Grave hunting in Kildwick

Ok, so family history research - grave hunting is difficult with 2 littlies in tow but I attempt it the other week with my 2 year old & my 7 month old. 

This is Kildwick Parish Church in West Yorkshire...

It is a very historical church dating back to 950AD (Kildwick Parish Website, accessed 6th April 2016) and the Leeds-Liverpool canal cuts through the grave yard.

My ancestors didn't live in the village of Kildwick but in other the villages lying within the parish  boundaries, ie Cononley, Cowling, Glusburn etc. I have many ancestors who were baptised & buried here in the 1700s and early 1800s.

Sadly, I did not get enough opportunity to have a good look at many graves because my 2 year old kept running off in the opposite direction and they both fought against taking naps & I forgot the double pram! But we had a nice picnic in the sunshine in the grave yard :) 

Here is the evidence with a picnic selfie with my toddler beginning to feed me the babies food when I was concentrating on taking the photo - he missed my mouth & plastered it on my face instead!

Next time, I will drag my husband along to watch the kids while I peruse some of the old graves & fathom out their old, worn inscriptions.

Some of the beautiful grave stones...

Grave Hunting at Nab Wood Cemetery

Today as we drove past Nab Wood Cemetery to get to a Lego Fair my husband wanted to see, I persuaded him on the return journey to stop off at the cemetery to visit the grave of my great, great, great grandmother, Sarah Hannah Poole & her son, my great, great grandfather, Fred Poole. I had found a reference to the grave on FindAGrave.com which aided locating the grave by already seeing a picture and knowing it's size, shape & colour.

Photo of my ancestor grave at Nab Wood Cemetery

In Loving Memory

of SARAH HANNAH

beloved wife of JAMES POOLE

who died May 17th 1922

in her 82nd year

"at rest"

Also of JAMES POOLE

husband of the above,

died at Melbourne, Australia

Also of FRED POOLE,

Son of the above,

died 8th April 1948

aged 87 years

When I eventually found the grave of Sarah Hannah & Fred Poole, I was more surprised to discover that the neighbouring grave was that of another set of my great, great, great grandparents, John & Jessie Binns. John & Jessie Binns were Fred Poole's parents-in-law.

My ancestors grave at Nab Wood Cemetery

A close up of the inscription

In 

Loving Memory of 

JOHN BINNS 

died Sep 27th 1904 

aged 65 years

also JESSIE wife of the above

died Dec 10th 1921

in her 78th year

Further close up of the inscription on John Binn's gravestone

Also ROSE HANNAH

daughter of the above

died Aug 5th 1896

in her 16th year

Last close up of John Binn's gravestone inscription

Also CLARISSA

Wife of JIM BINNS

Died May 7th 1919 aged 52 years

I am presuming that perhaps Fred & his wife, Grace Ellen Poole nee Binns bought the adjacent burial plots for their parents. Otherwise it would be a strange co-incidence that they're buried in neighbouring plots.

We had a further general wander around the rest of the cemetery and found a grave for Ada Poole nee Druce, the wife of Charles H Poole. Charles H Poole was Fred Poole's brother & son to Hannah.

Grave stone for Ada Poole

In Loving Memory of

ADA

wife of CHARLES H. POOLE

died July 7th 1926

aged 47 years.

All in all I feel it was a worthwhile trip especially finding 2 more ancestral graves which were unexpected finds!! 

My ancestors lived at . . . Gill Bottom, Cowling

My great x4 grandfather, David Binns, was born in Cowling in West Yorkshire c1816.

In the 1851 census he is listed as living at Gill Bottom, Cowling, as a widower with his children, Ann, John (my great x3 grandfather), Sarah, Isabelah and Jane. I was intrigued and wanted to know where Gill Bottom was in Cowling. I decided to search for it on Google maps but accidentally clicked the search the web, so instead I got lots of images and web links. There was quite a lot of interesting stuff coming up...

I discovered that Gill Bottom was on Shop Lane in Cowling and that it is currently a Grade 2 listed building, it was listed in 1984. It was a c1800 farmhouse with 3 cottages.

There was a mill at Gill Bottom also known as the "weaving shop" which was sadly lost to a fire in November 1870.

I also found some images on the Cowling Web website, which I have included the direct links for the images below:
Beckside (Gill Bottom Cottages) 1961 - I wonder if it was one of the cottages on this photo in which my ancestor lived in 1851
Old Mill at Gill Bottom 1911
Gill Bottom, Cowling


Information from:
British Listed Buildings - Gill Bottom, Cowling
Moon-Rakers
Moon-Rakers - Gill Bottom Mill Fire

Surname Saturday - Binns

Surname Saturday is a regular blog post in which I will discuss the origins and geography of the surnames which appear in my own family tree.

This week's surname is BINNS.

Variants: Bins, Binnes, Binn, Binz

The surname is derived from the Olde English binn meaning 'manger' or 'bowl'.

The surname could be:

• Topographical, to describe a person who lived in a hollow or close to a manger
• Occupational, to describe a person who made mangers or troughs
• Locational, to describe a person who lived in a farmstead or a lost village or hamlet called Binns
• Patronymic, from the Middle English given name BINNE or Old English name BYNNI
• Or, an Anglicised version of the German surname BINZ

Manger
(Photo Link - FlickR, Angela (Blondie5000), 21 Nov 2010)

The surname is predominantly located in West Yorkshire around the towns of Haworth, Bradford & Keighley, where there was a small hamlet called High Binns near the village of Oxenhope, West Yorkshire.

The surname is not a common surname is predominantly from Yorkshire. In 1891, 71% of the Binns' families were residing in Yorkshire and 16% in Lancashire, with a small scattering of the others around the country. 

Based on the high percentage of Binns' families in West Yorkshire it is therefore not a surprise to tell you that the Binns's in my family tree are from Cowling nr Keighley in West Yorkshire. My great, great grandmother was Grace Ellen Binns born in c1869 nr Shipley, West Yorkshire. Her father John Binns was born in nr Cowling, West Yorkshire and was a weaver, as was his own father, David Binns c1816, also from Cowling, West Yorkshire.

Information from:

SurnameDB - Binns

British Surnames - Binns

Ancestry.co.uk - Binns

GenForum - Binns

British Surnames - Binns - 1881 census