ARMYTAGE/ARMITAGE WRIGBOWLS/KIRKLEES
Robyn Clarke
I am descended from GODFREY ARMITAGE born 1603 Kirkburton Yorkshire through
his son JOHN ARMITAGE 1632.
My interest lies in determining his Ancestors.
I have recently found on the web dated 2007 a Descendants of Sir John
ARMYTAGE of Wrigbowls Tree.
It commences with said Sir John Armytage born abt. 1099, then son Sir Bryan
Armytage of Wrigbowls, then Sir John Armytage of Wrigbowls born about 1145.
Through numerous generations to the Eighth Generation - there I can trace
two brothers Richard Armytage son of Edmond and John Armytage son of
Edmond..........
The Richard Armytage line becomes the Armytage's of Kirklees of Brighouse.
The John Armytage line follows through to Honley and Almondbury Yorkshire.
Wife Joan ?, son Edward Armitage born abt. 1539 Almondbury, died Wooldale
Yorks who married Elizabeth Bordley - child John Armitage born 1565
Kirkburton. etc.
I am rather confused as a distant cousin back in 1962, as per recently found
introductory letter, visited the Kirklees Brighouse Estate, was shown around
by Lady Armytage, as Sir John was in London and was lead to believe that
indeed our Branch, which moved to Ceylon in the 19th century was known to
them and was part of the Kirklees Armytages......albeit spelled Armitage.
I can only find the above common lines prior to the Kirklees generations.
Is there anyone more familiar with these earlier Branches that may be able
to confirm things for me.
With thanks,
Robyn Clarke
Australia
Ian Goddard
> Hello All,
>
> I am descended from GODFREY ARMITAGE born 1603 Kirkburton Yorkshire
> through his son JOHN ARMITAGE 1632.
>
> My interest lies in determining his Ancestors.
>
> I have recently found on the web dated 2007 a Descendants of Sir John
> ARMYTAGE of Wrigbowls Tree.
Where?????
> It commences with said Sir John Armytage born abt. 1099, then son Sir
> Bryan Armytage of Wrigbowls, then Sir John Armytage of Wrigbowls born
> about 1145.
> Through numerous generations to the Eighth Generation - there I can
> trace two brothers Richard Armytage son of Edmond and John Armytage son
> of Edmond..........
> The Richard Armytage line becomes the Armytage's of Kirklees of Brighouse.
> The John Armytage line follows through to Honley and Almondbury
> Yorkshire. Wife Joan ?, son Edward Armitage born abt. 1539 Almondbury,
> died Wooldale Yorks who married Elizabeth Bordley - child John Armitage
> born 1565 Kirkburton. etc.
Hmm. In fact John Ermytage (spelling at that time could be very
flexible and in fact Kirkburton at that time was going through a phase
of recording events in Latin which required that Christian names also be
rendered in Latin although surnames & placenames weren't), son of
Edward, was /baptized/ in Kirkburton parish on 12 May 1565 but his home
is, in fact, given as Wooldale.
It suggests that your source couldn't distinguish between place of birth
and place of baptism and wasn't well informed on the ecclesiastical
history of the area.
Northern parishes at the time were generally large & included a number
of townships, often requiring chapels of ease. Kirkburton had one such
chapel serving most of the forest of Holne, AKA Holmfirth and this
chapel was actually located in Wooldale, one of the townships of the
parish. Almondbury was even bigger and had a number chapels of its own
and shared Holmfirth with Kirkburton. If a register says that a
ceremony was performed in a chapel then this is a clue as to the part of
the parish where the participants lived but marriages were only
performed in the parish churches at this time and Holmfirth had no
facilities for burials until the mid C18th except for a short period
during the Commonwealth and only then for Kirkburton parishioners. If
the register names a specific place then this is more useful although it
may require some knowledge of Yorkshire pronunciation to decode these
(e.g. Woodall is Wooldale and Cawell is Coldwell). If the abode was
actually in Almondbury or Kirkburton this may be indicated by name
(Ambrey or similar is Almondbury and Kirkburton is normally just given
as Burton) or by vill or town. Without such specific indication you
can't pin the location down to anything more specific than the parish.
Failure to realise this traps the unwary into believing that families
were much more mobile than they were or into not being able to
distinguish correctly between different branches of a family.
So Edward lived in Wooldale township (possibly but not necessarily in
the hamlet of Wooldale itself). His son may well have been baptised in
the Holmfirth chapel but this would have been recorded in the Kirkburton
register; separate registers for Holmfirth only survive from the mid
C18th. At some periods the register records that a baptism took place
in the chapel but not at this time.
The Kirkburton registers were transcribed over a century ago by Frances
Collins. If you go to www.archive.org and search for parish registers
Kirkburton in the search box on the top left you should be able to
download Vol 1 as a PDF. Vol 2 is available on Google Books but
depending on Google's attitude to New Zealand you have to go through a
proxy server. Vol 2 has an appendix on the Armytages.
The Almondbury registers were transcribed by Harry Taylor & published by
the Yorkshire Archaeological Society - you'll probably have to buy those
in hard copy although there was an old Ancestry CD which included the
earlier part.
The Collins & Taylor transcripts run up to the early C18th. The
Huddersfield District Family History Society has transcripts that pick
up from that date. Those sources will enable you to check for yourself
from the start of parish registers although both parishes have gaps.
Google Books also has a PDF of Henry Morehouse's History of Kirkburton &
the Graveship of Holme which will be useful reading.
Finally, "Willelmus del Ermytache & Agnes uxor ejus" of North Crossland
were assessed at 4d in the 1379 Poll Tax.
--
Ian
The Hotmail address is my spam-bin. Real mail address is iang
at austonley org uk