Sledmere is a village in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England, about north-west of

Driffield Driffield, also known as Great Driffield (neighbouring Little Driffield), is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The civil parish is formed by the town of Driffield and the village of Little Driffield. By ...

on the B1253 road. The village lies in a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

which is also officially called "Sledmere" by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

, although the county council and parish council refer to it as Sledmere and Croome, as the parish also includes the nearby

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Croome. According to the

2011 UK census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

, the parish had a population of 377, an increase on the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

figure of 197; the parish covers an area of .

Local landmarks

Local points of interest include

Sledmere House Sledmere House is a Grade I listed Georgian country house, containing Chippendale, Sheraton and French furnishings and many fine pictures, set within a park designed by Capability Brown. It is the ancestral home of the Sykes family and is ...

, a Georgian

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

. Built in 1751 by Richard Sykes, the house has remained in the Sykes family since then. It is now the home of Sir Tatton Sykes, 8th baronet. The Sledmere Monument is about south-east of the village, along the B1252 road, on top of Garton Hill. It is tall and is a tribute to

Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet (1772–1863) was an English landowner and stock breeder, known as a patron of horse racing. Life A younger brother of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, he was educated from 1784 at Westminster School. Matriculating at Bras ...

, built by his friends in 1865. The Wagoners' Memorial in the village, designed by Sir Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet, is dedicated to the Wolds Wagoners Reserve, a corps that Sir Mark raised from the local population to fight in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It is noted for its unusual shape and its graphic scenes of war and country life. The memorial was designated a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in September 1966, but upgraded to Grade I in March 2016. Fake Eleanor Cross - geograph

Sledmere is also the site of the Sledmere Cross, a replica Eleanor cross erected in 1896–98 (as a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

) by

Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet (13 March 1826 – 4 May 1913) was an English landowner, racehorse breeder, church-builder and eccentric. ''Includes substantial section on 5th baronet'' He was the elder son of Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet and M ...

. His son, Sir Mark, converted it during and after the First World War to a war memorial, by adding a series of portrait

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...

es in commemoration of friends and local men who had fallen in the war. Sir Mark himself served as a diplomat in the Middle East during the war, and died of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

in Paris during the peace negotiations of 1919: he is represented by one of the brasses on the monument, in the dress of a crusader, and with the inscription "''Laetare Jerusalem''" ("Rejoice Jerusalem"). The cross was designated a Grade II

in 1966, but upgraded to Grade I in 2016. East of the village is Sledmere Castle, a folly built around 1790 by John Carr for Sir Christopher Sykes, the 2nd baronet, to enhance the view from Sledmere House. The church of St Mary is one of the churches on the

Sykes Churches Trail The Sykes Churches Trail is a tour of East Yorkshire churches which were built, rebuilt or Victorian restoration, restored by the Sykes family of Sledmere, Sykes family of Sledmere House in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The tour was devi ...

. In 1966 the church was designated a Grade II*

. Sledmere was served by Sledmere and Fimber railway station on the

Malton and Driffield Railway The Malton and Driffield Junction Railway, later known as the ''Malton and Driffield branch'' was a railway line in Yorkshire that ran between the towns of Malton, North Yorkshire and Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The line was for ...

between 1853 and 1950.

Images of Sledmere

File:Sledmere, Waggoners' Monument.JPG, ''Wolds Wagoners Reserve'' war memorial File:Sledmere_Castle.jpg, Sledmere Castle File:Sledmere House - geograph.org.uk - 1393059.jpg, Sledmere House File:Butchers shop, Sledmere - geograph.org.uk - 1012129.jpg, Butchers shop File:Estate Cottages near Warren Farm - geograph.org.uk - 253096.jpg

References

External links

*
Yorkshire Wolds Villages

- University of Hull.

- Radio4 programme presented by Melvyn Bragg on the Wolds Wagoners. {{authority control Villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire Civil parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire Folly castles in England