Topcliffe, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Topcliffe



Parish History
Topcliffe with Dalton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire.Other places in the parish include: Baddersby, Azenby, Catton, Crakehill, Dalton, Dalton near Thirsk, Eldmire, Eldmire with Crakehill, Elmer with Crakhall, Elmire, Elmire with Crakenhill, Elmyre with Crakehall, High and Low Catton, Rainton cum Newby, Rainton with Newby, Asenby, and Baldersby.

TOPCLIFFE (St. Columb), a parish, in the union of Thirsk, partly in the wapentake of Birdforth, and partly in the wapentake of Hallikeld, N. riding of York; containing 2964 inhabitants, of whom 706 are in the township of Topcliffe, 4½ miles (S. S. W.) from Thirsk. The parish comprises by computation 14,733 acres, and consists of the chapelries of Dishforth and Marton-le-Moor, and the townships of Asenby, Baldersby, Catton, Dalton, Elmire with Crakehill, Rainton with Newby, Skipton, and Topeliffe. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19. 19. 2.; net income, £600; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of York. The great tithes of Topcliffe township have been commuted for £547, and the small for £97; the dean and chapter have a glebe of 43 acres, and the vicar of 7 acres. The church is of great antiquity. There are separate incumbencies at Dishforth, Marton, and Skipton. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. John Hartforth, in 1588, gave land and money in support of a free grammar school, which, with subsequent bequests, produce £70 a year. Here are some slight vestiges of an ancient baronial mansion of the Percy family called Maiden Bower, in which Henry, fourth earl of Northumberland, was murdered by the populace, in 1489, for enforcing an obnoxious tax. Charles I. was confined in it; and the sum of £200,000, for giving him up to the parliament, was here paid to the Scottish commissioners.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 372-377. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51349 Date accessed: 13 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.

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.

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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.