Kirkburn

Kirkburn
Yorkshire East Riding
Location
Grid reference:	SE981551
Location:	53°58’59"N, 0°30’18"W
Data
Population:	903  (2011)
Post town:	Driffield
Postcode:	YO25
Dialling code:	01377
Local Government
Council:	East Riding of Yorkshire
Parliamentary constituency:	East Yorkshire

Kirkburn is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, about 3 miles southwest of Driffield town centre and is on the A614 road.

The civil parish of the same name is formed by the village of Kirkburn and the hamlets of Eastburn, Kelleythorpe and Southburn. According to the 2011 census, this parish held just 903 folk.

History

The Kirkburn Sword, in the British Museum

Originally known as Westburn at the time of the Domesday Book, the name was changed to Kirkburn after the building of St Mary's Church in the village between 1130 to 1155. The church was restored in the 19th century by John Loughborough Pearson and George Edmund Street. It is on the Sykes Churches Trail devised by the East Yorkshire Churches Group.

An important archaeological relic was found in 1987 during the excavation of a nearby Iron Age grave, dateable in the 3rd century BC. The Kirkburn Sword, as it became known, is described by the British Museum as "probably the finest Iron Age sword in Europe". Its handle is assembled of 37 pieces of iron, bronze and horn and decorated with red glass. Its scabbard is made of iron and polished bronze, decorated with a scroll pattern in La Tène style, with red glass studs and insets.

From 1890 until 1954 Kirkburn was served by Southburn railway station on the Selby to Driffield Line.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Kirkburn)

• The British Museum describes the Kirkburn Sword
• ChurchatKirkburn.org.uk - History and other matters relating to St Mary's Church
• "Kirkburn: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892 (Bulmers')", GENUKI
• Kirkburn in the Domesday Book

References

• Gazetteer — A–Z of Towns Villages and Hamlets. East Riding of Yorkshire Council. 2006. p. 7.