[Illustration] One of the most ancient families in the North of
England, according to Dr. Whitaker, descended from Richard de
Hamerton, who lived in the twenty-sixth of Henry II., anno 1170.
From Hamerton, the original seat, the family removed to Hellifield,
acquired by marriage with the heiress of Knolle, in the reign of
Edward III. The Castle, or Peel, was built in the reign of Henry
VII. The Hamertons were engaged in the Northern Rebellion in 1537,
and thereby Sir Stephen Hamerton lost his head, and his family the
estate; which was restored to the male representative of the family,
in the third year of Elizabeth, by a munificent settlement made by
John Redman, who had become possessed of the property, and was
related by marriage to the Hamertons. A younger branch was of
Preston-Jacklyn in this county.
See Whitaker's Craven, ed. 1812, p. 124; and Dugdale's Visitation of
Yorkshire, 1665-6, printed by the Surtees Society in 1859, p. 354.
ARMS.--_Argent, three hammers sable_. The Preston-Jacklyn line bore
_Argent, on a chevron between three hammers sable a trefoil slipped
or_.
Present Representative, James Hamerton, Esq.