Batley, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire Yorkshire Parishes  West Riding  Batley

Parish History
BATLEY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Dewsbury, partly in the Lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, and partly in the wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York; containing 14,278 inhabitants, of whom 7076 are in the township of Batley, 2 miles (N.) from Dewsbury. This place is of great antiquity, its name signifying in Saxon "the Field of Batt or Batta;" it is noticed in the Domesday survey as having a church, which was granted in the reign of Henry I. to the canons of St. Oswald in Nostal Priory. The manor was for eighteen generations held by the Copley family. The parish comprises 6390 acres, of which 2140 are in the township of Batley, 2590 in that of Morley, 1120 in that of Gildersome, and 540 in that of Churwell; the two former are in the Agbrigg division, and the two latter in that of Morley. The soil is fertile, and the substratum abounds with coal and freestone of good quality; the population is partly agricultural, but mostly employed in the manufacture of woollen-cloths, blankets, pilot-cloth, carpets, coverlets, and flushings. The village is pleasantly situated on the Dewsbury and Gomersal road, in a valley watered by a small rivulet; and is very extensive. The Living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16. 11. 8.; net income, £200; patrons, alternately, the Earls of Cardigan and Wilton. The tithes for the township of Batley were commuted for land in 1803. The church, which was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VI., is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square machicolated tower: on the north of the chancel is the chapel belonging to Howley Hall, the seat of Lord Saville in the reigns of James I. and Charles I., to whom he was councillor of state. At Gildersome and Morley are district churches. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Methodists of the New Connexion, and Wesleyans. A free grammar school was founded by the Rev. William Lee, who, in 1612, endowed it with a house and garden for the master, and with lands now producing an income of £133.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 168-177. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50784 Date accessed: 24 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.

Batley is an ancient parish (created before 1813). Church of England records for Batley survive from 1559 (All Saints), 1841 (Batley Carr), and 1868 (St.Thomas).

In addition, the following pre-1837 Church of England chapelries were also found within Batley parish:


 * St. Peter's Gildersome (1813)
 * St. Peter's Morley (1830)

The original registers are deposited at the West Yorkshire Archives in Wakefield.

The copies made by the minister (ordered by an Act of 1598) and sent each year to the Bishop of the diocese (known as parish register transcripts or Bishop's transcripts) survive from 1600 and are deposited at the West Yorkshire Archives branch in Sheepscar, Leeds.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has both parish registers and bishop's transcripts on microfilm for Batley and its chapelries, which are listed in the. Many of these records are indexed in the International Genealogical Index available online through the 'Advanced Search' at familysearch.org.

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.

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.