Hello,
There were originally 3 main branches of the Dingley/Dyngley/Dineley/Dyneley family. All are centred on a relatively small area of Lancashire around Clitheroe and Clivager (Burnley) in the 13th Century. There is no definitive link between the 3, but they are likely to come from the same stock. To confuse matters there were also a small number based in Dingley, Northamptonshire who cannot be tied to the 3 main branches and may, or may not, be the original source of the families.
Of the three one (most commonly appearing as Dyneley) remained in the north (predominantly Lancashire and Yorkshire) and last existed in the 18th -19th Century as Dyneley of Bramhope.
A second line migrated to Hampshire (Wolverton and the Isle of Wight). They were most commonly called Dingley.
The third moved to Charlton Manor in the Parish of Cropthorne, Worcestershire. From these another minor branch was founded on inherited lands in Kent. These were originally most commonly called Dyngley/Dingley, but the name Dineley was adopted from the 17th Century onwards by the main branch (which maled out and resulted in the departure of the family from Charlton after 400 years) and the branch that took on the Manor of Peopleton, Worcestershire until the middle of the 19th Century. The Hampshire and Worcestershire lines share the same Coat of Arms. The Bramhope one differs very slightly.
To confuse things further a branch of Dingleys appeared a little later in Cornwall and at least some of them migrated to Worcestershire/West Midlands. This may be an off-shoot from the Hampshire or Worcestershire lines, or a bastardisation of the name Dingle in the 15th/16th Centuries in Cornwall. Nothing is proven, but families tend to want to claim alliance to the Worcestershire branch due to their Royal descent.
Thus, if you are of Dineley descent you can most likely trace your line through the myriad of Josiah Dineley's children born in Peopleton in the 18th Century.
If you are a Dingley you have a problem. I do not know of any Dingley who has been able to categorically prove that they descend from the Charlton Dingleys. The line reproduced above is conjectural at the point of Edward Dingley (I'm not saying it is wrong, just that it has not been definitively proven by anyone I have come across who claims the link). There remains the possibility that a Dingley may have come into Worcestershire from a minor line originating in Cornwall and less likely from Hampshire or Kent.
That said there have been Dingleys recorded throughout the Parish Records in Worcestershire since the mid-sixteenth Century, especially around the Evesham/Pershore area and I would find it very surprising if you are not descended.
One other thing. The Henry Dingley that married Joan Pitt was the grandson of the Henry Dingley that married Mary Neville, via Francis Dingley and Elizabeth Bigge. Francis was Henry's eldest son and Henry was Francis' eldest surviving son, who died before his father, so Henry's eldest son Edward took over the estate on the death of his grandmother Elizabeth in the 1632. It is Francis and his grandson Edward who have the memorials in Cropthorne Church. Joan Pitt's father paid Francis Dingley £1,000 for the marriage of his daughter to Francis' eldest son.
I know a lot more about the Dineley descent from Dingleys in Worcestershire than I do about the Dingley ones, but I'm happy to share what I know on the wider expanse of the name.
Neil
