Mc Bride-- Cleveland UK

[AntoR22]

Hi All

Firstly I'd be gratiful if someone could confirm that Cleveland is in Yorkshire North Riding ?..
The reason I'm posting this on the outside chance of locating a photo of my Great Great Grandfather Robert Cowap ..
This photo was of him wearing his red army uniform and was taken approx 1864 to 1871 ... We believe it was passed on to a Robert McBride of Cleveland UK ..

Thats all the information we have and we would be very gratiful for any advice or help with this.. A chance in a million I know but we might get lucky.

Many Thanks .. Anthony

[macintosh]

Anthony,
Indeed it is - The History of Cleveland by John Walker Ord written in 1846  at Gisborough describes it thus;
Travellers, tourists of all descriptions, antiquarians, geolostic, scientific, poetic and artistic, have cordially united in celebrating that romantic portion of the  north Riding in the County of York called Cleveland.

It also comprises the Wapentake of East and West Langbargh

However today the County of Cleveland incorporates parts of what was County Durham on the north bank of the river Tees.


James

[AntoR22]

Hi James

Thank you for the very elegant description of what sounds like a beautiful part of your country..

Wapentake ?? thats a word I havnt heard before can you enlighten me please ..

Regards

Anthony

[sillgen]

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Definitions/AreaDefinitions.html

gives a good explanation of wapentake.
Andrea

[macintosh]

Anthony,
Andrea has attached a very apt description, just to add, the name Cleveland is supposed to have originated from the Norse Viking invaders when they saw the sea cliffs (of  what was to become the North Riding)
They called it "Cliff land"  hence Cleveland, maybe that's a bit of folklore,

The English surname Shakespeare is also supposed to originate from "Shake Spear"  similar to the actions of wapentac, shaking weapons as a sign of approval.
Good Luck with your search 


James

[AntoR22]

Hi James / Andrea

Many thanks for that piece of information its hard to put a name on its equivilent meaning here in Dublin .. Probably district or parish maybe townland would probably be the nearest description I can think of but they can be confusing over here because they seem to overlap a lot into each other ..

Makes interesting reading though ..

Thanking you ... Anthony