Easingwold
| Easingwold | |
| Yorkshire North Riding | |
|---|---|
 Easingwold | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE529696 |
| Location: | 54°7’11"N, 1°11’23"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 4,233 |
| Post town: | York |
| Postcode: | YO61 |
| Dialling code: | 01347 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Hambleton |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Thirsk and Malton |
Easingwold is a small market town in the North Riding of Yorkshire, found about 12 miles north of York, at the foot of the Howardian Hills. Easingwold is the local economic centre for the numerous surrounding villages in the area.
The town had a population of 4,233 recorded in 2001.
The name of Easingwold is Old English in origin, probably from Easinga weald, meaning "Esa's clan's forest".
Geography
The town was bypassed by the A19 in November 1994. Nearby towns are York, 12 miles to the south; Boroughbridge, eight miles to the west; Thirsk, 10 miles to the north-west and Malton 16 miles to the east.
The town is the focal point for nearby villages and the many scattered farmsteads of morr and hill which surround it; nearby villages are Crayke to the east, Husthwaite to the north, and Raskelf to the north-west.
The highest point in the town is at the town's edge on the Oulston Road at 200 feet.
Parks
After the closure of the Claypenny Hospital, the land was developed into a housing estate with a 34-acre parkland in between called Millfields Park opened in 1999 and now run by the Woodland Trust. The park is bounded to the west by a hawthorn hedge, to the north by a stock proof fence and by the housing estate around the rest. There are a number of informal footpaths across the site as well as the Sustrans National Cycle Route number 65. Among the tree species planted here are sessile oak, cherry, field maple, ash, birch, rowan, walnut, whitebeam and larch. Some of the shrub species found here are holly, hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn and dogrose.[1]
Toward the centre of the town is Memorial Park. The site was formerly occupied by private tenants, a tennis club and a garage. After several years of planning and delay, the park was opened in September 1955.
History
The town is listed in the Domesday Book as Eisicewalt. At the time of the Norman invavsion, the manor was owned by Earl Morcar, but subsequently passed to the King.[2]
King John had a hunting lodge here and the royal Forest of Galtres once surrounded the area.
In 1265 the manor was passed to Edmund Crouchback by his father, Henry III. The manor was caught up in the dispute between the 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Edward I and the manor passed back to the Crown following the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 which resulted in the execution of the Earl at Pontefract. The manor was restored to the Earl's brother some six years later, but he left no male heir, so the lands passed to his son-in-law, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in 1361. The lands were next granted to his son-in-law, Ralph Neville. Following the War of the Roses, the lands were declared forfeit to the Crown until 1633, when they were granted to Thomas Belasyse and subsequently became the possession of the Wombwell family.
The town is an amalgamation of two smaller villages, Uppleby and Lessimers. The former village bears a Danish name and the latter an English name; a village on the lease-mires, meaning leased land frequently waterlogged.
The Market Place was the site of an old Toll Booth. The base of the old market cross can still be seen next to what was the Public Hall. The Public Hall had replaced the old rows of shambles where butchers sold their wares. The market place was also the site of a Bull ring used for baiting. Records show that markets have been held in the town since 1221, but were formalised under letters patent from Charles I.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 a Poor law union was established in Easingwold in 1837. The town had a workhouse built in 1756 on Oulston Road. In 1934 the workhouse was converted into a hospital for the mentally handicapped and known as the Claypenny Colony until 1993, when the site was sold and redeveloped as residential accommodation.[3][4]
In 1891 a privately owned branch line was opened from the town to the London-Edinburgh main line at Alne after many failed attempts to have the main line pass through or closer to the town. The line ran a passenger service until 1948 and a freight service until its final closure in 1957. The station was located in what is now Station Court. All that remains is the old Station House following a fire in 1967 that resulted in its demolition.[5][6][7]
There are 51 Grade II listed buildings in Easingwold, including five mileposts and the telephone kiosk in Back Lane.[8] The areas of Long Street; the Parish Church and Church Hill; Uppleby and the Market Place are all within the Easingwold Conservation Area.[9]
Economy
There are a number of local retail businesses in the town. The number of public houses has significantly reduced since the 19th century, when there were also a number of local brew houses, the names of which can still be seen on local houses.
Sports
- Cricket: Easingwold Cricket Club, who play at the Memorial Park on Back Lane
- Football: Easingwold Town AFC, founded in 1892
- Golf: Easingwold Golf Club
The Galtres Centre provides a range of avtivities including Badminton, Tennis, Netball and Gymnastics as well as an indoor shooting range operated by the local Rifle & Pistol Club.[10]
Churches
The parish church is dedicated to St John and All Saints. There has been a church here since Saxon times, though the present building dates from the 15th century.
There has been a Wesleyan chapel in the town since 1786. The location has changed several times, with the second building being erected in 1815 with a school added in 1860, and finally finding a home in Chapel Street in 1975. There used to be a Primitive Methodist chapel in the town, built in 1870.
- Church of England:
- St John the Baptist and All Saints
- Methodist: Easingwold Methodist church
- Roman Catholic: St John the Evangelist
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Easingwold) |
References
- ↑ The Woodland Trust. "Millfields Park". Millfields Wood. http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/our-woods/Pages/about-this-wood.aspx?wood=4923#.UMN7H4OHJcg. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ↑ Easingwold in the Domesday Book
- ↑ "Claypenny Colony". http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=193-cla&cid=-1#-1. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ↑ "Workshouse". http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Easingwold/. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ↑ "Disused railway". http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/e/easingwold/index.shtml. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ↑ "LNER branch lines". http://www.lner.info/co/NER/easingwold/easingwold.shtml. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ↑ Hartley, K.E. (1970). The Easingwold Railway, (Revised Redman, R.N.: 1991), Locomotion Papers No. 46. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-413-X.
- ↑ British Listed Buildings - Easingwold
- ↑ Hambleton District Council. "Conservation Area". Conservation Area Assessment - Easingwold. http://www.hambleton.gov.uk/Hambleton%20District%20Council/caa%20easingwold.pdf. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ↑ "Galtres Centre". http://www.visit-easingwold.com/galtres-history.html. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
