Fearby 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. It is located in the valley of the River Burn west of

Masham Masham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,205 at the 2011 census. Etymology In Wensleydale, on the western bank of the River Ure, the name derives from the An ...

. Nearby settlements include Healey,

High Ellington High Ellington is a village in lower Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England, about 2.5 miles north-west of Masham. The smaller village of Low Ellington is 0.6 miles to the east. High Ellington is in Harrogate district, and is the largest s ...

and Swinton. The population of the parish was estimated at 130 in 2013.

History

The village is first mentioned, as ''Federbi'', 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 ...

which records a population of eight villagers and one

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

. The toponym is of uncertain derivation. The element ''-by'' is of

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

origin, meaning "village", and the name could mean either "four villages" or "feather village". Fearby 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, Ca ...

in the large ancient parish of Masham in the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

. It became part of the new ecclesiastical parish of Healey in 1849. The civil parish of Fearby was formed in 1866.

Governance

Until 1974 Fearby was part of Masham Rural District (before 1934 Masham Urban District) in the

. It is now part of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. It lies within the

Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Nidderdale AONB is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Yorkshire, England, bordering the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the east and south. It comprises most of Nidderdale itself, part of lower Wharfedale, the Washburn valley a ...

. The parish now shares a grouped parish council, known as Fearby, Healey and District Parish Council, with

Colsterdale Colsterdale is the valley of the River Burn, North Yorkshire, River Burn, a tributary of the River Ure, in the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It gives its name to a hamlet and civil parish in the upper part of the dale, about wes ...

Ellingstring Ellingstring is a village and civil parish in Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England, about south-east of Leyburn. It lies within the Harrogate district. The population of the parish was estimated at 80 in 2012. The parish now shares a gro ...

, Healey and

Ilton cum Pott Ilton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south-east of Taunton, and north of Ilminster in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 854. The parish includes the hamlets of Ilford and Cad Green wi ...

References

External links

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