Barwick In Elmet, Yorkshire (West Riding) (original) (raw)

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The Ancient Parish of BARWICK IN ELMET

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"BARWICK IN ELMET, a parish-town, in the lower-division of Skyrack, liberty of Pontefract; 7 miles from Tadcaster and Wetherby, 8 from Leeds, 16 from York. Pop. 1,481. The Church is a rectory, dedicated to All-Saints, in the deanry of the Ainsty, value, £33. 12s. 6d. Patron, the King, as Duke of Lancaster.

This place is said to have been the seat of the Kings of Northumberland, and Whitaker's Loidis and Elmete supposes it to have been founded by the great Edwin; "the great extent and magnificence of this fortification, which is four furlongs in circumference, and contains an area of more that thirteen acres, sufficiently prove that it has been a royal work." The mount, called Hall Tower Hill, hath been encompassed by a double trench; on this mount most probably stood the royal mansion: it is now the only part that remains. This manor was afterwards part of the possessions of the Lacys; Roger de Lacy having married the sister of William de Vesey, Rector of the parish. From the Lacys it descended to the Dukes of Lancaster, to which duchy it has been ever since annexed.

Elmet was not conquered from the Britons till Edwin's reign, in 560, by the Saxons. --Turner's Anglo Saxons."

Information on the following places in this Parish is contained on a supplementary page.

[Description(s) edited from various 19th century sources by Colin Hinson © 2013]

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