Muker, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Muker



Parish History
Muker is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Yorkshire, created in 1719 from Grinton, Yorkshire Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Angram, Thwaite, Birkdale, Calvert House, Calverthouse, Frith, Ivelet, Keld and Thorns, Oxnop, Rampsholme, Rash, Ravenseat, Salton, Saltron, Spring End, Springend, Stonesdale, Tan Hill, Tanhill, and Birckdale.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Muker like this:

MUKER, a small town, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Grinton parish, Reeth district, N. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on the river Swale, amid a tract of high uplands, 4 miles E N E of Great Shunner fell, and 5 N N W of Askriff r. station; forms a good centre for the exploration of the upper parts of Swaledale; and has a customary weekly market on Wednesday, and a fair on the Wednesday before Old Christmas. The chapelry contains also the hamlets of Angram, Birkdale, Calverthouse, Frith, Ivelet, Keld and Thorns, Oxnop, Rampsholme, Rash, Ravenseat, Saltron, Springend, Stonesdale, Thwaite, and part of Tanhill. Post-town, Hawes, under Bedale. Acres, 30, 262. Real property, £7, 270; of which £850 are in mines. Pop. in 1851, 1, 321; in 1861, 1,005. Houses, 225. The decrease of pop. was caused by the closing of lead mines. The property is much subdivided. The manor belongs to T. Smith, Esq. Auld Gang lead mines, in the vicinity of the town, were worked long before the Roman invasion; and mounds of spa and rock, over miles to the N, are memorials of very ancient mining. Limestone is quarried, and coal is worked. Great Shunner fell, though inferior in height to three other mountains in Yorkshire, has an altitude of 2, 351 feet. Lovely Seat, 2 miles S E of Great Shunnerfell, and overhanging a wild and romantic mountain pass from Muker to Hawes, soars also to a great altitude, and commands a striking view. A wild and sequestered but beautiful mountain road, leads west-north-westward from the town, over the backbone of England to Kirkby-Stephen. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £130.* Patron, the Vicar of Grinton. The church was built in 1580, is not in very good condition, has a small tower, and contains monuments of the Knowles and the Calvert families. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and an endowed national school with £25 a year.—The sub-district contains also the township of Melbecks. Acres, 40, 368. Pop., 2, 627. Houses, 551.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Reeth Poor Law Union, Yorkshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Yorkshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.