Place:Gargrave, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Gargrave is a large village and civil parish in the Craven District located along the A65 road, 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Skipton in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales. The River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal pass through the village. It had a population of 1,764 in 2001 reducing slightly to 1,755 at the 2011 UK census.

Gargrave was an ancient parish in the Staincliffe Wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire. This part of the West Riding of Yorkshire was transferred to the new administrative county of North Yorkshire in 1974.

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

"GARGRAVE, a village, a township, a parish, and a [registration] sub-district in [registration] Skipton district, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Aire, adjacent to the Leeds and Lancaster railway, 4½ miles WNW of Skipton; and has a bridge over the Aire, a cotton and worsted mill, a station on the railway, a post office under Leeds, and fairs on 12 and 29 Dec.

"The township comprises 2,536 acres. Real property: £6,243. Population: 1,103. Houses: 224.

"The parish contains also the townships of Eshton, Coniston Cold, Bank Newton, and Flasby with Winterburn. Acres: 11,615. Real property: £15,970. Population in 1851: 1,831; in 1861: 1,641. Houses: 321.

"Gargrave House is a chief residence. The property is much subdivided. Much of the land is disposed in pasture. A remarkable petrifying spring is near Eshton. Remains of a Roman villa, with tesselated pavement, were found about ½ a mile from Gargrave village. The parish is a resort of sportsmen. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value: £750. Patron: the Rev. J. Marsden. The church is ancient but good. The vicarage of Cold-Coniston is a separate benefice. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists. There are also a national school and charities £73."

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.