This map of Great Britain shows the counties colour-coded in proportion to the prevalence of Heps per million population in that county. The key also shows the equivalent Banwell index ranges in brackets. A Banwell index of <1 means a lower prevalence of Heps in that county than in Great Britain as a whole and an index of >1 means a higher prevalence. For example a county with a Banwell index of 3 has three times the national average prevalence of Heps.

The greatest prevalence of Heps is clearly in the West Riding of Yorkshire (405 per million population) with several surrounding medium prevalence counties (Durham 71, Yorkshire East Riding 63 and Nottinghamshire 61 per million population) and a low prevalence elsewhere in the country. The overall prevalence in Great Britain was 43 per million population. The relatively high prevalences in the Isle of Man and Anglesey probably represent “rogue” results as, in the former, 3 visitors, and in the latter, a single Hep family of 6 persons, occurred within a very low population county. These results support George Redmond’s contention that Heppenstall and variants are locative surnames derived from Heptonstall near Halifax with subsequent ramification particularly in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

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