Data from the 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum' from the year 1842.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

Data from the 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum' from the year 1842.

The place: KIRKBURTON.     Church dedication: SAINT JOHN BAPTIST.     Church type: Vicarage in charge.

Area, 15,990 acres. Agbrigg wapentake, U.D. -Population, 15,731 *2; Church-room, 1,500 *3 ; Net value, £301. -Given to the College at Westminster by King Edward III., and a Vicarage appropriated thereto, and ordained therein, 27th March, A.D. 1357, which contains a reservation relative to tithes of iron and coal.

Patron, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, though Archbishop Sharp says the Crown, but this is a mistake.

The governors of Sheffield Hospital are impropriators.

Valued in Pope Nicholas's taxation, at £35. 9s. 8d. per annum; in the King's Books at £13. 6s. 8d. after deducting for Synodals, 7s. 6d. and Procurations, 4s.; and in the Parliamentary Survey, vol. xviii. page 299, at £80 per annum. Pension to the Vicar of Dewsbury, £4.

The present Church, built in the reign of Edward III., pays a pension of £4 per annum to the mother Church of Dewsbury, from which it appears to have been severed about the time of the first Earl of Warren.

"The Vicarage is endowed with all small tithes. Yearly value about £30" Signed, " Jos. Briggs, Vic." -Notitia Parochialis, No. 583.

Decrees as to tithes were made in the Exchequer, in Michaelmas Term, 36th Eliz., and in Trinity Term, 10th Wm. III., but they are unreported.

Inclosure Acts were passed 39th and 40th Geo. III. (Thurstonland) ; 43rd Geo. III. (Shelley) ; 53rd Geo. III., 7th and 8th Geo. IV. (Shipley) ; and 9th Geo. IV. (Holme).

13th February 1770, faculty to erect a new gallery.

17th April 1780, ditto to erect a gallery.

23rd October 1789, ditto to re-pew the Church.

Dr. Whitaker gives a list of the Vicars.

Two Chantries were founded in this Church.

Cumberworth half includes part of Skelmanthorpe township, the other part is included in Emley parish, but the whole is in Staincross wapentake. Cumberworth is mostly in Silkstone parish, Staincross wapentake.

The glebe house is fit for residence.

The Register Books commence in 1686. No marriage registers from 1774 to 1789, and 1807 to 1812, can be found. -Vide Transcripts at York.

Charities:
The School. This was originally established by the inhabitants in 1714. In 1721, the Rev. Henry Robinson bequeathed £100 for teaching ten poor children of the township of Kirkburton and three of the township of Thurstonland. In 1722, John Horsfall, Esq. bequeathed £360 for teaching ten poor children of each of the above townships, and providing annually two shirts or shifts for each child. The children are taught reading gratis, and writing at half charges. The income consists of the rent of 26 acres of land, and the interest of £50. A question was also depending at the time of the Report, as to an equivalent for a house, let for £30 per annum, and agreed to be purchased by Wentworth and Co. (who afterwards became bankrupts), and pulled down by them. The trustees are the Vicar of Kirkburton, the Rectors of Kirkheaton and Emley, and the heirs of John Horsfall, Esq.

Shelley School. Income : rent of six acres of land, and use of house. Four children taught English, reading, writing, and accounts, free of charge.

Thurstonland Charity School, founded by the will of Ann Ludlam, dated 18th April 1763. Seven trustees. Income : interest of £500 and rent of 2a. 1r. 23p. of land. House for the master. Free to all the township for reading ; a quarterage is paid for writing. -Vide 18th Report, page 557, and 21st Report, page 594.

Post town: Huddersfield.

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References:
Vid. Torre's MS., page 803. Abp. Sharp's MS., vol. i. page 196. Loidis et Elmete, page 344. Wood's (Bodleian) MS. No. 5,101.

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Notes:
*1 Alias Berton. In Domesday Book it is written Bertone.

*2 Viz. Cartworth, 1,796; Cumberworth half, 1,180; Foulston, 1,573; Hepworth, 1,229; Kirkburton, 2,650; Shelley, 1,319; Shipley, 893; Thurstonland, 1,098; and Wooldale, 3,993. The increase of Population in the township of Cartworth (585 persona) is attributed to the erection of upwards of 100 cottages. The quarries and coal-mines in the parish of Kirkburton afford employment to upwards of 100 labourers. In 1834, the return, exclusive of the chapelries, was 7,140.

*3 In 1818, stated at 4,000.