The Family of Haden of Holywell House

This website introduces the family of Haden of Holywell House, Swinton, Yorkshire. Holywell House was a country house in the Piccadilly area of Swinton, near Rotherham. It was the home of the Haden family, who came from Swinton and Wath-upon-Dearne, Yorkshire. Malcolm G. Plant in Piccadilly: the hamlet states, 'Holywell House was built from stone quarried at Hermit Hill; the dwelling is described as a three-storey high building with extensive oak panelling and ornate stairs.' Plant confuses the wife of George Littlewood Haden with that of his nephew, Thomas Haden, son of John Haden, Gentleman (1807-1866), George Littlewood Haden's brother. He calls George's wife Harriet, however this was the wife of Thomas. Both George and his nephew Thomas were farmers. George's wife was Catherine, who predeceased him. 

Wrightson (1982, p. 9) comments, 'In early seventeenth-century Yorkshire, for example, the lesser gentry generally had estates of between fifty and 1000 acres, the middling gentry, estates of 1000–5000 acres and the upper gentry, estates of 5000–20,000 acres.'  The Hadens constituted the lesser or 'parish gentry' on this basis.  The family were not armigers, so were held to be gentlemen based on their manner of living, port, charge, and countenance.

Many of the family members did not live a genteel life until benefiting from inheritance, so family members made a number of contributions to local life before retiring on their incomes.

Wrightson, K. (1982) English Society 1580-1680. London: Routledge.