Ellerton Abbey is a

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 authorit ...

in the

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = District , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_emblem_type = Coat ...

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. It is located on the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. ...

in lower

Swaledale Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales (valleys) in Yorkshire Dales National Park, located in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire. Geographical overview Swaledale runs ...

, south-west of Richmond. The population of the parish was estimated at 20 in 2016. The parish consists of farmland, a few scattered houses and an area of moorland which is part of the army training area associated with Wathgill Camp. The parish includes the site of the deserted medieval village of Ellerton, not to be confused with the modern village of

Ellerton-on-Swale Ellerton-on-Swale or Ellerton (historically known as Ellerton-upon-Swale) is a small village and civil parish about a mile east of Catterick in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. In 2015, North Yorkshire County Council e ...

11 miles to the east, but there is no modern village in the civil parish. The parish includes Ellerton Abbey House and the adjacent ruins of Ellerton Priory.

Etymology

The place-name ''Ellerton'' 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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

words ''elri'' "alder" and ''tun'' "farm or enclosure". The place was mentioned in the Domesday Book, as ''Elreton'', when it was held by

Count Alan of Brittany Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz ( Breton), Alain le Roux ( French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II o ...

History

Ellerton appears to have been a village in the Middle Ages. It was historically a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

in the parish of

Downholme Downholme is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west from the market town of Richmond and west from the county town of Northallerton. The village lies close to t ...

in the

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, ...

Hang West Hang West was a Wapentake (Hundred) in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The Wapentake measured across (from west to east) and was from north to south. It was bordered on its eastern side by Hang East, the West Riding of Yorkshire on the southe ...

in the North Riding of Yorkshire. At least some of the land was held by Ellerton Priory, although the priory was never well endowed. After the

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

, the manor passed to the Brackenbury family, who sold it in 1654 to

James Drax Sir James Drax ( – 1662) was an English planter in the colonies of Barbados and Jamaica. Born in England, Drax travelled to the English colony of Barbados, acquiring ownership of several sugar plantations and a number of enslaved Africans. Drax ...

, whose descendants hold it today. In 1801 the census recorded 116 inhabitants in the township. In 1830 the Drax family built Ellerton Abbey house, now a

Grade II 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 Ir ...

. Ellerton Abbey became a separate civil parish in 1866. In 1974 it was transferred to the new county of North Yorkshire.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Ellerton Abbey (civil parish) Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Swaledale Drax family