Birkby, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Birkby



Parish History
Birkby St Peter is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Little Smeaton, Salutation, Little Smeaton with Salutation, and Little Smeaton near Northallerton.

BIRKBY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Northallerton, wapentake of Allertonshire, N. riding of York; consisting of the townships of Birkby and Little Smeaton, and the chapelry of Hutton-Bonville; and containing 256 inhabitants, of whom 74 are in the township of Birkby, 6 miles (N. N. W.) from Northallerton. This parish comprises about 3000 acres of land, of which two-thirds are arable, and one-third pasture with a little wood; the soil is a productive clay, and the surface, though not hilly, gently undulated: some parts are subject to inundation from the Wiske river. The York and Newcastle railway, passing to the east of Hutton-Bonville Hall, and slightly curving to the west of Birkby, crosses the Wiske. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Ripon: the tithes have been commuted for £205, and there are 4 acres of glebe, and an excellent parsonage-house lately built. The church, erected in the year 1776, is a plain brick building. At Hutton-Bonville is a chapel dedicated to St. Lawrence.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 248-255. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50801 Date accessed: 09 April 2011.

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 neighbouring 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.

This ancient parish was created before 1813. Church of England records began in 1721.St Peter's church which stands today was built on the site of an earlier church. St Peter's dates from 1776.

Bishop's transcripts see Durham Bishop's Transcripts: The Howe Manuscript Collection

Birkby Yorkshire Hutton Bonville Durham Bishops Transcripts Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/147 [? February 1662-April 1663 1665-1667 March 1669-February [1670] [1699-March 1700] [March] 1701- [March 1705] 1726-[February 1727] 1759-1760 1768-1812 (for Hutton Bonville transcipts 1665-1667 see Birkby transcripts)

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
Northallerton 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.