10. BRADSHAW-HEY

Tootle Tree

HENRY BRADSHAW and ALICE HEY (10)

 

HENRY BRADSHAW married in Padiham in 1698. This gives us two possible baptisms, both in Altham, 2 mile SW of Padiham in Lancashire.

Baptisms. St James, Altham.
1666/7 Jan 20  Henrie Bradshy so of John Bradshy. Abode: Claton.
1667 Dec 18  Henry Bradshaw sonne of Henery Bradshaw. Abode: Clayton.

Clayton was Clayton-le-Moors, to the west of Altham, which did not then have its own church.

The first Henry seems to be an only son, the second the middle child of three.

There were many Bradshaws in the early Altham registers, and a number of them lived in Clayton.

The early registers do not tell us people’s occupations. There are no such mentions for the Bradshaws in the Altham registers in the 17^th century, and only two in the 18^th century. One was a labourer and the other a carpenter.

Alice’s second husband was a labourer, so it is quite likely that Henry Bradshaw was too.

Before his marriage, Henry moved to Padiham, doubtless to find work in this larger town.

ALICE HEY. There is only one baptism for Alice which fits with this marriage.

Baptism. Padiham.
1665/6 Feb 2  Ayles Hey daughter of Richard Hey. Abode: Heyhouses.

She was the second of four known children of Richard Hey, . But there is ten-year gap between the third and the fourth, The old Padiham register is in a poor condition, with some entries now illegible. There may well have been other children.

Her mother was also Alice, but we do not know her maiden name

Heyhouses was in the chapelry of Padiham, part of the large parish of Whalley. But it was 3 miles to the north of the town, at the foot of Pendle Hill. It lay by the bridge over the Sabden Brook, in the valley between Pendle Hill and Padiham Heights. Today, it is part of the village of Sabden.

Alice’s father was almost certainly engaged in farming. It was most likely sheep farming.

In the Hearth Tax of 1666, the year Alice was born, there were 16 hearths assessed for tax in Heyhouses. No house had more than two hearths.

Alice’s mother died in 1677, two days after the baptism of her baby brother. Alice was then 11. No doubt she would have had to take over some of her mother’s tasks.

Alice and Henry grew up in the post-Restoration days of Charles II and his brother James II. There was great fear of King James’s Catholic leanings and in 1685 he fled the country to be replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband William of Orange, who ruled jointly with her as William III.

 

Henry and Alice married in St Leonard’s Padiham. This was not the 19^th-century church we see today, but a earlier one on the same site. It stood on high ground at the north end of the town. It was not a parish church, but a chapelry of the mother church in Whalley, five miles to the west.

Marriage. St Leonard, Padiham.
1698 Dec 2  Henry Bradshaw and Alice Hey, both of Padiham.

The marriage was short-lived. Henry died six months later.

Burial. St Leonard, Padiham.
1699 Jun 15  Henry Bradshaw. Abode: Padiham.

He left Alice pregnant. Her baby was born seven months later. 

Baptism. St Leonard Padiham.
1700 Jan 28   An daughter of Widow Bradshaw of Padiham.

Alice remarried two years later to the labourer William Horn.

Marriage. St Leonard’s, Padiham.
1702/3 Feb 6  Wilol Horn and Alice Bradshaw, both of Padiham.

This is probably the William Horn whose wife Ellen was buried in Padiham on 24 Jul 1702. No wedding has been found for them.

William had a son John, aged 9, from this first marriage, and a daughter Ellen, aged 7.

Six months later, William and Alice had a child.

Baptism. St Leonard Padiham.
1703 Aug 5  Will, Horn son of Will, Horn

In 1702, Queen Mary’s sister Anne came to the throne, the last of the Stuart line. Britain was well into the Hanoverian era, under George II, before Alice and William died.

Burial. St Leonard, Padiham.
1736 Apr 4  Alice Horne wife of Wm Horne. Abode: Padiham. Labourer.

William lived another 15 years.

Burial. St Leonard, Padiham.
1751 May 23  William Horn, Senr. Abode: Padiham.

 

[1] A Christmas Ghost Story – Horror Bound Books.