Place:Stainland, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Stainland is a village, since 1974, in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, but, previously, in the West Riding of Yorkshire some 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Halifax, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) northwest of Huddersfield and 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Elland.

Early routes and tracks followed high ground to avoid the marshy and wooded valley bottoms and it was on one such high level packhorse route that Stainland developed. The Stainland Cross remains as evidence of man's activity there in the medieval times. An economy that was based principally on wool and textile production led Stainland to develop as a hilltop village, in much the same way as Sowerby and Heptonstall. With the Industrial Revolution, mills developed in the neighbouring valleys to take advantage of water power, but Stainland continued to act as a focus for the area.

The village continued to thrive, and a number of notable buildings were added to the street scene. With the decline in its agricultural and industrial function, Stainland is now less self-contained than before.

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

"STAINLAND, a large village and a township-chapelry in Halifax parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands 1½ mile SSW of North Dean Junction [railway] station, and 3½ S by W of Halifax; and has a post-office under Halifax. The chapelry contains also Old Lindley, Holywell Green, and part of Outlane. Acres: 1,730. Real property: £10,615. Population in 1851: 4,173; in 1861: 4,657. Houses: 921. There are several good residences. Woollen, worsted, cotton, paper, and pasteboard manufactures are carried on. A Roman altar was found at Slack.

"The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value: £300. Patron: the Vicar of Halifax. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and New Connexion Methodists."

It was a civil parish named Stainland with Old Lindley during the period 1894 t0 1937 and was also considered an urban district during that time. In 1937 it was abolished and split between Elland urban district and Huddersfield municipal or county borough with Elland receiving much the larger share.

Research Tips

• 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.