Hi Robert: I noticed your attached message on a Wardle website: "Like Carl Wardle, I am looking to see if Wardle Village is where the surname originated. I have my tree from Whitefield (18, 19, 20th century) which traces back to Rochdale to a James Wardle 1556 from Brunege (I don't know where this "Brunege"is in Rochdale i live just south of Oxford and cannot find this, even any streets named this?) his will in 1608 mentioned that he is from Brunege, Rochdale. Does anyone know where this is? Robert Wardle" The answer is that Brunege is (probably) a corruption of Burnedge (see OS Map Reference 9210). Intriguingly for you, Burnedge is just a mile and a half from Whitfield Hall. As you may know, Whitfield (I assume the same as your Whitefield) is one of the Manorial Seats in the Parish of Oldham (although I am not sure where the Manorial Records are at present which may well refer to your late medieval forebears). Also of interest to you is that I believe I have traced my line back via Wigan>Ringley>Prestwich>Rochdale to the same Wardle family unit as you in Rochdale (sons, Richard, James and Francis, father Richard (born circa-1550)) . You probably also know that there are several 12th/13th/14th Century references to eg Richard de Wardle etc in the Wardle (Lancs.) area, however, it is not really possible to claim direct name linkage to these since most people in Lancashire only gained their surnames in the second half of the fourteenth century. The "de Wardle" name probably just denotes that the person lived in Wardle Village. Wardle Village is quite a pretty place, by the way, nestling in the hills on the edge of the Pennines and has been populated for thousands of years: it is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Greater Manchester region. Following the Black Death in 1347, there was not surprisingly quite a lot of population movement which encouraged the fashion to have a second, family name (this started earlier in the century in southern England due to medieval population expansion and the popularity of particular names during this period - something like two thirds of the male population had one of five first names). The oldest non-"de Wardle" I have come across is in 1380, one "Adam Wardle", mentioned in the Subsidy Role of that year as residing in Wardle. That said, at this period Wardle only had about 50 families so even without the surname connection, there would still be a strong likelihood that people in Wardle were related to one another (although Wardle being on the main Rochdale to Halifax "trunk road" of its day, there may still have been quite a lot of movement in and out of the community). Given that Adam Wardle was around only 170 years before Richard, James & Co my current target is to fill in some of the missing links. This really means locating the Whitfield manor records and other medieval sources. Note that the Wardles originating in Yorkshire (around Weardale) and Cheshire (around Wardle, Cheshire) are almost certainly unrelated to the Wardles originating in the Rochdale area. However, for Weardale-originating Wardles at least, it is worth visting the Society of Genealogists' Library in London since they have a detailed, non-electronic study into Yorkshire Wardles which was put together a few decades ago by a family researcher. I would be interested in knowing more about what you have managed to trace and your sources. All the best Douglas Wardle |
Hi Robert: I noticed your attached message on a Wardle website: "Like Carl Wardle, I am looking to see if Wardle Village is where the surname originated. I have my tree from Whitefield (18, 19, 20th century) which traces back to Rochdale to a James Wardle 1556 from Brunege (I don't know where this "Brunege"is in Rochdale i live just south of Oxford and cannot find this, even any streets named this?) his will in 1608 mentioned that he is from Brunege, Rochdale. Does anyone know where this is? Robert Wardle" The answer is that Brunege is (probably) a corruption of Burnedge (see OS Map Reference 9210). Intriguingly for you, Burnedge is just a mile and a half from Whitfield Hall. As you may know, Whitfield (I assume the same as your Whitefield) is one of the Manorial Seats in the Parish of Oldham (although I am not sure where the Manorial Records are at present which may well refer to your late medieval forebears). Also of interest to you is that I believe I have traced my line back via Wigan>Ringley>Prestwich>Rochdale to the same Wardle family unit as you in Rochdale (sons, Richard, James and Francis, father Richard (born circa-1550)) . You probably also know that there are several 12th/13th/14th Century references to eg Richard de Wardle etc in the Wardle (Lancs.) area, however, it is not really possible to claim direct name linkage to these since most people in Lancashire only gained their surnames in the second half of the fourteenth century. The "de Wardle" name probably just denotes that the person lived in Wardle Village. Wardle Village is quite a pretty place, by the way, nestling in the hills on the edge of the Pennines and has been populated for thousands of years: it is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Greater Manchester region. Following the Black Death in 1347, there was not surprisingly quite a lot of population movement which encouraged the fashion to have a second, family name (this started earlier in the century in southern England due to medieval population expansion and the popularity of particular names during this period - something like two thirds of the male population had one of five first names). The oldest non-"de Wardle" I have come across is in 1380, one "Adam Wardle", mentioned in the Subsidy Role of that year as residing in Wardle. That said, at this period Wardle only had about 50 families so even without the surname connection, there would still be a strong likelihood that people in Wardle were related to one another (although Wardle being on the main Rochdale to Halifax "trunk road" of its day, there may still have been quite a lot of movement in and out of the community). Given that Adam Wardle was around only 170 years before Richard, James & Co my current target is to fill in some of the missing links. This really means locating the Whitfield manor records and other medieval sources. Note that the Wardles originating in Yorkshire (around Weardale) and Cheshire (around Wardle, Cheshire) are almost certainly unrelated to the Wardles originating in the Rochdale area. However, for Weardale-originating Wardles at least, it is worth visting the Society of Genealogists' Library in London since they have a detailed, non-electronic study into Yorkshire Wardles which was put together a few decades ago by a family researcher. I would be interested in knowing more about what you have managed to trace and your sources. All the best Douglas Wardle |
