Place:Ampleforth, North Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Ampleforth is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, about about 23 miles (37 km) north of York. The village is situated on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The parish has a population of 883 according to the 2001 census and includes Ampleforth College. Ampleforth Abbey is a monastery of Benedictine Monks a mile to the east.

Until immediately after the Second World War Ampleforth mainly consisted of houses built along the main road which serves as the principal thoroughfare. Here there are several buildings dating back to the 19th century including the village's shop and the adjoining Coram Cottage, constructed in 1856.

Ampleforth had a Quaker settlement on the edge of the village, in Shallowdale to the west. The 16th century Carr House Farm was occupied by flax workers to weave flax into linen.

end of Wikipedia contribution

Ampleforth was originally an ancient parish in Birdforth Wapentake but at some point it was transferred to the Ryedale Wapentake. In 1866 the status of civil parish was introduced and this was taken on by most ancient parishes and also by their subsidiary townships if they were of any size at all. In 1866 both Ampleforth and its townships of Ampleforth Birdforth and Ampleforth St. Peter became civil parishes. In 1887 the townships were absorbed into Ampleforth. Ampleforth was part of the Helmsley Rural District of the North Riding from 1894 until 1974. Since 1974 it has been in North Yorkshire, specifically within the Ryedale District.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Ampleforth from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"AMPLEFORTH, a village, three townships, and a parish in Helmsley [registration] district, [North Riding of] Yorkshire. The village lies near the Thirsk and Driffield railway, 4 miles SW of Helmsley; it comprises the townships of Ampleforth-St. Peter and Ampleforth-Birdforth in the parish of Ampleforth, and the township of Ampleforth-Oswaldkirk, in the parish of Oswaldkirk; and it has a station on the railway, and a post office under York. Population: 605. A Roman Catholic college was established at Ampleforth Lodge, in Ampleforth-Oswaldkirk, in 1802; grew from a small commencement to great size and consequence; received the addition of a church in 1856, and of new college buildings in 1861; is now a massive quadrangular pile, in the pointed style of the 14th and 15th centuries; and numbers among its pupils many members of the English Romanist aristocracy.

"Ampleforth and Oswaldkirk parishes are interlocked with each other through the village. Acres of the two: 3,573. Real property: £6,516. Population of Ampleforth alone: 450. Houses: 99. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value: £261. Patron: the Archbishop of York. The church is good; and there are two Methodist chapels. Charities: £29."

Research Tips

• Original historical documents relating to the North Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire are held at the North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL7 8TB
• Family history societies covering the area include the Ryedale Family History Group, the Family History Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society (based in the City of York), and the Cleveland, North Yorkshire & South Durham Family History Society (for the Cleveland and Teesside area and the western part of North Yorkshire, commonly known as the "Yorkshire Downs"). A more complete list may be found under the Federation of Family History Societies.
• A History of the County of Yorkshire from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1914 and 1923 (Volume 1: the western part of the North Riding including Richmond and Volume 2: the eastern part of the North Riding including Scarborough and Whitby). A History of the County of York: the City of York is also helpful for the many North Riding parishes that were absorbed into the city during the 19th and 20th centuries.

This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the North Riding to be found online. The volumes are divided into sections by wapentake (early divisions of the county) and the parishes within each wapentake follow in alphabetical order. The links above open to the indexes covering all the wapentakes in the volume.

• GENUKI has a page on all three ridings of Yorkshire and pages for each of the ancient or ecclesiastical parishes in the county. Under each ancient parish there is a list of the settlements (townships and chapelries) within it and brief description of each. Many of these secondary settlements became civil parishes during the latter half of the 19th century.

These notes are based on a gazetteer dated 1835 and there may have been a number of alterations to the parish setup since then. However, it is worthwhile information for the pre civil registration era. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and the submitter is very firm about his copyright, but this should not stop anyone from reading the material.

• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851 which gives the registration district and wapentake for each parish, together with statistics from the 1851 census for the area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Yorkshire North Riding, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions which also include historical population and area statistics. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72.
• Map of the North Riding divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of North Riding divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Another provider of maps is the National Library of Scotland. In this index the Scottish provision precedes the English one, but the choice of maps for England is still quite vast.
• Yorkshire has a large number of family history and genealogical societies. A list of the societies will be found on the Yorkshire, England page.
• In March 2018 Ancestry announced that its file entitled "Yorkshire, England: Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1873" has been expanded to include another 94 parishes (across the three ridings) and expected it to be expanded further during the year. The entries are taken from previously printed parish registers.