Strensall is a village in the
Strensall with Towthorpe
Strensall with Towthorpe is a civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 6,047.
History
Both Strensall and Towthorpe were historically pa ...
civil parish in the
unitary authority of the
City of York
The City of York is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the ...
in
North Yorkshire, England, on the
River Foss
The River Foss is in North Yorkshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Ouse. It rises in the Foss Crooks Woods near Oulston Reservoir close to the village of Yearsley and runs south through the Vale of York to the Ouse in the centre of ...
north of
York and north-east of
Haxby
Haxby is a town and civil parish in the City of York district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 8,754, reducing to 8,428 at the 2011 Census.
Open farmland is to the north as far as the vil ...
. From the 2011 Census, the civil parish of Strensall with Towthorpe and had a population of 6,047.
It covers an area of 2,908 acres.
The village was historically part of the
North Riding of Yorkshire
The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres).
From the Restoration it was used as a ...
until 1974. It was then a part of the district of
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 in ...
in
North Yorkshire from 1974 until 1996. Since 1996 it has been part of the City of York unitary authority.
The nearby Strensall
Common is a
Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...
, an example of lowland heathland habitat covering over 5 km
2. The southern part is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Strensall also has an army firing range and training area both of which belong to the
Ministry of Defence.
History
Strensall is referred to in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Streonaeshalch'', after ''Streona'', a personal name, and ''halch'', a corner of land. The name has altered through the centuries from Strenshale in the 11th century, to Stranessale in the 14th century and to Strencile or Strencham alias Trencham in the 17th century.
It has belonged to the
Archbishops 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 th ...
since before 1214, apart from a short period in 1547 when it was briefly held by the Duke of Somerset and Lord Wharton. During the reign of Edward the Confessor the manor and land belonged to a couple of Saxon lords known as Sasford and Turchil.
Strensall is also the possible site of many historical events supposed to have occurred in
Whitby, most significantly the
Synod of Whitby
In the Synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite ins ...
of 664. This is due to a complication in 9th-century documents, which describe Streonaeshalch as being Whitby (the name ''Whitby'' is
Viking as are all place names ending with the suffix ''"by"'', e.g. ''Selby'', ''Grimsby'', ''Wetherby'' etc. – ''"by"'' means "town" in
Scandinavian languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also ...
, from the verb ''"bo"'', meaning "to reside").
The Hall with its moat and large grounds were to the north of the church. On the same site probably stood the manor-house of 1649 and 1757 which also had a moat.
To the south of the village lies Strensall Camp, formed by the War Office in 1884 for training troops and now known as
Queen Elizabeth Barracks.
Demography
The 1881 census records the population as being 446.
According to the 2001 census the
Strensall with Towthorpe
Strensall with Towthorpe is a civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 6,047.
History
Both Strensall and Towthorpe were historically pa ...
parish had a population of 3,815.
Governance
Strensall was 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 in ...
parliamentary constituency until the
2010 general election when it was transferred to the newly created constituency of
York Outer
York Outer is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2010 by Julian Sturdy, a Conservative.
Constituency profile
The constituency is in the form of a ring surrounding the York Central ...
.
Strensall forms its own ward in the City of York Council, together with the villages of
Stockton-on-the-Forest
Stockton-on-the-Forest is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England.
History
The village is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'' as ''Stocthun'' in the ''Bulford hundred''. After the Norm ...
and
Earswick
Earswick is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England. It lies between Huntington and Strensall about north of York.
According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 819, in ...
. As of May 2019, it is represented by Tony Fisher of the Liberal Democrats and Paul Doughty of the Conservative Party.
The village is part of the Strensall with Towthorpe Parish Council. There are 14 councillors in total.
Geography
The soil is sand and foxmole laid over a subsoil of white and grey sandstone. The land lies for the most part about 50 ft above sea level. The
River Foss
The River Foss is in North Yorkshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Ouse. It rises in the Foss Crooks Woods near Oulston Reservoir close to the village of Yearsley and runs south through the Vale of York to the Ouse in the centre of ...
flows from the north-east of the village in a south and south-westerly direction towards
Towthorpe. It is crossed by three bridges. About a quarter of a mile east of the village is the disused Strensall station on the York and Scarborough branch of the North Eastern railway.
Strensall Common
Strensall Common lies to the east of the village and forms part of the surrounding lowland heath. There are a number of different habitats, such as wet heath, dry heath and birch/oak woodland with areas of standing water. There are over 150 plant species including,
marsh cinquefoil
''Comarum palustre'' (syn. ''Potentilla palustris''), known by the common names purple marshlocks, swamp cinquefoil and marsh cinquefoil, is a common waterside shrub. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout North America, Europe, ...
,
marsh gentian,
round-leaved sundew and
petty whin.
There are over 60 species of bird including
curlew
The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been i ...
,
whinchat
The whinchat (''Saxicola rubetra'') is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in central Africa. At one time considered to be in the thrush family, Turdidae, it is now placed in the Old World flyca ...
, and both
green and
great spotted woodpecker
The great spotted woodpecker (''Dendrocopos major'') is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found acros ...
. Amongst the numerous insects to be found are
green and
purple hairstreak
The purple hairstreak (''Favonius quercus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia.
The larva feeds on ''Quercus robur'', ''Quercus petraea'', ''Quer ...
s, the
dark-bordered beauty,
bog bush cricket and
glowworm
Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also ...
. Other wildlife seen here include
red fox,
European hare and
harvest mouse.
Hebridean sheep and
Highland cattle graze during summer to keep down vegetation.
The site is maintained by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Economy
In the 19th century employment was found in a tannery in the village. There were also the Strensall Pottery and Britannia Pottery near the village.
Though there is some employment at the local Barracks, the village is mostly a dormitory for commuters to nearby York.
Transport
First York
First York operates local bus services, with a network centring around the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, which operates bus, rail and tram services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. ...
operate a service through the village as part of the York City Centre to Strensall route (Number 5 and 5a).
There are three level crossings within Strensall as it lies on the
York to Scarborough line
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 ...
but there is no station any more.
Strensall railway station was a minor railway station serving the village. It was opened on 5 July 1845 by the
York & North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840 extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its firs ...
and closed on 22 September 1930.
Community
Strensall has three local grocery shops plus a post office, three pubs, a bakery, a hairdressers, a fish & chip shop and Chinese takeaway. It also has a library and a medical centre. Its sports facilities include 2 playing fields, one with changing rooms; three floodlit tennis courts; two football pitches and one astro pitch and five small parks. There are 20 half plot allotments on New Lane run by the council and were established in 2008. There are also 14 plots run by the Parish Council on Northfield Lane.
File:The Six Bells at Strensall (geograph 3525815).jpg, The Six Bells
File:The Half Moon, Strensall - geograph.org.uk - 1130328.jpg, The Half Moon
File:The Ship, Strensall - geograph.org.uk - 1130316.jpg, The Ship
Religious sites
A Wesleyan chapel existing in Strensall from 1823 was succeeded by a new building in 1895. Between 1879 and 1889 a Primitive Methodist chapel was built in the village.
The Parish Church of Strensall is St Mary the Virgin. The current building was consecrated by the Archbishop of York in 1866 after the old building, originally dedicated to St James, was destroyed about 1798 or 1800. There are also the
Methodist Chapel and St Wilfred's
Garrison Church.
Education
Strensall falls within the secondary education catchment areas for
Huntington School in the northern outskirts of York. Robert Wilkinson is the local primary school and was founded in 1718 from money left by a local farmer of that name. It moved to its present location on West End in 1972.
Sports
Strensall is the home of the York Golf Club. Strensall Football Club 1XI play in Division Two of the York and District Football League.
Gallery
References
{{Reflist
Villages in the City of York