Place:Morton (near Keighley), West Riding of Yorkshire, England

A Vision of Britain through Time provides a quotation from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 describing Morton as "MORTON, a township and a chapelry in Bingley parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The township lies on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, under Rumbles-Moor, 2 miles N of Bingley [railway] station; and contains the village of East Morton and the hamlet of West Morton. East [Morton] is a considerable place; occupies the sides and summit of a hill; and has a post office under Leeds. West [Morton] is a cluster of houses on the [north] bank of the river Aire. Real property of the township: £8,733; of which £300 are in mines, and £20 in quarries. Population in 1851: 1,902; in 1861: 2,113. Houses: 398. There are several good residences, and several worsted, cotton, and paper mills. The chapelry is more extensive than the township, includes a part called Morton-Banks, [which] was constituted in 1845. Population: 2,432. Houses: 471." the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia In the 21st centuty East Morton is a small village which lies 2 miles (3 km) north of Bingley and 2.5 miles (4 km) east of Keighley, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The small hamlet of West Morton lies 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northwest. East Morton has a population of 1,169 according to the 2011 census.

Until 1938 East and West Morton, together with Riddlesden and a large area of Rombalds Moor, formed the chapelry of Morton in the ancient parish of Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The chapelry became the parish of Morton by an act of Parliament in 1846, and in 1866 became a civil parish. From 1894 until 1938 Morton was a civil parish in Keighley Rural District. In 1938 the rural district was abolished the parish was absorbed into Municipal Borough of Keighley.

Keighley itself was abolished in 1974 and absorbed into the City of Bradford Metropolitan District in the new county of West Yorkshire. The civil parish of Keighley, including East and West Morton, was reconstituted in 2002 with a town council.

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.