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The site of a kiln, a term with a very long history.
dates 1250-1275 1294 1345

Could be either a hook to hang a pot in the chimney, or the detachable handles of a pot or pan.
dates 1400 1425-1426 1444 1452 1479 1490 1559 1574 1634

spellings kimnel cimlin gimling gymnel gymlett chimblinge
A tub with a variety of domestic uses, among which were brewing, kneading, salting.
dates 1341 1419 1485 1545 1547 1571 1574 1589 1599 1602 1731

A rare word: it is found several times in a Whitby account roll where it appears to refer to a tub for containing herrings.
places Whitby
dates 1394-1395

This was the royalty payable on mineral rights held by the king, often included in the terms of a lease.
dates 1538 1630

Possibly for ‘cingle’, a girdle of some kind.
places Harpham York
dates 1341 1394

The hide of a young or small beast, or a bundle of such hides (OED). In particular it was used of lamb skins, as in the will of a York furrier.
places York
dates 1521

A verb meaning to snatch or take hold of.
dates 1202-1208

This was formerly a word for the male salmon during the spawning season and it is on record in Old English.
places Calder Valley
dates 1430

This was the spawning season for salmon, a period during which fishing was illegal.
places Egton Aldborough
dates 1624 1633

Possibly the ‘strings’ which secured bundles of lamb skins on pack-horses, or a lambskin tie.
places Bolton Priory
dates 1377-1378

The EDD has 'kerf' meaning a saw-cut or incision and this may be an alternative spelling. In the only example noted it was apparently a ring cut round the trunk of a tree.
places Slaithwaite
dates 1544

The northern word for church, formerly in general use across the county.
dates 1456 1491 1533 1676

A regional term for ‘church ale’, a festive occasion.
places Ecclesfield
dates 1543


This term had two distinct shades of meaning and is best known as the name of a street within a town or village, one which led to the church.
dates 1200-1299 1275 1281 1297 1320 1583 1686 1742

An early and occasional regional term for churchwarden.
dates 1490 1499 1504 1539

A frequent regional term for churchwarden.
dates 1429 1465 1498 1521 1529

The church stile, located at the point where the kirk gate reached the enclosure around the kirk garth, first noted in an undated thirteenth-century charter.
dates 1260 1314 1379 1446-1458 1497 1505 1551 1607-1608

The footpath to the church, a term less common than kirk gate.
dates 1340 1423 1721

The fabric of a church building.
dates 1434 1444 1483 1485 1531

Commonly a woman’s garment, a gown or skirt.
dates 1315 1398 1473 1538 1560 1620

To have sexual intercourse.
places Balne Elland
dates 1681 1690

spellings kitmaker kitwright wheel kit
Kits were wooden vessels of hooped staves and they had a wide variety of uses. Often they were used for carrying liquids and had a lid.
dates 1275 1465 1556 1585 1596 1739 1888

An early spelling of ‘cut’.
places York
dates 1417 1419-1420 1523

Although a kitchen was usually a room or part of a house where food was prepared, it may sometimes have been a separate building, perhaps similar to an ‘oven-house’.
dates 1481 1618

A shallow wooden vessel or tub, used in butter-making, brewing, etc.
dates 1547 1576 1636 1656

A by-name with an uncertain meaning, although the OED has ‘trickster’, ‘harness-maker’ and 'horse-dealer' under separate headings.
places Walton
dates 1379

Of uncertain meaning, but possibly a carpenter’s tool.
places York
dates 1394 1400

spellings kneading trough
Wooden vessels in which dough was kneaded.
dates 1557 1574 1618 1639

Bite or nibble, a dialect variant of ‘knap’ which is found in nineteenth-century Yorkshire glossaries.
places Elmswell
dates 1642

Most Sheffield cutlers were making cheap knives for the mass market but there were exceptions, and the inventory of Robert Rhodes listed a wide variety of less-common products.
places Sheffield
dates 1730

To strike, knock, beat (EDD).
places Owlerton
dates 1681

To strike or hit, a spelling of ‘knap’.
places Dewsbury
dates 1675

A knob or protuberance, often small and rounded, a boss. Used of kitchenware, particularly for the decorated ends of silver spoons.
dates 1365 1392 1401 1433 1558 1612 1617 1657 1700

A regional word for a wooden tub of various sizes.
dates 1402 1538 1548 1563 1614

Used of highways with a rough surface.
dates 1676

ky

A rare alternative spelling of quy, that is a heifer.
places Stillingfleet
dates 1535

kye

An obsolete dialect plural of cow.
dates 1520 1554 1571

An early regional spelling of chimney.
places Hackness Wawne
dates 1377 1462

For Christian.
places Selby Farnhill
dates 1379 1505

One who does physical labour, as a service or for a livelihood.
dates 1505 1550 1558

In the early references, from c.1300, this was a word for a serving-man, of low birth and position, and it is found frequently in by-names.
dates 1301 1334-1335 1525 1602 1684 1725

A standing stone or a pile of stones. It can in some respects be compared with ‘law’, which was also used of boundary markers, occasionally as a direct alternative.
dates 1592 1594 1805

The prospective owner of a new house would be granted the right to place a ladder on ground adjoining the building so that he might maintain the property.
dates 1629 1665 1790 1832

Of Old English origin, meaning to bale, that is to remove water by taking it up with some suitable container.
dates 1579 1682 1704 1760

A type of fishing net used by the Crowle tenants in the fourteenth century, subject to certain time restrictions.
places Selby
dates 1372

A regional spelling of ‘loading’.
places Bulmer
dates 1556

A method of poaching, possibly by digging water channels which could be dammed to trap the fish.
places Shelley Golcar
dates 1439 1661-1663

lag

A curved stave for a barrel or cask.
dates 1676 1727 1737

Goods or wreckage lying on the bed of the sea.
places York
dates 1685

To conceal.
dates 1513 1615

A thong, a strap or a chain, part of the plough-team’s harness, apparently a regional form of ‘lainer’.
dates 1534 1551 1581 1636 1648 1754

A place for an animal to lie down, sometimes a fold or enclosure.
places West Riding
dates 1672

spellings lairstall lairstead
The resting place of a corpse, a grave or tomb.
dates 1541 1541-1542 1559

A clay pit, from leirr an Old Norse word.
dates 1316 1338-1339 1341

To look for, to search.
dates 1558 1686

Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0