Rylstone 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 ...

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. It is situated very near to Cracoe and about south west of

Grassington Grassington is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 1,126. The village is situated in Wharfedale, about north-west from Bolton Abbey, and is surrou ...

. The population of the civil parish as of the 2001 census was 122, and had risen to 160 by the time of the 2011 census. In 2015, the population was estimated to be 180.

History

The village is mentioned in the

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 ''Rilestun'' as belonging to Dolgfinn, but with no population or taxable land (waste). The name derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

of ''Ryneles-tun'': town by the brook. To the south-east of the village on the slopes of Rylstone Fell, is the remains of Norton Tower, a summer residence for the Norton family, one time lords of the Manor of Rylstone. The family were Catholics, and they supported freeing

Mary Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

and the

Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was an English Catholic popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536 before spreading to other parts of Northern England, including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire. The protests occurre ...

, both of which failed and cost the family their estates. The tower ruins are grade II listed. Rylstone Fell rises to a height of , whilst the village is lower down in the valley at a height of above sea level. Rylstone railway station opened in 1902, closed to passengers in 1930, and closed completely in 1969. The village has a church, St Peter's, which was rebuilt in 1854, and has about 35 buildings. In 1876, the village was separated from the ancient parish of Burnsall into its own parish of ''Rilstone with Conistone'' (Rilstone being an old spelling of the village name). Besides the Anglican church, the Quakers had some land along what is known as ''Chapel Lane'', upon which they had a limited amount of burial space. The nearest primary school is in Cracoe (to the north), and this was rated as being ''Good'' in 2024. The village has one main road running through it, the B6265, with just one other through road, Raikes Lane, which leads east towards Hetton. The old trackway in the village came down form the moor on the eastern side, and headed out towards Cracoe by the manor house and around the church, on a path which is marked as ''Chapel Lane'' on Ordnance Survey mapping. Chapel Lane was part of the original 19th century turnpike between Skipton and Grassington. Rylstone is served by the number 72 bus route between Skipton and Grassington, with seven services in each direction through the week. The members of Rylstone and District

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

were the inspiration for the 2003 film '' Calendar Girls'', although the film was shot based in nearby

Kettlewell Kettlewell is a village in Upper Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Grassington, at the point where Wharfedale is joined by a minor road (Cam Gill Road) which leads north-east from the village over Park Rash Pass to Cov ...

. On 5 July 2014, the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate passed through the village. Rylstone is referenced in the poem entitled '' The White Doe of Rylstone'' by

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

Governance

The parish of Rylstone was historically in 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 Staincliffe East, in the old

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 ...

. Rylstone was in the ancient parish of

Burnsall Burnsall is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Wharfe in Wharfedale, and is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The village is approximately south-east from Grassington. It has ...

until 1876, when it was created as a parish in its own right. Up until 1974, it was in the

Skipton Rural District Skipton was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after Skipton, which constituted an urban district on its southern border. The district was expanded in 1937 by taking in the parishes of Steeton wit ...

, and then was moved into the

district of Craven. The Craven District was abolished in 2023, and the area became part of

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 ...

for local government. It is represented at

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

as part of the Skipton and Ripon Constituency.

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