West Ardsley, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire Yorkshire Parishes   North Riding  Ardsley West

Parish History
ARDSLEY, WEST (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Wakefield, Lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, W. riding of York, 5¼ miles (S. S. W.) from Leeds; containing 1420 inhabitants. This place, in some documents called Woodkirk, from its ancient church of wood, formerly belonged to Nostall Priory, subordinate to which a cell of Black canons was founded here, and endowed with land by one of the family of Soothill, in expiation of the murder of a child: its revenue at the Dissolution amounted to £17, and the foundations of the building may still be traced. The parish comprises by measurement 2300 acres of fertile land: the substratum abounds with coal of excellent quality, of which there are some extensive mines in operation. Fairs for horses, &amp;c., are held on August 24th and September 17th. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £265, derived from land; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Cardigan, who is lord of the manor. The church, an ancient structure in the early English style, having fallen into dilapidation, was partly rebuilt in 1832, and the chancel in 1834; the ancient stalls and monuments have been preserved in the present structure, and among the latter is a monument to Sir John Topcliffe, chief justice and master of the mint in the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII., who resided at Topcliffe Hall, now a farmhouse. The Wesleyans have a place of worship.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 66-69. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50758 Date accessed: 16 August 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, non-conformist 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.

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.