Crumbleholme / Crombleholme Family History

Crumbleholme / Crombleholme / Cromleholme Family History

Researched by Richard Crumbleholme, Old Manor Cottage, Winterbourne Steepleton,

near Dorchester, Dorset DT2 9LG ENGLAND from 1977

e mail : r.crumbleholme(insert @) gmail.com

It would appear from my researches to date that all known instances of this rather rare family name Crumbleholme (and its many spelling derivatives Crumbleholme / Crombleholme / Crumblehulme / Cromleholme / Crumlum / Cromlum etc.) originate from a relatively small area known as the Forest of Bolland in Northern Lancashire, England.

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Please feel free to contact me using the email address above - I try and reply as promptly as possible !

This rare surname also appears to be derived from the very land itself. Even today, amongst the relatively small number of families with the name worldwide, the greatest proportion are still living in the English county of Lancashire. All those families that have moved away can probably all be traced back to Lancashire, the greatest movements only being within the last two centuries.

My own branch of the family moved from Lancashire to Frome in Somerset in the early 1800's and to Dorset in the 1840’s. They descend via Richard Crombleholme [Cro0103]* (1625 - 1689) of Crombleholme Fold, Goosnargh, Lancashire from the Crombleholme family of nearby Dutton with the earliest known ancestor being Richard Crombleholme [Cro0013] gentleman of Stydd, Dutton (1490 - 1576). My great grandfather x 12. The line descends (through some 15 generations) all via Richards and Williams !

*Note : The Person ID numbers ie [Cro00 ] are given to each person for identification purposes. (see below)

How I started :

In 1977, my great aunt, the late Louie Crumbleholme [Cro0253] gave me a type written sheet made by her father Harry Crumbleholme. [Cro0248]. (my great uncle). This was an extract of Samuel Pepys Diary mentioning a Mr Crumlum (Samuel Cromleholme [Cro0479]) and scribbled on the bottom of the sheet was a note of a William Crumbleholme [Cro0162] whom Harry had found a memorial plaque to in Horningsham Church on the Longleat Estate in Wiltshire dated 1828.

William Crumbleholme [Cro0162] (1788-1828) turned out to by my great (x4) grandfather, who moved from Lancashire to work on Longleat House prior to settling in nearby Frome. He died on 11th February 1828 and by a strange co-incidence, I first visited his memorial plaque in Horningsham Church on 11th February 1978 - exactly 150 years to the day ! His son Richard Crumbleholme [Cro0241] (1820-1880) moved to Weymouth in Dorset in about 1840.

Samuel Cromleholme [Cro0497] (1618 - 1672) has turned out to be a really interesting piece of research as he was quite famous in his day having taught amongst others Samuel Pepys, Judge Jeffreys, Edmund Halley and the Duke of Marlborough. Pepys had kept in touch with him and he is recorded in his now famous diary several times. By another quirk of fate, Samuel Cromleholme [Cro0495] was the Headmaster of the Dorchester Free School (Hardyes School) in Dorset between 1651 & 1657 before becoming High Master of St Pauls School in London. My oldest grandson William James Crumbleholme [Cro0830] (started 2018- ) and youngest grand daughter Matilda [Cro0831] (started 2023 - ) now attend this school !

Overview :

For a concise outline overview of the various families since early times please refer to the Timeline & Outline Descent Chart. There is also an outline map showing the main family areas in Northern Lancashire.

There are links to my Ancestry family trees at the bottom of this page.

Research Section Titles :

These can be selected on the menu and sub menus (< left hand side of this page) - on smaller devices you may have to chick the 3 bars (top left corner). They are, for the most part, in approximate chronological order. Use the magnifying glass symbol (top right hand corner) to search the whole site.

Person ID Numbers :

From April 2017 and with the great assistance and hours of work by Mike Murtha of Victoria, BC, Canada, my co-researcher, (Mike's maternal grandmother was a Crombleholme and we share a C17th common ancestor) unique ID numbers are being allocated to all Crombleholme (& various spelling variations) family members. These are in the following format [Cro0001] and can be seen in the text above.

This is a simple system that we have devised ourselves and the numbers do not interrelate or have a complex code structure that some ID systems have.

The ID numbers are given to all family members who were born Crumbleholme/Crombleholme.

Wives marrying into the family are also allocated numbers.

Husbands marrying into the family are not given numbers.

Husbands & maiden names of wives can be located (by surname) using the "associated names" section

At January 2024, we are up to some 1360 names. This process is going to take time and allows us to re-check records and deductions made. To avoid confusion, numbers are never re-allocated where a duplicate is found - one number is made void and marked "removed" in the ID listing.

The current ID listing can be found quickly using this link and this link to Associated Names is for the current listing of husbands marrying female C's & wives of male C's.

Mike has also located many records and transcribed many in addition to applying his very logical mind to sorting out relationships. Research and work by Mike is noted as MM.

Family Wills :

I hope that I now have copies of the majority of all historic family wills from the Lancashire area (i.e. North (NR) / South of the Ribble (SR) plus some other PCC / general ones). The index lists have been completed and some of the summary transcriptions of the wills themselves. These are in a section “ Family Wills” and again the reference system (ie NR 18, SR 21 & PCC 2 etc) is of my own making with the numbering starting at the earliest date.

Above : A crest on the gravestone of Rev Richard Cromleholme [Cro0116] (1682 - 1729) which is in the floor in St Michael on Wyre Church, Lancashire - probably the nearest that we get to a Coat of Arms ! (photo RC)

Finally, my special thanks goes to the late Mrs Marjorie Pollard (1927-2021) of Altrincham in Cheshire who was a constant source of help since I started my research in 1977. For some reason, she took to my name and had carried out research on my behalf as well as keeping her expert eye peeled for Crumbleholme records during her own researches. She was an excellent mentor and I shall always be in her debt. Records that she has found or commented upon during in our long correspondence are marked (MP + date).

A further contributor was Mrs Jeffery the owner of Huntingdon Hall, Dutton in 1981 - she kindly let me measure and inspect the house and also lent me her research notes and a sketch of the house C1900. These records are noted Mrs J HH