Introduction:
1170 AD - Descended from Richard de Hamerton. who was living in 1170, at Hamerton, York. In the reign of Edward III. the family acquired Hellifield in the same county, where they still reside. Shirley's Noble and Gentle Men. The book is Patronymica Britannica.
1440 - Hellifield Peel was built by Laurence Hamerton in 1440. When the second Sir Stephen was executed for high treason and his possessions confiscated, the manor of Hellifield was preserved by a settlement for his mother during her life. After that it was granted by the king to one George Browne, of whom we know nothing positively except that he lived at Calais, and after changing hands several times it came back into the Hamerton family by a fine levied in the time of Queen. The stone peel is Yorkshire's oldest and largest. It was built around 1440 when Henry VI granted the estate owner, Laurence Hamerton, a 'licence to crenelate' - build a fortification. The words 'Let no pictish warrior wage the savage war' were emblazoned over the main door until relatively recently.
Agnes Hammerton born about 1529 Wigglesworth, Yorkshire, parents Stephen Hamerton and Elizabeth Bigod. Agnes Hammerton married Walter Charles Strickland born 5 April 1516 at Sizergh, Westmoreland, c1540. Agnes was buried 20 October 1588 in Wigglesworth Agnes and Walter had one child Ellen Strickland birth after 1540 she married John Carleton c1582 Sizergh. John Carleton was born c 1550/55 died 27 January 1623 Beeford, Yorkshire and burial was 27 January 1623. His parents were Thomas Carleton and Jennette Wilson.
The Hamertons held the house for six centuries. One, Sir Stephen Hamerton, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield for joining the Pilgrimage of Grace, the northern rebellion against Henry VIII's religious reforms in 1537.
1610 - of Hellifield Peel, born in 1610, married Dorothy, daughter and co- heir of Richard Folkingham, esq. of North Hall, in Yorkshire, and was s. by his eldest son, Stephen Hamerton, esq. of Hellifield Peel, who espoused Eleanor, daughter of Alexander Rushton, esq.
In 1908, on the death of Chisnall Hamerton, the family's last male heir, it was leased to Sir William Nicholson, a wealthy Leeds builder and one-time Lord Mayor of the city.

The Hammertons from whom we are descended were a family of artisans, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters and joiners. In complete contrast to most families in the West Riding of Yorkshire, very few members of the Hammerton family were miners. In later times a few of the menfolk branched out into other trades such as tailoring and jewellery making. Christian names such as Stephen and Joseph recur in almost every generation of each branch of the family. Stephen was a relatively rarely used name in England as it still held many evil connotations resulting from the chaotic reign of King Stephen in the 12th century. Other names such as William, Thomas, John and later George also occur regularly. Edward, Robert, James and other popular contemporary names were rarely or never used. There is not the same regularity of naming amongst the daughters of the family with only Elizabeth occurring in most generations. The name of Hammerton seems to originate in the North Riding of Yorkshire where a Sir Stephen de Hamerton held a manor in the 13th century. "A Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire for the Year 1822" by Thomas Langdale says this of Hammerton, "a farm house in the township of Easingham, and parish of Slaidburn, 1.5 miles from Slaidburn. This place, which gave name to one of the most ancient families in Craven, is now only a large farmhouse, which with the estate annexed, belongs to Manchester School. Here was a Chantry founded by Stephen de Hamerton, in the chapel of St Mary, within his manor of Hamerton, in 1332, for a competent secular chaplain, presentable by himself during his life, and after his decease, by his son John, and his heirs, in the said chapel, to celebrate masses etc for the said Stephen, Richard his father & Agnes his mother. For the support of which chaplain, he amortized two messuages, 36 acres of land, and 20 acres of meadow, in Slaidburn & New Laund in Rowland for ever. This endowment was confirmed by William, Archbishop of York in February 1332." There is also a village of Hamerton in Huntingdonshire. The links established below for the period up until about 1750 at least are still tenuous and there is probably no way that they can ever be established beyond dispute. The early family relationships are based on a number of assumptions in particular naming patterns across generations and occupations. It was only the decision to include more detail in the census from 1841 onwards, which allowed genealogists to establish firm family relationships in the 19th century. Luckily the surname Hammerton is comparatively quite rare. Parish registers record that there were Hammertons living at Emley, nine miles north west of Barnsley midway to Huddersfield, as early as 1634. In the parish records Hammerton is a relatively rare surname and it appears only every several years. Therefore any of the Hammertons there are certain to be relatives, with only the relationship between them to be established. Emley was an important iron-making centre until its iron ore deposits started to diminish in the 18th century and the village went into rapid decline. This coincides with the move of Stephen Hammerton and his family south to the Barnsley, Yorkshire in the 1740rsquo;s. Our probable ancestor Stephen Hammerton and his family moved into the parish of Silkstone, which includes Barnsley in about 1747. A branch of this family then appear to have moved on to Worsbrough, South Yorkshire in the early 19th century from nearby Wombwell. Wombwell was part of the parish of Darfield where most of the familyrsquo;s births, marriages and burials took place in the late 18th century. In the 1850s four of the Hammertons were blacksmiths in Worsbrough, which indicates that they worked for a fairly large concern. By 1881 the Hammerton family in Worsbrough was greatly diminished, probably by migration to Australia and to the larger urban centres of England. One branch of the family moved to Geelong in Victoria whilst another moved to Helensburgh south of Sydney. By 1900 the Hammerton family had all but disappeared from the Worsbrough parish registers.