Place:Cowling (in Craven), West Riding of Yorkshire, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Cowling (in Craven) is civil parish and a village in the Craven District of North Yorkshire, England. Until 1974 it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The parish usually consists of from 1,000 to 2,000 residents, but measured at 2,355 in the 2011 UK census. Cowling was originally a township in the ancient parish of Kildwick in the Staincliffe and Ewcross Wapentake. Between 1894 and 1974 it was a civil parish in Skipton Rural District. Originally the township comprised three or four separate hamlets, namely Ickornshaw, Middleton in Craven, Gill and Cowling Hill. It was only following the construction of the main Keighley to Colne road (the A6068) and the building of large mills alongside the road that what is now regarded as the main village was constructed providing terraced cottage homes for the mill workers. (Date of this construction not given, nor what the mills were producing.) The older parts of the village faded in importance and as a result the parish church and village school are located between Ickornshaw and Middleton on what appears to be the outskirts of Cowling, the centre of the village having moved since their construction. The mills continued to operate and to provide the main source of local employment until the end of the 20th century but are all now closed down and their sites largely redeveloped for housing and local amenities. Cowling is now very much a dormitory village for those working in the surrounding towns of West Yorkshire and the eastern part of Lancashire. [edit] History the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia The village is Saxon in origin and is recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Collinge'. The name means Coll's people or tribe. At the time of the Norman Conquest the main landowner was Gamel who had very large land holdings in Yorkshire. His name survives in Gamsgill on the northern edge of the village.

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.