Middleton Quernhow is a settlement 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. The parish is included in the Wathvale Ward with a population of 3,479 (at the 2011 census).

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 ...

estimated that the population of the parish was 60 in 2015. It is very near the A1(M) road and is north of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

. Quernhow, which has also been spelled Whernhowe and Whernou means mill-hill, the first element deriving from the

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 ...

''kvern'' meaning a mill stone. How or Howe, deriving from the

word ''haugr'' meaning a hill, is a common element in Yorkshire place name. In this instance, the Quernhow in question is a small hillock on a road that was the dividing line between the parishes of

Ainderby Ainderby Steeple is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. Ainderby Steeple is situated on the A684 approximately south-west of the County Town of Northallerton, and to the immediate east of Morton ...

and Middleton Quernhow. The settlement is 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as being a manor of 5 carucates, once held by Tor, but by 1086 was in the possession of Count Alan. It passed through several families (de Middleton, de Scrope, best and Herbert) before the manor house was left to ruin sometime in the early 18th century. The manor house is known as The Old Hall and is now a

grade II 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 ...

listed building but has been listed as being in poor condition and under threat and is listed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register. One of the former occupants of The Old hall, Thomas Best, was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Ripon in the early 17th century. The housing in the village is mostly former estate cottages tied to the manor house. The surrounding area is grassland and is in use for arable farming. As there is no school in the village, primary school children are taken by a free bus to Pickhill Primary School on the other side of the A1(M). Secondary education for children from the area is at Thirsk School.

Gallery

File:P1011378-HDR.jpg, Sunset at the Old Hall, Middleton Quernhow File:Windpump, Middleton Quernhow.jpg, A

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

driving a waterpump near Middleton Quernhow

References

External links

Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire {{harrogate-geo-stub