Last updated on September 9th, 2017
Is bounded, North by Durham and Westmoreland, East by the German Ocean, South by Chester, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire, and West by Westmoreland and Lancashire. It is the largest county in England, being about 130 miles long, and about 90 miles broad. It is divided into three Ridings: the East, the West, and the North; and these are sub-divided into Wapentakes. The North-Riding has the 12 wapentakes of Allertonshire, Birdforth, Bulmer, Gilling (East), Gilling (West), Hallikeld, Hang (East), Hang (West), Liberty of Langburgh (East Division), Liberty of Langburgh (West Division), Pickering-Lythe, wapentake of Rydale. The East-Riding has the 6 wapentakes of Buckrose, Dickering, Harthill, Holderness, Howdenshire, and Ouse and Derwent. The West-Riding has the 9 wapentakes of Abridge, Barkston-Ash, Claro, Morley, Osgoldcross, Skyrack, Staincliff, Strafforth, and Tickhill. Rivers: the Ure, or Ouse, the Wiske, the Swale, the Nid, the Derwent, the Calder, the Aire, the Don, the Humber, and the Ribble. It has 69 Market-Towns. It is in the Province and Diocese of York, and in the Northern Circuit. It contains 5961 square miles, or 3,814,940 acres. Population, 1,553,159.
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850
Yorkshire Towns & Parishes
The Ridings Wapentakes and Hundreds Baines Yorkshire Past & Present
The Ridings, Wapentakes, and Hundreds. – The shire of York, being too large to be administered as a whole, was divided into third parts or Thridings, corrupted afterwards into Ridings. The meaning of the name was well known down to the time of the Norman conquest, one of the Ridings, the North, being spoken of as a Riding, or Thriding, in Domesday Book.
The word wapentake is of Anglian origin, and means a district in which the people were organized to take arms, when summoned to do so by their King or their local chiefs. The names of most of the Yorkshire wapentakes are older than the Danish invasion, and most of them are derived from Anglian or English roots. The wapentakes or hundreds were more numerous before the Norman conquest than they are now; but the greater part of the names of the ancient wapentakes are still preserved, either in those of the modern wapentakes, or in those of the lieutenancy divisions, which were formed, though in a very much later age, for the purpose of organizing the military forces of the crown in each of the three lord-lieutenancies of the county. We shall give the modern names of the wapentakes of the three Ridings; the names of all the Yorkshire wapentakes, as written in the Domesday Survey, A.D. 1084-86; and those of the modern lieutenancy divisions, made in a much later age, but for the same purpose. Even the ancient names, though now gone out of use, throw light on the early organization of the county for civil and military purposes.
Source: Yorkshire Past and Present; Thomas Baines circa 1868-73.
The Modern Names of the Yorkshire Wapentakes Baines Yorkshire Past & Present
Ainsty
Agbrigg
Barkston Ash
Claro
Morley
Osgoldcross
Skyrack
Staincliffe and Ewecross
Staincross
Strafforth and Tickhill
Buckrose
Dickering
Harthill
Holderness
Howdenshire
Ouse and Derwent
Allerton
Birdforth
Bulmer
Gilling, East
Gilling, West
Halikeld
Hang, East
Hang, West
Langbargh
Pickering Lythe
Ryedale
Whitby Strand
