Place:Brandsby cum Stearsby, North Riding of Yorkshire, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Brandsby cum Stearsby (#6 on map) is a civil parish and a village in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It includes the villages of Brandsby and Stearsby. The parish population was 234 at the 2001 UK census, increasing to 383 at the 2011 UK census. The 2011 census population included the parishes of Dalby cum Skewsby (#10) and Yearsley (#34), both of which had populations of less than 100 persons. [edit] Brandsby the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Brandsby is a village lying between Easingwold (#11) and Hovingham (not on map), some 12.3 miles (19.8 km) north of York. At the time of the Norman conquest (1066), it was held by Cnut, son of Karli and afterwards by Hugh, son of Baldric. Later the village and the surrounding lands were given to Baron Roger de Mowbray. It was part of the Bulford Hundred. The Baron left the lordship of the manor to Nicholas de Riparia (or de le Ryver), whose family held it until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Brandsby was the production centre for the Brandsby-type ware of Medieval ceramic. After this the lordship passed via marriage to the Cholmeley family, descended from the Cholmondeley family of Cheshire. They provided a long lineage of Brandsby squires but, unfortunately, few records of this period exist as one of the Cholmeleys lost his mind and destroyed the family archives.

In 1767, Francis Cholmeley set about the complete rebuilding of Brandsby Hall. He was a self-taught architect and had acted as agent to the Fairfax family at Gilling Castle. On his initiative, the ruinous Norman church adjoining the Hall was pulled down. He donated a fresh site, to the north-east of the Hall, and also met almost the entire cost of building the new church in 1770. The result was the distinguished edifice which the village has inherited today; the only church in the district built in the classical style.

The lordship ended with the last of the Cholmeley family, Hugh Charles Fairfax Cholmeley, who died in 1940 after holding the title for 51 years. (This branch of the Cholmley family is not reported in Wikipedia.)

In the 20th century, the village was the site for the York 37 Royal Observer Corps Post (Brandsby). The Nuclear Monitoring Post is located on the road between the village and Crayke (#9) at Zion Hill Farm. It was part of the York No' 20 Group ROC HQ and was opened in June 1964 and closed in September 1991.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Brandsby.

Prior to the nationwide municipal reorganization of 1974, Brandsby cum Stearsby was part of Easingwold Rural District. Historically, it was an ancient and ecclesiastical parish in the Bulmer Wapentake.

Research tips

• Original historical documents relating to the North Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire are held at the North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL7 8TB
• Family history societies covering the area include the Ryedale Family History Group, the Family History Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society (based in the City of York), and the Cleveland, North Yorkshire & South Durham Family History Society (for the Cleveland and Teesside area and the western part of North Yorkshire, commonly known as the "Yorkshire Downs"). A more complete list may be found under the Federation of Family History Societies.
• A History of the County of Yorkshire from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1914 and 1923 (Volume 1: the western part of the North Riding including Richmond and Volume 2: the eastern part of the North Riding including Scarborough and Whitby). A History of the County of York: the City of York is also helpful for the many North Riding parishes that were absorbed into the city during the 19th and 20th centuries.

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.