Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire Yorkshire Parishes   York &amp; Ainsty  Bishopthorpe

Parish History
BISHOPTHORPE (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of York, Ainsty wapentake, W. riding of York, 3 miles (S. by W.) from York; containing 404 inhabitants. This place was called originally St. Andrew's Thorpe, from the dedication of its church, which formerly belonged to the priory of St. Andrew's at York; and obtained its present appellation in the reign of Henry III., when Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York, purchased the manor, and erected a house here, which, since the destruction of Cawood Castle in the parliamentary war, has been the residence of his successors in the see. The palace is now a large and magnificent building, having been improved by several subsequent possessors, and especially by Archbishop Drummond, by whom it was greatly enlarged in 1766. Walter de Grey also built here a chapel, in the early English style, in which he founded a chantry for the souls of King John and himself, and of all faithful deceased; this is now the private chapel of the archbishop, and the most ancient part of the palace. The parish comprises by computation 760 acres, of which 464 are arable, and 164 pasture. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4; net income, £134; patron, the Archbishop: the vicarage-house was considerably enlarged in 1825. The church was rebuilt in 1768, by Archbishop Drummond, and ornamented by him with a handsome window, removed from Cawood Castle; and the edifice again requiring very extensive repairs, it was restored and embellished in 1842, by the present archbishop, at an expense of about £1500. The notorious Guy Fawkes is said to have been a native of this place, and it is certain that he was a schoolfellow of Thomas Morton, Bishop of Durham, at the free grammar school at York.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 267-270. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50804 Date accessed: 31 August 2011.

Civil Registration
Records from York Registration District held at York 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.

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.