Ampleforth, North Riding of Yorkshire

Historical Description

Ampleforth, a village, a township, and a parish in the N.R. Yorkshire. The village lies near the Thirsk and Malton railway, 4 miles SW of Helmsley. The parish consists of the townships of Ampleforth-St Peter, Ampleforth-Birdforth, and Ampleforth-Oswaldkirk, which were amalgamated in 1887, and it has a station on the N.E.R., and a post and money order office under York; telegraph office, Oswaldkirk. A Roman Catholic college was established at Ampleforth Lodge, in Ampleforth-Oswaldkirk, in 1802; grew from a small commencement to great size and consequence; received the addition of a church in 1856, and of new college buildings in 1861, and will now accommodate about 120 students. It is a massive quadrangular pile, in the Pointed style of the 14th and 15th centuries, and numbers among its pupils many members of the English Roman Catholic aristocracy. Acreage, 2418; population, 764. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The living is a discharged vicarage in the diocese of York; gross value, £240. Patron, the Archbishop of York. The church is good. There are two Methodist chapels, and on the hills above the village an ancient encampment called Studfold Eing. The surrounding country is exceedingly beautiful.

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 Ampleforth:

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Ampleforth from the following:

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

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 Ampleforth 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