Kildwick and the Surrounding Area
The Kildwick parish originally contained several villages including Steeton, Eastburn and Silsden, which are now separately identifiable. It is also of course only a short distance down the Aire Valley to Keighley (also East and West Morton), Riddlesden and Bingley..
Thomas Rishworth had been given Stanroyd Hall in 1566 and had married Joanna, daughter of Richard Whitely, heir to lands in Hipperholme in 1573. All their children were however born at Ghyll (or Gill) Grange (or Gilgrange) and baptised at Kildwick, although the baptism record for Anthony has not been found.
However it is the sons of Anthony that we are more directly interested in.
Anthony Rishworth who had been born c1585 had married Francisca Unknown. They lived in Keighley from 1607-1619 and subsequently at West Morton. They had three sons, Thomas Rishworth, William Rishworth and John Rishworth. There is a suggestion that he died in 1646 but it is considered more likely that he had died in 1641.
Thomas Rishworth was born in 1607 and married Ann Boulton to establish the line as described below.
William Rishworth was christened at Keighley in 1619 and married Mary Driver. Mary lived until 1676 and William until 1696. They resided at West Morton and had four children, Grace born 1651, Ann born 1653, Isobel born 1655 and John born 1657. There is no information available about descendants and it is presumed that the land did not pass on via son John but via descendants of William’s brother Thomas (see later in this chapter).
John Rishworth married three times, first to Martha Bolton in 1635 with whom he had a daughter Isobel, born in 1638 before Martha died in 1640, then to Elizabeth Unknown who died 1676, with whom he had a daughter Martha who married Joseph Parkinson in 1699, and finally to Isabel Unknown. John and his family lived at Ghyll Grange. John died in 1672.
Thomas Rishworth (1607 to 1699) and Ann Boulton
The family line now descends from Thomas of Gilgrange and Ann Boulton of Addingham. They were married on 26th February 1645 in Addingham Parish Church. Both are mentioned in the burial registers of Kildwick Parish Church with Ann being buried in 1693 and Thomas in 1699.
Thomas Rishworth (or Rishforth) had five sons, Johannes (or John) Rishforth, Guilielmus (or William) Rishworth, Thomas Rishworth, Anthony Rishworth ) and George Rishworth.
It is not clear when the move to Ghyll Grange was made, possibly after the death of Anthony but it would appear that Thomas was living with his brother John at Ghyll Grange after his marriage to Ann. However in 1651 there were two young children in Thomas’s family and at this time his new house at Doublerstones was built. It should be noted that the property currently referred to as Ghyll Grange is in fact the property Far Ghyll Grange, as distinct from Ghyll Grange itself.
It is considered that the inscription above the door lintel “TAR 1695” at Cragg House Farm, Addingham Moorside refers to the residence of Thomas and Ann Rishworth, although this date is just after Ann’s death.
First son John was born in 1646 and married Anna Horsfall on 5th February 1688 when they already had three children. It is probable that he had taken over at Ghyll Grange in 1672 after the death of his Uncle John and continued to live there until his death. His son John, born 1678 lived in West Morton, and it is through him that the line is reported in John1646
Their second son William was born in 1648 and was also baptised at Kildwick Parish Church. He married Elizabeth Moorhouse from Addingham Moorside, daughter of John Moorhouse and Mary. It is William and his descendants that we are concerned with here.
Third son Thomas was born in 1654 and married Jane Stirk. It is through Thomas that most of the Rishworths of Silsden in the Censuses from 1841 to 1901 are descended, in fact all except those descended from William and Elizabeth Moorhouse, and this is reported in Thomas1654.
William Rishworth (1648 to 1705) and Elizabeth Moorhouse
William continued to live in the stone homestead at Doublerstones, Gilgrange, built by his father in 1651. He married Elizabeth on 8th October 1699 at St. Peter’s, Addingham. William was 51 and Elizabeth, born in 1680, was just 19.
William and Elizabeth’s two children Ann and Thomas were born in 1700 and 1702.
On 23rd September 1704, William, probably wanting to set up a farm and house of his own, is first mentioned as purchasing land in the village of Eastburn, down in the valley, about four miles from Gilgrange. This was done in partnership with Stephen Moorhouse (Elizabeth’s brother), and Abraham Gott (Mary Moorhouse, Stephen and Elizabeth’s mother was now remarried to Abraham Gott).
On 31st March 1705 William purchased 55 acres of land, 2 dwellings and 2 barns in Eastburn for £475 from Thomas Garforth.
Not many weeks later, in June 1705, William aged 57, passed away, leaving his 25 year old wife with 5 year old Ann and 3 year old Thomas. In the Kildwick Parish Register he was described as “paterfam” meaning “head of the family” of Gilgrange. He left all his property in Addingham Moorside and Eastburn to his wife Elizabeth and his son and heir Thomas (with a payment of £200 to his daughter Ann when she reached the age of 21). His will indicates that the children were too young to accept responsibilities and that guardians should initially look after the estate.
Thomas Rishworth (1702 to 1772) and Mary Clapham
Thomas married Mary Clapham of Low Utley, the next village after Steeton going from Eastburn towards Keighley, about 2 miles from Eastburn, on 6th April 1732 in Kildwick Parish Church.
When they had their two sons, Thomas in 1739 and William in 1743 they were living at Thwaites, Bingley. Brief information is given about Thomas Jnr. below, but the main narrative is continued via William in the next chapter.
Upon his death in 1772 when he was 69, Thomas Snr. left the Thwaites property in Bingley to his son Thomas, and the Eastburn and Steeton properties to William.
Mary Clapham, the elder, died on 15th January 1789, “widow of Eastburn” and was buried at Keighley on 19th January.
Thomas Rishworth (1739 to 1809) and Amy Netherwood
Thomas was christened in Bingley on 3rd April 1740. He married Amy Netherwood in All Saints Church, Bingley on 28th January 1772 when he was 33 and she was 23. Thomas built Thwaites House, Bingley in 1780. He died at Thwaites on 29th September 1809 and was buried on 3rd October 1809 in Bingley Parish Church. Amy had been born in 1749 in Amblethorpe, Kildwick and died at Thwaites on 14th March 1818 when she was 69. There is a monument in Bingley Parish Church to the family as they were buried in one of the church aisles They had 3 children.
Amelia, born in 1782, married Thomas Whitely of Bingley and died on 20th April 1841, aged 59. She was buried in the aisle of Bingley Church, and Elizabeth, born in 1784, married John Craven of Keighley. She died in 1859, aged 74.
Thomas, born in 1787 at Thwaite, married Mercy Smith in Keighley on 25th February 1834 when he was 46 and Mercy 35. They had two sons, Thomas born in 1821, and John in 1841, born at Thwaites. (These dates given by grandson Professor Frank Rishworth and thus considered to be reliable). He had to sell his Thwaites property about 1854. and went to Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland.
Thomas Rishworth, b 1821, m. Elizabeth Shackleton. They had four children.
William m. Mary Anne Lupton, “Fernfield” Bingley and had three children, Amy Beatrice, d. 1956; Thomas Edgar under care in a home; William Henry d.1955. All were unmarried.
Anne Amelia, b. 1852, died 1939, m. Thomas Henry Secker of Surrey. Amy Elizabeth, m. William Maude Sharman of Bradford and Harrogate. John Henry, d. 1877
John Rishworth of Thwaites and Tuam, b. 1841, at Thwaites House, d. 1925 at Ballymote House, Tuam. m. Hannah, dau. of James Maude Sharman of Bradford; she died 1909. They had six sons and one daughter
John Henry Rishworth, b.1874, d. 1922, m. Mary E. Madden of Ballinlough. They had three children, John F, d. aged 22, then daughters Eileen and Mary Dorothea, m. Dr. Peter Denham of Dublin.
Frank Sharman Rishworth, m. Mary Beecroft of Bingley. They had no children. This is Professor Frank Rishworth (1876 to 1960) who contributed vastly to research on Rishworth Family History.
Charles James Rishworth, d. in infancy. Christina Mary Rishworth, m. Alexander Ernest Marks. William Herbert Rishworth, unmarried lived at Tuam,
James Maud Rishworth, MB, b.1886, d. 1950, Doctor at Blackheath, m. Mary Reid in 1945, d. 1950. They had one child, James Robert, b 1948.
Walter Netherwood Rishworth, MB, M.C., b.1887, d. 1962, Doctor at West Hartlepool, m. Mary Vera Brabazon in 1928. They had two daughters, Doctor Ruth Hannah, MB, b 1931 and Patricia Margaret, b 1934, the latter m. to Lionel Hunt, 1957.