at Smalldale. There is also a John who
married in 1776 to a Longden and had five children and the Longdens were at
Smalldale so this John may be part of this ‘missing’ branch. The succession at
Heath down to Joseph and Thomas of the 1950’s and to the present (1989) John of
Smalldale will be given later.
CHAPTER THREE
NINETEENTH and TWENTIETH CENTURIES
At Ridge Close
after the long continuity of Samuel’s tenancy there were to be many changes -
his wife, Ellen (Ely) also died in 1825 (three months after in March that year)
and in 1827 the tenancy passed to her grandson John (1805-1830). Rowland, the
youngest son (1790-1869) who had run the farm in Samuel’s later years had
continued until 1826 but then moved to take the main tenancy at Heath.
John had been
a labourer at Upper End when in 1825 he had married Ellen Jackson (1801-1875)
at Chapel-en-le-Frith. There were Jacksons at Peak Forest but careful and
extensive research has so far failed to link her with them. This is surprising
as much is known about her five brothers and a sister. All six between 1824 and
1840 emigrated to the U.S.A. and sent back letters to Ridge Close which were
handed down in the Hadfield family to my father. She lived to the 1870’s and on
several census reports put different places as her place of origin. It is now
established that she came from Dale Head Farm south-east of Fairfield but who
her father was is unknown.
In 1827 their
first son was baptised and for once a first son of John was not John but Samuel
(1827-1902). This Samuel in later years, lived in a cottage at Ridge Close with
his wife Kate (1830-1881) and their ten children. He farmed 13 acres and
undoubtedly worked in the lime quarries nearby. Very little is known about his
children except his son Samuel (b.1869) who was to farm at Martinside, Dove
Holes.
Also in 1830
John died only 25 years old and seventeen days later, his wife Ellen gave birth
to a son John. Also that year John’s mother Margaret ‘Peggy’ Hartle Hadfield
(1781-1830) was to die. Peak Forest was a ‘Peculiar’ which meant that the
Church could prove wills without reference to a Bishop and she made a will
leaving her pittance to the young widow. It is probable that Peggy’s other
three sons had died young. Ellen now became the tenant of 111 acres (albeit
including some very rough ground) at a rent of £98 a year. The Duke’s agent
noted that the "farm house wants repairing" and also that there was
an adjacent cottage and barn - there are still (1989) buildings on their sites.
Peggy Hartle
had married John Hadfield (1775-1822) in 1803 and she came from Chapel-en-le-Frith.
However, about 1720 a branch of the Hartles had moved to the ancient Chamber
Knowl farm at Peak Forest and in 1830 a John Hartle "a bad farmer"
according to the Duke’s agent, was its tenant. This was the man who Ellen
married in September 1831 and he exchanged the tenancy of Chamber Knowl for
that of Ridge Close and he also became a "waggoner on the rails" on
the adjacent Peak Forest tramway. By now many men in the Parish, especially the
youngsters, took employment in the rapidly developing limestone industry.
Ellen had a
further five children by John Hartle but her second son became known as John
Hartle (1830-1895) though he was a Hadfield. On the tramway probably working as
a ‘nipper’, this boy lost a leg and became a tailor but was to carry on the
Hadfield line nevertheless. In 1866 John Hartle married Elizabeth Frogatt
(1835-1897) from Calver Sough. She already had a son bearing her maiden name -
the father remains a mystery.
For a time
John ‘Hartle’ Hadfield set up home at Fairfield but in the 1870’s built
‘Highfield House’ in Dove Holes next to the road and not far from Ridge Close -
one wonders if this was on some of ‘Old Samuel’s’ former lands. Here he lived
to 1895 with his wife, stepson and own four children as a tailor and
smallholder. His eldest son Thomas (1869-1943) and his Frogatt stepson he
trained as tailors and they were to remain in partnership as such up to the
1930’s. Thomas was my grandfather who the older inhabitants still called
‘Tailor Hartle’ though he was of course, a Hadfield. Thomas had two sons and a
daughter, the eldest being my father John (1900-1980) - he like all John
Hadfields was always called ‘Jack’. father (John) left the village in 1940 as
did my Uncle George (b.1908) who now lives in Cheshire. Of John Hartle Hadfield's
other children, Mary (b.1868) married G.E.Vernon of Old Dam Farm, Peak Forest
before emigrating to Canada and George (b.1873) also left the district - he
married Fanny who returned to Dove Holes in 1965. There were no children.
John
(1871-1944) (Hartle’s third child) remained at Dove Holes and had three
children. The youngest Alexander George (‘Alec’) (1909-1978) also lived at
Wormhill and at Dove Holes. He had three children, the eldest John (b.1938),
unmarried now (1981) lives in Cheshire - the last John of this line of
Hadfields. He was also christened Samuel though many of his close friends do
not know this.
One might have
thought that to traced the other Hadfields of Peak Forest at Heath and
Smalldale and elsewhere using census data and so on from 1825 to 1980 would
have been easy. In fact, it became even more complex owing to the arrival in
the Parish of three other groups of Hadfields all with their Johns, Thomases,
Samuels, Sarahs and so on. To complicate matters Hadfields marry Hadfields,
which they had never done before at Peak Forest. At one stage seven of the
eighteen major farms at Peak Forest had the family as tenants! Much of the
following unravelling was completed by Mr. Tony Rye of Sheffield descended from
some of the Heath Hadfields and I am greatly indebted to him. In Peak Forest
churchyard thirty monumental inscriptions (MIs) to Hadfields have been found so
far, many are to these ‘new families’ and three are as yet unidentified
including Francis (1903-1978).
About 1830
Thomas Hadfield (1785-1865) became the tenant of Dam Hall (the old Dam House)
and 52 acres. He was the grandson of the Rev. Charles Hadfield (1709-1789),
vicar of Heathersage, who came from Macclesfield. Thomas’s eldest son Charles
(1809-1875) was merely a labourer when he had a son Charles Camm (b.1858) and
what became of these two last Charleses is unknown. However, Thomas’s youngest
son John (b.1825) was to marry Ann Hill of Peak Forest and his descendants came
to Peak Forest in recent times as will be detailed towards the end of this
account.
In the 1870’s
William Hadfield (1827-1898) took over at Damside Farm. His family came from
Elton, near Winster, and as far as is known there is no direct relationship
with the early Peak Forest Hadfields, though the lead lists at Winster for 1725
record a miner John from Peak Forest. His (William’s) son Walter (1858-1938)
became tenant of Perry Foot Farm in the 1880’s and remained there for fifty
years. Another son John (1863-1923) took over the Cop Farm where Hadfields had
last been seen in the 1720’s, as far as is known. John’s wife Martha
(1873-1945) continued this tenancy into the 1940’s. After William’s death, his
wife Elizabeth, took over at the Damside but was succeeded there in 1908 by
Walter’s son James Grimshaw Hadfield (1885-1966) where he remained for over
fifty years.
About 1900
Joseph Hadfield (1859-1912) took over at Lower Barmoor Farm. There were three
farms at Barmoor and the chief family there from 1600 to 1960 was the Mellors.
(Not yet traced is Elizabeth Hadfield, buried 1793, daughter of Thomas Mellor).
Yet again here a Hadfield was to marry the daughter of the tenant, namely Lucy
Critchlow (1866-1926). This group of Hadfields came from Wormhill and before
that Tideswell where yet another Samuel died, making a will in 1825, probate
being granted to Joseph, labourer of Dove Holes. Although it has not yet been
traced, this Samuel might descend from the Edale Hadfields or from the Samuel
the probable son of John, died 1725. There were Hadfields recorded at Wormhill
in 1640 and 1670 but there is no evidence of a John there at that time, though
again this cannot be ruled out. A further link was in 1864 when Samuel Hadfield
of Wormhill married Mary Hannah Hadfield from Smalldale - see later. After 1912
Lower Barmoor reverted to the Critchlows for a while.
Meanwhile at
Heath Farm, Rowland (1789-1869) had taken over the main tenancy. In 1813 he had
married Hannah Potts (1794-1870). The Potts were to be found chiefly at
Wormhill and Chapel-en-le-Frith. They had ten children, six of them to Sarah
(1826) at Ridge Close and the last four at Heath.
The eldest son
was Samuel (1851-1888) like his grandfather and by 1851 this Samuel had taken
over the Thomas tenancy of 1830 together with part of Rowland’s acres to make a
total of 150 acres. Rowland, now over 70 years old was left with some 30 acres
at any rate in name. Samuel is believed to have married twice and his second
wife Sarah (1833-1916) was to continue as tenant of some of these lands from
about 1890 to 1916. Samuel’s (1815-1888) eldest son Samuel (1859-1923) had
moved away to the place Hadfield, near Glossop as a police constable - he had
five children the eldest one being of course, Samuel (b.1885).
In 1851 there was
still a third tenant with 30 acres at Smalldale, this was yet another Thomas
(1812-1865) the son of the 1830 tenant Joseph (1764-1835). This Thomas married
Hannah Hoatley (1818-1888) and they had twelve children. When he died in 1865
Hannah remarried to the bachelor son of Rowland, namely one Robert (1828-1902).
Robert not only took over Hannah’s younger children (thereby creating great
confusion in genealogical research!) but the acres farmed by Thomas. After
Rowland’s death in 1869, Robert took charge of his remaining acres also. Robert
may well have been in effective charge of Thomas’s land even earlier for when
in 1864 Thomas’s eldest daughter, Mary Hannah, married a Samuel Hadfield at
Wormhill the marriage entry was father, Thomas labourer.
The youngest
son of Rowland (1789-1869) was Thomas Ely and there was to be yet another
Warhurst-Hadfield link when he married Mary Warhurst (b.1841). Obviously, there
was no land for him at Smalldale so eventually he was to farm at nearby
Fairfield where he later lived with his three sons and a daughter. His second
son was another Thomas Ely Hadfield (1868- ) who, as a child, was to meet my
grandfather Thomas (1869-1943) living there. I doubt if my grandfather ever
knew exactly how they were related. The present day Hadfields of Peak Forest
have very little knowledge of their ancestors or their kin and fifty years ago,
this surprisingly was just the same, apart from the nineteenth century entries
to be found in family Bibles and some garbled stories of former family
tragedies.
Mr. Tony Rye
who has helped in sorting all this out is connected with these Hadfields
through the second Thomas Ely’s sister, another Mary Hannah.
Back at Heath
what was to happen to the other children of Thomas (1812-1865) now the
step-children of Robert (1828-1902) Joseph (1838-1881), later buried at Peak
Forest, had left the district and worked on the railway at Manchester. Rowland
(1844-1917) became a tailor - at one stage he was apprenticed to John ‘Hartle’
Hadfield and lived at Ridge Close. Thomas (b.1847) was working in the adjacent
lime kilns in 11861, Isaac (b.1857) was merely a farm labourer unmarried at
Heath in 1881 and Robert (1865-1866) died in infancy. This left John
(1853-1934). He succeeded to the tenancy of Robert in 1903 and later took over
Mrs. Sarah’s (1833-1916) acres. He was to be the last John at Heath and by the
1940’s his son Thomas (1886-1956) was the tenant of Heath and Joseph
(1881-1953) tenant of other acres at Smalldale.
In the 1950’s
owing to two deaths and the accompanying death duties, the Duke of Devonshire
sold his western Derbyshire lands and Thomas became the first and last Hadfield
to own Heath, which was sold after his death as he only had two daughters. In
the 1980’s it was virtually rebuilt.
However, the
lands are still to be farmed by Hadfields as they are today (2001) by Joseph’s
descendants. One of his sons was John Robert (1915-1994) of Oak House Farm,
Smalldale and these are the very fields won from the waste as ‘intakes’ by John
Hadfield (d.1725) about three hundred years ago.
This account
has shown how earlier this century the Hadfields at Peak Forest decline as
families gradually die out or leave. However, about 1970 newcomers bought the
Chamber Farm - Leslie Hadfield and his brother Malcolm the adjacent Ivy House
Farm. As far as is known neither of these farms particularly the ancient
Chamber have ever before been in Hadfield hands. These new men however do
descend from previous Peak Forest Hadfields and are the great grandsons of John
Hadfield (b. Hathersage, 1825) whose father Thomas (1785-1865) and brother
Charles (1809-1875) were as previously explained, tenants of Dam Hall. John’s
sons and grandsons were to farm on Tideswell Moor at Wheston House farm (not
far from The Copp, Peak Forest) and Bushey Heath Farm where these great
grandsons came from. Also today (1989) two other of John’s great grandchildren
- sons of Ernest (1914-1956) live not far away in Peak Dale.
SUMMARY
of
HADFIELDS of HEATH and SMALLDALE, PEAK FOREST,
DERBYSHIRE.
To 1725 John
Tenants Lists 1750’s to 1790’s |
John (1735-1815) |
Joseph (1726-1815) |
Thomas ( ? - ? ) |
|
Thomas = 1762 Mary Holdgate both of Peak Forest but no record of his birth (son of Thomas and wife Mary in 1740’s?) or death. Mary of Heath buried 1818 was Mary Holdgate. |
||
1830 tenants |
John now Thomas. (probably Thomas b.1780 son of Samuel of Ridge Close - mentioned in will (1825) but not at Ridge Close). Other Thomases few and too young though perhaps Tomas b.1760 son of John above. |
Rowland (1789-1869) had succeeded Joseph. above or his son Joseph b.1763. Rowland was the youngest son of Samuel of Ridge Close. |
Joseph (1764-1835) son of Thomas above. |
1851 Directory |
Samuel (1815-1868) 150 acres son of Rowland no recorded children of either Tomas or Thomas above. |
Rowland above now down to 30 acres. |
Thomas (1812-1865) 30 acres son of Joseph above. |
1900 Directory |
Mrs. Sarah (1833-1916) wife of Samuel above. |
Robert (1825-1902) son of Rowland above. After 1865 marries widow of Thomas above. |
|
1908 Directory |
Mrs. Sarah |
John (1853-1934) son of Thomas above and stepson of Robert above. |
|
1932 and 1941 |
Joseph (1881-1953) |
Thomas (1880-1956) |
|
|
both sons of John above |
|
|
1980 |
John Robert (1915-1994) son of Joseph above at Smalldale |
|
|
HADFIELDS of PEAK FOREST in the BARMASTER BOOKS
- The LEAD RECORDS
1725 |
John of Peak Forest a lead
miner at Winster. John a juror at Peak Forest. |
1749 |
Thomas a juror of Barmoor Court inquiry into death of W.Nall at Peak Forest. |
1752 |
John a juror of Barmoor Court inquiry into death of Oldfield at Peak Forest. |
1752 |
‘Old Vaine’ called 'Hadfield’s Venture' in Hill’s field at Peak Forest. |
1760 |
John concerned with lead in
Woather Field (near Chamber Farm) John a juror again. |
1772 |
Thomas, a juror. |
1780 |
Thomas received payment for lead at bank Top, Peak Forest. |
1782 |
John received payment for lead at Hoarny Slack, Peak Forest. |
1784 |
John a juror. |
1797 |
John a juror. |
1805 |
Samuel receives payment for lead on Loads at Peak Forest. |
1823 |
Bennett has mine in Rowland’s
farm near blackhole stone quarry. (This is the vein near Ridge Close so actually Old Samuel’s Farm) |
1825 |
James receives payment for lead in Peak Forest mine. |
1837 |
Robert, of Castleton, works lead at Rush mine at Peak Forest. |
1840 1850 |
References to James above again, Peak Forest (James of Castleton?) |