Place:Skelton (near York), North Riding of Yorkshire, England

Watchers
NameSkelton (near York)
Alt namesSkelton
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates53.998°N 1.132°W
Located inNorth Riding of Yorkshire, England     ( - 1974)
Also located inYorkshire, England    
North Yorkshire, England     (1974 - )
See alsoBulmer Wapentake, North Riding of Yorkshire, Englandwapentake in which it was located
Flaxton Rural, North Riding of Yorkshire, Englandrural district of which the parish was a part 1894-1974
Ryedale District, North Yorkshire, Englandadministrative district in which it was located 1974-1996
City of York District, Yorkshire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since 1996
NOTE: Skelton (near York) is one of five places named Skelton in Yorkshire. The others are Skelton (near Howden) in the East Riding, Skelton on Ure in the West Riding, and the parish of Skelton in Cleveland which was absorbed into the the Urban District of Skelton with Brotton in 1894. Sources should be checked carefully.


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Skelton (#18 on map) is a civil parish and a village in the unitary authority of the City of York, in North Yorkshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north northwest of the city centre, west of Haxby, and on the east bank of the River Ouse. Skelton was in the ancient royal Forest of Galtres which covers 977.3 hectares (3.77 square miles). The village was made a conservation area in 1973.

The village name probably began as the Anglo-Saxon 'Shelfton' – 'the settlement on high ground'– becoming the present 'Skelton' under the invading Danes. The village, along with nearby Overton, is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. According to the 2011 census the parish had a population of 1,549.

From 1974 until 1996 the parish was part of the Ryedale District. Before the nationwide municipal reorganization of 1974, Skelton was part of Flaxton Rural District. Historically, it was an ancient and ecclesiastical parish in the Bulmer Wapentake.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Skelton, York.

Image:Flaxton 4in wide.png

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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Skelton, York. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.