Tadcaster in 1843
Tadcaster is a market-town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, partly in the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash and partly in the Ainsty of York, 185 miles north-north-west from London, and 9 miles south-west from York. It is situated on both banks of the river Wharfe, over which there is a handsome stone bridge constructed with stones taken from the ruins of a castle which formerly stood on the south side of the river. The river is navigable for boats. The town has little trade, but was, previous to the formation of the railways between York and Leeds and Manchester, a place of great thoroughfare from York to the south-west.
The church is dedicated to St. Mary ; the living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of York, in the gift of the earl of Egremont, of the net annual value of £240. In 1833 there were seven daily schools, one of which was a grammar-school endowed with the rent of a farm, for which twenty scholars were free, and ten others were paid for by their parents. Another daily school was endowed bv Mrs. Dawson for forty females, but it contained only twenty-four when visited by the Education Commissioners in 1833. There were also two day and boarding schools, and three Sunday-schools.
The population in 1841 was 1,826 ; in 1831 it was 1,666. Tadcaster is the Calcaria of the Romans, which was an outpost of their chief military station Eboracum, now York. |