Genealogy Chat

As IGP says, lots of places in the north of England have Bank in their names. In many cases the name has survived as Bank Street, and is usually a hill, sometimes very steep, as anyone who has been to the Records Office in Matlock, Derbyshire, will know!!

In Leeds, the parish church of St Peter is in Kirkgate, and not very far from Bank Street, which may be where your ancestors lived. On Google Earth it looks all modern city centre-type buildings, but 200 years ago could well have been small houses.

I have Yorkshire Ancestry and have found the name 'Bank' crops up regularly.

More often than not, as suggested, the term was associated with a location, eg Farnley Bank. However on the census it was often just reduced to the word 'Bank' in the same way that residents in Farnley village simply had their address recorded as 'Village'

Thanks Sylvia:

I really didn't think it had anything to do with a financial bank, mainly because my ancestry was not a wealthy group. All were " Blue Collar" as we say in the US.

My Laycocks were living & working in the villages & hamlets around Leeds until 1844 when my gg grandfather, his wife & five children immigrated to Boston, MA. The whole family, except the youngest, worked in the weaving mills in West Riding, Yorkshire, according to the 1841 Census.

Abode, Bank, is all it gave me on the children's Baptismal record, so I was curious as to where it might be in Leeds. It must have been quite small, because it isn't found now. Or at least, it didn't show up in my searchings.

Nancy

Nancy


Many places in northern England are called xxxxxx Bank ..............that's the area I know best, it may also happen in southern England as well,

It can be used for an area, or a street


In geography, a bank is a term used for a raised portion of seabed or sloping ground along the edge of a stream, river, or lake



and that is the sense it is used in, in both Lancashire and Yorkshire.

a street or terrace of houses could be called (for example) Moor Bank, and would often be slightly raised above surrounding areas.


Nothing at all to do with financial institutions!




sylvia

Thanks Vera:
You are really fast.

I looked at the Secret Leeds site you gave & found a few pieces of info. Apparently there were several "Banks" & they meant a land description, not a financial place.

There were names like "Black Bank" which related to a coal pit, a "Far Bank" & just "Bank" where a railroad once ran. Sadly, there were no dates given.

Good try though.
Nancy

I googled Bank, Leeds and came up with this site

http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messages.aspx?ThreadID=160

It has info. about the area known as Bank. Hope that's some help.

Vera

Need help in finding the actual old location of "Bank" in West Riding, Yorkshire.

I can't find it anywhere, but Abode "Bank" is listed on three of my ancestors Baptism records at the Parish Church of Leeds, County of York. The records were: 1829, 1831 & 1833.

Hopefully someone out there knows where it used to be.