Kirby Wiske is an English 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 ...

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 ...

. It lies beside the

River Wiske The River Wiske is a tributary of the River Swale in Yorkshire, England. The Wiske gives its name to several villages it passes through. The name Wiske is derived from an Old English word ''wisca'' meaning a water meadow. It was once known as t ...

, about north-west of

Thirsk Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England; it is known for its racecourse and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby. History Archeological finds indicate there was a settlement in Thirsk aro ...

History

The village appears in the 1086 ''

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 Kirkebi in the Allerton

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. After the Norman invasion, Domesday states, the manor passed from

Edwin, Earl of Mercia Edwin (Old English: ''eadwine'') (died 1071) was the elder brother of Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, son of Ælfgār, Earl of Mercia and grandson of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on Ælfgār's de ...

, to the Crown of England.

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

stayed with Thomas Lascelles of Brackenburgh on 10 June 1603, while on her way to London from Edinburgh, and travelled on to York.

Governance

The village shares a parish council with Newsham with Breckenbrough. It lies within the Thirsk and Malton UK Parliament constituency. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton, 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

The nearest settlements are

Maunby Maunby is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England, about six miles south of Northallerton and on the River Swale. The population is estimated at around 150. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hamblet ...

to the north-west;

South Otterington South Otterington is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the A167 road south of Northallerton and on the east bank of the River Wiske. History ''Otterinctune'' in the ''Allerton hundred'' i ...

to the north;

Thornton-le-Street Thornton-le-Street is a village and parochial and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Thornton-le-Moor and Thornton-le-Street for District purposes. As the population remained less 100 at t ...

to the north-east and

Sandhutton Sandhutton is a small village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It lies about west of Thirsk on the A167. It has been referred to as Hutton, Hutton (Sand), and Sand Hutton. The name derives from Old English which translates as ...

to the south. Maunby stands on the west bank of the

, which joins the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley throu ...

to the south of the village. It is close to the

A167 road The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road's route was formerly that of the ...

. The 1881 UK Census recorded a population of 223. The population of Kirkby Wiske in 2001 was 105 – 45 male, 60 female, 90 of them over the age of 16, of whom 61 were in employment. There were 48 dwellings, 29 of them detached. The population at the census of 2011 had risen to 131.

Religion

There is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church in the village, dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church is 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 ...

, originally built in the 12th century on the site of an earlier Saxon church. Restoration and rebuilding of the present church took place in the 14th, 15th and 19th centuries. The congregation today forms part of a joint parish of Lower Swale, along with seven other parishes. There is a service at Kirby Wiske church about once a month. There was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel built in the village in 1825, but the building is no longer used as such. Nor are the premises of a Church of England school that opened in 1870.

Listed buildings

In all there are eleven Grade II Listed Buildings in the area, including the bridge over the river. One of them, Sion Hill Hall, now houses the Birds of Prey and Conservation Centre, which keeps over 70 birds of prey and is run by Falconry UK Ltd.

Notable residents

Roger Ascham Roger Ascham (; 30 December 1568)"Ascham, Roger" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617. was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his pr ...

, born in Kirby Wiske in 1514 or 1515, was a scholar, educationalist and promoter of

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

, who was Princess Elizabeth's tutor in Greek and Latin in 1548–1550 and served under the administrations of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

and Elizabeth I. *

Anthony Ascham Anthony Ascham (c. 1614 – 27 May 1650) was an English academic, political theorist, Parliament of England, Parliamentarian and diplomat. Life He was probably born on 6 March 1613/1614, the younger son of Thomas Ascham, an alderman of Boston, ...

or Askham, astronomer, astrologer, and brother of Roger, was born at Kirby Wiske in about 1517. *

William Palliser Sir William Palliser CB MP (18 June 1830 – 4 February 1882) was an Irish-born politician and inventor, Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1880 until his death. Early life Born in Dublin on 18 June 1830, Palliser was the fourth of the eig ...

(1644–1726) was baptised in Kirby Wiske. He later became

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel () was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church ...

in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

. *

Christopher Bethell Christopher Bethell (21 April 1773 – 19 April 1859) was Bishop of Bangor. Bethell was the second son of the Reverend Richard Bethell, the rector of St Peter's Wallingford, Berkshire, who died 12 January 1806 having married his wife Ann in 177 ...

(1773–1859), Rector of Kirby Wiske in 1808–1830, became

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Diocese of Bangor of the Church in Wales. The Episcopal see, see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Bangor Cathedral, Cathedral Church of Sa ...

, despite knowing no Welsh. His writings on religious matters include ''A General View of the Doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism'' (1821).

References

External links

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