12. HEELIS-CURRER

Riley Tree

 WILLIAM HEELIS and MAGDELYNE CURRER (12)

 

WILLIAM HEELIS. William was christened in the village of Kildwick, the eldest son of Edward Helesse and his wife Thomazine Wilson. He had two brothers and two sisters, all younger.

Baptism. St Andrew,  Kildwick.
1586/7 Mar 12   Williemus Helesse filius Edwardi Helesse et Thomazine uxor.

This was the year when Elizabeth I had her rival Mary Queen of Scots executed.

Kildwick is a village 4 miles south of Skipton.

While still a young man, William left his home in Kildwick and moved to Draughton, a hamlet in Skipton parish. He had no large extended family in Kildwick, suggesting that the Heelises had recently arrived there. Half a century earlier, in 1543, a Thomas Heelis of Draughton was paying tax of 40 pence for land worth 40 shillings, which was a sizeable holding. [1] It is possible that William was going back to an earlier family home. We do not know William’s occupation but he was probably a farmer.

Draughton lies just east of Skipton. It is hilly country, and was chiefly used for raising meat and dairy stock. There was also some limestone quarrying.

 

MAGDELYNE CURRER. Their wedding took place in Skipton, so it is likely that this was Magdelyne’s birthplace, but the Skipton baptismal register does not go back far enough for us to confirm this. She may have moved there from another parish.

There are several burials in Skipton that could be her parents.
1623 Alice wife of William Currer of Skybden. Skibeden is on the outskirts of Skipton, just west of Draughton.
1630 William Currer servant to William Goodyear being unfortunately Drowned at Bently Bridge.
1643 William Currer of Skipton. Buried in the church.
643/4 Mrs Ellin Currer of Skipton. Buried in church. ‘Mrs’ was a title used only for the gentry.
1650 Thomas Currer of Skibden. Buried in the church.

William Dawson in his History of Skipton lists the Currers among four families of wealth and influence in Skipton.[3]

 The wedding took take place in Skipton.

Marriage. Holy Trinity, Skipton.
1605 Dec 2  The same daie was married Willyame Heeless & Magdelyne Currer.

There follows a sequence of baptisms at Holy Trinity for the children of William Heelis of Skipton and William Heelis of Draughton. Those for Draughton are as follows:

Baptisms. Holy Trinity, Skipton.
1606 Apr 30  Jennett
1608 Nov 12   Anne
1610/11 Jan 20   Thomas. bur 10 Mar 1611
1612 Oct 3  Isabell
1615 Apr 21  Elizabeth
1617/18 Jan 10    Cristofer
1621 Nov 4  Richarde

Around this time, there are several records of William Heelis leasing houses in Skipton.[4] One identifies him as the son of Robert Heelis. William of Draughton was the son of Edward Heelis. So this will be the man who appears in the baptismal register as “William Heelis of Skipton”.

There is a burial on 9 Mar 1611 for Christofer Heelis of Draughton. This is too early for it to be William and Magdelyne’s son of that name and the burial register does not name the father. He may be an adult of that family living in Draughton before William arrived.

The Heelises brought their children up in the reign of the first Stuart king James I.

William Heelis of Draughton was buried in Skipton on 27 Mar 1636/7/, shortly before the Civil War. He was 50 years old.

Magdelyne outlived him by twenty years, enduring the Civil War, in which Skipton was strongly Royalist, and dying during the Commonwealth period under Oliver Cromwell.

Burial. Holy Trimity, Skipton
1656 Dec 23   Maude Heelyes widdow of Draughton.
‘Maude’ is a contraction of ‘Magdelyne’.
She is likely to have been around 70.

  

[1] Gillian Waters. http://www.bgwaters.co.uk/harrison8.htm
[2] https://www.draughton.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/draughton-slider-7.jpg
[3] William Harbutt Dawson, The History of Skipton, 1882.
[4] Rowley Ellwood Collection, Skipton Library. Bk.1. https://rowleycollection.co.uk/notebooks/index.asp