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Mapping Hampsthwaite's Past

The churchyard of St Thomas a'Beckett, and its Chapel-of-Ease at Felliscliffe hold within them a wealth of local heritage via their Memorial Inscriptions and Burial Records.

Why so many infant deaths, what was happening in society at the time of burial, was there a war or an illness affecting the population? How many local families are represented there and are there any well known names - or not so well known but with an interesting story attached? Is the design of the Memorial interesting in terms of its art work or the language used?

This section of our website aims to list photographs of all Memorials, together with their Inscriptions and Church Records so that such questions may be answered by browsing or searching both now and in the foreseeable future - even long after some inscriptions may have faded beyond readability.


Click on either the images or the titles below to link to details of the memorials at each church.

St Thomas a'Becket
St Thomas a'Becket

The Parish Church of St Thomas a'Becket

The Church Registers date from 1603 and the baptism entries are complete. Missing are those for marriages from 1638 to 1652 and for burials from 1645 to 1652 - a period of civil unrest, when the Commonwealth was established under Oliver Cromwell; a period too when the Puritans forced Parliament to ban the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and when bishops and cathedral clergy were removed from office and many restrictions were placed upon the parochial clergy.

All church registers - except for the current ones - are stored at the Record Office in Northallerton, with the information from them now on microfiche. In the past, however, they were transcribed and edited by Dr. Francis Collins and then printed in 1902*.

[*this may be accessed via Ancestry at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/28959/]
Felliscliffe Chapel-of-Ease
Felliscliffe Chapel-of-Ease

Felliscliffe Chapel-of-Ease

Lying in the south-western fringes of Hampsthwaite parish and some two or more miles from the parish church of St.Thomas a'Becket, this chapel has served outlying worshipers since its construction in about 1893. In this photograph we see not only the chapel but part of the adjacent block of five almshouses erected at the same time and part of the same generous gift by members of the Hezmalhalch family.

An excellent account of the history of the Hezmalhalch family can be found on the internet at http://www.wigglesworth.me.uk/riley/pdf/Hezmalhalch.pdf
 AG Burial Ground Management Survey
AG Burial Ground Management Survey

The National Burial Grounds Survey

Explore our churchyards using the laser scanned maps generated as the result of Burial Grounds Surveys provided by Atlantic Geomatics

St. Thomas a'Becket Past Portal
St. Thomas a'Becket Past Portal


Click on any plot location to reveal associated memorial image, inscription,  registers and records


Mapping Hampsthwaite's Past

The churchyard of St Thomas a'Beckett, and its Chapel-of-Ease at Felliscliffe hold within them a wealth of local heritage via their Memorial Inscriptions and Burial Records.

Why so many infant deaths, what was happening in society at the time of burial, was there a war or an illness affecting the population? How many local families are represented there and are there any well known names - or not so well known but with an interesting story attached? Is the design of the Memorial interesting in terms of its art work or the language used?

This section of our website aims to list photographs of all Memorials, together with their Inscriptions and Church Records so that such questions may be answered by browsing or searching both now and in the foreseeable future - even long after some inscriptions may have faded beyond readability.