Heapey
Village in Lancashire, England
title: "Heapey" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["geography-of-chorley", "villages-in-lancashire", "civil-parishes-in-lancashire", "west-pennine-moors"] description: "Village in Lancashire, England" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heapey" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Village in Lancashire, England ::
::data[format=table title="infobox UK place"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| coordinates | |
| static_image_name | Parish Church of St Barnabas, Heapey - geograph.org.uk - 412076.jpg |
| static_image_caption | Parish Church of St Barnabas, Heapey |
| official_name | Heapey |
| map_type | Lancashire |
| population | 1,001 |
| population_ref | (2011 Census) |
| os_grid_reference | SD606201 |
| civil_parish | Heapey |
| shire_district | Chorley |
| shire_county | Lancashire |
| region | North West England |
| country | England |
| post_town | CHORLEY |
| postcode_area | PR |
| postcode_district | PR6 |
| dial_code | 01257 |
| constituency_westminster | Chorley |
| pushpin_map | United Kingdom Borough of Chorley |
| pushpin_map_caption | Shown within Chorley Borough |
| :: |
|coordinates = |static_image_name = Parish Church of St Barnabas, Heapey - geograph.org.uk - 412076.jpg |static_image_caption = Parish Church of St Barnabas, Heapey |official_name= Heapey |map_type= Lancashire | population = 1,001 | population_ref = (2011 Census) |os_grid_reference= SD606201 |civil_parish= Heapey |shire_district= Chorley |shire_county= Lancashire |region= North West England |country= England |post_town= CHORLEY |postcode_area= PR |postcode_district= PR6 |dial_code= 01257 |constituency_westminster= Chorley |pushpin_map= United Kingdom Borough of Chorley |pushpin_map_caption= Shown within Chorley Borough
Heapey is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The village is two miles from Chorley and on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. In 2001 the population was 955, increasing to 1,001 at the 2011 census.
History
Heapey derives from the Old English 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.{{Citation |url=http://northernantiquarian.forumotion.net/t89-the-yarrow-cross-grimeford-gunolfsmoors-sd-618-130 |title=The Yarrow Cross, Grimeford, Gunolfsmoors|publisher= The Northern Antiquarian|access-date=2011-01-09}} It emerged in the Middle Ages 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 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 and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (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 closed to passengers in 1960.
Governance
In the Middle Ages, Heapey was a township and chapelry closely associated with Wheelton in the parish and hundred of Leyland in Lancashire.
Heapey is part of Chorley Borough (which has headquarters at the town hall in Chorley), has a parish council. It is part of the Chorley parliamentary constituency, which elected Lindsay Hoyle 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 rising at the eastern edge to over 1,000 feet on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. The village is in the northwest corner between Chorley and Blackburn, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses the north-west corner and the Thirlmere Aqueduct passes through the township.
The Heapey reservoirs are upstream of Anglezarke reservoir starting behind White Coppice 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.
Population
::data[format=table title="Population in Heapey 1881–1961"]
| Year | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 369 | 497 | 543 | 606 | 515 | 504 | 422 | 481 | ||
| Heapey CP/Tn | |||||||||
| :: |
Religion
The chapelry covered the township of Wheelton.
ROF
An ordnance factory was built in Heapey during World War II, which became part of BAE Systems 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. and the site was speculated to be connected with the ordnance site at Euxton.
References
Bibliography
References
- "Heapey CP (Parish) Total population". Office for National Statistics.
- "Heapey Parish".
- {{Harvnb. Mills. 1976
- (1907). "A History of the County of Lancaster, Volume6: Townships: Heapey". [[Victoria County History]].
- "Early Estate Structures in Cumbria and Lancashire". Lancaster University.
- Lewis, Samuel. (1848). "Heapey". British History Online.
- Kelly's Directory of Lancashire for 1924
- "A day out by train to the hills". [[BBC]].
- "Workhouse". Workhouses.org.
- "Heapey Parish Council". Heapey Parish Council.
- "Election Results 2010". bbc.co.uk.
- "Heapey Township Boundaries". GenUKI.
- "Heapey Ch/CP: Total Population". Vision of Britain Through Time.
- [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2005-11-15c.28156.h Heapey Storage Facility, Defence, Written answers and statements, 15 November 2005]
- Title: Lancashire - The Secret War, Author: Ron Freethy, Publisher: Countryside Books. {{ISBN. 978-1-85936-063-7
- [https://www.angelfire.com/mn2/Oubliette/Heapey.html Heapey: There's Trains In Them There Hills, Rory Lushman]
- [http://www.chorleycitizen.co.uk/news/1481466.back_tracking_on_old_railway/ Chorley Citizen, Back Tracking on Old Railway, 2007]
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