Howgrave 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It is a very small parish, with an area of only and an estimated population in 2014 of only 10. There is no modern village in the parish. The site of the

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the conve ...

of Howgrave lies in the west of the parish, west of the village of Sutton Howgrave. Despite its small size Howgrave has a complicated geography and history. Today Howgrave is divided between two civil parishes, Howgrave itself and Sutton with Howgrave, which, despite its name, includes only part of Howgrave. Until the 19th century both parishes were

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the ancient parish of Kirklington in the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

, but small parts of Howgrave were

detached part An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

s of two other townships and parishes. A farm and a house were detached parts of the township of Nunwick cum Howgrave in the parish of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

, and another house was a detached part of the township of Holme cum Howgrave in the parish of Pickhill. The toponym is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''hol grāf'', meaning "grove in the hollow". Howgrave was 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(as ''Hograve''), when different

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. ...

s were held by three different owners, the

Earl of Richmond The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of Peerage of England, England. The earldom of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond was initially held by various Breton people, Breton nobles; sometimes the holde ...

, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

and the

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

. It was considered a separate manor of Kirklington in the 16th century, but by 1640 it was recorded that there were no inhabitants in the township. Howgrave became a separate civil parish in 1866. The detached parts of Nunwick cum Howgrave, a total of , became detached parts of the new civil parish of Nunwick cum Howgrave. In the late 19th century of the detached parts of Nunwick cum Howgrave were transferred to the civil parish of Howgrave, and of Nunwick cum Howgrave were transferred to the civil parish of Sutton Howgrave.See parish areas in 1891 and 1901 i
Vision of Britain: Sutton Howgrave census reports
/ref> In 1974 Howgrave was transferred to Hambleton district in the new county of North Yorkshire. Hambleton was abolished in 2023, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

. Since 1978 it has shared a

grouped parish council A parish council is a civil local authority found in England, which is the lowest tier of local government. Parish councils are elected corporate bodies, with variable tax raising powers, and they carry out beneficial public activities in geogr ...

, Kirklington with Sutton Howgrave, with the parishes of Kirklington-cum-Upsland and Sutton with Howgrave.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Deserted medieval villages in North Yorkshire