Place:Moorsholm, North Riding of Yorkshire, England

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NameMoorsholm
Alt namesMoorsholm cum Girricksource: alternate name
Moorsholm-cum-Girricksource: hyphenated
Great Moorsholmsource: alternate name
Girricksource: hamlet in parish
Mooresholmsource: spelling error
TypeTownship, Civil parish
Coordinates54.519°N 0.936°W
Located inNorth Riding of Yorkshire, England     ( - 1974)
Also located inYorkshire, England    
Cleveland, England     (1974 - 1996)
See alsoSkelton in Cleveland, North Riding of Yorkshire, Englandancient parish in which it was a township
Langbaurgh East Wapentake, North Riding of Yorkshire, Englandwapentake covering the area
Skelton with Brotton Urban District, North Riding of Yorkshire, Englandurban district covering the area 1894-1974
Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since 1996
source: Family History Library Catalog


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

Moorsholm is a village now in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England (named the North Riding of Yorkshire before 1974). The village lies 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Saltburn by the Sea between the North York Moors and the North Sea.

Because of its proximity to the North Sea coast the area was vulnerable, historically, to attack by invaders from Scandinavia. The name of Moorsholm is of Viking origin with the suffix holm meaning "a settlement", being affixed to the location of the village "by the moors": in other words "settlement by the moors". The village used to be called Great Moorsholm to distinguish it from a farm called Little Moorsholm, which is the other side of the Hagg Beck Valley to the north. 'Little Moorsholm' is a title now more commonly applied to a more modern housing estate between that farm and Lingdale.

The settlement was mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086 as Morehusum, belonging to the Earl of Morton and later Clan Bruce, ancestor to the kings of Scotland, and from them descended to the Thwengs, Lumleys, and others. It was a planned mediaeval village built along a main street with crofts and their associated tofts on each side. The church of St Mary, Moorsholm, was built in 1892 and is of stone in 12th-century style. It consists of chancel, nave and west tower.

end of Wikipedia contribution

Prior to the nationwide reorganization of local government in 1974, Moorsholm was a civil parish in Skelton with Brotton Urban District and before 1866 it was a township in the ancient parish of Skelton in Cleveland in the Langbaurgh East Wapentake.

The Family History Catalog indexes Moorsholm as Moorsholm-cum-Girrick. It is presumed that Girrick is a hamlet within the original township, but there are no other references to the settlement.

Research Tips

This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the North Riding to be found online. The volumes are divided into sections by wapentake (early divisions of the county) and the parishes within each wapentake follow in alphabetical order. The links above open to the indexes covering all the wapentakes in the volume.
  • GENUKI has a page on all three ridings of Yorkshire and pages for each of the ancient or ecclesiastical parishes in the county. Under each ancient parish there is a list of the settlements (townships and chapelries) within it and brief description of each. Many of these secondary settlements became civil parishes during the latter half of the 19th century.
These notes are 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, but 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. 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 North 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 which also include historical population and area statistics. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72.
  • Map of the North Riding divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
  • Map of North Riding divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
  • Another provider of maps is the National Library of Scotland. In this index the Scottish provision precedes the English one, but the choice of maps for England is still quite vast.
  • 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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Moorsholm. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.