Levisham 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

Ryedale Ryedale is a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages and towns. It has been inha ...

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, located within the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...

National Park about north of Pickering. At the 2011 Census the population was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of

Lockton Lockton is a small village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the North York Moors about north-east of Pickering. Nearby villages include Newton-on-Rawcliffe and Levisham. The village is o ...

History

The village is recorded as a very small settlement 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 ...

of 1086. The name of the village was first recorded in 1086 as ''Leuecen'', and it derives from

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 ...

, meaning the ''farmstead of Leofgeat's people''. The village is believed to have moved location due to the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

in the 14th century. The Church of St Mary, 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 ...

building which dates to the 11th century, is now isolated from the current village, and is thought to mark the site of a

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 convent ...

. The church fell into disuse in the 1950s, though burials continue, and the main place of Anglican worship is the Church of St John the Baptist, which is in Levisham village, some away from St Mary's.

Locations

It has a station on the

North Yorkshire Moors Railway The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by Georg ...

. Nearby villages include

Newton-on-Rawcliffe Newton-on-Rawcliffe is a village and civil parish (as Newton) in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is in the North York Moors National Park North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposi ...

and

Demographics

At the 2011 census, details were recorded with the parish of Lockton, however, an estimate by

North Yorkshire County Council North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is the county council governing the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire; an area composing most of North Yorkshire in England. The council currently consists of 90 councillors. The council is current ...

in 2015 stated that the population was 70.

Miscellaneous

''Heartbeat'' actress

Lisa Kay Lisa Kay, is an English actress who has also worked in Australia. Early life and education Kay grew up in Levisham on the North York Moors and has three sisters, Samantha, Sara and Caroline. Kay first trained as a dancer with Sandra Burnha ...

(nurse Carol Cassidy) is from Levisham. In April 2021 the village was used as a filming location for the forthcoming '' Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'' film.

References

External links

Levisham and Lockton Past and Present
Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire {{ryedale-geo-stub