Place:Burley in Wharfedale, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Burley in Wharfedale is now a civil parish and a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England, and is situated within the Wharfedale valley. The village is situated on the A65 road, approximately 11 miles (18 km) northwest from Leeds city centre, 8 miles (13 km) north from Bradford, 3 miles (5 km) from the spa town of Ilkley and 2 miles (3 km) from the market town of Otley. The hamlet of Burley Woodhead, a cluster of farms and homes at the foot of Burley Moor, is 1 mile (1.6 km) to the southwest. Burley was an urban district until 1937 when it was absorbed by the larger Ilkley Urban District. In 1974 the whole area became part of Bradford Metropolitan District. [edit] History As suggested by the Old English derivation of the village name ("fortification or clearing in the River Wharfe valley"), Burley in Wharfedale was originally a small agricultural community with likely Roman and Anglo-Saxon roots. Burley developed in the late 18th and 19th centuries into an industrial village with many residents employed at Greenholme Mills, cotton mills powered from a goit (definition: “channel, gutter, drain”) fed from the River Wharfe. The cotton mill no longer operates, but the goit is now utilised to provide hydro electric power, and a weir remains.

The development of industrial and commercial centres in the nearby cities of Leeds and Bradford, combined with rail and bus links, caused major changes to the village in the early 20th century. Council housing was built in the 1920s and 1950s, as the village became a dormitory settlement for the two cities. With developments in the second half of the 20th century, Burley became a prosperous but socially diverse village. The village has a high percentage of elderly and retired people, and young families attracted by job opportunities, local schools and new housing developments.

In 2006, following a petition to the local authority and permission from the Secretary of State, Burley gained its own parish council.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portmouth Department of Geography).

"BURLEY, a township-chapelry in Otley parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire; on the Leeds and Ilkley railway, 2 miles W by N of Otley. It includes a village, with a well-built street about ¼ of a mile long; and has a post office under Otley, and a [railway] station. Acres: 4,037. Real property: £8,638. Population: 2,136. Houses: 417.

"Burley Old Hall, Burley New Hall, and Burley Lodge are principal residences; and the latter two were built, in the latter part of last century, by Mande, the local descriptive poet. Many of the inhabitants are employed in cotton and worsted mills. The living is a vicarage, with Menston, in the diocese of Ripon. Value: £137. Patron: T. Horsfall, Esq. The church is modern; and there are three dissenting chapels."

Research Tips

• British History Online (Victoria County Histories) do not cover the West Riding of Yorkshire
• GENUKI has a page on all three ridings of Yorkshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical parishes in the county. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. The list is 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. 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 from more recent data. 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 West 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. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72.

• Map of the West Riding divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1917 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. In other counties, the map for 1900 has been used, but it is not coming up in Vision of Britain's list.
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time

• The above three maps indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.
• 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.