Place:Reedness, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

Watchers
NameReedness
Alt namesReednesssource: from redirect
TypeTownship, Civil parish
Coordinates53.698°N 0.796°W
Located inWest Riding of Yorkshire, England     ( - 1974)
Also located inYorkshire, England    
North Yorkshire, England     (1974 - )
See alsoWhitgift, West Riding of Yorkshire, Englandancient parish of which it was part
Osgoldcross Wapentake, West Riding of Yorkshire, Englandwapentake in which it was located
Goole Rural, West Riding of Yorkshire, Englandrural district in which it was situated 1894-1974
Humberside, Englandcounty in which it was located 1974-1996
East Riding of Yorkshire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since 1996
source: Family History Library Catalog

Reedness was originally a township in the ancient parish of Whitgift in the Osgoldcross Wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Reedness was made a civil parish in 1866 and in 1894 it became part of the Goole Rural District.

In 1974 most of what had been the East Riding of Yorkshire plus the easternmost section of the West Riding around Goole was joined with the northern part of Lincolnshire to became a new English county named Humberside. The urban and rural districts of the former counties were abolished and Humberside was divided into non-metropolitan districts. The new organization did not meet with the pleasure of the local citizenry and Humberside was wound up in 1996. The area north of the River Humber was separated into two "unitary authorities"—Kingston upon Hull covering the former City of Hull and its closest environs, and the less urban section which, once again, named itself the East Riding of Yorkshire.

For a description of Reedness in the present day see Wikipedia

A nineteenth century description

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

"REEDNESS, a township, with a village, in Whitgift parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire; on the river Ouse, 4¼ miles S E of Howden. Acres: 2,884. Real property: £8,228. Population: 601. Houses: 140. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, and an endowed school."

Research Tips

  • GENUKI on Whitgift which has a small passage on Reedness. It gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
  • The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Whitgift provides a list of useful resources for the local area, including its township of Reedness.
  • A Vision of Britain through Time also provides links to three maps for the Goole Rural District, produced by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey. These maps expand to a scale that will illustrate small villages and large farms or estates.
  • Ordnance Survey West Riding 1888. The "Sanitary Districts (which preceded the rural districts) for the whole of the West Riding.
  • Ordnance Survey West Riding South 1900. This map is not equivalent to maps for other parts of the country at this time period and does not show parish boundaries. However, Goole Rural District is clearly shown. It is at the extreme right of the map and much wider than it is long.
  • Ordnance Survey West Riding 1944. The urban and rural districts of the whole of the West Riding after the revisions of 1935. This map does show the civil parish boundaries.

Remember that the entire rural district became part of Humberside 1974-1996, but on the abolition of Humberside, some parishes joined Lincolnshire while others joined the East Riding of Yorkshire. This fact is covered on a parish by parish basis.