Place:Monk Bretton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Monk Bretton is a village and civil parish which, since 1974, has been located in the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough of South Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately two miles northeast from Barnsley town centre. end of Wikipedia contribution Historically, Monk Bretton was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Royston in the Staincross Wapentake. It was made a civil parish in 1866 and in 1894 it became an urban district. In 1897 part of its area was transferred to Ardsley Urban District and in 1921 the remainder of the parish was absorbed into the County Borough of Barnsley. A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Monk Bretton from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72: "BRETTON (Monk), a township and a chapelry in Roystone parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The township is also called Burton; lies on the Barnesley canal, 1 mile from Cudworth [railway] station, and 2 NE of Barnesley; includes the villages of Burton Grange, Cliff Bridge, Littleworth (in Monk Bretton), Old Mill, and Smithies; and has a post office, of the name of Monk Bretton, under Barnesley. Acres: 2,050. Real property: £6,923. Population: 1,918. Houses: 407. A Cluniac monastery was founded at Burton Grange, in the time of Henry II., by Adam Fitz-Swain. "The chapelry is more extensive than the township. Population: 2,439. Houses: 526. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of York. Value: £150. Patron: the Vicar of Royston. The church was built in 1839. There are a school-church, three Methodist chapels, a national school, six alms-houses, and other charities £36.

Research Tips

• Barnsley Archive and Local Studies Department includes archives for the whole of the area now in Barnsley Metropolitan Borough

Address: Town Hall, Church Street, Barnsley, England S70 2TA

Telephone: +44(0)1226 773 950

Email: archives@barnsley.gov.uk

• 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.