Place:Burnsall, West 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

Burnsall is a village and civil parish in the Craven District of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Wharfe in Wharfedale, with a five-arched bridge over which the Dalesway passes, and is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The village is 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Hebden, along a river path dating back to Viking times. Although the 2001 census gave it a population of only 112, the village has a parish church, a chapel, a primary school (housed in the original grammar school building of 1602, which is a grade II listed building). The school building, like the much-photographed bridge (also grade II listed), is an early 17th-century legacy of William Craven of nearby Appletreewick.

St Wilfrid's Church (a grade I listed building) is almost entirely Perpendicular in its architectural style. Amongst its well-known internal features are an 11th-century font carved with bird and beasts, twelve Anglo-Saxon sculpture fragments and a 14th-century alabaster panel depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The churchyard, which has a number of interesting gravestones, is entered from the main road by a large and well-kept lychgate.

The ancient parish of Burnsall occupied a large part of upper Wharfedale, wrapping round the parish of Litton. It included the townships of Appletreewick, Bordley, Conistone with Kilnsey, Cracoe, Hartlington, Hetton, Rylstone and Thorpe (near Skipton), all of which became separate civil parishes in 1866. The parish was in Staincliffe and Ewcross Wapentake. From 1894 until 1974 it was a civil parish in Skipton Rural District. Since the nationwide reorganization of municipalities in 1974 it has been in the Craven District of North Yorkshire.

GENUKI provides a further description of Burnsall from a gazetteer of 1822, while A Vision of Britain through Time quotes from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72.

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.