Skipton-on-Swale 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. The population at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Catton, North Yorkshire. It lies on the

A61 road The A61 is a major trunk road in England connecting Derby and Thirsk in North Yorkshire by way of Alfreton, Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield, Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon. The road is closely paralleled by the M1 motorway ...

, about 4 miles 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 ...

on the east bank of 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 ...

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 ''Schipetune'' in the ''Yarlestre hundred'' under the manor of ''Topeclive, ( Topcliffe)''. At the time of the Norman invasion, the manor was owned by ''Bernwulf'' and afterwards by '' William of Percy''. In 1086 there were 35 villagers. The overlordship remained with and followed that of Topcliffe, but there were grants as

mesne lord A mesne lord () was a lord in the feudal system who had vassals who held land from him, but who was himself the vassal of a higher lord. Owing to ''Quia Emptores'', the concept of a mesne lordship technically still exists today: the partitionin ...

to various families over the centuries. For example, in 1284, Baldwin, son of John de Skipton owned land. In the 14th century, John Minniott of nearby Carlton bought land in the village. From 1600, one of the main land owners were the ''Clough'' family who were recorded as still in possession in 1710. After then, manorial rights seem to cease. The name is derived from the Anglian word ''Scēp'', meaning ''Sheep'' and the

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 ...

word ''tun'' for ''settlement/farm'', therefore literally ''Sheep farm''. The bridge that crosses the River Swale is a Grade II Listed building designed by John Carr and built in 1781. To the north of the village is an abandoned airfield which was used by four squadrons from the Royal Canadian Air Force and one Polish Bomber Squadron between 1942 and 1947.

Governance

The village is 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 Howe to the north west,

Carlton Miniott Carlton Miniott, formerly Carlton Islebeck, is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England, on the A61 road to the immediate west of Thirsk, north of York. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 926, in ...

to the north east,

Baldersby Baldersby is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, about west of Thirsk and north-east of Ripon on the A61 road, A61. The parish includes the village of Baldersby St James, south-east of the village of Baldersby, but not Ba ...

to the south west and Catton to the south. It is located on the east bank of the

and on the

. In 1881, the UK Census recorded the population as 145.

Religion

The church, dedicated to ''St John the Evangelist'', was built in 1848 and is a Grade II Listed building. The Wesleyans built a chapel in the village in 1810 that had a school attached in 1882, both now disused.

References

External links

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