WHALEY FAMILY HISTORY

Historical Background

The surname Whalley is derived from the town of that name in Lancashire, England. Whalley is located near the west coast in northern England on the banks of the Calder River about one mile upstream from its confluence with the Ribble River. It is located between Preston and Clitheroe, near Blackburn.

A village at that location dates to ancient times. Whalley is located on a main east-west travel route and at a place that the river is easily forded, so it must have been a strategic site. A Roman fort was located near here at Clerk Hill, and the Roman fort was probably constructed on the site of earlier pre-Roman fortifications. Whalley was recorded as Hwaelleage in 798 and appeared in the Domesday Book (the earliest English tax rolls, 1086 A.D.) as Wallei. The name is thought to come from "Well Lea", or "Field of Wells", and Whalley does have many wells in the vicinity. Whalleys derivation from the Old English hwael (hill) and leah (forest clearing) has also been proposed.

Whalley was the site of an early Christian church. It was established perhaps as early as the 7th century, but probably by the 10th century, although Christian influences may have been at work since Roman times. After the Norman Conquest, about 1080, another church was built on the site.  It burned and was rebuilt. The present church appears to have been started about 1200. This church contains a stained glass window dating from the early 1800s which features several family coats of arms, including one for Whalley of Clerk Hill. A Whalley family burial vault is near the vestry door. Whalley is also the site of a large and important Cistercian monastery which dates from about 1300

Whalley Abbey

The Whalley area is also famous, or infamous for a coven of witches who were supposed to have met on nearby Pendle Hill in the 1600s. Pendle Hill, NE of Whalley is also the site where George Fox had a vision in 1652 and went on to found the Society of Friends (Quakers).

All present day Whalleys and Whaleys are descendants of Wyamarus. Some authors consider Whaley to be the American spelling of Whalley. In the days of handwriting it was common to abbreviate double letters to single ones, perhaps to save time, effort or paper. Perhaps some of our ancestors just couldn’t spell very well. Besides the differences in spelling of the name

Whalley, there are differences in pronunciation. The pronunciation used in Lancashire, the location of the town Whalley, is wall-e. Other Whalleys and especially Whaleys pronounce their name whale-e. There are 4174 households bearing the Whalley name worldwide with about 350 US phone listings for Whalley and about 150 Australian ones. Canada has about as many Whalleys as the U.S. Most Whalleys are in England. In the US there are many more Whaleys than there are Whalleys with more than 7000 telephone listings.

Besides the town Whalley and the nearby Whalley Nab, there are several other places named after Whalleys. In England there is a town called Whaley Bridge 20 miles southeast of Manchester and there may be another Whalley Hill a suburb of Manchester

There is a Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut and a Whalley Place in Seattle, WA. There is a Whaley lake in Dutchess County, New York. Whaleysville is in Worcester County, Maryland and Whaleyville is in Virginia near the North Carolina border east of the Great Dismal Swamp. Vancouver, B.C. has a suburb called Whalley

Town of Whalley

The Whalley family intermarried with many important English families and lived the lives of country gentry and clergy. The Whalley manor house was located in the town of Whalley (a tavern is located on the site today). Unfortunately at some time the House of Whalley was dissolved and the Whalley lands were lost. Sometime later one of the Whalleys repurchased some of the ancestral lands around Clerk Hill near Whalley.

Edward Whalley was a cousin of Oliver Cromwell and fought in Cromwell’s army. Other Whalley relations were advisors to Cromwell. Edward Whalley and his son-in-law William Goffe both signed King Charles Is death warrant and were present at his execution. When

The coat-of-arms of many of the Whalley families contain whale heads, so it is natural to ask whether the name Whalley is related to the sea mammal. A connection between the name Whalley and whales has been discounted. The use of whales in the coat-of-arms has been likened to the use of the lion, both animals being the strongest that inhabit the water and land respectively.