England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bilton in Ainsty St Helen

The Parish

The parish of Bilton in Ainsty lies in a separate area of the county once outwith the three-way split of the Ridings, the Ainsty being a small rural area (formerly equivalent to the Saxon Hundred) controlled by the Corporation of York. The parish sits about 4 miles east of the market town of Wetherby. Much of the village sits on or to the south of the B1224 road which connects Wetherby with the city of York. Essentially a rural farming area little has changed today with perhaps a greater degree of arable farming now than would have sufficed during the period of this transcript. Bilton in Ainsty is drained by the Sike Brook, a small tributary of the Nidd which lies a couple of miles north, the Nidd joins the Ouse northwest of York and thence through the Humber Estuary to the North Sea. Bilton in Ainsty is sited at around 40 metres in a fairly level plain with local heights rising to little more than that for some distance. Bilton in Ainsty parish was fairly large for lowland Yorkshire, it covered an area of just over 4,900 acre and would have supported a population of around 900 parishioners. In Domesday times Bilton in Ainsty was held by one Osbern d'Arques and was a fairly small place offering just 4 plough as well as small meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Helen's church sits on the northern edge of the village on the southern side of the B1224 and at the entrance to the main lane (Church Street) of the village. St Helen is a rather ancient church with most of the fabric dating from the late Norman Romanesque period of the 12th or early 13th centuries. Pevsner is particularly praising of the "impressive" western front albeit he described the bellcote as later and "heavy". From a slightly later period come the three-bay arcades which are probably reflective of a later addition rather than an extended build. The church sits a few metres into Church Street which is wide enough to permit parking, the churchyard behind a neatly hedged boundary. A single solitary tree graces the northern aspect but otherwise the churchyard is free of photographic obstructions.