Birkin 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the south-west of the

Selby district Selby District is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England. The local authority, Selby District Council, is based in the town of Selby. The Local Authority had a population of 83,449 at the 2011 Census. The southernmost distri ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. It is north of the

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...

, near

Beal, North Yorkshire Beal is a village and civil parish in the District of Selby in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire, north-east of Knottingley, south-west of Selby, and south of York. The parish includes the village of Kellingley, and ...

. The closest town is

Knottingley Knottingley is a market town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the old A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road before it was bypassed as the A1(M). Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Ridi ...

, in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, to the south-west. The parish had a population of 146 at the 2001 census, which fell to 141 at the 2011 census. Until 1974, it was part of the West Riding district of Yorkshire.

History

Birkin is recorded 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as 'Birchinge'. This and the present name suggest that, when the village was first established, it was in an area heavily laden with

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

trees. The village’s St Mary's Church, built around 1150, is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The village is also notable as the birthplace of the 19th-century political philosopher

Thomas Hill Green Thomas Hill Green (7 April 183626 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influen ...

(b. 1836.) The 2016

Tour de Yorkshire The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which first took place in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. ...

passed through Birkin in its second stage (

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Ridi ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

). Birkin has two lakes east of the village that are used for public fishing. It also has a tea room.

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church, situated at the southern end of Birkin, dates from around 1150. Descriptions of the church refer to a number of monuments. One is a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

for the Thornton family: During the 17th century, several successive generations of this family were

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

s of the church. Another is an 18th-century wall monument dedicated to the wife of one of the rectors. It includes an inscription by Poet Laureate William Whitehead. In the 1830s, the father of the political philosopher

was the rector of the church. In 2008, it was reported that the church had been damaged after the roof was targeted by lead thieves.

References

External links

Open Domesday: Birkin
Retrieved 13 September 2016 {{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire