Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Burial: 15 November 1730.
Place of Burial: Ringley, Lancashire.
The burial is recorded in the parish register.
Relationships
Father: Thomas Heape.
Mother: Margaret Wroe.
See the Commentary section.
Spouse: Ellen Dixon. Married 11 November 1679 in Middleton, Lancashire.
The marriage is recorded in the parish register, but it is very hard to read. Lancashire Online Parish Clerks gives her name as Elmes Dixson with a “sic” after Elmes. Ellen's brother John calls her Ellen in his will.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Thomas Heap (baptized 22 March 1681/2 in Prestwich)
John Heap (baptized 12 December 1683 in Prestwich)
Alice Heap (baptized 4 August 1685 in Prestwich, Lancashire - buried 28 February 1763 in Bolton, Lanshire) married (1) Adam Crompton 7 October 1707 in Bolton; married (2) Ralph Greenhalgh 21 August 1750 in Bolton.
Evidence
from the parish registers for Prestwich, St Mary:
Bapt. in March 1681
xxii Thomas filius Thomas Heape apud Ringley
Bapt. in Decemr 1683
xii John filius Tho: Heape Outwood
Bapt: in August 1685:
iiii Alice filia Thomas Heape: Outwood
from the parish registers for Ringley, St Saviour:
Ellen Wife of Thomas Heap of Ringleyfold Bur October the 14th 1730.
Thomas Heap of Pilkington Webster Bur. November 15th 1730.
Commentary
Thomas’s parentage:
In his 1660 will, Edward Wroe named his grandchildren, children of his son-in-law Thomas Heape and daughter Margaret: Richard Heape, Edward Heape, Thomas Heape, Mary Heape, and Alice Heape.
The entry in the Prestwich register for the 1671 burial of Margaret the wife of Thomas Heape (Edward Wroe’s daughter) records her abode as Outwood.
Two Heape families appear in records in the later 1600s living in Outwood:
A Richard Heape married in Middleton in 1673. The baptism records of his children give his abode as either “Ringley” or “Outwood”.
The Thomas Heape of this page married in Middleton in 1679. The baptism records of his children give his abode as “Ringley” in 1681 and “Outwood” in 1683 and 1865. The 1730 burial record of Thomas’s wife Ellen gives her abode as “Ringleyfold”, which was in Outwood. (The burial record of Thomas himself gives “Pilkington”, the name of the broader district.)
It seems clear that Richard and Thomas Heape of Outwood were two of the children of Thomas Heape and Margaret Wroe. (I have not tracked down what became of the others.)
There is also an argument from property. The Thomas Heape who married Margaret Wroe was assigned a lease by his father Richard for an estate in Pilkington, for ninety-nine years in three lives, worth worth £45 a year, subject to an annuity to Richard’s widow Jane, who is recorded as living in Outwood in the 1666 Hearth Tax (4 hearths). Richard Heape is also described in records as living in Outwood. Charles Heape (pp. 286 ff.) argues that the above estate must have been the two farms still called “Heaps” farms in Pilkington. The larger one, now divided into Higher and Lower, was in Outwood and totalled 345 acres. (The smaller one, 48 acres, was in Whitefield.) This estate strengthens the expectation that one or more of Thomas and Margaret Heape’s sons would be living in Outwood.
Finally, there is the connection to Ringley chapel. In a 1650 church survey, it is noted that the family of Thomas’s wife Ellen Dixon attended Ringley chapel. Both Thomas and Ellen were buried at Ringley. Jane, the mother of the Thomas Heape who I am arguing was the father of the Thomas of this page, was buried at Ringley chapel 14 January 1683/4. Her husband Richard was one of the original contributors to the construction of Ringley chapel, paying 5 li and having the right to a pew there. He also contributed 4 li to Mr Holland, minister at Ringley, in 1652-3. Ellen’s grandfather Joshua Dixon was another original contributor to the construction of the chapel, having the right to a pew there. Her uncle Joshua Dixon was curate there from 1674 to 1701.
References
The Correspondence of Nathan Walworth and Peter Seddon of Outwood, and other documents chiefly related to the building of Ringley Chapel. (Chetham Society, 1880).
Heape, Charles, and Richard Heape. Records of the family of Heape of Heape, Staley, Saddleworth, and Rochdale, from circa 1170 to 1905. (Rochdale, 1905).
Parish registers of Middleton, Lancashire. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 20 May 2020.
Parish registers of Ringley, Lancashire. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 20 May 2020.
Parish registers of Prestwich, Lancashire (St Mary). Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 20 May 2020.
The Royalist Composition Papers: Being the Proceeding of the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents (1643-1660) Vol. III G-H. (The Record Society for the Publication of Original Documents Relating to Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol. XXIX, 1896).
Taxation in Salford Hundred, 1524-1802. (The Chetham Society, 1924).
Will of Edward Wroe of Newton, Manchester. Proved 1661 in the Consistory Court of Chester.
Will of John Heap of Broadrod, Bury. Proved 1638 in the Consitory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch.org accessed 24 December 2020.
Will of John Heap of Pilkington. Proved 1728 in the Consitory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch.org accessed 24 December 2020.
Will of Lydia Heap of Pilkington. Proved 1694 in the Consitory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch.org accessed 24 December 2020.
Will of Nathan Walworth. Proved 1640 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 24 December 2020.
Will of Richard Heap of Broadroad. Proved 1653 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 24 December 2020.
Will of Richard Heap of Outwood. Proved 1664 in the Consitory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch.org accessed 25 December 2020.
Will of Richard Heap of Whitfields, Pilkington. Proved 1608 in the Consitory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch.org accessed 24 December 2020.