Cockroft and upper cockroft rishworth

Upper Cockroft 1642 on the left and Cockroft 1607 on the right of the picture were also Holroyd family homes.

 It was the start of the Civil War and the Earl of Essex, in command of the parliamentarian forces, left London for the Midlands, while Charles 1st moved his headquarters to Shrewsbury. In the little hamlet of Rishworth, close to Ripponden, a fine and imposing yeomans residence was being built and it would be cpmpleted long before His Majesty was executed outside the banqueting halls at Whitehall, charged with high treason and "other crimes against the Realm of England" At the right hand end of the building, the farmhouse of Cockroft which was first built, bears the initials of George Holroyd over the doorway.

The history of Holroyd See 'The ROYDS'
The English surname Holroyd is of local origin belonging to that group of names derived from the locality or area where the original bearer once lived or held land. In this instance the name is derived from the Middle English word "hol" meaning "hollow or cave", the surname indicating one who lived by the hollow clearing or the Hollytree clearing.

One of the earliest references to a bearer of the surname occurs in the year 1296, when one Thomas Andrew Holerode is recorded in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex. In the Subsidy Rolls for Suffolk in 1327 one Gilbert de Holrode is mentioned, and in the Poll tax for Yorkshire in 1379 Galfridus de Holrode is recorded.
The surname occurs in several forms including Howlroyde, Holroyde, Holdroyde and Howroyd. Notable bearers of the surname include the English soldier and statesman John Baker Holroyd, Lord Sheffield. (1735-1821). He married three times and his son George Augustus Frederick, 2nd Earl married Harriett Lascelles of Harewood House , Leeds. more later