Rawdon, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire Yorkshire Parishes K-R  West Riding  Rawdon

Parish History
RAWDON, a chapelry, in the parish of Guiseley, Upper division of the wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York, 6½ miles (N. W.) from Leeds; containing 2531 inhabitants. The chapelry is bounded on the south by the river Aire, and comprises 1535a. 3r. 30p., of which 1248 acres are pasture and meadow, 177 arable, 82 woodland, and 20 common or waste. The substratum contains coal of inferior quality, which is wrought to amoderate extent; and there are some quarries of excellent building-stone, from which the materials for the construction of the St. Katherine's Docks, in London, were partly supplied. The scenery is pleasingly diversified, and enlivened with various gentlemen's seats. Layton Hall, for centuries the seat of the Layton family, is now converted into cottages; and Rawdon Hall, which belongs to the family of Rawdon, is in a dilapidated state. The village is situated on the north side of the road from Leeds to Guiseley, and on the brow of a lofty eminence in the valley of Airedale, commanding extensive views. The chapel, with a parsonage, was built in 1651, chiefly at the expense of Francis Layton, Esq., whose son Thomas, the inheritor of his estates, in the year 1652 endowed it with £20 per annum for the minister, and £2 for the clerk, at the same time assigning funds for other purposes. It was thoroughly repaired in 1825. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Mrs. Emmott, lady of the manor, and has a net income of £115: there is a glebe of 36 acres. The tithes have been commuted for £88. 12. There are places of worship for Baptists, Friends, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans; and a school at Woodhouse Grove, founded in 1812, for the education of the sons of Wesleyan ministers. The bequest of Mr. Layton in1652, of which the proceeds amount to £40 per annum, is appropriated, after the payments to the chapel previously noticed, to the apprenticing of children and the relief of the poor. Rawdon gives the title of Baron to the Marquess of Hastings.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 640-645. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51232 Date accessed: 07 October 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
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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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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