Place:Kirk Hammerton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Kirk Hammerton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate District of North Yorkshire, England. It is near the River Nidd and the A59 road, 10 miles (16 km) west of York. The village suffix refers to the Hamerton family who owned the land until the 16th century.

Historically, Kirk Hammerton was an ecclesiastical parish in the Upper division of the Claro Wapentake and also in the Ainsty Wapentake, the administration covering the rural area to the west and south of the City of York.

According to the references from the 1820s sourced by GENUKI, Kirk Hammerton included the hamlet of Wilstrop. Wilstrop became a separate civil parish in 1866 and was linked from 1894 to Wetherby Rural District because it was located on the south side of the River Nidd.

From 1894 until 1938, Kirk Hammerton was located in Great Ouseburn Rural District and from 1938 until 1974 in Nidderdale Rural District. In 1974 the area became part of the Harrogate District of North Yorkshire.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

(H)ambretone, a place-name reflected now in both Kirk Hammerton ("Hammerton with the church", from the Old Norse kirkja = "church") and Green Hammerton ("Hammerton with the green", from Middle English grene), is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name seems to derive from the Old English plant-name hamor (whose meaning is not certain but might include hammer-sedge or pellitory of the wall) + tūn 'settlement, farm, estate'. The course of Rudgate, a Roman road, passes the village.

The lands of the parish used to be held by the Hamerton family of Hellifield Peel Castle, part of their estate stretching from Slaidburn to York. Sir Stephen Hamerton was executed for treason at Tyburn in 1536 for participating in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Being of knightly rank, Sir Stephen was hanged and beheaded, but not drawn and quartered, and his lands seized by the crown. His son Henry died on 3 August 1537, and was buried in York Minster. Joan, the widow of Henry, died on 3 January 1538, leaving two infant children; Elizabeth, the widow of Sir Stephen, died on 3 May 1538, and was buried at Slaidburn. The Hellifield estates were held by the Crown until 1546, when they were granted out to George Brown, Esq., to be held by the King, in capita, for the sum of £292-9-2. In 1553 Sir Arthur Darcy, knight, bought the manor of Hellified and 12 messuages and a watermill, from George Brown and his wife. In 1556-7 the property passed into the hands of Anthony Watson and John Redman, both of whom were connected with the Hamertons by marriage. After much legal procedure, the Hellifield estates were alienated in 1561, and following a fine levied at Westminster, they were returned to the Hamertons in the person of John Hamerton, Esq., nephew of Sir Stephen. The village and nearby Green Hammerton still bear their name.

On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France from York to Sheffield, passed through the village.

The page, Great Ouseburn Rural District, has an outline map of all the civil parishes in the district.

Research Tips

• This map provided by Tockwith with Wilstrop Parish Council shows the local area within and without the boundaries of the parish (which is marked in red).
• GENUKI on Kirk Hammerton in the West Riding. The GENUKI page gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• GENUKI on Kirk Hammerton in Ainstry Wapentake. This entry is supplementary to the one above.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Kirk Hammerton provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Kirk Hammerton.
• A Vision of Britain through Time also provides links to maps of the West Riding, produced by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey, illustrating the boundaries between the civil parishes and the rural districts at various dates. Those listed here provide data for the part of the West Riding that transferred to North Yorkshire in 1974 plus the northern parts of Leeds and Bradford. These maps all blow up to a scale that will illustrate small villages and large farms or estates.

• Ordnance Survey West Riding 1888. The "Sanitary Districts (which preceded the rural districts) for the whole of the West Riding.
• Ordnance Survey Northern part of the West Riding 1900 The rural and urban districts, not long after their introduction. (rural districts of Sedbergh, Settle, Skipton, Pateley Bridge, Ripon, Knaresborough, Great Ouseburn, Clitheroe, Wharfedale, Wetherby, York, Bishopthorpe, Keighley, the northern part of Bradford, the northern part of Leeds, the northern part of Hunslet Urban District, the northern part of Tadcaster Rural District, the northern part of Selby Rural District). [Note: this map appears to be no longer available on the Vision of Britain website. This is unfortunate because the equivalent map from 1931-44 was redrawn after the 1938 reorganization of the rural districts in the northern part of the West Riding.]
• Ordnance Survey Northern part of the West Riding 1944. The urban and rural districts of the northern part of the West Riding (mostly Settle, Skipton, Ripon and Pateley Bridge, and Nidderdale, with sections of Wharfedale and Wetherby) after the revisions of 1938.