Birdforth, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  North Riding  Birdforth



Parish History
Birdforth St Mary is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Yorkshire, created in 1739 from chapelry in Coxwold, Yorkshire Ancient Parish.

BIRDFORTH, a chapelry, in the parish of Coxwold, union of Thirsk, wapentake of Birdforth, N. riding of York, 5 miles (N. W. by N.) from Easingwould; containing 44 inhabitants. It comprises 595 acres, of which 259 are arable, and 334 meadow and pasture. The village is situated on the road from Easingwould to Thirsk, and the York and Newcastle railway passes a short distance on the west. The antiquity of the place is evinced by its having given name to the wapentake. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Archbishop of York: the impropriate tithes, belonging to Trinity College, Cambridge, have been commuted for £108. 15., and those of the incumbent for £64. 2. The chapel was partly rebuilt in 1585.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 248-255. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50801 Date accessed: 13 May 2011.

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

BIRDFORTH, a chapelry and a wapentake in N. R. Yorkshire. The chapelry is in Coxwold parish; and lies 3 miles ENE of Sessay r. station, and 5 NNW of Easingwold. Post Town, Coxwold, under Easingwold. Acres, 604. Real property, £935. Pop., 40. Houses, 8. The property is divided between two. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of York. Value, £94. Patron, the Archbishop of York. The church is tolerable. -The wapentake includes seventeen parishes and parts of six others. Acres, 103,177. Pop. in 1851, 14,462; in 1861, 14,072. Houses, 3,042.

The church remains consecrated but is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

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 neighboring 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.

This ancient parish (AP) was created before 1813. Church of England records began in date.

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
Thirsk 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.