Origins (1200-1600)

Earliest Mentions:

The English Surname Dictionary says this about "Hubberstey"

This unusual and interesting name is of English origin, and is locational from a now so called "lost" village near Cockerham, Lancashire. It is the genetive form of the Olde English pre 7th Century female personal name "Hunberg" of uncertain origin and the Olde English word for an enclosure, "tiege", thus "Hunbergs settlement".

The part of interest is the location where the name seems to have come from, a lost village near Cockerham, Lancashire, about half way between Lancaster and Garstang. This area around Galgate, Ellel, Wryesdale, Forton and near the Condor river appears to be the area from which all present day Hubbersteys can trace their roots.

Some of the earliest mentions of Hubberstey (or one of its many variants) come from the 1200's.  Note how many different spellings there are of Hubberstey.

1. Near Garstang: This appears to be the original location from which all current Hubbersteys can trace their ancestors.

Here we have:

This oxgang of land called Hobyrstad in Ellel [now Hubbersty] was given in frankalmoign to the canons of Cockersand by Alice de Watermillock, wife of Gervase de Oxclive. (Cockersand Chartulary f. 113).

Expanded we have the following longer description that appears to show land in Hubberstath on either side of the highway near Wyresdale (likely just south of Ellel)

Grimbald son of Grimbald gave to Cockersand lands in Ragarthout (adjoining Ashton), Flasks, Birstathgrentel (purchased from Robert de Molyneux and Alice his wife) and Ramsrigg; ibid, iii, 772–4. Robert and Alice released their claim to the abbey; ibid. They had in 1246 released to Grimbald de Ellel the oxgang of land in Ellel which Robert had had in free marriage with Alice; Assize R. 404, m. 9.
Grimbald de Sowerby seems to have been another son of Grimbald de Ellel; he granted to Cockersand land which his father (? brother) had given him in Ellel; Chartul. iii, 771.
Walter son of Grimbald de Ellel gave a parcel of land by Lidgate Syke and another parcel in Lickhead; ibid. 781–3. It is not clear whether or not he is the same as Walter son of Grimbald de Sowerby who released to the canons lands in Ellel given them by Alice de Wethermeloch and Richard le Boteler; ibid. 767. From Alice's charter it appears she was the wife of Gervase de Oxcliffe and had land in Ellel in Hubberstath (held of Walter son of Grimbald de Sowerby), lying on each side of the highway into Wyresdale, half an oxgang of land in the same place (held of Henry son of Richard de Ellel), Uctredsfield (of same), Launland and Hallstude (of Jordan son of Hugh de Ellel); all these were given to the abbey; ibid. 762. Richard le Boteler's land, known as Peresfield, was held of Walter de Ellel; ibid. 767.
From a fine of 1254 it appears that the Abbot of Cockersand was to pay Gervase de Oxcliffe and Alice his wife 40s. and two stones of wool yearly during her life; Final Conc. i, 115.

We also have this entry under a section on Euel, near Cockeram, around Lancaster:

2. EUel (in the valleys of the Cocker and Conder) : Ellhale DB, Elhale c 1155 Ch, 1246 LAR, etc., Elhal 1202 LF, 1246 LAR, Ellehal 1208 LPR, Ellale 1212 LI, 1277 LAR, 1332 LS. O.E. Ella pers. n. and O.E. halh " haugh, low-lying meadow." There are typical haughs on the bank of the Conder where the church and EUel Hall stand.

EUel Crag (at a hill reaching 400ft.) : Craghouse 1490 TI, Cragge 1598 Cockerham R. There is also Crag Hall. On crag, a Celtic word, see p. 9.

Galgate (v.) : Gawgett 1605 Cockerham R. The name is considered to mean

"the Galloway road," cattle drovers from Galloway having given name to the road on which the place stands (VHL VIII. 96). Cf. Galwaithegate CC 976 (Kendal or Cowperthwaite). Long Causey (Langcawsall 1599 Cockerham R) may have been named from the same road. Two Roman roads are considered to have met at Galgate.

Hubbersty (now lost) : Hobyrstaih a 1236 FC II., Hobirstad a 1250 CC, Hobyrstad c 1254 ib. First el. apparently the L.G. pers. n. Huhrecht. The second is doubtful. If the place was on the Conder, as the map in VHL VIII. indicates, the second el. of the name is probably O.N. stod " landing-place."

2. Underbarrow: Further to the north we also had mentions of Hubbersty Head in the Underbarrow area, but with a different "base" for the name - Ubberstede. It is possible that this is an entirely separate "start" for the Hubberstey name (i.e. that it began in at least 2 different areas). Ultimately though the male line comes to an end in the 1900's.

At British History online there is a section on CROSTHWAITE AND LYTH, from the records relating to the Barony of Kendale. In these records we have some early, but fragmentary information on Hubberstey Head and Hubbersteys in general .

Way back in 1283 there is the interesting note that:

"Adam Chader granted to Robert son of Nicholas Chador 2 a. in Ubberstede, (fn. 3) namely 1 a. in Hole Riding and 1 a. in Langriding, to hold for 6d. yearly. " The footnote 3 reads "Hubbersty, near Hill Top".

This follows from a note from 1274:

"Robert de Ros of Werk held at his death inter alia Crostweyk with the farm, herbage and mill, a moiety of Aynerholm, (fn. 1) the farm of Adam Chefdor (fn. 2) ", with footnote 2 reading "This gave name to the owners of Hubbersty, the Chadors".

Ubberstede is mentioned again in 1411:

"John Swainson held of Philippa, duchess of Ireland, a tenement in Crostwhaite called Ubberstede by homage and fealty and 18d. rent, worth 5s. yearly; Chan. Inq. p.m., 13 Henry IV, n. 44."

Of course what we don't know yet is whether the two Hubberstey clusters (Ubberstede and Hobrystad) are two different sources or are in some way connected. We do know that by the 1500's there were three clusters of Hubbersteys, one near Yealand Conyers (near Lancaster), one near Fallen Yew/Underbarrow (just west of Kendal) and one in the Wyresdale/Garstang/Galgate area.  Ultimately, based on the tracing that I have done, it appears that all Hubbersteys today can trace their ancestry to the third cluster only. (Note that there are very likely other descendants of the other lines still today, but they would be through the female lines, and therefore not be traceable using the Hubberstey surname).

The 1400's - 1600's:

This is the period where we start to have surviving birth, death and marriage records. I have looked through and tried to connect all the records that I could find. Ultimately there were really not that many Hubbersteys in the period with almost all the records being concentrated in the three areas noted above. I could not directly trace any of these Hubbersteys to our lines today, though obviously there is a connection somewhere.

If you are interested in reading more about these early records then I would suggest my older post: Way Back - Yealand Conyers. If anyone else is interested in seeing the detailed records, I have a spreadsheet with all the ones that I could find - There are close to 150 records from this period in the Yealand Conyers area, some of which I think can be traced right up until the line dies out on the male side in the 1900's.

Possible Links to today:

As I mentioned above it looks like all Hubbersteys today can trace their line back to the Garstang/Ellel/Wryesdale cluster, though indirectly. We know that there were Hubbersteys in this area in the 1500 and 1600's and we suspect that Robert Hubberstey (the oldest Hubberstey that we can directly trace back to - see the next post "Robert Hubberstey and Mary Culcheth") was buried in Garstang in 1727. Also in 1706 a widow, Dorothee Hubarstee of Forton (just north of Gartsang), was buried in Garstang. The significance is that Robert lived most of his life in Samlesbury/Brindle (near Preston), yet was buried in Garstang, perhaps indicating that this was his birthplace. In addition Robert's first born daughter was named Dorothy again perhaps indicating that Dorothy was his mother's name (this is a consistent occurrence in the family). So we may have a link indicating that our oldest traceable Hubberstey came from the Garstang area.

Listed below are the records that I could find from the 1600's in the Garstang area. It is interesting to note that Robert, John and William were the common male names (and names that remained common in Robert's line).

Burial: Ja: Hubberstie de Weddikar 14 Dec 1638

Marriage: P. Edmund Leland Blacksmith and Anne Hubberstie of Nether Wirsdale, spinster, in Market Place 17 Apr 1656 and 24 Apr 1656 and 01 May 1656

Burial: Will: Huberstee de Wiersdale 01 Apr 1674

Burial: Izabell Relict. James Pateson nuper uxor Jo: Hubberstie de Longmore 24 Jul 1634

Burial: Robert Hubberstie of Nether Wirsedale, Milnewright 24 Jan 1656

Burial: John Hubberstie de Longe More 27 Mar 1618

Burial: Robert Hubberstie de Wyersdell 05 Feb 1629

Christening: Anne [?] d. of William Hubberstie de Wyersdall 20 May 1630

Burial: Jenet Hubbersty 08 Sep 1616

Burial: Jane w. of William Hubberstee of Wiersdale 25 May 1679

Next Post: "Robert Hubberstey and Mary Culcheth" - Robert and Mary were born in the late 1600's. They are the earliest confirmed link in the direct chain to today's Hubbersteys.