Sandal Magna, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  Yorkshire Parishes, S-Y  West Riding  Sandal Magna

Parish History
Sandal Magna is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire. West Bretton or Bretton Chapel (which see) is a chapelry partly in the parishes of Sandal Magna and Silkestone (which also see). Also lying within this parish boundary was the ancient chapel of Chapelthorpe (however, registers commence only from 1829).

Other places in the parish include: Crigglestone, Hill Top, Milthorpe, Newmillerdam, Woodthorpe, Stand Bridge, Walton, Walton near Sandall Magna, and Pledwick. Non-Church of England denominations identified in Sandal Magna include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Methodist New Connexion, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.

"SANDAL MAGNA, a parish-town, in Agbrigg-division of Agbrigg and Morley, liberty of Wakefield, 2 miles from Wakefield, 8 from Barnsley, 9 from Pontefract, 30 from York. Pop. 888. The Church is a vicarage, dedicated to St. Helen, in the deanry of Pontefract, value, ~£13. 7s. 8d. p.r. £122. 17s. 2d. Patron, the King. The Castle here, was built by John, Earl of Warren, about the year 1320. In the reign of Edward III. Edward Baliol resided here, while an army was raising to establish him on the throne of Scotland. This Castle afterwards became the property of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, who was slain in a great battle, fought near this place, in the year 1460. The last siege it sustained was in the civil wars of Charles I.; Col. Bonivant held it for the King, and surrendered to the arms of Parliament, in the month of October, 1645. In the following year it was dismantled, by the order of Parliament. Thomas Zouch, D.D. a man of considerable erudition, was born here in 1737. A collection of his works, with a memoir by the Rev. Thomas Wrangham, was published in 1820. Here is a Free School for eight Boys, founded by the late Rev. Doctor Zouch, who endowed it with £10. per annum, and a House and Garden."

Resources
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. 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.

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.

Cemeteries
This ancient parish was created before 1813. Church of England records began in 1651.