Oxenhope/ Hope ?????

[Admin]

Just reposting this for Geoff, does anyone know the answer to this question, which at this point I don't have the answer to......all I can think of is Hope Place.......!!!

During a recent visit to the UK we visited Bradford Library, and copied a number of late 1700's and early 1800's Baptismal Records of our ancestors from the fiches relating to St Andrews in Keighley....

Some of these records detail the word "Hope" after the father's name....

Can any Keighley experts please confirm my naive assumption that this is a local shorthand / slang version of the word "Oxenhope", used at that time? and maybe even up to the present day?

And if anyone out there has any of HOWKER family in their records, we'd love to hear from you!

Thanks in advance

Geoff in sunny Sevilla
[e-mail]

[malcolm]

Hi Geoff in Sunny Sevilla -

If the records for St Andrews state 'Hope' - then it is likely to be Hope in Keighley - along with Hope Mill, Place, Hope Mill Yard, Hope Square, Hope Street - these would be at various times built around the Hope & Anchor Pub on South Street. 'Hope' is about 1/2 mile from St Andrews Parish Church and therefore the local church for Hope area.
It is unlikely to be Hope as in abbreviation for Oxenhope as the Parish Church for Oxenhope in late 1700 early 1800's would be St Michael & All Saints at Haworth.

However I do have over 140 records for 'Howker' most of which are in Haworth/Oxenhope area if you want to contact me for the information.

Regards Malcolm

[Admin]

I knew Malcolm would have the answer..............

Thank you............

Jan

[malcolm]

Flatterer

M

[gemma]

I can confirm that, after living for several years in Oxenhope, that the slang name is indeed "Ox'nop" and that Oxenhope actually means "the valley of the oxen", the 'hop' means valley head in old English.