Bilsdale, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire Yorkshire Parishes   North Riding  Bilsdale



Parish History
Bilsdale St John is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Yorkshire, created in 1745 from Helmsley, Yorkshire Ancient Parish.

Other places in the parish include: Bilsdale High-West-side, Urra, Raisdale, Crossett, Bilsdale East-side, Bilsdale High, Chopgate, Bilsdale Low Midcable, Bilsdale West, Chapel Yate, Chapelgate, Chapgate, and West Side.

BILSDALE, WEST SIDE, a township, in the parish of Hawnby, union of Helmsley, wapentake of Birdforth, N. riding of York, 8 miles (N. W. by N.) from Helmsley; containing 168 inhabitants. This is a moorland township, extending in length between seven and twelve miles, and rising in lofty fells at Ryedale Head; it comprises by computation 6090 acres. The river Seth flows on the east in a direction nearly from north to south. In 1757, John Smales and Gregory Elsley bequeathed £120. 5., directing the proceeds to be applied to teaching six poor boys.

BILSDALE-MIDCABLE, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Helmsley, wapentake of Ryedale, N. riding of York, 7 miles (N. N. W.) from Helmsley; containing, with Bilsdale-Kirkham, 738 inhabitants. This place is on the east side of Ryedale, and includes the hamlets of Crosett and Chapel-Yate; it comprises by computation 8380 acres, of which a large portion is high moorland. The chapel, built about 20 years since, and dedicated to St. Hilda, is a neat structure with a square tower: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Helmsley, and has a net income of £91. There is a place of worship for the Society of Friends. Upon Studfast hill, in this district, the site of a Druids' temple was discovered in 1824.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 241-244. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50799 Date accessed: 29 April 2011.

Civil Registration
Records from the Ryedale registration district held at the North Yorkshire Registration Service are included in the online index available at Yorkshire BMD for post 1837 events; view the coverage table to check progress on the availability of index search.

Marriages include


 * Church of England marriages.
 * Civil Marriages at register offices, or non-conformist churches where a registrar was required to be present at the ceremony.
 * Authorised Person marriages. These cover the non-conformist places of worship which applied to keep their own registers as a result of the Marriage Act, 1898 (bringing them into line with Jewish and Quaker marriages which had this status since 1837). In such cases an 'Authorised Person' (usually the minister or priest) recorded the ceremony instead of the registrar. Earlier weddings in these places would be included with civil marriage registers.

A secondary index of 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 however this secondary index may omit the event and may not contain the detail of the Yorkshire BMD index

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.

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
Helmsley 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.