Well 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

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. It is about 4 miles 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 ...

, near Snape. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 230.

History

The 'well' of Well is a spring which, along with several other springs, feeds the beck running through the village. The well lends its name to the village, described as ''Wella'' 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 ...

. The name ''Wella'' is

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 ...

, literally meaning ''well'' or ''stream''. The village used to be 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 ...

Hang East Hang EastSometimes referred to as East Hang. was a Wapentake (Hundred), which is an administrative division (or ancient district), in the historic county of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was one of the smaller wapentakes by area and consist ...

. The village has an old school with a schoolhouse. Although the school has been out of use for a long time, the schoolhouse has only just been vacated. They are both owned by "The Neville Trust", a charity named after an influential family from the

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in History of England, England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in Englan ...

. With this is also a small playing field comprising two swings and a small football pitch and, as this is rarely used by the children in the village, the trust is now planning to sell all assets. The village still has four almshouses called St Michael's Cottages with their own

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

. There is a family-run pub called The Milbank Arms which serves food and drinks. There is also a

Methodist Chapel Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

, which holds regular services, and a village institute, which is used for children's parties, coffee mornings and other events. Every August the village hosts a scarecrow trail in which many of the houses in the village create a scarecrow and give it a name; each house then has a number, and members of the community have to work out which name belongs to which scarecrow. The winner receives a cash prize. The competition usually runs from mid-August to early September. The village also has a number of walks with views across the area; on a clear day,

Roseberry Topping Roseberry Topping is a distinctive hill in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near Great Ayton and Newton under Roseberry. Its summit has a distinctive half-cone shape with a jagged cliff, which has led to many comparisons with the much h ...

is visible.

The church

The Church of St Michael the Archangel is a

Grade I 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 ...

12th century structure. A place of worship was noted in the

, but the present structure dates from the 12th and 14th centuries, being built by Sir Ralph Neville.

References

External links

Well Village Website
Contains information on the village and history.

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire