Place:Kilham, East 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

Kilham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated about 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Driffield town centre. According to the 2011 UK census, Kilham parish had a population of 1,088, an increase on the 2001 UK census figure of 1,010.

Kilham was once an important market town in the Yorkshire Wolds, bigger and more important than Driffield at one time. It held annual trading fairs and had a large number of businesses and a considerable population. The town declined in size and status following the building of the Driffield Navigation, which took trade away from Kilham to nearby Driffield.

Historically, Kilham was an ancient parish of in the wapentake of Dickering. From 1894 until 1974, Kilham was located in Driffield Rural District.

Humberside 1974-1996

In 1974 most of what had been the East Riding of Yorkshire was joined with the northern part of Lincolnshire to became a new English county named Humberside. The urban and rural districts of the former counties were abolished and Humberside was divided into non-metropolitan districts. The new organization did not meet with the pleasure of the local citizenry and Humberside was wound up in 1996. The area north of the River Humber was separated into two "unitary authorities"—Kingston upon Hull covering the former City of Hull and its closest environs, and the less urban section to the west and to the north which, once again, named itself the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The phrase "Yorkshire and the Humber" serves no purpose in WeRelate. It refers to one of a series of basically economic regions established in 1994 and abolished for most purposes in 2011. See the Wikipedia article entited "Regions of England").

A nineteenth century description

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

"KILHAM, a village and a parish in Driffield district, [East Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands on the Wolds, near the source of the river Hull, 3½ miles NNW of Lowthorpe [railway] station, and 5½ NE by N of Great Driffield; consists chiefly of one straggling street, about a mile long; was once a market town; and has a post office under Driffield, and fairs on 21 Aug. and 12 Nov. The parish comprises 7,660 acres. Real property: £12,656. Population: 1,252. Houses: 274. The manor belongs to W. S. D. Duesbery, Esq. About 350 acres are under wood. A mineral spring is near Rudston road, and a remarkable intermitting spring is at Hempit-hole. Brewing and brick making are carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value: £300. Patron: the Archbishop of York. The church is mainly early English; has a beautiful Norman door, and a massive tower; and contains sedilia, a piscina, and monumental tablets to the Andersons, the Thomsons, and others. There are chapels for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, a grammar school with £30 a year from endowment, national schools, a mechanics' institute, and charities £8."

Kilham included the manors of Kilham and Swaythorpe, but no townships or chapelries.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Kilham. The GENUKI page gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Kilham provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Kilham.
• A Vision of Britain through Time provides links to three maps of the East Riding, produced by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey, illustrating the boundaries between the civil parishes and the rural districts at various dates. These maps all expand to a scale that will illustrate small villages and large farms or estates.

• Ordnance Survey 1888. The "Sanitary Districts (which preceded the rural districts).
• Ordnance Survey 1900 The rural districts, not long after their introduction.
• Ordnance Survey 1944. The rural districts after the revisions of 1935.