Burton Leonard 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

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

district of

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, and approximately south from

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

. In the 2001 Census, the population of the village was 654, which had risen to 690 by the time of the 2011 Census. In 2015,

North Yorkshire County Council North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is the county council governing the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire; an area composing most of North Yorkshire in England. The council currently consists of 90 councillors. The council is current ...

estimated the population had dropped to 670. The village is typical of the area, with at its centre a green, one

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, a church, a small primary school, a cricket field and a village shop. Buses run daily from the green to the nearby towns of Harrogate and Ripon.

History

Burton Leonard 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as having 30 ploughlands and belonging to King William. The name of Burton derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

of ''Burh-Tūn'' (a fortified manor) and the name of Leonard, in this case, the dedication of the local church. The Church of St Leonard, is a

grade II listed 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 ...

structure that was built in 1878, replacing an earlier structure. Although the current dedication is for

St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Hau ...

, as was the dedication in the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

, the former church was dedicated to St Helen. The parish was formerly a peculiar, though now it is in the Diocese of Leeds. The primary school is the ''Burton Leonard Church of England Primary School'', which was rated as ''outstanding'' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

in October 2019. Burton Leonard has just one pub, the Royal Oak, after the Hare and Hounds closed in 2017 and it was demolished to make way for new housing. Station lane in the village leads westwards to the hamlet of Wormald Green, where the nearest railway station was. This closed in 1962, and now the nearest railway station is in , to the south. The village has a limited bus service between Ripon and Knaresborough. The

A61 road A61 or A-61 may refer to: * A61 road (England), a road connecting Derby and Thirsk * A61 motorway (France), a road connecting Narbonne and Bordeaux * A61 motorway (Germany), a road connecting Venlo and Hockenheim * Benoni Defense The Benoni Defense ...

is to the north and the

A1(M) motorway A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greate ...

, is to the east at

Boroughbridge Boroughbridge () is a town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-west of the county town of York. Until a bypass was built the town lay on the mai ...

. The underlying geology of the area is magnesian limestone, which many of the older buildings in the village are constructed of. South of the village is Burton Leonard Lime Quarries SSSI, a site which supplied lime and building stone up until 1941.

Notable people

David Nobbs David Gordon Nobbs (13 March 1935 – 8 August 2015"C ...

, comedy writer, creator of ''

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. It is based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs and produced from 1976 to 1979. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series ...

'', lived in the village.

References

Sources

External links

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