Snape is a large village in the civil parish of Snape with Thorp in the

Hambleton District Hambleton is a local government district in North Yorkshire, England. The administrative centre is Northallerton, and the district includes the outlying towns and villages of Bedale, Thirsk, Great Ayton, Stokesley, and Easingwold. The dist ...

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 about south of

Bedale Bedale ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is north of Leeds, south-west of Middlesbrough and south-west of the county town of ...

and west of 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 ...

, it has a population of 350. Nearby is

Thorp Perrow Arboretum Thorp Perrow Arboretum is an woodland garden arboretum near Bedale in North Yorkshire, England. History Thorp is a common place-name of Old Norse origin meaning hamlet or small village. In the Domesday Book of 1086 Thorp was a possession of ...

. The name is

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 ...

for a boggy tract of uncultivated land.

History

The village has many historic connections. It was the site of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

, and had a connection to the mother and wife of

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

. Snape Castle was the residence of

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

and her husband,

John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer (17 November 1493 – 2 March 1543) was an English peer. His third wife was Catherine Parr, later queen of England. Family John Neville, born 17 November 1493, was the eldest son of Richard Neville, 2nd Baron ...

, before she became the sixth wife of

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

. It also had an involvement in the

Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most ...

in 1536, when Catherine Parr and her step-children were held captive at the castle. Prior to the mid-19th century, Snape was a centre for the woolcombing trade.

Snape Castle

Snape Castle was originally built , when

Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Earl Marshal (c. 136421 October 1425), was an English nobleman of the House of Neville. Origins Ralph Neville was born about 1364, the son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville by his wife Maud Percy (d. ...

gave Snape to his younger son,

George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer or (Latymer) (died 30 December 1469) was an English nobleman. Life George Neville was the fifth son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by his second wife Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt. He su ...

. The second Lord Latimer was still only a minor when he inherited and the castle was held for a short while by

. The third Lord Latimer was the second husband of

, later Queen of England. The daughter of the fourth Lord Latimer married Sir

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, KG (5 May 1542 – 8 February 1623), known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician, courtier and soldier. Family Thomas Cecil was the elder son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, b ...

and the castle thus passed into the hands of the Cecil family. Sir Thomas largely rebuilt the castle in the 16th century, adding the four towers, and transforming the building into an Elizabethan dwelling house. As the Cecils concentrated on their Burghley Park mansion Snape was left to deteriorate before being purchased by William Milbank in 1798. It was later divided into two domestic premises before being reunited as one home in 2003.

Thorp Perrow

Thorp Perrow Hall is a large 18th-century country house standing in an estate on the northern edge of Snape village. It is built of cement rendered stone with a central 3-storey 5-bay block and 2-storey wings. The central three bays are bowed. The Thorp Perrow estate belonged at one time to Sir Robert Danby but was then acquired by William Milbank, who also bought the castle and Snape village in 1798. His son and heir Mark Milbank was MP for

Camelford Camelford ( kw, Reskammel) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Bodmin and is governed by ...

. His wife, Lady Augusta, created the pinetum on the estate. The estate was bought in 1927 by William Ropner and has since passed down in the Ropner family. His son, Sir Leonard Ropner, Bt created a renowned 85 acre

on the estate, incorporating the pinetum, which is open to the public throughout most of the year. In 2012, the Ropner family opened the house as a wedding venue.

References

External links

Snape Local History Group
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire