Great Ayton, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Great Ayton



Parish History
Great Ayton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire. Other places in the parish include: Great Ayton with Langbaurgh, Langbaurgh, Tunstall, Little Ayton with Tunstall, and Little Ayton.

The ancient church of All Saints was replaced by the District Church of Christ Church which was buillt by architects Ross &amp; Lamb, John Ross being an old boy of the Friends School and opened in 1877.

All Saints had become inadequate and in need of major repair.



AYTON, GREAT (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Stokesley, W. division of the liberty of Langbaurgh, N. riding of York; containing 1216 inhabitants, of whom 1014 are in the township of Great Ayton, 3 miles (N. E. by E.) from Stokesley. This parish, which is on the road from Stokesley to Guisborough, consists of the townships of Great Ayton, Little Ayton, and Nunthorpe, and comprises about 5640 acres; the lands are chiefly arable and pasture in nearly equal portions; the surface is diversified, and much of the scenery is very beautiful. A large seam of whinstone runs across the whole district, passes through the parish, and is wrought in several quarries; the stone is a hard blue, of excellent quality, and much used in making roads. Iron-ore is also found, and a mine was opened at Cliffrigg-Woods, but the works have been for some time discontinued. There are two oil-mills and three tanneries; and the manufacture of linen, once a flourishing trade here, still affords employment to a few of the inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the family of Marwood, the impropriators, with a net income of £82. The church is a neat unadorned edifice of considerable antiquity, with a square tower; the chancel is separated from the nave by an enriched Norman arch. There is a second church at Nunthorpe, forming a separate incumbency. The Independents, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, and Society of Friends have places of worship. A school founded in 1704 by Michael Postgate, and rebuilt in 1785, has an endowment of about £10 per annum: at this school the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook, received a portion of his education, at the expense of Thomas Scottowe, Esq., whom his father served as manager of a farm. There is also a large agricultural school connected with the Society of Friends; and in the middle of the village are three almshouses, built by subscription.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 120-124. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50772 Date accessed: 29 April 2011.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Great Ayton like this:

AYTON, two townships and a parish in Stokesley district, N. R. Yorkshire. The townships are distinguished from each other as Great and Little. Great Ayton lies on the river Leven, and on the Guisbrough railway, 3 miles NE of Stokesley; includes the hamlet of Langbaurgh; and has a post office under Northallerton, and a r. station. Acres, 3,146. Real property, £5,778. Pop., 1,450. Houses, 320. Little Ayton lies contiguous on the E, also on the river Leven; and includes the hamlet of Tunstall. Acres, 1,334. Real property, £1,100. Pop., 78. Houses, 14. The parish contains likewise the township of Nunthorpe. Acres, 5,890. Real property, £8,727. Pop., 1,688. Houses, 361. The property is subdivided. Freestone is quarried; and appearances of iron ore exist. An agricultural school and model farm were established at Ayton House by T. Richardson. Some of the inhabitants are employed in linen factories. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value, £82. Patron, the Rev. G. Marwood. The church is tolerable. The p. curacy of Nunthorpe is a separate charge. There are chapels for Independents, Methodists, and Quakers. A charity school, with £10 a year, was founded, under Rose-Topping hill, in 1704, by Michael Postgate; and here the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook, received part of his education. Other charities have £17.

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
Stokesley 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.