Place:Mitton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Mitton from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"MITTON, a parish in the [registration] district of Clitheroe, and partly in Lancashire, but chiefly in [West Riding of] Yorkshire; including a peninsular tract at the confluence of the rivers Hodder and Ribble, 2¼ miles SW of Clitheroe [railway] station. It was once a part of Whalley parish; and it contains the hamlets of Chaigley, Aighton, and Bailey in Lancashire, and the townships of Great Mitton, Bashall-Eaves, Waddington, West Bradford, and Grindleton in [West Riding of] Yorkshire. Post town, Clitheroe, under Blackburn.

"Acres of the Lancashire portion: 5,780. Real property: £6,726; of which £50 are in quarries. Population in 1851: 1,613; in 1861: 1,500. Houses: 244.

"Acres of the Yorkshire portion: 12,323. Real property: £15,476. Population in 1851: 2,203; in 1861: 1,903.

"The property is subdivided. The manor belongs to J. W. Aspinall, Esq. The scenery is picturesque. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £180. Patron, J. W. Aspinall, Esq. The church was built in the time of Edward III.; belonged to Cockersand abbey; consists of nave and chancel, with porch and low tower; and contains effigies and tombs of the Sherburns. The [perpetual] curacies of Grindleton, Hurst-Green, and Waddington, are separate benefices. There are Wesleyan chapels in Grindleton and Waddington, a national school in Grindleton, alms houses in Grindleton and Waddington, and charities £9 in Great Mitton."

Historically, Mitton was an ecclesiastical parish in Staincliffe and Ewcross Wapentake in the West Riding. From 1894 until 1974, it remained in the West Riding in the Bowland Rural District. In 1974 the area became part of the Ribble Valley District in Lancashire.

The ancient parish of Mitton included the following townships, all of which became civil parishes in 1866: Aighton Bailey and Chaigley (which was in Lancashire), Bashall Eaves, Great Mitton (redirected here), Grindleton, Waddington, and West Bradford.

[edit] Great Mitton the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Great Mitton is a village and a civil parish now in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton by the River Ribble which was the boundary between the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Now both villages are located in the Ribble Valley District of Lancashire about 3 miles from the town of Clitheroe. In total, Great and Little Mitton cover less than 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland, making it the smallest township in the Forest.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Great Mitton. The GENUKI page gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Great Mitton provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Great Mitton.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Bowland Rural District. This section provides statistics on population and industry, as well as a listing of the civil parishes and the alterations to the municipal organization.
• A map of the West Riding of Yorkshire circa 1888 (before the existence of rural and urban districts) supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time
• A map of the southern part of the West Riding of Yorkshire circa 1931 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time
• A map of the northern part of the West Riding of Yorkshire circa 1931 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time (Bowland Rural Districts is divided in half horizontally between these two maps.)