Aberford, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  Yorkshire Parishes  West Riding  Aberford

Parish History
ABERFORD (St. Richard), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York, 7 miles (S. by E.) from Wetherby, and 186¾ (N. N. W.) from London, on the road to Carlisle; comprising the townships of Aberford, Parlington, and Sturton-Grange, and containing 1071 inhabitants, of whom 782 are in the township of Aberford. The town, which is in the parishes of Aberford and Sherburn, is built on the gentle acclivity of a rock of limestone, near the small river Cock, a stream abounding with trout and eels, over which is an excellent stone bridge. It consists principally of one long street: the houses are in general of stone, and many of them are handsome; the air is pure and salubrious, and the environs are thickly studded with elegant villas. The parish comprises 3820 acres of fertile land; there are extensive strata of limestone, and a productive coal-mine, from which a railway has been laid down to a depôt in the town, and an extensive trade is carried on in coal. The Leeds and Selby railway passes within three miles. The market, which was on Wednesday, has been discontinued; but a customary market is held on Friday, and fairs take place on the last Monday in April and May, the first Monday in October, the first Monday after the 18th of that month, and the first Monday after the 2nd of November. The magistrates hold a petty-session for the division every Thursday, and the town is a pollingplace for the West Riding. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 1. 8., and in the patronage of Oriel College, Oxford, to which establishment, and the Misses Gascoigne, the impropriation belongs; net income of the vicar, £305. The church is an ancient structure, in the early, decorated, and later styles of English architecture. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. At the distance of a mile north of Aberford are vestiges of Castle-Cary, an ancient Norman fortification; and the scene of the battle of Towton, which decided the long continued war between the houses of York and Lancaster, is within two miles of the town. The Roman road is the parish boundary south of the bridge, and cuts off a small district on the north, called Greystone Field. The Rev. Mr. Waters, a former incumbent, died at the advanced age of 114 years.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 1-5. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50741 Date accessed: 03 August 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
Aberford was located within the old West Riding of Yorkshire. Parish registers for this ancient parish (AP) begin in 1540. The orginial registers of Aberford, along with the copies known as the Bishop's Transcripts, are deposited at the Borthwick Institute in the city of York.

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 on List contiguous parishes.

Neighboring Parishes
The GENUKI: Church Database is helpful in determining the names of the churches in the area. By typing the name of the parish, a list will show the names and denominations of other churches in a selected radius.

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