Timperley Family History and Genealogy
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The Timperley family name most likely originates from the township of Timperley in Cheshire, England or from one or more of the families who resided at Timperley Hall.
Local lore recounts the following tale: The town received its name after William the Conqueror Duke of Normandy led his invading army ashore on September 28th 1066 and conquered Harold II of England in the battle of Hastings on the 14th of October. Shortly thereafter, William divided the British Isles into seven districts and put one of each of the seven barons that fought with him in charge of each. One of these barons had the surname of "Tymperlegh" which eventually became Timperley. Other stories tell of the very ancient family of Timperley, as Lords of the manor of Timperley in Cheshire, both before and after the Norman Conquest.
Unfortunately, historical evidence does not support either of these stories directly. There is no evidence that anyone with the surname of Tymperlegh accompanied William in 1066. Furthermore, the surviving portion of the Domesday book of 1085-86, which was a statistical survey of England made by order of William the Conqueror, does not list the Timperley manor explicitly.
The absence of any record of a manor at Timperley, contradictory to the archaeological evidence, may have been a result of William's policy toward the north. In February of 1070 he began his conquest of Chester, the last remaining free English town. He dealt with Chester just as he had done with York, and the countryside was systematically laid waste. Old and young, nobles and commoners were driven out of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis recorded that up to 100,000 were displaced or killed. It is almost certain that the manor of Timperley, which lay in Cheshire, was not spared. His method of destruction was so effective that fifteen years later, at the time of the Domesday survey, most of the land surrounding Timperley was described as "wasta est tota" or wasteland.
Although the manor of Timperley was not described, the Domesday book does list Baggiley (now spelled Baguley) which lies just across the Fairywell Brook from Timperley, and Sunderland, which lies across the Sinderland Brook (see map). Furthermore, it mentions that the lands around Sunderland and Baggiley contained four manors. An 1838 map of the area shows the location of three old halls, Timperley Hall, Riddings Hall (both in present day Timperley) and Old Hall in Baguley. A fourth location is shown on the map as Manor Farm, although it lacks the feature of a moat, which was a major characteristic of the other three halls. These four manors were held by three men, Gilbert Venables Baron of Kinderton, Ranulfus Mainwaring and Hamon Massey Baron of Dunham Massey. The Massey family held both Riddings Hall and Timperley Hall from at least the 13th century.
It is possible that some families having the Timperley surname are descended from the Massey family of Cheshire who held the Timperley manor, or from any of the several families that presided over the various moieties of Timperley. If this is the case, then it may well be true that a Timperley ancestor accompanied William the Conqueror in his conquest of England. However, the name Timperley certainly predates the conquest.
Of course it is also possible (and highly probable) that several unrelated families share the Timperley family name. While it is nice to muse about noble origins, most Timperleys are probably descended from one of several hundred people who may have become known for living in or near the town of Timperley, and thus acquired the surname of Timperley.
Hazel Pryor, in her book entitled Looking Back at Timperley, suggests that the name of the town arose from the words "timber" and "leah" which describes an area of clear-cut forest. Another explanation is that the name is derived from "tymp" which was the name given to stone blocks or troughs which were quarried locally. A similar explanation is presented by Mr. Ronald Broadhurst in his book History of the Township of Timperley. After presenting considerable evidence and refuting several other theories, he concludes that the name is a compound name of Old English form and origin, consisting of the word TIMPER and the Old English word LEAH and that it is topographical in nature, denoting a sandstone outcropping at an open place in a wood. He also explains that the name Riddings Hall comes from the Old English word Rydding, which refers to a clearing. [It would be interesting to determine the origin and meaning of Baggilly and Sinderland as well.]
Yet another explanation for the origin of the name is from the 17th century and appears on the tomb of Nicolas Timperley at Colkirk Church in the county of Norfolk. His epitaph reads:
Lo Time Pearle Ey, a Rebus, which to thee
Speakes what I whilom Was, a Timperley.
Wing'd Time is flowne, So is ye World from me,
A glitt'ring Pearle, whofe gloffe is Vanitie.
But th' Ey of Hope is of a nobler flight,
To reach beyond thee (Death), enioye his fight
Who conquer'd thee. Hence fpring my hopes yt I
Shall rife ye fame, & more, a Timperley.Depofita eft haeo Spes mea in finu meo.
Iob. 19.
Nicolas Timperley, Sonne of Sir Thomas Timperley of
Hintlefham in ye Countie of Suffolke, Knight, dyed Anno
dni. 1658.
A Rebus is a puzzle representing a word or phrase, often with pictures of objects whose names have the same sounds as the words represented. On the tomb above the inscription are symbols representing an hour glass, a pearl and an eye, each surrounded by a set of wings.
The Timperley surname is recorded in the Harleian manuscripts in at least two variations. These are listed in the table below.
| Sir Name | County of record in the Harleian Manuscripts |
| Timperley | Cheshire, Norfolk, Suffolk |
| Timperly | Essex |
Perhaps the earliest known reference to a Timperley is to a Sir John Timperley lord of Tymperley and of Barfoot and Longendale in com. Cestr. (circa 1270). Of additional interest, it is well documented that the Timperley family of Hintlesham, Suffolk, England, had connections with the House of Norfolk and the House of Howard, marrying Howard daughters on two occasions. This is the same English House of Howard of Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and Edward VI!
The following bit of family history was provided by Alec Temperley atemperley(at)cfsm.com.au
A good deal of Timperley family history is romanticized because the family fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie, after that war they were hunted by the English Red Coats, so they took to the Moors, the headwaters of the northern rivers where they defended a rather bleak countryside. The land was actually owned by the Bishop of Durham, who was also a supporter. The family became renowned throughout this almost barren Fells as miners and farmers. There is Temperley's forest at Chopwell, Temperley's Town changed its name to Templetown a hundred years ago, near Consett. In Hexam you have Temperley's Place, and the town square memorial fountain is the Temperley Memorial. The family was good friends with George Stephenson who invented the steam engine, the Rocket. With the collapse of steam technology the family went down with him. In Argentina their capital is made up of a number of cities and one of them is Temperley named after one of them who was a railway engineer. The original name of Timperley was associated with the Duke of Norfolk, several tines they were married to the line of Dukes daughters and on one occasion were his wards. In 1523 William Timperley married Margaret Howard, Her grand father was King Edward 1V ( all his sons were murdered in the Tower ). Her Aunt Elizabeth was forced to marry Henry V11 to end the War of the Roses. Her resultant cousin Henry V111 married two of her nieces Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard and he put both of them to death. After this they fought both him and his daughter, Elizabeth the first is renowned as the purge of the north, she attempted to depopulate the area for the support given to her half sister Mary Queen of Scots. Throughout this period each generation of Timperley's were convicted at some stage, of recusancy. Until in 1670 Henry Temperley was living openly as a courtier to James 11 at St. Germain in France