Bolton by Bowland, Yorkshire Family History Guide

Bolton by Bowland is an Ancient Parish in the county of Yorkshire.

Other places in the parish include: Holden and Forest Beck.

Alternative names: Bolton by Bolland, West Bolton

Parish church: St. Peter

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1558
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1600

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Presbyterian, Wesleyan Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist Association.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BOLTON-BY-BOWLAND, or West Bolton, a parish in the district of Clitheroe and W. R. Yorkshire; on the river Ribble, at the verge of the county, 4 miles NNE of Chatburn r. station, and 6 NE by N of Clitheroe. It includes the hamlet of Forest-Beck; and has a post office, of the name of Bolton-by-Bowland, under Blackburn. Acres, 5,792. Real property, £6,242. Pop., 739. Houses, 152. Part of the surface lay within the ancient Bowland forest. Bolton Hall was formerly the seat of Sir R. Pudsey; gave shelter to Henry VI after the battle of Hexham; and is now the property of Mrs. A. Littledale.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £335. Patron, Mrs. A. Littledale. The church is later English, was restored in 1850, and contains a tomb of Sir R. Pudsey and his three wives and twenty-five children. There are an Independent chapel, a sessions courthouse, an endowed school with £34 a year, charities £20, and a workhouse.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

BOLTON-BY-BOWLAND (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Clitheroe, wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewcross, W. riding of York, 3½ miles (W.) from Gisburn, and 15 (W. by S.) from Skipton; containing 993 inhabitants. This place was anciently owned by the Pudsey family of Bolton Hall, of whom Sir Ralph Pudsey afforded to Henry VI. an asylum in his mansion after the battle of Hexham.

The parish comprises by computation 4940 acres; the lands are mostly in good cultivation, and the prevailing scenery is pleasingly diversified. Bolton Hall is an ancient mansion, beautifully situated in an extensive and tastefully embellished demesne; in one of the apartments, a pair of boots, a pair of gloves, and a spoon, left here by Henry VI., are carefully preserved. The village stands on one of the streams flowing into the river Ribble; a large fair, chiefly for cattle, is held in it on the 28th of June and two following days.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £11. 13. 4., and in the patronage of Mrs. Littledale: the tithes have been commuted for £335, and the glebe comprises 100 acres, with a good house. The church is a venerable structure, in the later English style, having a square embattled tower; and contains a monument to Sir Ralph Pudsey, with a slab of grey Craven limestone, on which are sculptured in bold relief the effigies of himself, his three wives, and twenty-five children. The Independents have a place of worship. There is a spring at Fooden, strongly impregnated with sulphur; and at Holden is a picturesque cascade.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Registers

The Parish Registers of Bolton by Bolland 1558 to 1812

The Parish Registers of Bolton by Bolland in the County of York 1558 to 1812. Edited by W. J. Stavert, M.A., F.S.A., Rector of Burnsall. Privately printed for The Yorkshire Parish Register Society 1904. This Book contains volume 19 and volume 22.