12. HEY-POLLARD

Tootle Tree

 JAMES HEY and ALICE POLLARD (12)

 

JAMES HEY. James came from a long-established family in the Lancashire town of Padiham.

Baptism. St Leonard, Padiham.
1599 Jul 22  James son of Richard Hey

Our problem is that, with this large extended family, there were two Richard Heys hacing children baptised at the same time. The register does not distinguish between them. The situation is further complicated by the poor state of the early Padiham register. There may be another baptism for James Hey that is now illegible.

Because of the overlap between the two families, we cannot say how many siblings James had, or his position in the family..

In adult life, we find James at Northwood, a rural area north of Padiham town, not far from Pendle Hill. If his parents were also from Northwood, then James may have been orphaned when he was around four or five years, though we have no certainty of this.

We have no information about his occupation, but the rural setting makes it likely that he was engaged in farming.

We find his brother John also at Northwood.

James married Alice Pollard in neighbouring Burnley.

 

ALICE POLLARD. There are two possible baptisms for Alice in Burnley.

Baptisms. St Peter, Burnley.
1599 Apr 6  Alice daughter of George Pollard.
1601 Sep 21  Alice daughter of James Pollard.

The second Alice would have been only 17 when she married James. Although this is not impossible, it is much more likely that James’s wife was the earlier Alice. It is more plausible that the second Alice Pollard was the one who married in Burnley in 1623.

Alice was the third of ten children, three of whom died in infancy. On two occasions, we are told that the family lived at Pike. Pike Hill is on the east of Burnley. It is now within the built-up area, but in the Pollards’ time it would have been open country, making it likely that Alice’s father was engaged in farming, either as a yeoman farmer or as a labourer.

They were both 19 when they married, quite young for the time. 

Marriage. St Peter, Burnley.
1618 May 14  James Hey and Alice Pollard.

They made their home in Padiham, where the children were baptised at St Leonard’s church. The present church dates from the 19^th century, but it replaced an older 14^th century  church ,which is the one the Heys would have known.

Baptism. St Leonard, Padiham.
1620 Jun 18  James. James was buried on 23 Aug 1624, aged two.
1622 Jun 9  Richard
1626 May 7  John.
1628/9 Feb 1  Rebecca
1631/2 Jan 15  Jeremiah
1634 Jul 2  Isabell
1636 Dec 25  Richard
1639 Dec 8  Anne
1641/2 Feb 27  Hugh

Because of the poor state of the Padiham register, there may be other baptisms now illegible.

We have information about only one infant death. This suggests that the Heys were not among the poorest families.

For most of these baptisms the family abode is Northwood. Northwood Farm lies north of Padiham, between the town and Pendle Hill. John Hey was also living at Northwood when he had children baptised around the same time. They were probably brothers.

By the time they had completed their family, England was on the verge of civil war. In 1641, every male adult had to sign the Protestation Oath, pledging loyalty to the king, Parliament, and the Protestant religion. The Protestation Return for Padiham shows three entries for Hey. John Hey, followed immediately by “James Hey his family”, and later by Christopher Hey.

The war between Charles I and Parliament broke out in 1642.

“Lancashire was generally a poor backwater in the 17^th Century, before the Industrial Revolution; the route up the Ribble Valley into Yorkshire being an exception.  Its isolation meant that it was still largely catholic in the west, protestant in the east and the towns, including Bolton, were generally independent and staunchly puritan.”[1]

Padiham lay to the east of the county.

The historian Roger Frost tells us: “Once the Civil War started, much of the fighting in Lancashire was apparently quite chaotic and comprised back and forth raiding on towns and strongholds.  However, it was often nasty and deadly.  Out of all the nation’s counties, Lancashire lost the highest percentage of its population during the Civil War”[2]

“The Battle of Old Read Bridge”
“Not quite as well known as such Civil War battles as Edgehill (1642), Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645), Lancashire did have what turned out to be a decisive battle for the county.  This was the Battle of Old Read Bridge on the old road between Whalley and Padiham.
The army of James Stanley, the Earl of Derby and Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, (about 3,000 men) had looted Whalley and were marching towards Padiham. Colonel Richard Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham was trying to stop them.  Four hundred of his musketeers hid in ambush, just uphill from the bridge, fired into the royalist army who, thinking they were under attack from a larger force, turned tail and fled, into their own rearguard.  The Parliamentarians set off in pursuit and chased them back into Whalley, where they triumphed.  This battle marked the end of Royalist dominance in Lancashire.”

James and Alice survived the Civil War and lived to see the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy, after Cromwell’s Commonwealth. 

Burials. St Leonard, Padiham.
1663 Jul 10  Alice wife of James Hey of Northwood.
1679/80 Mar 20  James Hey of Northwood.

 

[1] Stephen Irwin, “Lancashire in the Civil War”. Lecture to Bolton AES Society, 21 Oct 2025. https://www.boltonaes.co.uk/current-programme/lecture-lancashire-in-the-civil-war/
[2] Burnley Express: Bygone Burnley. Roger Frost, “The Battle of Old Read Bridge”. https://www.burnleyexpress.net/heritage-and-retro/heritage/bygone-burnley-the-english-civil-war-battle-of-read-old-bridge-with-historian-roger-frost-mbe-5020790