Vicar of Stapenhill, 1600s

[Mary C]

I don't know if anyone can help me here but I am looking for information about Walter Hieron (or Heyrne, etc. etc.) He was Vicar/Curate of Stapenhill from about 1600 - 1636. I have one hit on Google and also some details from CCED.

His son was John Hieron, a well known non-conformist of the day and I have heaps of info about him.

I'm really trying to find out who Walter's father was, where he was born and also his dob. I had thought he was the grandson of my ancestor Robert Heyrne from Chipping Campden, Glos, but now I'm not so sure.

I know this is a long shot but fingers crossed!

Mary

[Blanche Charles]

Hi Mary,

Stapenhill Parish Registers survive only from the 1660s, so I'm afraid I can't help from that source, and I'm not researching this family. However, since clergymen had a university education you should check Cambridge & Oxford Alumni lists, if you haven't already done so: often the father was named in the record.

I have just checked Cambridge University Alumni and it does appear that John and his brother Samuel studied there:

Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900
Name: John Hieron
College: CHRIST'S
Entered: 1625
Died: 1682
More Information: Adm. sizar at CHRIST'S, May 2, 1625. S. of Walter (V. of Stapenhill), Derbs. School, Repton (Mr Whitehead). Matric. 1625; B.A. 1628-9; M.A. 1632. Ord. deacon and priest (Lichfield) May, 1630. Chaplain to Sir Henry Leigh, at Eggington. Lecturer at Bretby; also at Ashbourne, 1633. R. of Breadsall, 1644-62 (ejected). Author. Died at Losco, July 6, 1682, aged 73. Buried at Heanor. Father of Joseph (1658), brother of Samuel (1637). (Peile, I. 367; Calamy, I. 306.)

Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900
Name: Samuel Hieron
College: JESUS
Entered: 1635
Died: 24 Mar 1687
More Information: Adm. pens. at JESUS, Mar. 27, 1637. Of Derbyshire. S. of Walter, V. of Stapenhill. Matric. 1635. Perhaps V. of Shirley, Derbs., 1657-62, ejected. Afterwards preacher in Derbyshire. Died Mar. 24, 1687. Brother of John (1625). (Calamy, I. 334.)

There was also this Joseph, with Derbyshire connections, who appears to have been son of John:

Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900
Name: Joseph Hieron
College: CHRIST'S
Entered: 1658
More Information: Adm. pens. (age 16) at CHRIST'S, May 6, 1658. S. of John (1625). B. at Ashbourne, Derbs. School, Repton (Mr Ullock). Matric. 1658. Adm. at Gray's Inn, June 9, 1665; s. and h. of John, of Little Eaton, Derbs. (Peile, I. 581.)

There were 11 HIERONs in all on the site - mostly in this early period - so ot would be worth your checking; also worth trying HERNE and other spellings. (There are plenty, so you may find Walter).

Interesting to see that both John & Samuel were ejected from their respective parishes during the Civil War, as commonly happened.

Another source worth checking is the Herald's Visitations of Derbyshire, just in case there was mention of the family there: if there is, you should get a tree going back a few generations.

Good luck - I'll be interested to know how you get on.

Blanche Charles (nee Norton)
Wellington
New Zealand

[Mary C]

Hi Blanche
Many thanks for the reply. I did have the records of Walter's sons at Cambridge - it was John's which confirmed his father was Walter Vicar of Stapenhill. I have also checked the Oxford records - all versions of the name (which are many!)

I have been in touch with Derbyshire, Litchfield and Staffordshire Records Offices but am told that even where there are surviving registers they are most unlikely to include any information on parentage.

I have found Walter on the CCED records - his appointment as Schoolmaster at Lichfield in 1603 and also when he was Curate at Stapenhill in 1605. I also found the following note about him on the "Clergy Lists, chapels and curates from Derbyshire 1558-1662"

" ...they reveal Walter Hieron was able to survive for forty years as a puritan nonconformist minister, first sheltered as a curate in the vicarage of Stapenhill by a sympathetic and pluralist residentiary canon of Lichfield cathedral and then, until his suspension in 1636, as curate to the curate of Chellaston who was also farmer of the tithes there and pastorally neglectful, having ‘for many years received the fleece and starved the flock.."

I had previously been given information that Walter was born in c 1585 and that his father, also Walter, born c 1560, was the son of Robert Hieron (Heyrne) of Chipping Campden, Glos. However, I have since obtained copies of the Wills of Robert, his brother and also his mother and none of them refer to Walter. Also none of Robert's siblings have named their sons Walter, even though his brother's names have been used in successive generations.

I am pretty certain there is a connection - Robert and a brother Roger, both had sons and grandsons who were non-conformist ministers - but I don't think I am going to be able to join up the dots. Just one of those brickwalls we hit now and again!