Place:Swinefleet, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Swinefleet is a village and civil parish since 1996 in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of the town of Goole on the A161 road from Goole to Crowle. It lies on the south bank of the River Ouse. According to the 2011 UK census, Swinefleet parish had a population of 787, an increase on the 2001 UK census figure of 748. The main centre of population is at the extreme north of the parish, close to the River Ouse. The southern part of the parish is part of Swinefleet and Reedness Moors, and is characterised by drainage ditches and a few farm buildings.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Swinefleet.

The parish was originally a chapelry in the parish of Whitgift in the Osgoldcross Wapentake From 1894 until 1974 it was a civil parish in Goole Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and from 1974 until 1996 in Boothferry District of Humberside.

The River Ouse, which was the defined border between the West Riding and the East Riding of Yorkshire, takes an easterly curve towards its mouth. Because of this a number of parishes south and west of the Ouse may appear at first glance to have always been in the East Riding, but were in fact part of the West Riding until 1974. These parishes made up the Goole Rural District 1894-1974. When Humberside was abolished in 1996 it was seen fit to move them the new unitary authority of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Humberside 1974-1996

In 1974 most of what had been the East Riding of Yorkshire 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 to the west and to the north which, once again, named itself the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The phrase "Yorkshire and the Humber" serves no purpose in WeRelate. It refers to one of a series of basically economic regions established in 1994 and abolished for most purposes in 2011. See the Wikipedia article entited "Regions of England").

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Whitgift which has a small passage on Swinefleet. It gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the chapelry of Swinefleet provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Swinefleet.
• 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.