Parish records of Strensall

Includes register of christenings, 1566-1638, 1676-2002 (note this register uses the Dade registration scheme for the years 1777-1812); register of marriages, 1607-1638, 1676-1754, 1756-1812, 1814-2018; register of burials, 1607-1638, 1676-1962 (note this register uses the Dade registration scheme for the years 1771-1812, ages only from 1800); register of banns, 1823-1891, 1930-1989; register of services, 1929-2005; register of confirmations, 1955-1999; records concerning benefice income, including glebe and tithe accounts, 1828-1835, papers regarding modus and rents, 1943-1971, deed, 1858, sale catalogue for Sheriff Hutton Park relating to vicar's stipend, 1880, papers, 1916-1927, tithe papers, 1917-1934, and terrier and inventory, 2006-2015; charity records, including papers, 1881-1886, surrender of poorhouses, 1846, account book, 1936-1955, account book for fabric fund, organ fund, reserve account and church charity, 1963-1985, standing committee minutes of meetings, 1971-1980, 2006-2009, and church bazaar and garden party account book, 1958-1984; churchwardens’ records, including churchyard papers, 1906, 1926, accounts, 1910-1922, and fabric papers, 1922-1978, 1980-1982, 2003-2010; records concerning incumbent, including parsonage house papers, 1958, 1965-1970, vicarage insurance papers, 1917, 1921, memoranda of Strensall made by vicar, 1843-1884, and dilapidations correspondence, 1963-1964; records concerning parish rooms and societies, including church hall accounts, 1950-1959, letter regarding sale of hall, 1958, and parish hall conveyance account, 1925; school papers, 1972; Vestry/Parochial Church Council records, including minutes of meetings, 1922-1929, 1946-2011, 2016-2017, accounts, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1979-1986, church log books, 1977-1988, 2005-2007, electoral roll, 1972-1978, enclosure agreement and award, 1757-1758, magazines, 1919-2011 (with gaps), and estate sale catalogues, 1877-1879; parish newsletters, 2017-2020.

The earliest parish church in Strensall is believed to have been built in the first half of the twelfth century. It was appropriated to the Prebend of Strensall in 1314 and remained subject to its peculiar jurisdiction until the nineteenth century. A vicarage was ordained there in 1314. The advowson was in the gift of the Prebendary until 1840 when it passed to the Archbishop of York.
The church appears to have been dedicated to St James until at least the fifteenth century and thereafter to St Mary the Virgin. The medieval building was demolished around 1800 and replaced by a new brick church in 1803-1804 and then by the present church in 1865-1866, designed by architects John Bownas Atkinson and William Atkinson of York. In 1919 a new stained glass window was installed by J. W. Knowles & Son and in 1926 repair work was carried out by Brierley and Rutherford. A new vestry was added in 1961 and the church was refloored in 1976. An oak screen at the rear of the nave, the lecturn, and the pulpit, were carved by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson of Kilburn.
The parish historically included Earswick, Towthorpe and Haxby. Haxby was a chapelry from at least the fourteenth century, shared by the Prebends of Strensall and Driffield, although it was assigned to Strensall only by the sixteenth. In 1863 the chapelry of Haxby separated from Strensall to form its own parish.

This arrangement was designed to reflect the principal activities of the parish and its associated organisations, and to aid researchers in identifying the records these activities generate. This arrangement was introduced in 2020. Records are arranged within the following alphabetical series but retain their original archival reference at file/item level:
A: Parish Registers
B: Church Ceremonial
C: Parish Clergy
D: Property - Religious
E: Property - Secular
F: Parish Administration and Officers
G: Parish Social and Evangelical Activities
H: Overseer of the Poor and Parish Charity
J: Schools
K: Promotional and Informational Material

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws. 24 hours' notice is required to access photographic material.

The archive was deposited at the Borthwick Institute in 1969 by Strensall Parochial Church Council. Two related items had been transferred to the Institute from the Minster Library earlier the same year and were subsequently added to Strensall parish records. Further additions were made to the archive in 1976, 1981, 1982, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2020.

The earliest parish church in Strensall is believed to have been built in the first half of the twelfth century. It was appropriated to the Prebend of Strensall in 1314 and remained subject to its peculiar jurisdiction until the nineteenth century. A vicarage was ordained there in 1314. The advowson was in the gift of the Prebendary until 1840 when it passed to the Archbishop of York.
The church appears to have been dedicated to St James until at least the fifteenth century and thereafter to St Mary the Virgin. The medieval building was demolished around 1800 and replaced by a new brick church in 1803-1804 and then by the present church in 1865-1866, designed by architects John Bownas Atkinson and William Atkinson of York. In 1919 a new stained glass window was installed by J. W. Knowles & Son and in 1926 repair work was carried out by Brierley and Rutherford. A new vestry was added in 1961 and the church was refloored in 1976. An oak screen at the rear of the nave, the lecturn, and the pulpit, were carved by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson of Kilburn.
The parish historically included Earswick, Towthorpe and Haxby. Haxby was a chapelry from at least the fourteenth century, shared by the Prebends of Strensall and Driffield, although it was assigned to Strensall only by the sixteenth. In 1863 the chapelry of Haxby separated from Strensall to form its own parish.

A typescript finding aid, to file level, is available for consultation in the searchroom of the Borthwick Institute. This includes all material received up to and including 2015. Later material has not yet been listed.

Selected records, including registers of christenings, 1566-1900, marriages and burials, 1607-1900, banns, 1823-1891, tithe accounts, 1828-1835, and a memo book of Strensall and Haxby, 1843-1884, are also available on microfilm at the Borthwick Institute (References: MF 790, 1756, 1777).
Our collection of parish baptism, marriage and burial registers has been digitised by both Ancestry and Find My Past. Copies of digitised records can be viewed online on Ancestry or Find My Past, as part of larger UK-wide parish registers datasets. You can find out more about these record sets, and how to find our registers, here: https://borthcat.york.ac.uk/index.php/are-you-looking-for-parish-registers.

Created by S. A. Shearn, 09.03.16.
Revised (Schema arrangement and retroconversion) 03.01.2023 by N Adams

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are expected.

Published

GB 193