Levisham, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Levisham

Parish History
Levisham St John the Baptist is an Ancient parish.

LEVISHAM, a parish, in the union and lythe of Pickering, N. riding of York, 6 miles (N. N. E.) from Pickering; containing 168 inhabitants. The surface is a remarkably hilly moorland. The soil is of much variety, some of it very good; it is for the most part red and sandy, with a little clay in the romantic valley of Newton-Dale, situated to the north-west. The substratum is limestone, of which, and of freestone, some of excellent quality is worked for building and for lime. The Whitby and Pickering railway runs for three miles through the parish, and at a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from the village. There is a flour-mill. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 8. 1½.; net income, £120;patron, incumbent, and impropriator, the Rev. Robert Skelton, who is also lord of the manor, and owner of most of the soil. The church, a neat edifice in a secluded part of the parish, was built in 1802. St. John's well,here, is a sulphureous spring of petrifying power, reputed to be good in scorbutic complaints.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 74-78. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51105 Date accessed: 07 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
Deposited registers at the North Yorkshire Record office Baptisms: 1700-1736, 1753-1760, 1779, 1786-1979 Marriages: 1700-1736, 1753-1760, 1786-1974 Burials: 1700-1736, 1753-1760, 1786-1954 Bap/Bur 1653-1657 are with Pickering

Bishop's Transcripts: 1600, 1608, 1629, 1632, 1633, 1635-1638, 1661-1667, 1669-1673,1675-1677, 1682, 1686, 1689, 1691, 1693, 1694, 1696, 1697, 1701, 1702, 1706-1708, 1710-1851, 1854, 1856, 1859-1864

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
Pickering 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.