Place:Hang West Wapentake, North Riding of Yorkshire, England

Watchers
NameHang West Wapentake
TypeHundred
Located inNorth Riding of Yorkshire, England     ( - 1974)
Also located inYorkshire, England    

For a definition of "wapentake", see the article entitled Hundred (county division) in Wikipedia.

Wapentakes, the Old Norse form of the Anglo-Saxon "hundred", are dealt with in Section 1.4, but Sections 1.1 (Hundred courts) and 1.2 (Administrative functions) deal with the concept and purposes of wapentakes along with those of "hundreds" used in English counties further south.

Hang West Wapentake (#2 on the map) was located in southwest corner of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was bounded by Lancashire on the west, Gilling West on the north, Hang East on the east, and Staincliffe and Ewcross in the West Riding on the south.

Image:Wapentakes of the North Riding of Yorkshire.png

List of Ancient Parishes and their Townships

Ancient ParishParish StatusSubsidiary Places  Subsidiary Place Status
Aysgarth ancient parish Abbotside Common parochial area
Askrigg chapelry, civil parish
Bainbridge township, civil parish
Bishopdale township, civil parish
Burton cum Walden township, civil parish
Carperby cum Thoresby township, civil parish
Hawes chapelry, civil parish
High Abbotside township, civil parish
Low Abbotside township, civil parish
Newbiggin near Aysgarth township, civil parish
Thoralby township, civil parish
Thornton Rust township, civil parish
Catterick ancient parish Appleton East and West township, civil parish
Bolton upon Swale chapelry, civil parish
Brough with St. Giles township, civil parish
Colburn township, civil parish
Ellerton upon Swale township, civil parish
Hipswell chapelry, civil parish
Hudswell chapelry, civil parish
Killerby township, civil parish
Kiplin township, civil parish
Scorton township, civil parish
Scotton township, civil parish
Tunstall township, civil parish
Uckerby township, civil parish
Whitwell township, civil parish
Coverhamancient parish Coverham with Agglethorpe township, civil parish
Caldbergh with East Scrafton township, civil parish
Carlton Highdale township, civil parish
Carlton Town (near Leyburn) township, civil parish
Melmerby township, civil parish
West Scrafton township, civil parish
Downholmeancient parish Ellerton Abbey township, civil parish
Stainton township, civil parish
Walburn township, civil parish
Easby near Richmondancient parish Aske township, civil parish
Brompton on Swale township, civil parish
Skeeby township, civil parish
East Wittonancient parish East Witton Within township, civil parish
East Witton Without township, civil parish
Finghallancient parish Akebar township, civil parish
Constable Burton chapelry, civil parish
Hutton Hang township, civil parish
Newton le Willows township, civil parish
Grinton ancient parish Melbecks township, civil parish
Muker township, civil parish
Reeth township, civil parish
Hauxwellancient parish Barden (near Leyburn) township, civil parish
East Hauxwell township, civil parish
Garriston township, civil parish
West Hauxwell township, civil parish
Middleham ancient parish none
Patrick Brompton ancient parishArrathorne township, civil parish
Newton le Willows township, civil parish
Scotton township, civil parish
Spennithorne ancient parish Bellerby township, civil parish
Harmby township, civil parish
Thornton Steward ancient parishnone
Wensley ancient parish Castle Bolton chapelry, civil parish
Leyburn township, civil parish
Preston under Scar township, civil parish
Redmire chapelry, civil parish
West Witton ancient parish none

Research Tips

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.