Place:Aldfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Aldfield (#1 on the right side of the map) is a civil parish and a village in the Harrogate District of North Yorkshire, England, about three miles west of Ripon. The population of the parish was estimated at 80 in 2013. Aldfield was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is the closest village to Fountains Abbey and became part of the abbey estate in 1356. Sulphurous mineral springs were discovered near Aldfield in around 1698 leading to the establishment of Aldfield Spa. Lord de Grey, on whose land the spring was, adapted an adjacent cottage so that the water could be used there for the treatment of various ailments. The facility closed in the 1930s but the ruined buildings are still visible. Aldfield was the birthplace of the artist William Powell Frith. end of Wikipedia contribution Aldfield was a township in the ancient and ecclesiastical parish of Ripon in the Claro Wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire. From 1894 until 1937, Aldfield was located in Ripon Rural District and from 1937 until 1974 in Ripon and Pateley Bridge Rural District. In the nationwide reorganization of local government of 1974 the area became part of the Harrogate District of the new administrative county of North Yorkshire.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portmouth Department of Geography).

"ALDFIELD, a township and a chapelry in Ripon parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The township lies on the rivulet Skell, 4 miles SW of Ripon [railway] station. Post Town: Ripon. Acres: 1,225. Real property: £1,375. Population: 128. Houses: 27. A sulphuretted spring exists here, in a picturesque spot; and, but for being so near Harrowgate, would probably be in high request.

"The chapelry comprises the townships of Aldfield, Studley-Roger, and Studley-Royal, and bears the name of Aldfield-with-Studley. Population in 1851: 327. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value: £72. Patron: Countess Cowper.

As can be seen from the list of townships below, Studley Roger (#26) and Studley Royal (#15) are listed separately.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Aldfield. The GENUKI page gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Ripon provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Aldfield.
• 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.