Little Ouseburn is a small 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 district The Borough of Harrogate is a local government district with borough status in North Yorkshire, England. Its population at the census of 2011 was 157,869. Its council is based in the town of Harrogate, but it also includes surrounding towns and v ...

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 situated near the

A1(M) motorway A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greate ...

and south-east of

Boroughbridge Boroughbridge () is a town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-west of the county town of York. Until a bypass was built the town lay on the mai ...

. It consists of two roads, Main Street which is the residential area, and Church Lane which contains a Holy Trinity Church that is a

grade I listed 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 Irel ...

building. It also has a small brick bridge over a stream which leads to

Great Ouseburn Great Ouseburn is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated south-east of Boroughbridge. The village of Aldwark is to the north-east. It had a population of 598 according to the 2011 cens ...

. According to the 2011 census data the total population of Little Ouseburn is 264.

History and population

Little Ouseburn is listed (alongside

) 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 ...

as having three plough lands and three villagers. The name of the village derives from Ouse Beck, which divides Great and Little Ouseburn, with the beck being a tributary of the River Ouse. The village is set out along both sides of Main Street, which runs on an east–west orientation. Most of the villagers were either tenant farmers or workers for the nearby Kirby hall estate, which is on the eastern side of the village across the Ouse Beck. Kirby Hall was designed by Roger Morris and built by

John Carr John Carr may refer to: Politicians *John Carr (Indiana politician) (1793–1845), American politician from Indiana *John Carr (Australian politician, born 1819) (1819–1913), member of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1865–1884 * John H ...

. The hall was demolished in the 1920s and the estate broken up, with most of the houses and land being sold to the villagers. A portion of the house exists as Kirby hall and is a

grade II listed 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 Irel ...

structure. In the 1870s Little Ouseburn was described as: :OUSEBURN (Little), a village, a township, and a parish in Great Ouseburn district, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands ¾ of a mile S of Great Ouseburn village, and 3¼ N by W of Cattal r. station; and has a post-office under York. 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 opposin ...

, the Moat Hall, a mansion house between the village and the church, was used as a hostel for some

Land Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

girls. The Moat hall and the land between the church were bombed, which is thought to be an overrun of a bombing sortie on the nearby

RAF Linton-on-Ouse RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army). The station opened in 1937. With the ...

. Also during the war, a bomber from

RAF Tholthorpe RAF Tholthorpe was a Royal Air Force air station operated by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The station, which had been opened in the late 1930s as a grass airfield, was located near Easingwold, North Yorkshire, UK. Tholthorpe a ...

lost control in icy conditions and crashed near to the church damaging the mausoleum and the church building. Census data shows that the population of Little Ouseburn dropped significantly between the years of 1840 and 1880 from around 600 to 250. The 2001 census data stated that there were 226 people living in the parish, since then the population has increased and the 2011 census data states that there are now 264 people living in Little Ouseburn.

Geography

The village lies just to the east of the B6265 road which links Boroughbridge with the A59 road and is part of

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond into what is n ...

. The village is south-east of Boroughbridge, east of

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd. It is east of Harrogate. History Knaresborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Chenares ...

, and north-west of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Industry

According to data from the 1831 census the primary industry in Little Ouseburn was focused on agriculture with almost 75% of men aged over 20 being involved in it. This was reflected by the social status of the people living in Little Ouseburn with around half of them being labourers. This was almost entirely just men, with women taking on the more traditional domestic chores. The 1881 census data shows how many people were involved in an occupation and their gender. Around 30 men worked in agriculture, 15 women in domestic service, but around 40 women were in unknown occupations. There was very little else the population was involved in. 2001 census data shows that in more recent times the occupation of the inhabitants has shifted to manufacturing and retail with few people left working in agriculture.

Housing

As with the population between 1840 and 1880, the number of houses in Little Ouseburn shrunk significantly. This is most likely due to boundary changes. The number of houses began to increase after 1920. Before 1920 a very small percentage of houses were unoccupied. After 1920, every house has been occupied. According to 2011 data there are 110 households and 223 vehicles. 43.6% of the households have two vehicles and 8.2% have four or more.

References

Sources

External links

*http://www.explorebritain.info/locality-north-yorkshire-little-ouseburn-se4460 {{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire