Kelham Island How It Got Its Name

[duckweed]

I was researching Kelham Island and the fact stated that it got its name from Kellam Homer and wondered why not Homers Island?

Dates for when the town armourer took over vary but it would seem that there was a Kellam Homer there from about 1598 though other sources said 1637.

Obviously first thing was to look up Parish records and see if they could shed some light. After all this is an unusual name. Turns out the name is even more unusual when you find out the original spelling which is Kenhelm Holmer. I thought is Kenhelm a real name? Turns out it is indeed. Kenhelm was a saxon Mercian king who became a saint. The name is mainly connected to the Midlands and the welsh border country. The Earl of Shrewsbury was also a Lord of the Marches (ie he had land on the border). The surname Holmer has links with the Talbots/Shrewsbury family too in that Holmer is a place about a couple of miles from Hereford which is their land.

What I can gather from piecing bits of info together is that Kenhelm Holmer came from the Talbots estate in Worksop and came from a long line of Kenhelm Holmers in the Talbots service.

What I don't know is whether Kenhelm Holmer who married Faith Lee in 1635 was the same Kenhelm Homer who had several children in the late 15thc and early 16thc and was a 2nd marriage or that this was a son.

What I do know is that some time after the Demolition of Sheffield Castle Kenhelm his wife Faith and his children turn up at Worksop and are buried there. So 1 Kenhelm or 2? And if so were they both armourers?

Anyway it would seem that Kelham Island is originally called so as a local joke. A bit like Wigan Pier. They called it Kenhelm's Island after the Islands you get such as St Mary's Isle.

[vox]

Good subject to look at Duckweed.

Well done again.

[KevinB]

Try www.simt.co.uk This is the industrial museums trust that is responsible for Kelham Island.

[KevinB]

And yes it is an island!

[vox]

And yes it is an island!

Of course.

[duckweed]

I know what SIMT say and they have a different date from Sheffield History. They say 1637. Sheffield History quotes a Burgess record that paid the armourer Kellam Holmer in 1595. I know from Parish records that there was a Kenhelm Holmer in Sheffield in 1597 as he baptised a daughter Maria, he also had a daughter Ann in 1604. Which was also the year that he leased Kelham Wheel. So that certainly means that the date given by SIMT is not old enough. There are several Holmers is Sheffield who call their first son Kenhelm or various spellings of it. Kenhelm and Faith show up in Worksop in 1849 where they have 2 more children.I think there are enough documents to prove that the armourer is called Kenhelm Holmer and that there was an armourer called Kenhelm Holmer in Sheffield from 1595. There are also Parish records and a couple of other documents that have a Kenhelm Holmer on the Talbot estate at Worksop collecting rent and renting land there.