Heptonstall, Yorkshire Genealogy

Guide to Heptonstall, Yorkshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HEPTONSTALL, a chapelry, in the parish of Halifax, union of Todmorden, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York; consisting of the townships of Erringden, Heptonstall, Langfield, Stansfield, and Wadsworth; and containing 24,345 inhabitants, of whom 4791 are in the township of Heptonstall, 4 miles (N. E.) from Todmorden, and 8¼ (W. by N.) from Halifax.

Heptonstall is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Yorkshire, created in 1747 from Halifax [St John the Baptist] Ancient Parish.

Other places in the parish include: Wadsworth, Stanfield, Langfield, and Heptonstall with Hebden Bridge.

The graveyard
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England, having two children together: Frieda and Nicholas. Following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy.

The grave has the headstone Hughes chose for her. However the grave has been subject to repeated acts of vandalism with objection to the Hughes surname being included and has had to be removed when the word was chiseled off.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
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 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - West Riding of Yorkshire ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Yorkshire ($)
 * 1611-1861 Archdeaconry of Richmond, England, Church of England Marriage Bonds, 1611-1861 at Ancestry – index & images ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Yorkshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain