Thirsk Yorkshire Family History Guide

Thirsk is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Yorkshire. Sowerby, Carlton Miniott, and Sand Hutton were chapelries of Thirsk.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1556
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1600

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

THIRSK, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in N. R. Yorkshire.

The town stands on the river Codbeck, in Mowbray vale, at the terminus of a brief branch of the Northeastern railway, 23 miles NW by N of York; had a castle of the Mowbrays, built about 980, and taken down by order of Henry II.; sent two members to parliament once in the time of Edward VI., and always from the time of Edward VI. till 1832; was reduced, by the reform act of 1832, to the right of sending only one.

It is a polling place; consists of two parts, called old and new, separated by the river; presents a very irregular yet picturesque appearance; and has a head post-office, a r. station with telegraph, three banking offices, four chief inns, a market house, a large later English church, three dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel of 1867, a British-school, a girls’ school of industry, a dispensary, a workhouse, and charities £39.

A weekly market is held on Monday; fairs are held on Shrove-Monday, 5 April, 4 Aug., 28th Oct., and the Tuesday after 11 Dec.; and malting, brewing, linen-weaving, and the manufacture of leather and saddlery are carried on.

The borough boundaries include all T. parish, and two other townships. Electors, in 1833, 254: in 1863, 441. Pop. in 1861, 5,350. Houses, 1,205.

The township comprises 2,947 acres. Real property, £11,401; of which £170 are in gasworks. Pop. 2,956. Houses, 657.

The parish contains also the townships or chapelries of Sowerby, Carlton-Miniott, and Sandhutton; and comprises 8,365 acres. Pop., 4,815. Houses, 1,085. The head living is a p. curacy in the diocese of York. Value, £300. Patron, the Archbishop of York.

The sub-district includes 4 townships of other parishes, and comprises 14,169 acres. Pop., 5,743. Houses, 1,291.

The district comprehends also Topcliffe, Pickhill, Sutton, and Knayton sub-districts; and comprises 62,444 acres. Poor rates, in 1863, £4,246. Pop. in 1851, 12,760; in 1861, 12,299. Houses, 2,692. Marriages in 1863, 95; births, 419, of which 45 were illegitimate; deaths, 227, of which 74 were at ages under 5 years, and 16 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 905; births, 3,843; deaths, 2,317.

The places of worship, in 1851, were 24 of the Church of England, with 5,016 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 870 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 245 s.; 24 of Wesleyans, with 3,484 s.; 4 of Primitive Methodists, with 444 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 172 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 90 s.

The schools were 17 public day-schools, with 959 scholars; 37 private day-schools, with 775 s.; and 29 Sunday-schools, with 1,653 s.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Administration

County: Yorkshire
Civil Registration District: Thirsk
Probate Court: Exchequer and Prerogative Courts of the Archbishop of York
Diocese: York
Rural Deanery: Bulmer
Poor Law Union: Thirsk
Hundred: Birdforth
Province: York