Wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire

Staincross was a

Wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, ...

(

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

), which is an administrative division (or ancient district), in the historic county of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. It consisted of seven parishes, and included the towns of Barnsley and Penistone

History

Staincross was named after the village of

Staincross Staincross is a village in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with West Yorkshire. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it formed part of the defunct Barnsley West and Penistone borough constituency, following the Boundary ...

and also included the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

es of

Cawthorne Cawthorne is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. The village was once a centre of the iron and coal mining industry; today it is part of an affluent commuter belt west of Barnsley. ...

Darton Darton is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley (part of South Yorkshire), on the border with West Yorkshire, England. At the time of the 2001 UK census, it had a population of 14,927, increasing to 21,345 for both Darton Ward ...

, Felkirk,

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, with it increasing to 13,533 at the 2011 Census. Histor ...

High Hoyland High Hoyland is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with West Yorkshire. It lies to the west of Kexbrough, and is located at approximately , at an elevation of around 2 ...

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 22,909 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Barnsley, ...

Royston Royston may refer to: Places Australia *Royston, Queensland, a rural locality Canada *Royston, British Columbia, a small hamlet England *Royston, Hertfordshire, a town and civil parish, formerly partly in Cambridgeshire *Royston, South Yorkshi ...

Silkstone Silkstone is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, between the towns of Barnsley and Penistone. The parish includes the village of S ...

(including Barnsley) and Tankersley and parts of Darfield. Of the nine wapentakes in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Staincross typically had the lowest population density, which was recorded in 1867 as 27,089. The original meeting place of the wapentake is believed to have been in, or near, to the village of Staincross, similar to the wapentakes at

Ewcross The historical area of Ewecross or Ewcross is a district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It included the parishes of Bentham, Clapham, Horton in Ribblesdale and Sedbergh and parts of Thornton in Lonsdale. Ewcross was split from the S ...

and Osgoldcross. The name derives from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

of ''stein-kross'', literally, ''stone cross''. Originally located in the

, the majority of area within Staincross Wapentake is now within

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. I ...

, with Hemsworth and surrounding villages today a part of the

Wakefield Metropolitan District The City of Wakefield is a local government district with the status of a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Wakefield, the largest settlement, is the administrative centre of the district. The population of the City ...

, within

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

. The original boundaries nestled against the wapentakes of Agbrigg to the north, Osgoldcross to the east and Strafforth to the south and south east. On the western edge, the wapentake bordered the Hamestan Hundred of Cheshire. It was estimated to have covered an area of , although, according to Domesday records, a smaller portion, geographically removed from the rest of the wapentake, was located at the village of

Adlingfleet Adlingfleet is a drained, fertile, former marshland village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that forms part of the civil parish of Twin Rivers. It is east-southeast of Goole town centre. Its sea wall along the far north-east is set ...

where the rivers Ouse and Trent converge. Although some distance from the village of Staincross, the Church of All Saints, Silkstone, was sometimes known as the "Mother Church" of the Staincross Wapentake.

Notes

References

{{coord, 53.5742, -1.5031, region:GB, display=title Wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire