People of Note
Lionel Copley
Lionel Copley, of Broom in the parish of Whiston, in 1603 took the lease of Attercliffe Forge, by 1637 had converted the Sheffield fulling mill into a forge and in 1641 he erected two furnaces and forges at Wardsend. He also obtained leases of the Conisbrough ironworks and Rockley furnace. By the middle of the seventeenth century he was a leading figure in the Iron Trade of South Yorkshire.
Lionel Copley, ironmaster, was the younger son of William Copley of Wadworth (died 1658), and Ann (died 1645), daughter of Gervase Cressy of Birkin. His paternal great-grandfather, Sir William Copley, had acquired the Sprotborough estate in the West Riding of Yorkshire through marriage. His grandfather, Christopher Copley, a younger son of Sir William, purchased an estate a few miles away at Wadworth. This passed to Copley's father and then to his elder brother, Christopher, a colonel in the parliamentary army during the civil war.
Copley lived at Rotherham before he inherited the Wadworth estate upon the death of his brother (by 1664). He was normally referred to as Lionel Copley of Rotherham and Wadworth, esquire. Copley married Frizalina (1610 - 1696), the daughter of George Ward of Capesthorne, Cheshire, and the widow of John Wheeler of London. They had two sons, Lionel and William, and two daughters, Castiliana and Ann. Castiliana married John Beckwith of Sleningford (b c1652) who was brother of William Beckwith of Thurcroft (1664-1713)
In the 1570s and 1580s George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, had erected charcoal blast furnaces and forges on his estates in and around Sheffield and Rotherham, thus starting an era in the local iron industry that was to last until the mid-eighteenth century. His son, Gilbert, the seventh earl, leased these ironworks to the Copleys during the early seventeenth century. It is uncertain how involved were Copley's father and brother before he himself became the leading ironmaster in South Yorkshire, ranking with George Sitwell (1601–1667) of Renishaw Hall, the dominant figure in the north-east Derbyshire and north Nottinghamshire iron industry
During the civil war Copley ‘suffered great losses by the forces of the Earl of Newcastle, the royalist commander in Yorkshire and the East Midlands. After the parliamentary victory his fortunes recovered. In 1652 he spent nearly £4000 on acquiring the leases of Chapel and Rockley furnaces and Kimberworth forge. In 1656 he took a lease of the Kimberworth Park coal pits at £100 per annum, and in 1666 he renewed his lease to three forges and two furnaces at Wardsend. A rental of Sheffield manor in 1664 notes his leases of Ecclesfield furnace, the ironworks at Attercliffe and Wadsley, and rights to cordwood in the coppices. In 1666 he renewed his leases to Chapel furnace and the forges at Attercliffe, Rotherham, and Wardsend. At that time he was paying £100 per annum rent for Attercliffe forge and the furnace and forge at Wadsley. He was also involved in the early steel industry in South Yorkshire, 1666
Extract from Deeds of 8th December 1666
Henry Howard covenants that for 10 year from 3rd June next, Copley shall hold the forges known as Rotherham Forge, Chappell Furnace and Wardsend Forge (ps. Rotherham and Ecclesfield) and the forge known as Attercliffe Forge, with all appurtenances at a rent of £200 p.a.
Copley also to hold the closes known as Dewhouse Close and Forge Meadowes at Attercliffe, closes known as Castle Meadowes at Brightside and a messuage called Wardsend Farm, for 10 years from 2nd February next at a rent of £114 p.a.
Copley to have the right to get ironstone in any of the lands in the parishes of Sheffield and Ecclesfield where Howard or Thomas Earl of Norfolk, have a legal right to do so, for a term of 10 years.
For a term of 9 years from 1st October next, Copley to have wood to make up 1500 cords of log wood, spring wood and root wood for making charcoal each year, from the parishes of Sheffield, Ecclesfield, Rotherham, Handsworth, Whiston and Treeton, each cord to be 4ft. x 4ft. x 8ft., paying for the same at rates to be established by an umpire to be chosen by Howard.
Copley agrees to convert Rotherham Forge, at his own expense, into a slitting mill.
Copley made his will on 20 November 1675 and died in London on 7th December. His body was taken back to Wadworth for burial in the parish church, where his grave was commemorated by a simple stone, set among other monumental inscriptions to various members of his family. A few months after his death, his son Lionel married Anne Boteler of Hertfordshire. Their son, another Lionel, inherited the Wadworth estate and was the heir to Sir Godfrey Copley of Sprotborough. Copleys lived at Sprotborough until the 1920s but with the deaths of Lionel Copley and George Sitwell, control of the ironstone mines, charcoal woods, furnaces, forges, and an outlet for sales via the river port of Bawtry passed to a different group of gentry ironmasters, and Copley's son and namesake left the district to become governor of Hull and afterwards of Maryland.
Source: Rotherham Archives Reference Code: 139/B. Oxford DNB
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