Kirby Wiske, Yorkshire Genealogy

Parish History
Kirby Wiske St John the Baptist is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Maunby, Sowber Hill, Newsham with Breckenbrough, and Newby Wiske.

KIRBY-WISK (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Thirsk, partly in the wapentake of Birdforth, and partly in that of Gilling-East, N. riding of York; containing 905 inhabitants, of whom 210 are in the township, 4¾ miles (W. by N.) from Thirsk. The parish consists of the townships of KirbyWisk, Maunby, Newby-Wisk, and Newsham with Breckenbrough; and comprises 5927 acres, of which 2686 are arable, 3035 pasture, and about 206 woodland and waste. The village is pleasantly situated on the west bank of the river Wisk, and the York and Newcastle railway runs through the township of Newsham, east of the river. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 16. 5½., and in the gift of Lord Prudhoe: the tithes have been commuted for £750. 8. 5. The church is a spacious edifice with a handsome tower, and has an ancient Norman door on the north side. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. In the parish were born Roger Ascham, the learned and accomplished tutor of Queen Elizabeth; Dr. George Hickes, author of the Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium; and Dr. John Palliser, Archbishop of Tuam.

From A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 689-692. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51081&amp;strquery=Kirby knowle Date accessed: 14 May 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
Kirby Wiske parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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

Records are also available at the North Yorkshire County Record Office.

Poor Law Unions
Thirsk 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