Osmotherley, North Riding of Yorkshire

Historical Description

Osmotherley, a large village, a township, and a parish in the N.R. Yorkshire. The village is beautifully situated, and stands on the source of the Wiske, under the Hambledon Hills, 6 miles SE of Welbury railway station, and 8 ENE of Northallerton. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Northallerton, and fairs for cattle and sheep on 3 May and 18 Oct. A monolith occupies the place where a cross formerly stood. The township comprises 3196 acres; population, 637. There is a parish council consisting of five members. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The parish contains also the townships of Thimbleby, Ellerbeck, and West Harlsey. A Carthusian priory was founded at Mount Grace in 1396 by the Duke of Surrey, and has left some beautiful ruins, the tower being in a good state of preservation. An ancient castle was in West Harlsey, and has left some ruins. There are extensive bleachworks and some corn-mills, and a flax mill employs a fairly large number of hands. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York; net value, £296 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is in the Perpendicular style, consists of chancel, nave, S aisle, a very old porch with fine Norman doorway, and an embattled western tower, and was restored in 1892. During its restoration portions of two Saxon crosses were discovered, which are preserved in the porch. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Roman Catholic chapels and a Friends' meeting-house.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Findmypast, in conjunction with various Archives, Local Studies, and Family History Societies have the following parish records online for Osmotherley:

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Osmotherley from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Osmotherley (St. Peter))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for the North Riding of Yorkshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Osmotherley are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following North Riding newspapers online:

• York Herald
• Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough
• Yorkshire Gazette
• Yorkshire Evening Press
• Whitby Gazette