62
NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. ni. JAN. as, m
Interments took place within the interior
of the church, and the present writer dis-
tinctly remembers reading the poetical name
Christabel carved on one of the gravestones,
though long since obliterated. The register
books date back to the year 1593.
The ecclesiastical history of Heptonstall furnishes much that is noteworthy. There is a tradition that the great and saintly Paulinus, the Apostle of the North, passed
hrough this town as he iourneyecf from Dewsbury to Colne. That he preached at Dewsbury we know, as that incident was chronicled on an ancient stone cross, remain- ing to this day : " Hie Paulinus predicavit et celebravit." It is also a matter of history that Paulinus baptized great numbers of heathen Saxons in the river Brun, near Burnley, to reach which place, travelling from Dewsbury, he would almost certainly have to pass through Heptonstall. Coming, however, to the eighteenth century, we find ourselves on surer historic ground. John Wesley, as great and saintly a man as Paulinus, preached several times in the church of Heptonstall, as well as at other places, in the open air, in the immediate neighbourhood. He also laid the foundation stone of a chapel which was erected in 1764. The shape is octagonal. The woodwork of the roof was made at Kother- ham. In the building of this chapel there appears to have been displayed almost an element of romance : women as well as men came even from a distance, and brought their daily food with them, and assisted in the erection. The opening was celebrated by a religious service, Charles Wesley, Whitefield, and Grimshaw, it is said, having been present on that occasion. Whitefield on one occasion in the open air near Heptonstall addressed a vast multitude, whom he held spellbound under his mighty eloquence, and so musical and so deep was his voice, he was heard across the narrow valley of Colden by people gathered on the opposite hill. It may be mentioned that the adjacent country was studded with numerous crosses, reminding the wayfarer of the loftiest verities of the Christian faith. We very widely trace the Cross in the nomenclature of the district.
There is a free grammar school, which has now passed into the hands of the Charity Commissioners. The founder was the Ilev. Charles Greenwood, a native of the parish, afterwards fellow of University College, Ox- ford. His will bears date 16 July, 1642, in which he bequeathed an endowment of 70/. a year to the mastership. According to an old deed, in the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury there was a Cloth Hall, the property of
John Sunderland of Horshold. There were
formerly several superior buildings, indicat-
ing a more prosperous state of things, such
as Marsland House, the Star Chamber, and
others of somewhat high-sounding designa-
tion.
In 1631 Heptonstall was visited by a terrible disease, then commonly spoken of as the plague. The parish registers furnish melan- choly particulars of the lamentable extent to which this malady spread, whole families hav- ing fallen victims to this awful scourge. Some of the dead were buried in their own houses. The town was well-nigh deserted, so terror- stricken were the inhabitants, and the town- gate (town-road) was overgrown with grass. The distress was great, but the immediate wants of the survivors were relieved by pecu- niary help from the neighbouring township of Sowerby.
During the Great Rebellion Heptonstall held a small garrison of King Charles's troops, whilst Halifax, distant eight miles, was the headquarters of the Parliamentarian forces. There is said to have been a skirmish (scarcely a battle) near this town, a sword of the Caro- lian period having been dug up a few years ago. Guuhill in all likelihood perpetuates the memory of this encounter.
In the immediate neighbourhood of Hep- tonstall there is some of the most magnificent scenery of Yorkshire, little inferior to the more widely celebrated Wharf edale. Hard- castle Crags and Colden Glen are glorious valleys of woodland and river and rock :
Saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles. The glamour of romance half-hallows these beautiful valleys. Mill and ugly building have here and there marred the prospect ; never- theless the tourist may yet wander through many a lovely dene and lonesome dell, regions of wild sylvan charm, where nature has hitherto escaped the desecrating touch of modern Vandalism the glamour of romance in old-world grey ruin, in antique quaint- ness of place-name, in the far-stretching sweep of mountain and moor, in the echo of the footsteps of good and famous men, in legends poesy has loved to garner into ballad and song. F.
JEW'S WALK, SYDENHAM. WHENEVER I have had occasion to drive through this charming short cut from Lower to Upper Sydenham, I have always given reins to fancy and sought some explanation of the genesis of the name. It is a conun- drum to me still. I should, therefore, find myself much indebted to COL. PRIDE AUX or
