Lythe, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  Yorkshire Parishes K-R North Riding  Lythe



Parish History
Lythe St Oswald is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Mickleby, Kettleness, Nickleby, Sandsend, Ugthorpe, Barnby, Borrowby, Borrowby near Whitby, Briscoe, East Row, Ellerby, Ellerby near Whitley, Goldsbrough, Hutton Mulgrave, and Newton Mulgrave.

LYTHE (St. Oswald), a parish, in the union of Whitby, E. division of the liberty of Langbaurgh, N.riding of York; containing, with the townships ofBarnby, Borrowby, Ellerby, Hutton-Mulgrave, Mickleby, Newton-Mulgrave, and Ugthorpe, 2080 inhabitants, of whom 1063 are in the township of Lythe, 4 miles (W.N. W.) from Whitby. This parish, which is bounded on the east by the sea, is on the road from Whitby to Guisborough, and comprises 12,070 acres, exclusive of 700 or 800 acres of uninclosed moor. Upwards of one third of the land is arable, and the rest meadow, pasture,and wood; the surface is undulated, the soil a good sound clay and loam, and the scenery, generally bold, in many parts picturesque and beautiful. The township of Lythe contains 3711 acres. At Kettleness and Sandsend, in the parish, are very considerable alum works, which have been carried on for more than 200 years, and are now the property of the Marquess of Normanby. The lofty cliff at Kettleness, the base of which was excavated with numerous caves and fissures, became dislocated on the night of December 17th, 1829, when the whole hamlet situated on its summit, glided down towards the sea; the inhabitants were secured by retreating to a ship lying off the coast for a cargo of alum. The village of Lythe is large, well built, and pleasantly situated at the distance of half a mile from the sea. Mulgrave Castle, the magnificent seat of the Marquess of Normanby, stands a little south, and commands extensive views. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10. 12. 6.;net income, £150; patron and appropriator, the Archbishop of York. The church, though of modern appearance, is an ancient structure; a square tower was added in 1770, and the edifice was re-roofed in 1820: it stands conspicuously on an eminence, and forms a landmark for mariners at sea. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and at Ugthorpe is a Roman Catholic chapel. A parochial school is aided by the Marchioness of Normanby. Peter de Mauley in the reign of Henry III. obtained a weekly market to be held here,and a fair on the eve of the festival of St. Oswald; but both have been long disused.

From: Lewis, Samuel A.,  A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 203-208. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51127 Date accessed: 06 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.

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
Whitby 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.