West Bradford, Lancashire Genealogy

Introduction
West Bradford is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, 27 miles (43 km) west of the larger city of Bradford, West Yorkshire and 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Clitheroe. Until 1974, it was in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is mentioned alongside Bradford in the Domesday Book, and is further mentioned in 1251 as Braford in Bouland (modern-day Forest of Bowland) to distinguish it from the larger settlement.

Since the fourteenth century, West Bradford has formed part of the Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn. In turn, Slaidburn was part of the ancient Lordship of Bowland which comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall Eaves, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram (Bowland-with-Leagram), Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).

West Bradford is a small village, within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It is also a civil parish. Prior to the 1974 county boundary changes, West Bradofrd just fell within the boundary of Bowland Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Civil registration
Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Parish History
Great Mitton, Yorkshire was the parent church.



Nonconformist Churches
West Bradford Methodist church



Poor Law Unions
Clitheroe Poor Law Union, Lancashire