The Brownhill Family of Derbyshire.

Norton is in Derbyshire, just south of Sheffield, so it could be argued that the Brownhills who lived in Norton should be designated The Brownhill Family of Derbyshire, but this can only be correct if they separated from the main Cheshire family, or one of the others, and not from the Stannington family. Addy, in his history, says, " these three families ( i.e. Bradfield, Ecclesfield and Norton) are found within a radius of about ten miles, and, though I cannot connect them with each other, they are probably related." but I am not inclined to agree with him if, as I suspect, he regards them as being three branches of the Stannington family.  If Addy is correct  then the Norton family  are a legitimate branch of  The Brownhill Family of Yorkshire and all that remains is to establish the exact line of descent from Adam Brownell of Stannington. However, in my view, the available evidence suggests an alternative and I am inclined to think that the Brownhills of Norton are closely  related to the Brownhills of Warwickshire and Gawsworth.

 

Addy also says, " The Norton Parish Register begins in 1559, and the absence of early burials therein makes it evident that the Brownells came into the parish about 1560, when Robert Brownell married Dorothy Parker." With this I totally agree, but where did they come from? It is clear from the available evidence, as Addy rightly points out, that  Dorothy Parker was Robert Brownell's second wife because he had a son George who was clearly born before his marriage to Dorothy Parker and whose baptismal entry has not yet been found.

 

At that time a Brownhill family lived in Derby. In 1559 a Robert Brownell married one Agnes Parker at Derby All Saints. This suggests a number of possibilities. For example, Agnes and Dorothy could have been sisters, Agnes being Robert's first wife and Dorothy his second. If Agnes died early in the marriage, possibly in childbirth - not an unusual event in those days -  then Robert may have married her sister, Dorothy. It is equally possible that there were two Robert Brownhills who married into Parker families at about the same time, purely by coincidence! Yet again there could have been two Robert Brownhills who were related to each other - possibly close cousins - who married into the same Parker family. However, as a Robert Brownell of Derby All Saints is recorded as having children born to him in the years following 1559 the most likely answer is that there were two Roberts who were close cousins and that the Brownhill and Parker families were associated with each other.

 

Robert Brownell of Norton and his wife Dorothy Parker had a grandson named Antony Brownhill who in turn had a daughter named Catherine. She married John Turner at Norton, but the event was also recorded in the Parish Register of Derby St. Alkmund, which adjoins Derby All Saints. As Catherine was clearly of the Parish of Norton it is evident that John Turner came from Derby and, therefore, there can be no doubt that the Norton Brownhills had connexions with the Town of Derby. Could these have been family connexions, either through the Brownhill and/or Parker families? Norton is approximately forty miles from Derby, no distance at all for a middle-class family of the late sixteenth century.

 

But the most conclusive evidence comes from the family Coat of Arms. The General Armory of England, Scotland and Wales, 1884 edition,  by Burke, which is in the Tonbridge library, states:

 

Brownell of Derby (1682) Arms: erm. on a chev. cottised sa. three escallops. ar. Crest: out of a ducal coronet a triple plume of feathers, five, four and three.

Brownell of Cliffe Field (near Sheffield) Arms: as Derby. Crest: an escallop ar.

In my view this establishes quite clearly that the Brownhill/Brownell Family of Norton (where Cliffe Field is) is a cadet branch of the Brownhill/Brownell Family of Derby. The arms would have been noted, accepted and recorded by heralds from the College of Arms on their last visitation, probably in 1682. They are, therefore, valid. As both branches used the arms but differenced by the crests it is apparent that they were inherited from an earlier generation. The question that arises is how far back in time? If my theory regarding the evolution of the Brownhill families is correct I suspect that we will have to go back to Edmund Brownhill (Brownell), Mayor of Coventry in AD 1565, or his family, for the answer!

William Brownhill of Gawsworth (and of Coventry by tradition) took his B.A. degree at Oxford in 1575 and his M.A. there in 1579. He was presented to the rectory of Gawsworth in 1597 and remained the incumbent there for the next thirty-three years. A number of his descendants were educated at Cambridge and became priests. Robert Brownhill of Norton had a son Robert who was educated at Cambridge, ordained a priest  in 1620 and died in May 1647. He was presented to the rectory of Fillingham, Lincolnshire, in 1610 by the Master and Fellows of Balliol, Oxford. As they usually presented this benefice to one of their own society it is strange that they should give it to Robert Brownhill, the younger, of Norton and Cambridge. One possible explanation is that William Brownhill of Gawsworth and Oxford (and Coventry by tradition) was a brother of Robert Brownhill, the elder, of Norton, and used his influence to secure the benefice for his nephew.

 

Robert Brownhill's eldest son Henry had a son William who was born in 1586. This William was educated at Cambridge and became Rector of Rawmarsh, where he died in 1609. He was buried at Norton. His epitaph reads that he was zealous, pious, learned, and remarkable for his great humanity. He must have been quite a man!

 

A study of the Brownhill Family of Norton reveals the presence of three sets of twins. Robert's son William, born 1568, had twin daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth, who were baptised  on the 27th. September 1602; his eldest son Henry had a son Antony (previously mentioned) who had twin sons, Edward and George, who were baptised on the 29th. February 1636; whilst his son Jerome had a son William, born in 1624, who had twin daughters, Anne and Margaret, who were baptised on the 19th November 1643. It is, therefore, evident that at this period and in this family there was a predisposition to produce twins!  At the same time William Brownhill, Rector of Gawsworth, became the proud father of twin daughters, Mary and Alice, on the 18th. April 1607.

 

In both families we have a tradition of university education, a leaning towards the cloth, and the presence of twins. At the same time there is clear evidence of a family connexion between Norton and  Derby by reason of the Brownhill/Parker marriages, and definite evidence of a connexion in view of the Brownhill/Turner marriage and the Coats of Arms. It is, therefore, inconceivable that William Brownhill of Gawsworth was not a  younger brother of Robert Brownhill of Norton, and that the family had been associated with Coventry.

 

On the basis of this evidence there is established a connexion between Northenden, Derby and Coventry. But what of Stannington? The time lapse between 1441 and 1559 is only 118 years, not long in the history of a family, and certainly a period covered by living memory and family tradition. If the Brownhills of Coventry and Derby were aware of kinsmen in Yorkshire this could well explain why Robert Brownell went to Norton. It even possible that Edmund Brownell, the clothier, obtained his wool from his cousins in Ecclesfield. Whilst, at present, this is pure speculation on my part I would not be surprised if it were proved to be correct.

The Brownell Family of Norton   compiled by S. O. Addy.