Sleights

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Sleights
Yorkshire
North Riding
Sleights Cricket Club.jpg
Sleights Sports Ground
Location
Grid reference: NZ868069
Location: 54°27’1"N, 0°39’45"W
Data
Post town: Whitby
Postcode: YO22
Dialling code: 01947
Local Government
Council: North Yorkshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Scarborough and Whitby

Sleights is a village in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in the Esk Valley, standing along the steep main A169 road that runs north to south between Whitby and Malton by way of Pickering across the North York Moors.

There is a village shop, a post office, tearoom, two public houses, a butchers, Botham's bakers, a fish and chip restaurant and a hair dresser’s salon.

At the bottom of the village, the road crosses the Esk Valley Railway, allowing access to Sleights railway station. The road crosses the River Esk on a high bridge, opened on 26 January 1937. The road continues up the hill to reach the A171 Whitby to Middlesbrough trunk road. At the top of the village is Blue Bank. Due east of the village is the hamlet of Iburndale. Due to road accidents, Blue Bank, with a gradient of 1 in 4 (25%), has an escape lane of soft sand.

Name

First found in a document from 1223 as Sleghtesc.[1] Like other place names in Yorkshire, the etymology of Sleights is Old Norse.[2][3] It means 'smooth or level fields'[4] from slétta: 'flat land, plain’.

Churches

St John's Church
  • Church of England: St John the Evangelist
  • Methodist: Sleights Methodist Chapel
  • Roman Catholic: English Martyrs

The churchyard of St John's is the burial place for all denominations in the parish. The author Alfred J. Brown and his wife are buried there.[5]

Events

The Horticultural & Industrial Society show has been held each year since 1880. Since 2006 the show has been held on the sports field, with classes for produce, fruit, flowers vegetables, crafts, cake decorating, photography, flower arranging etc. Additional attractions include a bouncy castle, face painting, tombola and a fun dog show.

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Sleights)

References

  1. A. D. Mills, A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, 2011, ISBN 9780199609086 (read online) [1]
  2. Mills
  3. François de Beaurepaire, Les Noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Seine-Maritime, A. et J. Picard, foreword Marianne Mulon, 1979, Paris, ISBN 2-7084-0040-1, oclc 6403150, p.70.
  4. Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
  5. White, John A. Alfred John Brown – Walker, Writer and Passionate Yorkshire Man (Smith Settle, 2016) ISBN 978-1-5262-0511-7