Thornton-le-Moor is a 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

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, situated equidistantly from the towns of

Thirsk Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England known for its racecourse; quirky yarnbomber displays, and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby. History Archeological fin ...

and

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...

History

The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

built two roads from a camp to the south at

Thornton-le-Street Thornton-le-Street is a village and parochial and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Thornton-le-Moor and Thornton-le-Street for District purposes. As the population remained le ...

. The modern A168 roughly follows the route of one road towards Northallerton before it headed to a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

at ''

Cataractonium Cataractonium was a fort and settlement in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into Catterick, located in North Yorkshire, England. Name Cataractonium likely took its name form the Latin word (ultimately derived from Greek , ), meaning eit ...

'' ( Catterick). The village name means the "thorn-tree settlement on the moor" derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

, ''þorn'' meaning a hawthorn tree, ''tūn'', a farmstead and ''mōr'', marsh or barren upland. Recorded as Torentun in the 11th century and Thornton in Mora or Thornton super Moram from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the village was probably held before the

Norman Conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

by Edmund but by 1086 was recorded 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 belonging to Robert Malet. The manor consisted of five

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...

s. It was divided into three

fees A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead (business), overhead, wages, costs, and Profit (accounting), markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Repu ...

. In the late-13th century two carucates belonged to the barony of Greystock. Another part consisting of 2½ carucates was part of the

Honour of Eye In the kingdom of England, a feudal barony or barony by tenure was the highest degree of feudal land tenure, namely ''per baroniam'' (Latin for "by barony"), under which the land-holder owed the service of being one of the king's barons. The ...

held of the Earl of Cornwall in the late-13th century who before 1312 granted nine

oxgang An oxgang or bovate ( ang, oxangang; da, oxgang; gd, damh-imir; lat-med, bovāta) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English a ...

s of land to

Fountains Abbey Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 40 ...

. The third holding belonged to Thomas de Otterington in 1300. Before 1657, the "way over Purgatory by Thief Hole was in want of repair". Purgatory, another part of the parish, east of the A168 road was the location of a

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

and farm that belonged to the

see of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham s ...

in 1739, and after 1803, a toll bar on the

Yarm Yarm, also referred to as Yarm-on-Tees, is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It was previously a port town before the industry moved down the River Tees to more accessible settlements ne ...

to Thirsk turnpike road. In Victorian times a domestic weaving industry flourished in the village but agriculture was the main occupation. The North Eastern Railway and brewing provided other sources of employment. Brewing started the mid-18th century when the Black Swan Inn was purchased by William Sadler who started a brewery. It remained in the Sadler family for more than 100 years until it passed to Robert Dennison, who willed it to Messrs Richardson, Carter and Armitage. They sold the brewery to Newsome Baxter in 1851. By then it had relocated to a site behind Brewery House. The Victorian primary school opened in 1860 and closed in 1993, when it merged with a local school in

Newby Wiske Newby Wiske is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Wiske, about five miles north-west of Thirsk. History The village has always belonged to the manor of Kirby Wiske. ...

and a new school opened in

South Otterington South Otterington is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the A167 road south of Northallerton and on the east bank of the River Wiske. History ''Otterinctune'' in the ''Allerto ...

Governance

Historically Thornton-le-Moor was a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in the parish of

North Otterington North Otterington is a civil parish with no village centre on the east bank of the River Wiske, in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. North Yorkshire County Council estimated its population in 2011 to be 40 and 30 in 2015. Detai ...

in the

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, C ...

Birdforth Birdforth is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 13. The population remained less than 100 at the 2011 Census. Details are included in the civil ...

in 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 ...

and after 1837, in the Thirsk Poor Law Union. After the passing of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, on 1 April 1974 the village became part of Hambleton, a

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

Geography

The village is at the foot of the ridge that divides the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

s of the

River Wiske The River Wiske is a tributary of the River Swale in Yorkshire, England. The Wiske gives its name to several villages it passes through. The name Wiske is derived from an Old English word ''wisca'' meaning a water meadow. It was once known as t ...

and the Cod Beck. It is on the minor road from South Otterington to the A168 between

and

about a mile south of Thornton-le-Beans. Another lane into the village leaves the A168 at Thief Hole.

Otterington railway station Otterington railway station was located in the village of South Otterington, North Yorkshire, on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1841 and closed in 1958. The station is now a private residence, though the platform can still be seen. The b ...

on the line from

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 ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

served the village between 1841 and 1958. The parish is largely agricultural, in the 19th century 1,395 acres were under cultivation. The soil is light and the underlying geology is

Keuper marl Keuper marl is a former and now deprecated term for multiple layers of mudstone and siltstone of Triassic age which occur beneath parts of the English Midlands and neighbouring areas e.g. Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Devon, eastern Worcestershire ...

Population change

Religion

Thornton-le-Moor was in the parish of North Otterington which had a church but no village. The village is connected to St Michael's Church in North Otterington by Endican Lane which joins the old

corpse road Corpse roads provided a practical means for transporting corpses, often from remote communities, to cemetery, cemeteries that had burial rights, such as parish churches and chapel of ease, chapels of ease. In Britain, such routes can also be known ...

from Thornton-le-Beans. An ancient chapel in Thornton-le-Moor was used as a school and place of worship for

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

s before it was demolished. St Barnabus's Church, constructed in the late-13th-century style on the site of the ancient chapel. was built in 1868. Built of stone with a slate roof, it had a four-bay

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, quire, south porch and north

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

. It had a traceried east window and the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d bellcote contained two bells. When completed, the new church became the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

and St Michael's Church at North Otterington became a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

. St Barnabas's Church was demolished in 1987 after its partial collapse in the previous year. The churchyard is still maintained.

Amenities

Amenities comprise The Black Swan

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and a postbox. The village post office and shop closed in the 1970s.The village cricket club formed in the 1950s and plays in the Nidderdale Amateur Cricket League on Saturday afternoons from April to September, as well as the Northallerton and District Evening League and Tuesday and Thursday evenings

References

External links

www.thornton-le-moor.org.uk
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire