Welcome!
Welcome to our Dale family website. The purpose of this website is to consolidate individual stories and family history into a single Dale family tree. We have traced our Dale family to the Northallerton area of North Yorkshire, although we have only been able to trace the family line back to the late 1700s.
We have included our late mother's branch of the Holgate family in our family tree. The Holgate family, southerners to a man these days, appear to have prestigious ecclesiastical roots in York, apparently being descended from Archbishop Holgate of York, (although we haven't yet conclusively proved this fact). In more recent times and no less impressive, there is our grandfather H C F Holgate, the under age first world war veteran and later renowned economist, who helped to rebuild the German economy after the second world war.
We have also included in our family tree members of the Davey family, the family of our maternal grandmother and the only grandparent we every knew and the Dyke family from Kent, the family of our paternal grandmother.
Developing our family tree is an ongoing family project, if you are a relative or believe you are and would like to contribute, or simply to view our tree, please get in touch using the online contact form.
The surname Dale
The word dale is a synonym of valley and is in common use in northern England. The origin of the word dale is believed to be from the Old English word dael, from which the word "dell" is also derived. It is also believed to be related to tha Old Norse word dalr (and the modern Icelandic word dalur), which may be the reason for its continued use in northern England.
The reason for the use of dale as a surname is unknown, however it is believed to have been used to describe somebody who dwelt in a valley or dale. Dale is also a common surname in Norway, especially western Norway.
The earliest known settlement at Northallerton was some form of Roman military station. There is evidence that the Romans had a signal station on Castle Hills just to the west of the town as part of the imperial Roman postal system and a road connecting Hadrian's Wall with Eboracum (York) ran through what is now the neighbouring village of Brompton.
It is believed that in Saxon times a town developed and the first church was set up by St Paulinus of York on the site of the present All Saints Parish Church sometime in the early 7th century. It was made from wood and today nothing of it survives.
Northallerton's position on a major north-south route brought death and destruction to the town of Northallerton on many occasions. In 1069, in an attempt to quell rebellion in the north of England, the area between the Ouse and the Tyne was laid to waste by the armies of William the Conqueror. The town of Northallerton was almost totally destroyed or depopulated. Just a few years later it was described in the Domesday Book as 'modo est in manu regis et wastum est (put down as waste).
It later suffered at the hands of the Scots in the campaign which became the Battle of the Standard, fought largely in Brompton Parish in 1138. Later during the Civil War of 1642 to 1649 the town gave shelter to King Charles I on two occasions whilst the army of the Duke of Cumberland rested there on its march to Scotland during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745.
In the golden age of coaching, Northallerton had four coaching inns along its High Street serving passengers and horses using several routes to the north. With the arrival of the railway in 1841 the town maintained its importance as a communications centre. The line from London to Edinburgh via York and Newcastle passed through the town, as did the line linking the industrial West Riding with the port and steel town of Middlesbrough.
Northallerton became the market centre for the area and also drew traders from further afield to its four annual fairs, which have now been reduced to two.
Cattle drovers bringing cattle, horses and sheep from Northumbria and Scotland regularly came to the town. The original cattle market was by the Church, but sheep were sold on the High Street until the early part of the 20th century. With the arrival of the railway the mart was built close to the station, but this later closed and today the cattle market is held at the Applegarth.
Origin of the name Northallerton
The origin of the town's name of Northallerton is uncertain, though it is believed that the name comes from a derivation of the name Aelfere, Aelfereton translates as the farm belonging to Aelfere or even of King Alfred. Alternatively it may be referring to the Alder trees which grew nearby.
In the Domesday Survey, Norman scribes named the settlement Alvertune, Aluertune and Alretone and there is a reference to the Alvertune wapentac.The prefix of North was added in the 12th century to differentiate from the parish of Allerton Maulever, 25 miles (40 km) to the south.
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If you have any questions or comments about the information on this site, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.