Bracewell, Yorkshire Family History Guide
Bracewell is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire.
Other places in the parish include: Stock.
Alternative names:
Parish church: St. Michael
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1587
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1600
Nonconformists include:
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Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
BRACEWELL (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Skipton, E. division of the wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewcross, W. riding of York, 9 miles (W. by S.) from Skipton; containing 153 inhabitants.
This place is called in ancient documents Breiswell and Brais-well, signifying “the well on the bray” or “brow.”
The parish comprises by computation 1920 acres: the surface is beautifully undulated, and the hills are covered with luxuriant verdure; the lands are chiefly in pasture.
The ancient manor-house, now a ruin, consisted of a centre with two boldly projecting wings, built of brick in the reign of Henry VIII.; and to the north of it are the remains of a former house of stone, in which an apartment called “King Henry’s parlour” was the retreat of Henry VI. There are some quarries of excellent limestone, which is used both for building and for burning into lime.
The village is pleasantly situated and neatly built: on the north the parish adjoins the turnpike-road between Gisburn and Skipton; and the Leeds and Liverpool canal passes about two miles east of the church.
The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £2. 2. 9½., net income, £123; patron and impropriator, Earl de Grey. The church, nearly adjoining the manor-house, and probably founded by the Tempest family, is an ancient structure chiefly in the Norman style, enlarged by the addition of a north aisle in the reign of Henry VII.: it has a plain Norman doorway on the south, and a similar arch divides the chancel from the nave; it contains the family-vault of the Tempests, whose armorial bearings embellish several of the windows.
On the summit of two hills, called Howber and Gildersber, are remains of military works, said to have been thrown up by the army of Prince Rupert, on its march through Craven, in 1664.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Yorkshire
- Civil Registration District: Skipton
- Probate Court: Exchequer and Prerogative Courts of the Archbishop of York
- Diocese: Post-1835 – Ripon, Pre-1836 – York
- Rural Deanery: Craven
- Poor Law Union: Skipton
- Hundred: Staincliff and Ewcross
- Province: York