Weaverthorpe is a village and

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 ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It is south-west of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

History

Bronze Age settlements have been found at nearby Cowlam, which is to the south. It was one of the leading burial sites in Yorkshire where the dead were interred in their chariots. There was a

vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit� ...

on the site in the period of Viking/Norse settlement when it was known as ''Wifertorp'' (11th century). The village's name is linked to a certain ''Vidhfari'', anglicised in ''Wivar''. In the Domesday Book there is a mention of ''Wiveretorp'' where it was classed as very small and had depreciated in value from 1066 to 1086. Same male's name as in Wiverton (

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

) and in the Vierville (''Wiarevilla'' 1158), Virville (''Wivarevilla'' v. 1210) and Viertot of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

which appears to come from Old Scandinavian; which means that Weaverthorpe translates as the farm or settlement of the male name Vidhfari or Wivar. After the Norman conquest, it was held by the Archbishop of York under Michael FitzHerbert. In the 12th century the church of St Andrew was granted to Nostell Priory until 1268. Lucy, daughter of Piers FitzHerbert, married Sir William de Ros of Helmsley-in-Holderness lias Hamlake(died ) who acquired the manor of 'Wyverthorp'. In about 1271 the manor was acquired by William de Brewes, Baron Braose of Gower, on his marriage with Mary de Ros. From the mediaeval era until the 19th century Weaverthorpe was part of the

Wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...

of Buckrose. Historically part of 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 ...

, from 1894 it was in the

Driffield Rural District Driffield was a rural district in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England from 1894 to 1974. It surrounded the municipal borough of Driffield. The district was created by the Local Government Act 1894. It picked up part of the Great Driffield U ...

, then moving to the Norton Rural District in 1935. In 1974 it became part of the county of North Yorkshire. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of

Ryedale Ryedale was a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It was in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent, Yorkshire, River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages ...

, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

. During the Second World War, MI6 secretly installed a new type of direction finding station in a field just south of the village, it consisted of an underground metal tank with an aerial protruding above rotated by the operator inside the tank. The station was used to find the locations of German secret service radio stations and their spies in Europe.

Church of St Andrew

The tower is reputed to be a mix of late

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

in construction. The chancel is separated from the nave by a Norman arch. The font is probably Norman. Above the south door of the nave is a sun-dial, with a part-illegible fragment of an inscription in Saxon characters, claimed as reading: " In honore Sancti andre - Herbert W.... Hoc Monasterium ". It has been claimed as a memorial to Herbert de Winchester (died 1120/1130) who built the church.

Herbert of Winchester Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territor ...

was chamberlain to King Henry I. His son William FitzHerbert was granted by King John, the lands of "Launsborough, Collerthorpe, Wyderthorpe, Holperthorpe and the two Lottum". The unexplained reference to "ecclesiam de Clera in the charter of King Stephen relating to "Wiverthorpe", might refer to a chapel attached to a local manor house. A Victorian benefactor of Weaverthorpe's St Andrew's church was local landowner

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 ...

. He paid for 18 rural churches to be built, repaired or rebuilt in the East and

areas, but mainly in the Wolds. St Andrew's church was restored by G E Street with "lavish furnishings and decorated roofs". The Yorkshire Post described the church as boasting some impressive stained glass windows. The church was listed as Grade I in October 1966.

Geography

The village sits in the

Great Wold Valley The Great Wold Valley is the largest and broadest of the valleys cutting into the Yorkshire Wolds in northern England. It carries the Gypsey Race, an intermittent stream, which runs from its source near Wharram-le-Street eastwards along and throu ...

and the waters of the

winterbourne stream A winterbourne is a stream or river that is dry during the summer months, a special case of an intermittent stream. ''Winterbourne'' is a British term derived from the Old English ("winter stream"). A winterbourne is sometimes simply called a ...

the

Gypsey Race The Gypsey Race is a Winterbourne (stream), winterbourne stream that rises to the east of Wharram-le-Street and flows through the villages of Duggleby, Kirby Grindalythe, West Lutton, East Lutton, Helperthorpe, Weaverthorpe, Butterwick, Foxhole ...

flow alongside the main street in the village. The waters of the Gypsey Race have carved a small valley out of the surrounding chalk. This has left small plateaus like the one that the Church of St Andrew is perched on as it overlooks the village. The village is served by unclassified roads and lies south of the

A64 road The A64 is a major road in North and West Yorkshire, England, which links Leeds, York and Scarborough. The A64 starts as the A64(M) ring road motorway in Leeds, then towards York it becomes a high-quality dual carriageway until it is east of ...

at Sherburn. There was a railway station on the

York to Scarborough Line York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

at Sherburn which was called Weaverthorpe. It had been renamed from Sherburn to Wykeham and then renamed again to Weaverthorpe. This was to avoid confusion over place names (as there was a Wykeham station on the

Forge Valley Line The Forge Valley Line was a 16-mile-long branch of the North Eastern Railway between Seamer and Pickering, in North Yorkshire, England. The line was intended to link Scarborough with Pickering. It opened in 1882 and closed in 1950, with the ...

between Pickering and Seamer).

Media

Television signals in the village are received from the local relay transmitter which is transmitted via the Belmont transmitter with signals cannot be received from either the

Emley Moor The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is made up of a concrete tower and apparatus that began ...

and

Bilsdale Bilsdale is a Dale (landform), dale in the western part of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England. The head of the dale is at Hasty Bank, and the dale extends south to meet Rye Dale near Hawnby. The dale is the valley of the River ...

transmitters. Local radio stations are

BBC Radio York BBC Radio York is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of North Yorkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Bootham area of York. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience ...

on 103.7 FM, Greatest Hits Radio York and North Yorkshire on 104.7 FM, and Coast & County Radio on 97.4 FM. The village is served the local newspaper, ''Gazette and Herald''.

References

(Note: Interesting that William FitzHerbert was granted such lands by a king whose reign did not begin until 1199; when William, archbishop and saint, had died back in 1154.)

Bibliography

Gazetteers e.g.: "Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892)"

External links

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire