On the origin of the Lomas / Lomax surname

An Extensive study on the origin of the LOMAS / LOMAX was published by a Charles A Hoppin.

Eilert Ekwall, Professor of English at the University of Lund, devoted much of his life to the study of the origin of place names in Lancashire and concluded that the name of the hamlet of LOMAX, a ‘ now lost name of the district south of the Roch, where Charlestown and Heady Hill are ‘, was descended from the old English word Lumhalghs.

Other authors independently conclude that the surnames LOMAS and LOMAX were ‘territorial’ derived from living in the district or hamlet of Lumhalghs, and that Lumhalghs was in the Parish of Bury. The place concerned lay east of Bury itself ,’ to the east of the river Roch.’

Lum had a different regional meanings; in Lancashire it generally meant a deep pool in a river, but near the Yorkshire border it could also mean a wooded bottom growing shrubs and trees.

The second element , ‘halghs’ is the plural of the old English ‘ halh’ also ‘haugh’ and meant either low lying, level ground by the side of a river, or, land lying within the bend of a river.

Actually, the hamlet of LOMAX is not lost. A map dated 1785 (in the Bury Public Library)entitled ‘ A LOMAX in HEAP. The Parish of Bury shows 25 parcels of land, their names and a list of their areas, with a total area of 75 acres. Those 1875 land boundaries have also been overlaid on a 1847 map to locate some of the lesser place names The following are labelled on the map and their location shown:(1) Lower Lomax,(2) Higher Lomax,(3) Heady Hill) and (4) Charlestown. Lower Lomax has retained it’s name and is now (1988) a dairy farm, bordering the south side of Roch.

Lower Lomax Farm is about 8 miles due north of Manchester City centre. The farm’s meadows are several hundred feet lower than Heady Hill which rises quite gradually from Lower Lomax and Heap Bridge. The river Roch has cut a channel almost 200 feet deep through that pasture land. The area shown as Lomax Woods on both the 1847 map and modern street atlas is now largely scrub growth in the bottom and on the south side of that gorge.

It is unknown whether there is a deep pool in this part of the river, but with the bottom of the gorge covered in shrubs and trees, a portion of old Lomax existing within a sharp bend of the river, and with the low-lying meadows adjacent to the river, the descriptive term ‘Lumhalghs’ is certainly satisfied.

The earliest mention of this area is contained in a charter, dated 1210, in one of the Lansdowne Manuscripts ( British Museum, mss-405, f,49). It is in Latin, but has been roughly translated as follows: " I, Adam de Biry (Bury),have given.......... to God and St Mary Magdalene of Bretton and to the monks serving there and to the work of her church, one piece of land in Hep (Heap) which is called Lumhalghs (Lomas/Lomax) divided as follows: That is to say from the rivulet which falls into Blackwell, through the centre of the moss as far as Meresache as the land divides itself as far as the Guledene (Gooden) and from Guleden to the water of Rached (Roch), together with all rights pertaining thereto in wood, in plain, in meadows, in pasture and in waters, and with all common rights of communication, with their livestock with the same ville, wheresoever the livestock of my men communicate with the same ville of Hep.( The names that have survived to the present are shown in parenthesis ).

The township of Heap was recorded as early as 1278. This authoritative history also states concerning Heap, the principal road is that eastward from Bury across the Roch at Heap Bridge, through Charlestown and Heady Hill ( here was the district or hamlet Lumhalghs or Lomax ) and the town of Heywood, where it divides to Rochdale on the Northeast and Middleton on the south.

The earliest record of the LOMAS / LOMAX family name is for William De Lumhalghs who was mentioned has being at a court held at Tottington on the 15th February 1324.

The Lay subsidy (tax) Roll, Number 130-6 at the PRO London, for Lancashire in 1333 lists " Rico De Lmhales" (Richard de Lumhalghs) as a landowner in Penhilton,( Pendleton, about seven miles Southwest of Lower Lomax) in the Parish of Eccles.

In 1380, Henry and Richard Lumhalghs and their wives contributed two shillings each to the Exchequer Lay subsidy in the Parish of Bury, and at the same time Thomas de Lumhalghs paid 12d. In 1391, King Richard 11 granted a pardon to John Del Damme for stealing at Bury in 1390, two bullocks, value 10s, from Richard De Lumhalghs.

In 1435 the following names appeared (in Latin) on the Rent Rolls of Sir John Pilkinton, Lord of the Manor of Bury: Radus Del Lumhalghs, Oliverus Del Lumhalghs, Thomas Del Lumhalghs and Galfridus Del Lumhalghs.

In 1441 Ralph Del Lumhalghs, John Del Lumhalghs and others, of Heap, were concerned in a lawsuit regarding land in Bury and Middleton.

Movement out of Lancashire is also recorded: 1386, Henry Lumhalghs in Herefordshire; 1394, Roger Del Lumhalghs in Yorkshire; 1432, Thomas and Richard Lumhalghs in Derbyshire; and 1496, Sir Richard Lumhalghs, rector of St Mary’s Church, Surlingham, Norfolk.

Regarding the matter of pronunciation, the letter "h" was often not sounded, the "al" was pronounced in old English as though it was an "au" and the "gh" in halghs is pronounced in Lancashire today as though it was "sh".

The old English pronunciation of "Lumhalgh" in Lancashire was thus probably "Lumhaush". The dialects of different regions resulted in various pronunciations, as recorded phonetically by clerks in old records, Lumaus, Lummas, Lomas, Lumhales, Lumhalx, Lomax.

The earliest records of the modern spelling of the name were found by Joseph Lomas. He reported on a family lineage of Laurent Lomases, with the first Laurent Lomas born about 1427 in a Bolton parish, the second about 1460 in Lancashire, and the third about 1493. This last one was the first Laurent Lomas of Eye, Suffolk.

Another early family that was noteworthy can be traced to a Richard Lomas of Pilsworth, who married Janet Heap in 1545. A fifth generation descendant, named Richard Lomas of Pilsworth and Burnshaw, married Rebecca, heiress of John Heywood of Urmston. Through this marriage the Richard Lomas family acquired the Clayton Hall estate at Clayton le Moors.

Of the parish registers that have survived to the present time from the Lancashire region, none predate 1541. The parish registers for Bury, Bolton, Deane and Rochdale, parishes with concentrations of Lomas / Lomax families, do not start until 1590, 1587, 1637, and 1582 respectively.

More than 30 entries of LOMAS baptisms, marriages and burials are found in those registers prior to 1600. The 1642 Protestation Returns for Salford Hundred only list 66 persons named LOMAS or LOMAX, including 25 in the Bury parish and 24 in contiguous parishes. The remainder occurred mostly in the northern part of the Hundred, particularly in the Deane parish, a short distance to the West of Bury, but the name also appears at Manchester and Salford. The LOMAS name became more numerous in the latter part of the 17th and 18th centuries.

A study of surnames of Lancashire stated that the name LOMAS seems to have become more dispersed by the end of the 18th century than some other surnames originating in the same part of the country.