Whatmore Family History

 ’From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell, ’tis thus

From all these three Good Lord deliver us’

 John Taylor 

Haifax in Tudor times was a very rough and ready place where a quarrel between two men could often result in a death. Even the clergy were  not safe. Vicar Robert Holdsworth was murdered when his vicarage was pillaged and another clergyman  - Dr. Ledsam - fled to London. Such violence was dealt with by ‘Halifax Gibbet Law’ which had been in operation for centuries. Anyone stealing property worth more than thirteen and a half old pence was executed on the notorious Halifax gibbet.

For more information on Halifax Gibbet Law use these links:

http://www.yorkshirehistory.com/gibbet/index.htm

 http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/Pages/gibbet.html

Woe betide the man who tried to impose law and order in Halifax - yet a member of our family did just that. This is his story.

John Watmough was born at Halifax about 1537,the son of William Watmough and his wife Margaret. He appears to be the first Watmough at Halifax and he was there by 1539 when his daughter Margaret was baptised at the parish church (shown in the register as Watman). William Watmough was almost certainly related in some way to the Watmough family at Prescot, though Geofrey Whatmore , in ‘Wat’s Brother in Law’, notes that the will of Hugh Watmough of Burnley, made in 1571, refers to his brother’s family who had moved to Halifax. Geoffrey Whatmore also suggests that the evidence of  usage of Christian names in William’s family points, alternatively, to an origin at Blackrod.

Hugh Watmough married at Halifax in August 1560 to Isabell Bairstow, the daughter of a local butcher. Their known children were Maria 1561, Hugh 1563, Edith 1567, Esther 1569, Martha and Ann. Isabell. Hugh’s wife died young and in 1570 he married again to Grace Bairstow, daughter of John Baristow of Thorpe Hall.  The known children of Hugh and Grace were Isabell 1571 - 1572, Grace who died in infancy in 1573, Isabell 1575 and Grace.

With the aid of his father-in-law who surrendered to him houses at Winding Hill and Bell Croft, John Watmough began to speculate in building. He was not above a little sharp practice and some of his leases were seized because they were let ‘contrary to custom’ and he had to pay fines to regain them. He built houses and shops on the High Street and in 1586 he applied for permission to dig a trench across the High Street to conduct water from his houses on the north side to a water course on the south side of the street.

By now the wealthier citizens of Halifax were moving out of town into Thornton Dale which was healthier and John Watmough were no exception. In 1572 he acquired from the Tempest family some land at Thornton and began to build Thornton Hall in the village of that name on the road to Bradford.

Thornton Hall, at Thornton near Bradford

Copyright: Alan Whitworth, taken from ‘Thornton in Time Past’ by Alan Whitworth and reproduced here by his kind permission.

In the 1590s John Watmough was appointed as High Constable of Halifax, an onerous post, but John was worldly wise and also tough and he had a strong ally in the local clergyman, Vicar Favour.  

John Watmough died in 1601 leaving most of his property to his only son, Hugh who was to have:

‘the mansion house called Thornton Hall with all the mylne, kyne, and all the appurtenaces thereunto belonging’ and also ‘the meadows, pastures, moors, woods and turfburies, with one tenement in Thornton town lately in the tenure of Edward Brockbank and another tenement now in the possession of Richard Handsworth’.

John Watmough also bequeathed money and property to his daughters. Martha and Edith got £40 each and  Esther’s children received a legacy of £40. Isabel was given his

‘new house at Halifax with the new barne and garden adjoining, and one croft called the Bell Croft with a place for a dunghill and free egresse and regresse through my other house adjoining it.’

Margaret and Grace received the houses at Winding Hill Close with £50 between them ‘providing that they be ruled by their mother and brother at their marriage’.

Grace, John’s second wife, lived for another twenty-two years, dying at Halifax in 1623. Thereafter, there were no descendants with the name Watmough at Halifax, though members of other Watmough branches lived there later on.

Hugh Watmough, to whom Thornton Hall had been bequeathed, never seems to have lived there. He had married Vicar Favour’s daughter, Susan and  they lived first at Thornton in Craven near Skipton, where Hugh was the vicar. Hugh later took up the appointment of vicar of Bury. Thornton Hall was, however, to stay in the hands of Hugh Watmough’s descendants until 1858 as is shown in the chart below.

 Copyright: Geoffrey Whatmore

Reproduced here by his kind permission

A few further words must be said about Thornton Hall, as in its grounds stood the Bell Chapel, well known to those who are fans of the Bronte sisters.  Patrick Bronte preached in the Bell Chapel from 1815 to 1820 and all his children were baptised there. The chapel today is in ruins and can be visited at any time. It is just across the road from the new parish church in Thornton Village.

 The ruins of the Bell Chapel with Thornton Hall in the background.

Copyright: Paul Whitaker of Chapeltown, Sheffield. Reproduced here by his kind permission.

For a picture of the Bell Chapel in its original state and more pictures of the ruins, use these links:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jowitt1.org.uk/bellchapel.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jowitt1.org.uk/prthor01.htm&h=602&w=445&sz=39&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=KzCRzGkRfEiupM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=100&prev=

http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/yorkshire_the_humber/bradford/old_bell_chapel_action_group/old_bell_1.html

 The whole of this post is derived from information contained in ‘Wat’s Brother-in-Law’ by Geoffrey Whatmore. This book, on CD ROM, contains further information about the Watmough family at Halifax  and  about other Watmough family branches in the north of England. If you would like a copy, follow this link: www.genfair.com   and look under ‘Suppliers’ for ‘Whatmore Family History’ . A few copies still remain of Geoffrey’s book ‘Watmough People’ which is a condensation of some of the information on the CD ROM’. For further details, please contact me at rhyswhatmore@talktalk.net