Embsay is a village in the county of

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is paired with the neighbouring hamlet of Eastby to form the

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 ...

of Embsay with Eastby. The parish population as of the 2011 census was 1,871. Until 1974 it was part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Craven, 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 ...

Geography

At the foot of Embsay Crag, a rock formation north of the village, is Embsay Reservoir. The crag marks the start of Barden Moor, an expanse of open

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

that is open access land and used by walkers. There are two more

reservoirs A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrup ...

on the moor: Upper Barden Reservoir and Lower Barden Reservoir. Embsay Reservoir is the headquarters of Craven Sailing Club.

History

Embsay was originally a Celtic settlement, possibly founded at the same time as a local

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, destroyed in a Viking raid in 867 AD. The village has a Saxon name and is listed in

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as "Embesie", which translates as "Embe's enclosure". At that time, much of the area was wooded and this was progressively cleared over time to provide farmland. In 1120, Cecily de Romille and her husband founded Embsay Priory. The Augustinian members of the priory dedicated it to Saint Cuthbert and received local tithes. In 1154 they exchanged estates with the de Romille family and moved to

Bolton Abbey Bolton Abbey Estate in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England, takes its name from a 12th-century Augustinian monastery of canons regular, now known as Bolton Priory. The priory, which was closed in the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasterie ...

, which was a more fertile location. The priory flourished and grew rich on the profits of sheep farming and wool trading. In 1305,

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

granted a charter for an annual fair at Embsay. The Industrial Revolution resulted in several mills being built in Embsay.

Community

Embsay Village Hall events include film nights, pantomimes, bowls, and jumble sales. The village has a newsagent on the main road. The dedicated post office closed; a counter in a newspaper shop now serves as a post office. Other businesses in Embsay are a hairdresser and an arts and crafts store. Embsay has two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s: the Elm Tree Inn and the Cavendish Arms. The Elm Tree Inn and

Elm Tree Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, p ...

Square take their names from a tree that stood there for many years. It was replaced in the late 20th century because of Dutch elm disease, but in 2006 that replacement was also taken down. A further replacement was planted in 2007. The village has a Church of England voluntary controlled primary school which receives pupils from Embsay, Skipton and farther away. It was ranked the 141st best primary school in England in 2000, and had risen to 84th place by 2003. Embsay railway station was built in 1888, and is the current terminus of the heritage Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. There is a bus service between Embsay and Skipton eight times a day on weekdays and three on Saturdays. The village has a cricket club that competes in the Craven League; its second team was, in 2006, the first second team in the league's history to play in the first division. The village also has a football club. Both clubs play at the same ground on Shires Lane at the north of the village. The club grounds are named the 'Robinson Memorial' after a local family who supported the club. Also at the north of the village is a recreational ground with a climbing frame and small football pitch.

Filming location

In the 2018

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

'' The ABC Murders'', Embsay is the location of the fifth murder. Scenes were filmed at the Embsay railway station.

Notable people

* Ron Fawcett, rock climber, born in Embsay * Robert Sidgwick, amateur first-class cricketer, born in Embsay

Gallery

Image:EmbsayStation.jpg, Embsay Station Image:Embsaycrag.jpg, Barden Moor with Embsay Crag in the distance Image:UpperBardenReservoir.jpg, Upper Barden Reservoir in Barden Moor

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
Stringer Communications International, Ltd.
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
UK Individual web site
AboutBritain.com "Embsay, North Yorkshire Photo Gallery"
Aboutbritain.com
Embsay with Eastby Parish Council website
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Craven District Embsay with Eastby