HIPPERHOLME : Hiperun 1086 - Huperum 1206/18 - Hyperum 1185/1202 – Hipperum 1320 -
Hipperom 1433 - Hipperhom 1560 - Hipperholme 1562 - Hyprum 1343 - Hyperon 1397 –
Hyperom 1400
With regard to the meaning of the name Hipperholme this could mean the Upper Holme seeing that the centre of Hipperholme was previously at Towngate (which meant Town Street) but the word Holm means grassy hill by water or even an island and philologists say that Hipperholme means - at the osiers - from which we infer willow trees grow in the township formerly. Please note the many different spellings there have been recorded since the Middle Ages.
Hipperholme Township was a unit of local government for some centuries past. It did appear in the Domesday Book though the names of Brighouse, Lightcliffe, Coley and even Halifax did not, although in the case of Halifax the omission of its name from the record of 1086 was most likely an error.
From the seventeenth century Hipperholme cum Brighouse formed one large Township and was divided into four quarters for administrative purposes: Brighouse, Hipperholme, Hove Edge and Norwood Green, Rastrick, Clifton and Southowram each formed separate townships. Each quarter had a Petty Constable appointed annually who was normally the chief tenant and was responsible for law and order. For wrong doers court cases were heard at the Hipperholme Manor Court.
The Manor Court at Hipperholme was held under the ancient Thorn Tree that existed in the ground of Hipperholme Grammar School. According to available records the last court held there was on 25 September 1701. Administration of the Township for many years was carried out at Bottom Hall Farm, Till Carr Lane, Lightcliffe which was also the Township Workhouse until c1840.
Extract from: The Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire by A. H. Smith.
Vol.13 part three Morley Wapentake
