Heapey
| Heapey | |
| Lancashire | |
|---|---|
 Church of St Barnabas, Heapey | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SD606201 |
| Location: | 53°40’34"N, 2°35’49"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,001 (2011) |
| Post town: | Chorley |
| Postcode: | PR6 |
| Dialling code: | 01257 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Chorley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Chorley |
Heapey is a village and civil parish in the Leyland Hundred of Lancashire. The village is two miles from Chorley and on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. The civil parish originated as the township of the ancient parish of Leyland and had a population of 1,001 at the 2011 census.[1]
History
Heapey derives from the Old English heope a rose, or heap a hill and hege a hedge meaning a rose hedge or hedge on the hill. It was recorded as Hepeie in 1219.[2]There are ancient earthworks near Heapey and Roman coins were discovered in 1835.[3]
Heapey was part of Gunolfsmoors[4] an area between Leyland and Blackburn claimed by a Viking, Gunnolf, in the 10th century.[5] It emerged in the Middle Ages as Hepay in 1260.[3] The lordship was held by the De Ollertons including Ranulph who assumed the Hepay name.
Robert de Hepay sold the lordship to the Standishes, and the manor or lordship remained with them.[6] In 1924, the principle land owners were the trustees of Mrs. Paulet and Mrs. Sumner Mayhew.[7] There were thirty four hearths liable to pay Hearth tax in 1666, although no house had more than three. During the 19th century, the population were employed at bleachworks, which have long since been demolished, and quarries.[6]
The Lancashire Union Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) built a railway line to link the mills of east Lancashire with the coal mines of Wigan. The line opened in 1869.[8] Heapey railway station closed to passengers in 1960.
Geography
The township covers 1,464 acres on hilly ground including about 200 acres of moorland rising at the eastern edge to over 1,000 feet on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. The village is in the north-west corner between Chorley and Blackburn, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses the north-west corner and the Thirlmere Aqueduct passes through the township.[3][9]
The Heapey reservoirs are upstream of Anglezarke reservoir starting behind White Coppice cricket club. They feed Black Brook (known as Warth Brook upstream), a tributary of the River Yarrow. They are not part of the drinking water system. To the south is Healey Nab.
Religion
The chapelry covered the township of Wheelton.[6] The church of St Barnabas was first built in 1552, rebuilt in 1740 and enlarged in 1829 and 1867 and restored in 1876 and 1898. The church consists of chancel, nave and transepts and is a Grade II Listed building.[10]
ROF
An ordnance factory was built in Heapey during World War II, which became part of BAE Systems and had an "ammunitions storage facility"[11] and part of ROF Chorley.[12] Although the base was closed in 1990s some planning applications were refused on the basis that the area was within a blast zone.[13] The railway line had sidings that served the site and closed in the 1960s.
A myth grew about a strategic reserve of steam locomotives as at that time the sidings were used to store redundant steam engines.[8][14] and the site was speculated to be connected with the ordnance site at Euxton.
References
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11124407&c=Heapey&d=16&e=62&g=6440636&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1452867304206&enc=1. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ↑ Mills 1976, p. 94
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Farrer, William; Brownbill, J (editors) (1907), A History of the County of Lancaster, Volume6: Townships: Heapey, Victoria County History, pp. 50–52, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53068, retrieved 2011-01-09
- ↑ (PDF) Early Estate Structures in Cumbria and Lancashire, Lancaster University, pp. 6–7, http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/33524/1/14-21_ANGUS_J__L__WINCHESTER.pdf, retrieved 2011-01-09
- ↑ The Yarrow Cross, Grimeford, Gunolfsmoors, The Northern Antiquarian, http://northernantiquarian.forumotion.net/t89-the-yarrow-cross-grimeford-gunolfsmoors-sd-618-130, retrieved 2011-01-09
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lewis, Samuel (1848), "Heapey", A Topographical Dictionary of England (British History Online): pp. 676–679, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51019#s20, retrieved 2011-01-09
- ↑ Kelly's Directory of Lancashire for 1924
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A day out by train to the hills, BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/articles/2009/03/09/phil_cunliffe_train_feature.shtml, retrieved 2010-12-07
- ↑ Heapey Township Boundaries, GenUKI, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Heapey/ParishMap.shtml, retrieved 2010-12-07
- ↑ Heapey, Lancashire Online Parish Clerks, http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Heapey/index.html, retrieved 2010-12-07
- ↑ Heapey Storage Facility, Defence, Written answers and statements, 15 November 2005
- ↑ Title: Lancashire - The Secret War, Author: Ron Freethy, Publisher: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85936-063-7
- ↑ Heapey: There's Trains In Them There Hills, Rory Lushman
- ↑ Chorley Citizen, Back Tracking on Old Railway, 2007
Bibliography
- Mills, David (1976), The Placenames of Lancashire, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-5236-6
Outside links
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