Haxby
| Haxby | |
| Yorkshire North Riding | |
|---|---|
 Haxby centre | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE607582 |
| Location: | 54°-0’58"N, 1°4’30"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,754 |
| Post town: | York |
| Postcode: | YO32 |
| Dialling code: | 01904 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | York |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
York Outer |
Haxby is a town in the North Riding of Yorkshire, on the River Foss five miles north of York, and south of Strensall. The town is today primarily a dormitory for commuters to nearby towns and cities, though local service industries provide employment opportunities.[1]
Haxby is bordered on the east by the River Foss, and to the west by the village of Wigginton, whose expansion has caused the two settlements to form a continuous urban environment. To the south is the garden village of New Earswick and the York Outer Ring Road (A1237) with the open farmland to the north as far as the villages of Sutton-on-the-Forest and Strensall.
According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 8,754. The centre of the town was made a Conservation Area by the local authority in 1976.
Contents
Name
"Haxby" is a Norse place-name and translates as "Hákr's Farmstead (or village)". Haxby is recorded as Haxebi in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Geography
The town sits on flat ground consisting mostly of clay with soil that is sand and alluvium, near the old Forest of Galtres. To the north is a small tributary of the River Foss called Golland Dike, and to the east is the River Foss which flows southward.[2]
The nearby village of Wigginton now merges with Haxby though in twi separate parishes; the line runs east to west along the back of the houses on Wheatfield Drive on its southern edge as far as Barley Drive, then north across Greenshaw Drive until it reaches the road known as The Village.
Churches
St Mary's Church was rebuilt in 1878 on the site of the former 16th century building with Parish Registers dating back to 1678 and is located on the road known as The Village near the centre of the town.[3]
In the 19th century there was both a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and a Primitive Methodist Chapel, though today only the Weslyian Chapel remains as home to Haxby & Wigginton Methodist Church on the road known as The Village.
- Church of England: St Mary's
- Methodist: Haxby & Wigginton Methodist Church
- Roman Catholic: St Margaret Clitherow
History
A settlement on the site of the modern town was established around the 9th century, possibly named Haksby. The Norse word by meant a township or farm and was usually appended to the name of the holder of the lands. A Grade III listed Viking cross base in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, and the discovery of a Viking cross shaft in a nearby garden in 1978 support this date. There is evidence of Roman occupation with the 1966 discovery of a site of a Roman villa on Haxby Moor. Roman pottery was found in 2003 on Station Road along with a silver Roman signet ring.[4]
In the Middle Ages, because the village was in the Royal Forest of Galtres, its inhabitants were subject to forest law and took part in the occasional courts that devised and enforced it. Charles I divested himself of the forest in 1629 and the village acquired the land to increase its size, resulting in the parish of some 2,100 acres of today. Haxby was not a separate parish. Initially it was divided between the parishes of Strensall and Driffield. Once St Mary's Church was built in the 16th century it became a chapelry to the parish of Strensall and in 1862 became a parish in its own right.[5]
Sports
- Football: Haxby United FC, who play at the Ethel Ward Playing Fields
- Netball: Haxby Netball Club
References
- ↑ "Economy". http://www.haxbytowncouncil.gov.uk/today.php. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ St Mary's
- ↑ "Conservation". http://www.haxbytowncouncil.gov.uk/history.php. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
- ↑ "Conservation". http://www.haxbytowncouncil.gov.uk/history.php. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
- Tom Smith, A History of Haxby, ISBN 1-85072-298-6 [2]
