Eryholme 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 authorit ...

in the district of

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

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. As the population remained less than 100 in the 2011 census, information is included with that of

Dalton-on-Tees Dalton-on-Tees is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, near the boundary with County Durham. According to the 2001 Census there were 318 people living in the parish (including Eryholme) in 120 ...

. The village is situated on the south bank of the River Tees, opposite Hurworth, south-east of Darlington. In this part of the

Tees Valley Tees Valley is a mayoral combined authority and Local enterprise partnership area in northern England, around the River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley. The LEP was established in 2011 and the combined authority was establish ...

the river forms many loops called 'holmes'. The word 'holm' is of

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 se ...

origin and means "island formed by a river". Eryholme's name is, however, a corruption of its original name 'Erghum'. This name means shieling - a shelter for livestock, which comes from the Old Irish word 'airgh'. This word was introduced into Yorkshire place names by

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Vikings who had lived in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

for a number of generations and adopted many Irish words. Old brickworks, Eryholme

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Eryholme is a grade II* listed plain sandstone building, originally built c.1200 and modified in the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries. Set inside the east wall of the porch is a small, ancient carving of a human figure. A distinct heart outline in the chest proves the identity of Christ. The notion of the sacred heart proliferated in the 13th century. This date is also consistent with the splayed tunic. Pevsner suggested it was Anglo-Danish but the sacred heart excludes this. It represents a time of burgeoning new religious philosophies from the Cistercian leader St Bernard of Clairvaux and the local Saint Godric of Finchale, who was in contact with the Cistercians and active in the Tees Valley. The registers at the church date from 1565. There are the remains of a

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

brick and tile works in the village. There used to be a railway station called Eryholme but it was located at

, some south-west of the village. Passenger services ceased in 1911 but were restarted during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

for personnel serving at the nearby

RAF Croft Royal Air Force Croft or more simply RAF Croft is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Darlington, County Durham, England and north-east of Richmond, North Yorkshire. The site is also known locally as Croft Aerodrome or Neasham. C ...

. The chief activity is farming, the farms forming part of the Neasham estate owned by the Wrightson family. The village was famous for the breeding of

shorthorn cattle The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always em ...

and a cow sold to the Colling brothers became part of the original stock from which were bred the

Durham Ox The Durham Ox (March 1796 – 15 April 1807) was a steer who became famous in the early 19th century for his shape, size and weight. He was an early example of what became the Shorthorn breed of cattle and helped establish the standards by which ...

and Comet.

References

External links

Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire {{richmondshire-geo-stub