Hemingbrough is a small village and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England that is located approximately from Selby and from Howden on the A63. The village has a 12th-century former collegiate church (Hemingbrough Minster), a Methodist chapel and shops. The village also has a primary school and nursery as well as a playing field for the local children. The surrounding area makes up part of the

Humberhead Levels The Humberhead Levels is a national character area covering a large expanse of flat, low-lying land towards the western end of the Humber estuary in northern England. The levels occupy the former Glacial Lake Humber, an area bounded to the east ...

and is flat land mainly used for mixed agriculture. It is thought that from this village came Walter of Hemingbrough, one of Britain's early chroniclers. Writing in the 14th century, he gave us a history beginning with the Norman conquest, now in the British Museum.

Robert de Hemmingburgh Robert de Hemmingburgh (died 1349) was an English-born judge and priest, who held office as Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and possibly as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He took his name from his birthplace, Hemingbrough, in North Yorkshire. Will ...

, a royal clerk who became Master of the Rolls in Ireland, was born here in the late thirteenth century. Nicholas Bubbewyth, a chancery clerk who became successively, Master of the Rolls, Keeper of the Privy Seal, Lord High Treasurer of England, and Bishop of London, Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Bath and Wells, was born in Menthorpe. In 1989 Caron Keating and

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

visited the village to replace the cockerel on the top of the church spire which had been damaged for several years. In February 2014, Hemingbrough Parish Council were awarded funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help raise awareness of the historical heritage within Hemingbrough Parish to benefit the local community.

History and overview

Hemingbrough station site geograph-3630034-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The toponym is of uncertain origin. The place is mentioned in the Knýtlinga saga, and the name may be the '' burh'' of a Viking named ''Hemingr''. Alternative explanations are that it was the burh of the followers of a man called Hema, or the burh by the fish-weir (

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 ...

''hemming''). In the Middle Ages the village was in the

Ouse and Derwent Ouse and Derwent was a wapentake of the historic East Riding of Yorkshire, England consisting of the westerly part of the county, between the River Ouse and the River Derwent. Established in medieval times, it ceased to have much significance in ...

wapentake of the East Riding of Yorkshire. At that time the village was on the River Ouse, but at some point the river broke through a meander leaving the village some distance from the river. Hemingbrough was a large parish, and included the townships of

Barlby Barlby is a linear village in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the north-east of the market town of Selby, and is bordered to the west by the River Ouse and to the east by the A19 Barlby bypass. Across the bypass is Barlby's small ...

, Osgodby, Cliffe with Lund, South Duffield, Brackenholme with Woodhall and Menthorpe with Bowthorpe. All these townships became separate civil parishes in 1866. In 1935 the civil parish of Hemingbrough absorbed the civil parish of Brackenholme with Woodhall. In 1974 Hemingbrough was transferred from the East Riding to the new county of North Yorkshire. The village holds a very popular summer fete replete with floats on lorries and tractor trailers. There is a memorial garden which the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu visited in April 2016.

St Mary the Virgin Church

The village has a 12th-century church, called St Mary the Virgin, which has served as a Minster to this area until the dissolution of the monasteries. It has a spire, added in the 15th century, which allows it to dominate the plain. Its importance lies in the woodwork and carvings in the church and it has oldest recorded misericord in the country.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the same name exists. This ward includes Cliffe and surrounding areas with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,098.

Notable residents

* Nigel Cumberland - Author, who lived in the village during his schooling years * Blessed

Robert Dalby Robert Dalby (died 1589) was an English Catholic priest and martyr. Life Robert Dalby (sometimes called Drury), came from Hemingbrough in the West Riding of Yorkshire (now North Yorkshire) lived at first as a Protestant minister. Becoming a Ca ...

- English Catholic priest and martyr. *

Jeremiah Smith (Royal Navy officer) Sir Jeremiah Smith (sometimes written as Jeremy Smith or Smyth) (died October/November 1675) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the First and Second Anglo-Dutch Wars, rising to the rank of admiral. Smith served in the Navy ...

(died 1675)

References

External links

Hemingbrough Parish Council website
{{authority control Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Selby District Villages in North Yorkshire