England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Barnoldswick St Mary le Gill

The Parish

The parish of Barnoldswick lies in the extreme west of the West Riding of Yorkshire, indeed it forms part of the boundary between Yorkshire & neighbouring Lancashire. The area is unusual in being on the western side of the Pennine watershed yet still in the county of Yorkshire. Barnoldswick lies some 9 miles west of the large market town of Skipton. Barnoldswick is a substantial town in itself, grown larger following the arrival of the Leeds-Liverpool canal Barnoldswick sits about 2 miles west of the busy A56 road which connects Skipton to Colne in Lancashire and is accessed by a series of smaller B roads from that route. Barnoldswick, like many Yorkshire Pennine towns had industry dominated by mills, here for cotton. The area around the town is largely upland and often moorland so pastoral farming would have dominated the more rural economy. Barnoldswick is drained northwestwards by the Stocks Beck which soon joins the Ribble and reaches the Irish Sea through Preston. Upland Yorkshire parishes are rather large and Barnoldswick was one of the smaller by area, it still covered almost 6,100 acres and supported a population of over 2,800 parishioners most of whom were in Barnoldswick itself or the townships of Brogden, Coates and Salterworth. In Domesday times Barnoldswick was held by one Roger of Poitou, its entry was sketchy (as are many in the north) but indicated a taxable wealth of 12 geld units making it wealthy indeed.

The Church

St Mary le Gill (often rendered Ghyll) sits some way from Barnoldswick almost 2 miles to the northeast and at the end of a long lane leading in that direction from Coates. The church is almost in the parish of Thornton in Craven physically. St Mary is almost totally from the Perpendicular period albeit in phases heading from the western tower through to the chancel. A date on the tower, albeit difficult to read, gives an interpreted date of 1524 and that would tie in with the architectural style. The church is substantial, as befits a large population of parishioners and has masive blocks of local stone, a defense against the savage Pennine winters. The interior shows a five-bay arcade enough to permit a substantial attendance. The church is reached from Coates and the B6252 by way of Ghyll Lane which heads over fields to the tree-dotted churchyard. The immediate surroundings of St Mary, however are free of photographic obstacles.