Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Kirkbymoorshire

Parish History
Kirkbymoorside All Saints is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Bowforth and Southfield, Kirkbymoorside St Aidan, Cockam, Cockan, Cockayne, Cockham, Fadmoor, Fadmore, Farndale, Farndale High Quarter, Farndale Low Quarter, Farndale West, Farndale West Side, Gillamoor, Keldholme, Kirby Mills, and Bransdale East Side.

KIRKBY-MOORSIDE (All Saints), a markettown and parish, in the union of Helmsley, wapentake of Ryedale, N. riding of York; containing, with the townships of Fadmoor, Farndale West-side, and Farndale Low-Quarter, and the chapelry of Gillimoor, 2482 inhabitants, of whom 1905 are in the township of Kirkby-Moorside, 29 miles (N. by E.) from York, and 224 (N. by W.) from London. A Cistercian nunnery stood about a mile from the town; it was founded in the reign of Henry I. by Robert de Stuteville, and, on its Dissolution, had an income of £29. 6. 1. a year, and was granted to the Earl of Westmorland. In the year 1813, when its foundations were cleared away, several stone coffins were found. The manor was forfeited by the earl upon his attainder, in the reign of Elizabeth, and remained with the crown till it was bestowed by James I. upon his favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, whose son, after a life of dissipation, died here in comparative poverty. The estate was afterwards sold to Sir Charles Duncombe, ancestor of the present owner. The town is irregularly built on a rather elevated site, bounded on two sides by hills; and the scenery around is picturesque, embracing the vales of Kirkdale, Sleightholmedale, and Dowthwaite, and the eastern moors of Yorkshire, which border on the valleys. In the vicinity are several cornmills; a considerable quantity of malt is made; and near the town are limestone and freestone quarries, and coal-mines. The market is on Wednesday; and fairs are held on the Wednesday in Whitsun-week and Sept. 18th, for cattle, sheep, &amp;c. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 0. 10., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £417; impropriator, Lord Feversham: the glebe comprises 62½ acres, besides 30½ acres of moor allotment. The church is a neat edifice, and contains some ancient portions, with later insertions; it has some interesting memorials, among which is a curious marble monument with carved figures of Lady Brooke and her six sons and five daughters, all in a kneeling posture. There are chapels of ease at Cockan and Gillimoor; and the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, and Ranters, have places of worship. Some remains exist of the walls of the manor-house anciently belonging to the Neville family; and about three miles northward is a cairn, opened by Professor Phillips within the last few years, and left by him in a state to be examined by the curious. At a further distance of three miles in the same direction are three tumuli.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 692-697. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51082 Date accessed: 29 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.

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
Kirkby Moorside 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.