Bedale, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Bedale



Parish History
Bedale St Gregory is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Aiskew, Askew with Little Leeming, Burrell cum Cowling, Burrill with Cowling, Rands Grange, Forby, Langthorne, Rand Grange, and Firby.

BEDALE (St. Gregory), a market-town, parish,and the head of a union, chiefly in the wapentake of Hang-East, but partly in that of Hallikeld, N. riding of York; containing 2803 inhabitants, of whom 1250are in the town, 33½ miles (N. W) from York, and 223(N. N. W.) from London. The parish comprises 8702a.1r. 24p., and contains the townships of Aiskew, Bedale,Burrell with Cowling, Crakehall, Firby, and Langthorne, and the hamlet of Rands-Grange. The town,which has been considerably improved of late, is of prepossessing appearance; it is pleasantly situated on the banks of a stream flowing into the river Swale, near Scruton, and consists principally of one street, which is lighted with gas from works erected in 1836. The houses are in general of brick, and irregularly built;the air is pure, and the neighbourhood, which is well cultivated, affords many pleasant walks and much picturesque scenery. Among the more recent buildings is a handsome structure erected in 1840, containing apartments for the savings' bank, a suite of assembly-rooms,and apartments for holding petty-sessions. Several extensive wool-staplers carry on business here, and give employment to numerous wool-combers. An act was passed in 1846, enabling the York and Newcastle Railway Company to make a branch line to Bedale, 7 miles in length. The market is on Tuesday; and on the same day in alternate weeks is a large fair for fat-cattle and sheep, established in 1837. Other fairs are held on Easter-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, and July 5th and 6th,for horses, horned-cattle, and sheep; and Oct. 10th and11th, and the last Monday but one before Christmas-day,for cattle, sheep, hogs, and leather, the supply of the last article being the most considerable of any in the north of England. The horses are generally of superior value, the surrounding country being famed for its breed of hunters and race-horses.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at£89. 4. 9½., and in the alternate patronage of Miss Pierse, and Myles Stapylton, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £1713. 16. 3., and there are 176acres of glebe. The church is in the early English style,and has a square embattled tower crowned by pinnacles, and of remarkable strength, having been used as a place of security from the incursions of the Scots: it contains several interesting monuments, one of which is to the memory of Sir Brian Fitz-Alan, lord-lieutenant of Scotland in the reign of Edward I., who resided in a castle near the church, of which there are no remains.A district church was erected in 1840 at Crakehall.There are places of worship for Methodists, Particular Baptists, and Roman Catholics. A school for boys,formerly in the churchyard, was removed in 1816 to a more convenient room erected by Henry Pierse, Esq., in the market-place; it is supposed to have existed prior to the dissolution of religious houses, and was endowed by Queen Elizabeth with £7. 11. 4. per annum, and afterwards by the Countess of Warwick with £13. 6. 8. per annum. The latter sum, together with a gratuity of£50 from the rector, and £10 from the Hazleflatt estate,is paid to the master; the first sum of £7. 11. 4. being appropriated to the instruction of scholars in the old building in the churchyard, which was re-opened as a grammar school a few years ago. Samwaies hospital, a neat stone building, containing apartments for six men,was founded by P. Samwaies, D.D., in 1698; the Widows' hospital was founded by Robert Younge about1666, for the residence of three widows. There are numerous bequests for the poor. The union of Bedale,comprising 23 parishes and places, contains a population of 8596. Sir Christopher Wray, lord chief justice of the court of queen's bench in the reign of Elizabeth,was a native of the place.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 188-194. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50788 Date accessed: 08 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
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 (AP) was created before 1813. Church of England records began in 1560.

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
Bedale 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.