Place:Bolton upon Dearne, West 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 Bolton upon Dearne is a small village located in the Dearne Valley within the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. It is approximately seven miles east of Barnsley, ten miles west of Doncaster and eight miles north of Rotherham. Before 1974 it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Bolton upon Dearne was an ancient parish. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as being under the Manor of Bolton upon Dearne with Goldthorpe, which was once owned by Roger de Busli. In the early 18th century Barnsley attorney William Henry Marsden, Esquire, of nearby Burntwood Hall bought the Lord of the Manor of Bolton on Dearne with Goldthorpe for £10,000 together with over 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land. Bolton upon Dearne along with Goldthorpe is recorded in the 1761–1767 Inclosure Awards. The Marsden family continued to hold the Manor until 1815.

In 1894 Bolton upon Dearne became part of Doncaster Rural District under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1899 it became a separate urban district in its own right. Bolton upon Dearne Urban District was abolished in 1937 under a County Review Order, becoming part of a large Dearne Urban District, along with Thurnscoe and part of Barnburgh parish. Due to the alterations to its local government status over the years since 1899, when the nationwide reorganization of local government came along in 1974, Bolton upon Dearne became a part of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough rather than a part of Doncaster.

Bolton upon Dearne was an ancient parish in the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill. It had no subsidiary townships or chapelries.

Research Tips

• Barnsley Archive and Local Studies Department includes archives for the whole of the area now in Barnsley Metropolitan Borough

Address: Town Hall, Church Street, Barnsley, England S70 2TA

Telephone: +44(0)1226 773 950

Email: archives@barnsley.gov.uk

• 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.