Skirpenbeck is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated north-west of

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

just north of the A166 road. According to the

2011 UK census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

, Skirpenbeck parish had a population of 192, an increase on the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

figure of 142. In 2019 this was estimated to be 304. The place-name 'Skirpenbeck' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Scarpenbec''. It derives from the Old Norse ''skerping'' and ''bekkr'', meaning barren land by a beck or stream. Skirpenbeck is near

, over the River Derwent, near where King Harold of England defeated

Harald Hardrada Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' (; modern no, Hardråde, roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 t ...

King of Norway in 1066. Its first baron was Sir William de Chauncy, son of Chauncy de Chauncy. Unusually for a village there are a still number of working farms in the village, some of which have been farmed by the same families for generations. There are currently 7 working farms in the village. The parish church of St Mary's is a Grade II* listed building. There are markings on the church building (near the bell tower) that appear to be Saxon runes. The village has also had some notable residents: Alick Walker the palaeontologist was born in Skirpenbeck. Thomas Cooke the

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

was the school Headmaster in Skirpenbeck where he also created precision scientific instruments such as microscopes and telescopes. Frederick James Lloyd, more commonly known as James Lloyd, was an English artist. He became famous for his paintings, mostly of animals and country landscapes. He was the first living self-taught artist to have a painting hung at the Tate in London, titled Cat and Mouse. He and his family moved to Skirpenbeck in 1950 where he took on the job as a cowman. There were now so many paintings, laboriously constructed dot by dot (pointillism). His wife Nancy decided it was time that Lloyd's work was seen by more people. Without telling her husband she wrote to Sir Herbert Read and he paid Lloyd a visit to see his paintings, and bought a couple of them. Herbert Read sent some to various galleries in London. In 1958 Lloyd held his first one-man show at (the late) Arthur Jeffress Gallery in London. All but 2 of the 32 paintings being held were sold within hours of opening.

Governance

The parish has a joint parish council with Full Sutton, known as the Parish Council of Full Sutton and Skirpenbeck.

References

External links

* * Villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire Civil parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire {{EastRiding-geo-stub