Place:Hovingham, North Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Hovingham is a large village and civil parish now in the Ryedale District of North Yorkshire, England. It is on the edge of the Howardian Hills and about 7 miles south of Kirkbymoorside. To allow comparison with the statistics for 1870 given below, according to the 2001 UK Census, the population was 371 in 166 dwellings, and in the 2011 census the population had marginally reduced to 362.

end of Wikipedia contribution

Prior to the nationwide municipal reorganization of 1974, Hovingham was located in Malton Rural District. Historically, it was an ecclesiastical parish in the Rydale Wapentake.

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

"HOVINGHAM, a village, a township, and a [registration] sub-district, in Malton [registration] district, and a parish partly also in Helmsley [registration] district [North Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands on the vicinal Roman road from Malton to Isurium, near the Thirsk, Malton, and Driffield railway, amid a richly wooded and picturesque tract of country, 9 miles WNW of New Malton; is believed to occupy the site of a Roman settlement; was once a market town; and has a post office under York, a railway station, a hotel, a church, an endowed school, and a fair on 14 Aug. A Roman bath in good preservation, and a small tesselated pavement were discovered near it in 1745; and other Roman relics have been found in the neighbourhood. Three spas, said to have stimulating and aperient properties, are at a short distance from the village; and a neat bath building, in pleasant grounds, is beside them. The church has a fine old Saxon tower, with new stone roof; was rebuilt in 1860; comprises nave with N and S aisles, and chancel with N aisle; and shows some beautiful stone carving. Hovingham Hall, the seat of Sir W. Worsley, Bart., a modern mansion in the Italian style, is in the village.

"The township comprises 3,110 acres. Real property: £3,796. Population: 608. Houses: 121.

"The parish contains also the townships of Scackleton, Fryton, Wath, South Holme, and Airyholme and Howthorpe in Malton district, and those of Cotton and East Ness in Helmsley [registration] district. Acres: 9,044. Real property, exclusive of East Ness: £9,666. Population: 1,208. Houses: 223. The property is not much divided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value: £101. Patron: W. Worsley, Esq. Charities, £17.

"The [registration] sub-district, in addition to the Malton townships of [Hovingham] parish, contains all Slingsby parish, and three townships of two other parishes. Acres: 12,754. Population: 2,198. Houses: 419."

All the townships in Hovingham parish became civil parishes shortly after the Gazetteer was written. They all have articles in WeRelate, but for some the placenames are slightly changed to avoid duplication with similarly named places elsewhere in Yorkshire.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Hovingham.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Hovingham.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Hovingham provides a list of useful resources for research in this area.