Place:Hinderwell, North Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Hinderwell is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough District of North Yorkshire, England that lies within the North York Moors National Park.

Hinderwell lies about a mile from the coast on the A174 road between the towns of Loftus and Whitby. Until 1958 the area was served by Staithes and Hinderwell railway stations.

The civil parish of Hinderwell encompasses:

• the village of Staithes
• the hamlet of Port Mulgrave
• the National Trust land called Rosedale Cliffs
• the hamlet of Runswick Bay
• the hamlet of Dalehouse

According to the 2011 UK census, Hinderwell parish had a population of 1,875, a decrease on the 2001 UK census figure of 2,103.

"In 1874 350 men and two boys were engaged at the ironworks of Rosedale, 50,000 tons of ore being sent annually to Jarrow. These mines then belonged to the lord of the manor of Hinderwell, Mr. (afterward Sir) Charles Mark Palmer of Grinkle Park, and are now worked by the Grinkle Park Ironstone Mining Co. Ltd. There are various stone and slate quarries, and jet workings all along the coast. Being only about 12 miles removed from the Dogger Bank, the coast fisheries here are very active. Sixteen fishermen of Staithes were summoned to musters in 1539, and 223 men were employed in this industry in Hinderwell township in 1831." (Source: Victoria County History as cited below.)

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

"HINDERWELL, a village, a township, and a parish in Whitby [registration] district, [North Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands on the coast, 7½ miles NNW of Grosmont [railway] station, and 8½ NW by N of Whitby; and has a post office under Redcar.

"The township comprises 1,550 acres of land and 440 of water. Real property: £4,628; of which £1,505 are in ironworks. Population in 1851: 1, 736; in 1861: 2, 571. Houses, 547. The increase of population arose from the opening of extensive iron mines.

"The parish contains also the township of Roxby, and comprises 4,400 acres. Real property: £6,383. Population: 2,805. Houses: 588. The manor belongs to the Marquis of Normanby. Most of the inhabitants are engaged in fisheries.

"A Turkish vessel, infected with the plague, was stranded on the coast in 1603, and communicated the plague to the villagers.

"The living is a rectory, united with the chapelry of Roxby, in the diocese of York. Value: £494. Patron: Robert Barry, Esq. The parish church was partly rebuilt in 1817. A spring of pure water, called St. Hilda's well, is in the churchyard; and a retreat of St. Hilda is supposed to have been near. There is a church in Roxby. Charities, £5.

Historically, Hinderwell was an ecclesiastical parish in the Langbaurgh East Wapentake. Hinderwell was made an urban district in 1894, but this was dropped in 1932 and it became a civil parish in Whitby Rural District. With the nationwide reorganization of local government in 1974 it became part of the Scarborough Borough.

Research Tips

• For a map of the parishes in the local area, see this page.
• 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.
• The chapter of the Victoria County History dealing with Hinderwell.