Heapey is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of the

Borough of Chorley The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 107,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley. History The non-me ...

, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

, England. The village is two miles from

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came ...

and on the western fringe of the

West Pennine Moors The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The West Pennine Moors are separated from the mai ...

. In 2001 the population was 955, increasing to 1,001 at the 2011 census.

History

Heapey derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''heope'' a rose, or ''heap'' a hill and ''hege'' a hedge meaning a rose hedge or hedge on the hill. It was recorded as Hepeie in 1219. There are ancient earthworks near Heapey and Roman coins were discovered in 1835. Heapey was part of ''Gunolfsmoors'' an area between Leyland and Blackburn claimed by a Viking, Gunnolf, in the 10th century. It emerged in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

as Hepay in 1260. The lordship was held by the De Ollertons including Ranulph who assumed the Hepay name. Robert de Hepay sold the lordship to the Standishes, and the manor or lordship remained with them. In 1924, the principal landowners were the trustees of Mrs. Paulet and Mrs. Sumner Mayhew. There were 34 hearths liable to pay

Hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is c ...

in 1666, although no house had more than three. During the 19th century, many of the population were employed at bleachworks, which have long since been demolished, and quarries. The

Lancashire Union Railway The Lancashire Union Railway ran between Blackburn and St Helens in Lancashire, England. It was built primarily to carry goods between Blackburn and Garston Dock on the River Mersey, and also to serve collieries in the Wigan area. Most of the ...

and the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

(LYR) built a railway line to link the mills of east Lancashire with the coal mines of Wigan. The line opened in 1869.

Heapey railway station Heapey railway station served the village of Heapey, in Lancashire, England. History The station was opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the ...

closed to passengers in 1960.

Governance

In the

, Heapey was a township and chapelry closely associated with Wheelton in the parish and

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Leyland in Lancashire. In 1837, Heapey joined with other

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

s (or

es) in the area to form the

Poor Law Union, which took responsibility for the administration and funding of the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of he ...

in that area. Heapey is part of Chorley Borough, which has headquarters at the town hall in

, and has a parish council. It is part of the

parliamentary constituency, which elected

Lindsay Hoyle Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957)'HOYLE, Hon. Lindsay (Harvey)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 201 Retrieved 31 December 20 ...

as Member of Parliament for the Labour Party in the 2010 General Election.

Geography

The ancient township covered 1,464 acres on hilly ground including about 200 acres of

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...

rising at the eastern edge to over 1,000 feet on the western fringe of the

. The village is in the northwest corner between Chorley and Blackburn, the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

crosses the north-west corner and the Thirlmere Aqueduct passes through the township. The Heapey

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

s are upstream of Anglezarke reservoir starting behind

White Coppice White Coppice is a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, England. It was the most populated part of the township of Anglezarke in the 19th century. Close to the settlement in the early 19th century were quarries and small coal mines. The hamlet lies ...

cricket club. They feed Black Brook (known as Warth Brook upstream), a tributary of the River Yarrow. They are not part of the drinking water system. To the south is

Healey Nab Healey Nab or "The Nab" is an area of countryside owned partly by Lancashire County Council containing rolling hills, moorland, woodland, ponds and streams to the east of Chorley, Lancashire, between the M61 and the West Pennine Moors. To its so ...

Population

Religion

The chapelry covered the township of Wheelton. The church of

St. Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Nam ...

was first built in 1552, rebuilt in 1740 and enlarged in 1829 and 1867 and restored in 1876 and 1898. The church consists of chancel, nave and transepts and is a Grade II

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

ROF

An ordnance factory was built in Heapey during World War II, which became part of

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

and had an "ammunitions storage facility" and part of ROF Chorley. Although the base was closed in 1990s some planning applications were refused on the basis that the area was within a blast zone. The railway line had sidings that served the site and closed in the 1960s. A myth grew about a strategic reserve of steam locomotives as at that time the sidings were used to store redundant steam engines.Chorley Citizen, Back Tracking on Old Railway, 2007
/ref> and the site was speculated to be connected with the ordnance site at

Euxton Euxton ( ) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 9,993, however, the population is now estimated to be around 14,000 due to the inc ...

References

Bibliography *

External links

Railway Images, BBC
{{authority control Geography of Chorley Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire West Pennine Moors