HAMPSTHWAITE, a parish in the lower division of the wapentake of CLARO, West riding of the county of YORK, comprising the chapelry of Thornthwaite with Padside, and the townships of Birstwith, Felliscliffe, Hampsthwaite, and Menwith with Darley, and containing 2750 inhabitants, of which number, 490 are in the township of Hampsthwaite, 1 mile (S, W.byW.) from Ripley. The living is a vicarage, rated in the king s books at £13. 6. 8., in the peculiar jurisdiction of the court for the honour of Knaresborough, and in the patronage of the Rev. T. M. Sham. The church is dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket. William .Ridsdale, in 1711, gave a house and two guineas a year for teaching six boys of the township of Hampsthwaite; and in the same year John Richmond founded a free school at West Syke Green, in this parish, and endowed it with & 14 per annum, for educating thirty boys.