Kirkbymoorside in 1843
Kirkby-Moorside is a parish and a market-town in the wapentake of Ryedale, in the North Riding, about 224 miles from London, 25 miles north by east of York, 6 miles east by north of Helmsley, and 8 miles west by north of Pickering.
It is a small and irregularly built town, on the banks of the river Dove, and surrounded by steep hills. The parish is extensive, comprising the townships of Kirkby-Moorside, Bransdale (Eastside), Fadmore, Farndale (Low-quarter), and Gillimoor, with an aggregate population of 2,324 in 1831 (without including Bransdale East-side), and 2,758 in 1841.
The living is a discharged vicarage, with the curacies Cockan and Gillimoor, in the archdeaconry of Cleveland and diocese of York, with a gross income of £456. The church is dedicated to All Saints ; and the Independents, Wesleyans, and Society of Friends, have meeting-houses.
There are several day and Sunday schools, and branch banks ; and the town has a market on Wednesday, and fairs on Whit-Wednesday and September 18. Near the town are quarries, coal-mines, and several corn-mills, and in the town much malt and some linen goods are made.
The manor formerly belonged to the earls of Westmoreland, who forfeited it to the crown in the reign of Elizabeth. The duke of Buckingham, the favourite of James I, is said to have begged it of that king as an appendage to Helmsley, which he had obtained by marriage, and here, it is supposed in an old house still remaining in the market-place, his dissolute son breathed his last. His burial is entered in the parish register, but it is not known where his remains were deposited.
The population of the township of Kirkby-Moorside was 1,802 in 1831, and 1,905 in 1841. |