Upsall is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in 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 approximately four miles north-east 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 ...

. Upsall is part of the Upsall and Roxby estates owned by the Turton family. The population of the civil parish was estimated at 60 in 2014.

History

The village is mentioned in two entries of 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 ''Upsale'' in the ''Yarlestre'' hundred. Lands at the time of the Norman invasion were in the possession of ''Earl Waltheof'', but soon passed to the Crown from whence it was granted to '' Count Robert of Mortain''. Some of the land was held for him by ''Richard of Soudeval''. The lands passed to

Robert de Mowbray Robert de Mowbray (died 1125), a Norman, was Earl of Northumbria from 1086 until 1095. Robert joined the 1088 rebellion against King William II on behalf of Robert Curthose, but was pardoned and later led the army that killed Malcolm III of Sc ...

, for whom the local Upsall family held the manor until 1327 when they were sold to

Geoffrey Scrope Sir Geoffrey le Scrope (1285 – 2 December 1340) was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench for four periods between 1324 and 1338. Life He was the son of Sir William le Scrope, who was bailiff to the earl of Richmond in R ...

. For a short while, the estates were Crown property before being granted to John Farnham in 1577. Thereafter, the lands passed through the Constable family to the Turtons in 1768. The name Upsall is thought to derive from the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

''Upsal-ir'', meaning ''high dwellings'' or ''high halls''. The meaning is thus identical to

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

in Sweden.

Governance

The village lies within 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 ...

. The parish shares a

grouped parish council A parish council is a civil local authority found in England, which is the lowest tier of local government. Parish councils are elected corporate bodies, with variable tax raising powers, and they carry out beneficial public activities in geogr ...

, known as Hillside Parish Council, with the civil parishes of Boltby,

Cowesby Cowesby is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. Part of the village including The Cowesby Hall Estate is within the North York Moors, North York Moors National Park and about north of Thirsk. The population of ...

, Felixkirk and

Kirby Knowle Kirby Knowle is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England, on the border of the North Yorkshire Moors and near Upsall, about four miles northeast of Thirsk. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the Nort ...

Geography

The nearest settlements are Knayton to the north-west;

to the east and Felixkirk to the south. Upsall is home to a rare breed of cows called Upsall Polled Shorthorns. The herd was established in 1909 and narrowly escaped the 2001 outbreak of

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious disease, infectious and sometimes fatal virus (biology), viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild Bovidae, bovids. The vir ...

. The

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million N ...

route 65A (Yorkshire Moors & Coast) passes through Upsall village.

Religion

A Wesleyan chapel was erected in the village in 1887, but is now disused.

Notable buildings

Upsall Castle Upsall Castle is a fourteenth-century ruin, park and manor house in Upsall, near to Thirsk, in North Yorkshire, England. History Some records state that there was a building of some construction on the site of the castle in 1130 and used by R ...

lies near the middle of the village. The 19th-century building was destroyed by fire in 1918 and rebuilt in 1922. The original Upsall castle dated from the 14th century, and was rebuilt by the

Scrope Scrope (pronounced "scroop") is the name of an old English family of Norman origin that first came into prominence in the 14th century. The family has held the noble titles of Baron Scrope of Masham, Baron Scrope of Bolton, and for a brief time, t ...

family. The Legend of Upsall Castle is associated with the original castle. Upsall has some notable architecture. The old

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

, with the words Upsall Town and the date 1859 inscribed above its horseshoe arch, lies in the centre of the village. Castle Farm is a Grade II

listed structure 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 ...

and most of the buildings in Upsall are constructed from

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

extracted from the old quarry. The abandoned

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel is one of the few brick-built buildings in Upsall. Nevison Hall is reputed to be the birthplace and sometime residence of the highwayman, Will Nevison, also known as ''Swift Nick''.

Folklore

Upsall is one of the many locations for ''The Man Who Became Rich through a Dream'' folk tale ( Aarne-Thompson type 1645). The tale tells of an Upsall man who dreamed for several nights that if he stood on

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

he would hear good news. He travelled to the bridge and told his story to a Londoner, who laughed, saying that he had dreamed for several nights about buried treasure located in Upsall, Yorkshire. The Upsall man returned home, and found the treasure.

References

External links

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