The Bilbrough Family of Gildersome and Bruntcliffe
Introduction

For now, the story of the Bilbrough family begins here at the the tiny hamlet of Bruntcliffe Thorn, the home of James Bilbrough and his wife Mary Buckley, in the eighteenth century. Bruntcliffe is located 5 miles from Leeds, West Yorkshire and today is an industrial area on the city's fringe. Back then, it was a bucolic settlement at the intersection of two of the region's highroads. James and Mary built their home there in the 1730s, yellow circle, left. They and their descendants are the subject of this history.
William Radford Bilbrough, born in 1839, wrote the following:
“Eighteen miles as the crow flies in a SW direction from the Ainsty of York, might be found flourishing once upon a time, the Bruntcliffe Thorn, which grew from a slip off the Gladstonbury Thorn which grew from St Joseph’s hawthorn staff which was then stuck in the earth and it took root and constantly budded around Christmas Day. Bruntcliffe was a hamlet one mile from Gildersome by footpath across fields and the same distance from Morley by road. Bruntcliffe Thorn was rather a bustling place long before railways were thought of and being the spot where two highways crossed and where Toll Gates stood at which fees were collected for the passage of horses and wheel traffic. Coaches and Waggons travelled on high ground from Bradford over the moor along ‘The Street’ an old Roman road which passed Gildersome and through Bruntcliffe on the way to Wakefield. People from Leeds passing through Churwell and Morley climbed the hill to Bruntcliffe Thorn but those who made their way from Batley and the Birstall valley through Holden Clough found indeed that they had a brisk (or steep) cliff to climb before they reached the Thorn in Bruntcliffe. From Wakefield to Bruntcliffe Thorn is seven miles thence along the highroad to Bradford is seven miles. From Leeds to Bruntcliffe Thorn is five miles. In the first half of the eighteenth century a certain James Bilbrough and Mary his wife brought up their family at Bruntcliffe Thorn. In those days the highroad was bordered with strips of waste land varying in breadth. These uneven lands produced rich grass and horses, cattle and donkeys found their living upon the stray. Several gentlemen’s houses were scattered about the hillsides and it was a pleasant and healthy district from which fine views of the country could be had in clear weather. Such were the inhabitants of Bruntcliffe Thorn when James Bilbrough built upon the unenclosed common near the cross roads a “two storey stone cottage” (Rose Cottage). The upper floor was one large room open to the roof. He was a woollen cloth maker and in this room stood some hand-looms at which he and those he employed sat throwing the shuttle. It was a common thing at that time in this district for both sons and daughters to work at home and if a man provided a house with a weaving chamber his family thought themselves well off. The sons worked with their father at the looms and the daughters with their mother spun the wool on their spinning wheels. The elder son of James Bilbrough of Bruntcliffe, named James like his father, went to Gildersome at the time of his marriage. It was in 1770 that he married Martha Crowther of Northowram. She came of a fine hardy race, and was a healthy even tempered woman, by early training a methodist, and always a truly religious person. They occupied the house and land with the necessary farm buildings that afterwards became the property of their son John, where all their children were born, and where the family resided for three generations. The estate formed the Northern boundary of the Village Green. The house stood at some distance from the road, in the midst of fields, upon the side of Hart Hill, which sloped gently towards the South. It was an old gable ended stone house which with its mullioned-windows and small diamond panes of glass, and with the old maltkiln by its side had a quaint comfortable appearance. The rooms were low. A man standing in the kitchen, or houseplace, could easily put his hand against one of the beams overhead which supported the bedroom floor. At that time Gildersome was an outlying clothing district where spinning and weaving were carried on in the dwelling houses of the people, and where the sound of the machinery could be heard through the open doors or windows by the passerby. Donkeys might be seen wandering about the Green nibbling a bit here and there, till it was their time to work by carrying slung across their backs, bags of wool or panniers full of bobbins of warp and weft, or the woven cloth to the fullers stocks, and afterwards to the merchants. There were then but two places of worship in Gildersome, the Baptist Chapel, and the Quakers Meeting House. Of footpaths and bridle paths there were plenty in all directions, but those who drove a conveyance along the highroad into Gildersome must return the way they came. In those days the township contained 1200 inhabitants. To James and Martha Bilbrough of Gildersome were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, William, Mary, Hannah, Sarah, John, James, Joseph, Martha, Samuel and Mary. J. J. J. & S. went to the school kept by Quaker John Elllis in Gilead House 4 minutes walk across the fields from their father’s house. When in 1780 James Bilbrough of Bruntcliffe died, “the two storey stone cottage” became the property of his son James of Gildersome, but subject to the life interest of Mary the widow of the first James. She died in 1789. John the younger son remained at Bruntcliffe. He was by trade a Cloth finisher. He built the “Angel Inn” at the corner by the crossroads and there coaches and wagons pulled up and men and horses rested and took refreshment. Between the Inn and the two storey stone cottage a space of six or eight yards was left which was afterwards built up by Thomas Helliwell who married Anne the elder daughter of John Bilbrough and who carried on the Inn after John’s death in 1815. A quit rent of small amount was payable annually to the lord of the Manor, but afterwards Helliwell bought the freehold of The Angel, and Mary his last surviving daughter still lives there in 1906. And at the corner next (to) the crossroads there stands today The Old Angel without alteration except what time has made. A rambling one storey stone built and stone roofed building. The front door nearly touches the roof. It has several windows large and small, one of them a bow window. The lanky lamp post close by the corner of the Inn, holds its head high enough to throw light upon the roof. It is nearly ninety years since John Bilbrough died. He spent his days at Bruntcliffe Thorn, and on Sundays he attended the Old Congregational Chapel at Morley, where as one of the choir up in the gallery, he played a fiddle with his left hand by an accident!” |
Above: Bilbrough’s Corner at the intersection of the Wakefield/Bradford Road (the Street) and the Birstall Valley/Leeds Road. To the left can be seen the “Old” Angel Inn, which according to family accounts was built by John Bilbrough b1745 aroung 1787, John's granddaughter, Mary Helliwell b1822, is standing in the center of the photo. The center portion was filled in by Mary's father, Thomas Helliwell, and to the right is the “Old Two Story Stone Cottage” built by James Bilbrough b1713 around 1740. At the time of the photo the cottage was called Rose Cottage and was occupied by Henry Seddon, Confectioner, and his wife Alice, nee. Darnbrough, her mother was Elizabeth Ann Bilbrough. In the 1700s and early 1800s, Rose Cottage was the site of a prosperous spinning and weaving business and, later became a grocery and baking shop. Bilbroughs occupied Rose Cottage for over 160 years. During the 19th century, Bilbroughs owned and farmed at least 20 acres behind the Inn and operated a thriving malting business. In the background is Bruntcliffe Mill, situated on the site of the Malt kilns.
Picture courtesy of the David Atkinson Collection (Morley Archives)
Picture courtesy of the David Atkinson Collection (Morley Archives)

Searching for the Family's Origin
Our earliest family historian, William Radford Bilbrough, spent many hours in search of the origin of the Bilbrough family. Try as he might, he could find no record of any parents for his great great great grandparents, James and Mary Bilbrough b1713. This was a serious break in the link with the past and made difficult the connection to other Bilbrough families and the Village of Bilbrough. Here is what William Radford wrote on the subject:
“These reminiscences I have written as a result of quiet hours spent in collecting and putting in order vestiges of my Ancestors. No other thing I possess carries me so far into the past as my surname.(The Village of) Bilbrough is situated upon the highest table-land in the Ainsty of York. The York Ainsty consists of the land lying between York and Tadcaster, its boundaries being the Rivers Ouse, Wharf and Nidd. Bilbrough stands not merely on the edge of high ground, for while Healaugh two miles to the N.W. is only 80 feet, Bilbrough Hill rises to 145 feet above sea level. There is a local saying addressed to those who require a bracing air, “you must go up to the moor to get some Bilbrough bloom upon your cheeks”.
Bill or Bil signifies a hill jutting out from high ground which can be seen from a long way off, and which to those in the plain below shows against the sky, as the highest point. Such places are just those that were first chosen for security. A fenced camp had been there from very early times. The Romans took possession of the site and made it one of their military stations. (Later) It was known as Bilburgh, the Hill Stronghold*. In later times it was used for a Beacon, and in the parish registers is an entry of a “daughter of a soldier at the Beacon” This old signal place, according to Andrew Marvell, was at one time a landmark for ships coming up the Humber.
Surnames were first used in England under King Edward the Confessor and many old surnames were taken from places. Thus centuries ago, “Sons of the Soil” became known as “de Bilburgh” signifying that they lived at Bilburgh, and now spelt Bilbrough, a place six miles from York, mentioned in the Doomsday Book (1081 to 1087). Their descendants have retained the name to this day. What a fine breezy upland spot our ancestors occupied, and we have inherited a good name which for the last 600 years occurs from time to time in the old Wills in the York Registry, and and in other Deeds and Documents preserved elsewhere. A surname, as the term signifies, is the family name and was written above the Christian or given name which belongs to the individual only. If my Grandfather had lived 500 years ago, he would have signed his name:
de Bilburgh John”
One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Bilbrough comes from 1305 when a Richard de Bilburgh is found among a jury of twelve in the town of York. Another early entry in the York Registry of Wills in the year 1341 is the Will of Elenae de Bilburgh, in it can be found the name of her father, Thomas de Bilburgh and three sisters, Isabella, Julia and Margery. The Will is in Latin, here is an English translation:
“In the name of God, Amen. I Ellen of Bilbrough on the day of March next before the middle of the fortieth, In the Year of Our Lord thirteen hundred and forty one. I make my Testament in this manner. In the first place I bequeath my soul to God, to the Blessed Mary and to all the Saints and my body to be buried in the cemetery of the church of Saint Michael of Berefrido. And for my Chaplain one overcoat with a hood. Also I give and bequeath to Agnes daughter of Henry of Coupmanthorpe one gold ring with a stone which is called merande. Also I give and bequeath to Margery, my sister, a tippet of blue cloth with a fur border. Also I give and bequeath to Julia, my sister, an applebloom tunic. But all the remainder of my goods, after my debts have been paid, I give and bequeath to Isabella, my sister. My Executors, Thomas of Bilbrough, my father, and Isabella, my sister. Dated at York the day and year before stated. Also I give and bequeath two shillings for four pounds of wax to be burnt around my corpse. Also I give and bequeath to Mary, my servant, a pot of honey,”
Over the years, the Bilbrough surname appears here and there in parish registers, legal documents, tax records and other forms but without enough frequency to give today’s different Bilbrough families a definite link back to those early “de Bilburghs”. In fact, most Bilbrough families can only trace their past back to the 17th century, if that. Such is the case with our Bilbrough of Bruntcliffe family. Our 19th century genealogists, above, assumed that the family was originally from the village of Bilbrough, whence most Bilbrough families in Yorkshire originate. This was a natural assumption since the village of Bilbrough was only about 15 to 20 miles away. But the surname Bilbrough and its numerous spelling variations could also derive from the County of Nottingham and its town of Bilborough or to a village called Bilsborough in the County of Lancashire. Both these town names are derived from the same ancient word source as their Yorkshire counterpart.
Researching old documents is further hampered by the sometimes wild variations to the spelling of the name Bilbrough. In past times, a recorder, be he clerk or priest, was one of the few people in the region capable of reading and writing. Yorkshire was and still is a land with a wide range of dialectical differences so, It was up to the recorder to spell the name as it sounded or as he thought it sounded. At other times, records were simply inaccurately copied from one document to another. During my research I have seen it spelled Billbrough, Billsborough, Billberry, Bilsbery, Bilbro, Bilbie, Bilburgh, Billburg and Bilborow, just to name a few. For example: the parish birth record for Lydia Bilsbrough (born 1681) records her surname as Bilber, her marriage record names her as Bilsberry; yet her father’s name is spelled Bilborough in another parish record. James Bilbrough b1713, himself, in a Batley parish marriage record, is recorded as Bilberry and his bride as Mary Buckle. Our family didn’t consistently show up in records as ‘Bilbrough’, until the beginning of the 19th century.
Yet, the most significant problem when researching parish records in Yorkshire are gaps, missing pages and missing books. Many of the records only go back to the 16th and 17th centuries, if that. Books and pages were lost through fire, theft, or just plain carelessness and during Cromwell’s time, scores were deliberately destroyed. Not to mention the hundreds of reasons why a person might not make it into parish records in the first place.
I believe I've have had some success in pushing back the earliest ancestor to the mid 1600s. You can read about that on the James b1713 Page.
Our earliest family historian, William Radford Bilbrough, spent many hours in search of the origin of the Bilbrough family. Try as he might, he could find no record of any parents for his great great great grandparents, James and Mary Bilbrough b1713. This was a serious break in the link with the past and made difficult the connection to other Bilbrough families and the Village of Bilbrough. Here is what William Radford wrote on the subject:
“These reminiscences I have written as a result of quiet hours spent in collecting and putting in order vestiges of my Ancestors. No other thing I possess carries me so far into the past as my surname.(The Village of) Bilbrough is situated upon the highest table-land in the Ainsty of York. The York Ainsty consists of the land lying between York and Tadcaster, its boundaries being the Rivers Ouse, Wharf and Nidd. Bilbrough stands not merely on the edge of high ground, for while Healaugh two miles to the N.W. is only 80 feet, Bilbrough Hill rises to 145 feet above sea level. There is a local saying addressed to those who require a bracing air, “you must go up to the moor to get some Bilbrough bloom upon your cheeks”.
Bill or Bil signifies a hill jutting out from high ground which can be seen from a long way off, and which to those in the plain below shows against the sky, as the highest point. Such places are just those that were first chosen for security. A fenced camp had been there from very early times. The Romans took possession of the site and made it one of their military stations. (Later) It was known as Bilburgh, the Hill Stronghold*. In later times it was used for a Beacon, and in the parish registers is an entry of a “daughter of a soldier at the Beacon” This old signal place, according to Andrew Marvell, was at one time a landmark for ships coming up the Humber.
Surnames were first used in England under King Edward the Confessor and many old surnames were taken from places. Thus centuries ago, “Sons of the Soil” became known as “de Bilburgh” signifying that they lived at Bilburgh, and now spelt Bilbrough, a place six miles from York, mentioned in the Doomsday Book (1081 to 1087). Their descendants have retained the name to this day. What a fine breezy upland spot our ancestors occupied, and we have inherited a good name which for the last 600 years occurs from time to time in the old Wills in the York Registry, and and in other Deeds and Documents preserved elsewhere. A surname, as the term signifies, is the family name and was written above the Christian or given name which belongs to the individual only. If my Grandfather had lived 500 years ago, he would have signed his name:
de Bilburgh John”
One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Bilbrough comes from 1305 when a Richard de Bilburgh is found among a jury of twelve in the town of York. Another early entry in the York Registry of Wills in the year 1341 is the Will of Elenae de Bilburgh, in it can be found the name of her father, Thomas de Bilburgh and three sisters, Isabella, Julia and Margery. The Will is in Latin, here is an English translation:
“In the name of God, Amen. I Ellen of Bilbrough on the day of March next before the middle of the fortieth, In the Year of Our Lord thirteen hundred and forty one. I make my Testament in this manner. In the first place I bequeath my soul to God, to the Blessed Mary and to all the Saints and my body to be buried in the cemetery of the church of Saint Michael of Berefrido. And for my Chaplain one overcoat with a hood. Also I give and bequeath to Agnes daughter of Henry of Coupmanthorpe one gold ring with a stone which is called merande. Also I give and bequeath to Margery, my sister, a tippet of blue cloth with a fur border. Also I give and bequeath to Julia, my sister, an applebloom tunic. But all the remainder of my goods, after my debts have been paid, I give and bequeath to Isabella, my sister. My Executors, Thomas of Bilbrough, my father, and Isabella, my sister. Dated at York the day and year before stated. Also I give and bequeath two shillings for four pounds of wax to be burnt around my corpse. Also I give and bequeath to Mary, my servant, a pot of honey,”
Over the years, the Bilbrough surname appears here and there in parish registers, legal documents, tax records and other forms but without enough frequency to give today’s different Bilbrough families a definite link back to those early “de Bilburghs”. In fact, most Bilbrough families can only trace their past back to the 17th century, if that. Such is the case with our Bilbrough of Bruntcliffe family. Our 19th century genealogists, above, assumed that the family was originally from the village of Bilbrough, whence most Bilbrough families in Yorkshire originate. This was a natural assumption since the village of Bilbrough was only about 15 to 20 miles away. But the surname Bilbrough and its numerous spelling variations could also derive from the County of Nottingham and its town of Bilborough or to a village called Bilsborough in the County of Lancashire. Both these town names are derived from the same ancient word source as their Yorkshire counterpart.
Researching old documents is further hampered by the sometimes wild variations to the spelling of the name Bilbrough. In past times, a recorder, be he clerk or priest, was one of the few people in the region capable of reading and writing. Yorkshire was and still is a land with a wide range of dialectical differences so, It was up to the recorder to spell the name as it sounded or as he thought it sounded. At other times, records were simply inaccurately copied from one document to another. During my research I have seen it spelled Billbrough, Billsborough, Billberry, Bilsbery, Bilbro, Bilbie, Bilburgh, Billburg and Bilborow, just to name a few. For example: the parish birth record for Lydia Bilsbrough (born 1681) records her surname as Bilber, her marriage record names her as Bilsberry; yet her father’s name is spelled Bilborough in another parish record. James Bilbrough b1713, himself, in a Batley parish marriage record, is recorded as Bilberry and his bride as Mary Buckle. Our family didn’t consistently show up in records as ‘Bilbrough’, until the beginning of the 19th century.
Yet, the most significant problem when researching parish records in Yorkshire are gaps, missing pages and missing books. Many of the records only go back to the 16th and 17th centuries, if that. Books and pages were lost through fire, theft, or just plain carelessness and during Cromwell’s time, scores were deliberately destroyed. Not to mention the hundreds of reasons why a person might not make it into parish records in the first place.
I believe I've have had some success in pushing back the earliest ancestor to the mid 1600s. You can read about that on the James b1713 Page.
Where do I go from here?
How do you know if you belong to this family? The village of Bilbrough, 10 miles southwest of York, is the origin of the name and those with their surname spelled “Bilbrough” share a connection to that village in the past. Rare as the name is, there are many branches with no apparent links to any common ancestor. Like our Bruntcliffe/Gildersome Bilbroughs, there are also Bilbrough families from Tadcaster, Pontefract, and Campsall in Yorkshire, just to name a few. So, how do you know if you belong to this Bilbrough family? That’s just what I hope this web site will answer. By the time you get down to the third or fourth generations, you may be able to find the name of a great grandparent or grandparent you recognize, depending on your age. Since we are following the Bilbrough surname, the male line is traced with greater detail. The third generation of Bilbroughs is the most important in terms of our Bilbrough surname. All of our living Bilbrough family members are descended from William and James of the third generation. Of those Bilbroughs, the vast majority are descended from William, and most of them are to be found in the USA and Maryland in particular. There are also plenty of Bilbrough descendants from the female side, though most married and their surname changed to that of their husbands, they can prove difficult to trace, especially if their marriage details are unknown. Where possible, female Bilbrough lineage will be presented.
James and Mary are the earliest ancestors for whom we have verified documentation so we'll start there and call them “Generation 1”. Likewise, their children would be “Generation 2”, their grandchildren, “Generation 3” and so forth, hopefully ad infinitum.
A quick test to determine a connection to this Bilbrough family is as follows:
1. Is your Bilbrough family is from Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey or Delaware? Maybe!
2. Does your family use Priestley or Brooks as a recurring middle name? Definitely!
All living members of this Bilbrough Family with the surname of Bilbrough are either descended from William Bilbrough b1771 or James Bilbrough b1782. If you live in America I suggest you start with William or Thomas b1798, If you live in the UK or the former British Empire, try James Bilbrough b1782.
For the earliest generations, go to: James 1713
For American Bilbroughs, go to: Thomas 1792 (not yet posted)
For Bilbroughs in the UK or former Biitish Empire, go to: James 1782
How do you know if you belong to this family? The village of Bilbrough, 10 miles southwest of York, is the origin of the name and those with their surname spelled “Bilbrough” share a connection to that village in the past. Rare as the name is, there are many branches with no apparent links to any common ancestor. Like our Bruntcliffe/Gildersome Bilbroughs, there are also Bilbrough families from Tadcaster, Pontefract, and Campsall in Yorkshire, just to name a few. So, how do you know if you belong to this Bilbrough family? That’s just what I hope this web site will answer. By the time you get down to the third or fourth generations, you may be able to find the name of a great grandparent or grandparent you recognize, depending on your age. Since we are following the Bilbrough surname, the male line is traced with greater detail. The third generation of Bilbroughs is the most important in terms of our Bilbrough surname. All of our living Bilbrough family members are descended from William and James of the third generation. Of those Bilbroughs, the vast majority are descended from William, and most of them are to be found in the USA and Maryland in particular. There are also plenty of Bilbrough descendants from the female side, though most married and their surname changed to that of their husbands, they can prove difficult to trace, especially if their marriage details are unknown. Where possible, female Bilbrough lineage will be presented.
James and Mary are the earliest ancestors for whom we have verified documentation so we'll start there and call them “Generation 1”. Likewise, their children would be “Generation 2”, their grandchildren, “Generation 3” and so forth, hopefully ad infinitum.
A quick test to determine a connection to this Bilbrough family is as follows:
1. Is your Bilbrough family is from Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey or Delaware? Maybe!
2. Does your family use Priestley or Brooks as a recurring middle name? Definitely!
All living members of this Bilbrough Family with the surname of Bilbrough are either descended from William Bilbrough b1771 or James Bilbrough b1782. If you live in America I suggest you start with William or Thomas b1798, If you live in the UK or the former British Empire, try James Bilbrough b1782.
For the earliest generations, go to: James 1713
For American Bilbroughs, go to: Thomas 1792 (not yet posted)
For Bilbroughs in the UK or former Biitish Empire, go to: James 1782