Castle Bolton, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire  East Riding  Bolton

Parish History
Castle Bolton Bolton St Oswald is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Yorkshire, created in 1748 from Wensley, Yorkshire Ancient Parish.

BOLTON-CASTLE, a chapelry, in the parish of Wensley, union of Leyburn, wapentake of HangWest, N. riding of York, 7¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Middleham; containing 230 inhabitants. On the brow of a hill are the ruins of a castle built by Richard, Lord Scrope, chancellor of England in the reign of Richard II., and endowed with £106. 15. 4. per annum, for a chantry of six chaplains. Mary, Queen of Scots, was kept a prisoner here for about two years, and was removed hence to Tutbury in 1569; she inscribed her name on a pane of glass, which was removed to Bolton Hall a few years since. During the parliamentary war, the castle was defended for the king by Colonel Scrope and a party of the Richmondshire militia, and sustained a pressing siege, which terminated in its surrender to the insurgents in 1645. The north-eastern tower fell down in 1761, and the eastern and northern sides are entirely in ruins; the west front is in good repair. The living is a perpetual curacy, with that of Redmire annexed; net income, £115; patron, the Rector of Wensley. The chapel is dedicated to St. Oswald.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 295-302. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50811 Date accessed: 20 May 2011.

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

BOLTON-CASTLE, or Castle-Bolton, a township-chapelry in Wensley parish, N. R. Yorkshire; in Wensleydale, 5½ miles WNW of Leyburn r. station. Post Town, Leyburn, under Bedale. Acres, 5,160. Real property, £1,578. Pop., 259. Houses, 54. Bolton Hall is the seat of Lord Bolton; and gives him his peerage title. Bolton Castle is the ruined seat of Lord Chancellor Scrope, built by him in the reign of Richard Il., at a cost of £12,000; forms a hollow quadrangle, with towers at the corners; was the prison of Mary Queen of Scots for two years before her removal to Tutbury; and sustained a siege by the parliamentarians near the end of the civil war. The living is a p. curacy, united with the p. curacy of Redmire, in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £115. Patron, the Rector of Wensley. The church is ancient.

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 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
Leyburn 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.