Kirk Smeaton 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 authorit ...

in the

Selby District Selby District is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England. The local authority, Selby District Council, is based in the town of Selby. The Local Authority had a population of 83,449 at the 2011 Census. The southernmost distr ...

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 located at the southern end of the county close to

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

and

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

. Historically the village was part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

until 1974.

Geography

Kirk Smeaton and its sister village Little Smeaton face each other across the

River Went The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common. A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of th ...

, the most southerly boundary of the Celtic Kingdom of

Elmet Elmet ( cy, Elfed), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic kingdom between about the 5th century and early 7th century, in what later became the smaller area of the West Riding of Yorkshire then West Yorkshire, South Yorkshir ...

. A footbridge links the two, providing both villages with walks to Brockadale Nature Reserve and

Wentbridge Wentbridge is a small village in the City of Wakefield district of West Yorkshire, England. It lies around southeast of its nearest town of size, Pontefract, close to the A1 road. The village contains one of the largest viaducts in Europe, ...

. The Doncaster / North Yorkshire boundary lies close to the south of the village and, to the east, it begins to follow the River Went all the way to the River Don. A railway from the Leeds - Doncaster line past Drax Power Station used to run close to the south of the village, with a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

that opened in 1885 and part of the

Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in af ...

. The station was closed to passengers in 1932 and the line closed completely in 1959.

Etymology

The name ''Smeaton'' is first attested 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 manus ...

of 1086, in the form ''Smedetone''. This derives from

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

words ''smiþ'' (in its genitive

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

form ''smiþa'') and ''tūn'' ('farm, estate'), and thus once meant 'smiths' farm'. The ''kirk'' element of the name is first attested in 1311 and is a northern English dialect word for 'church', coming from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

word for 'church', ''kirkja''. This element was added to the name to distinguish the settlement from nearby Little Smeaton.

History

The village is mentioned in the

, along with Little Smeaton, with the land being tenanted by Ilbert of Lacey. In 1840,

Earl Fitzwilliam Earl Fitzwilliam (or FitzWilliam) was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family (later Wentworth-Fitzwilliam). History The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in th ...

donated land for the foundation of Kirk Smeaton CE J&I Primary School; it is a small school which is well regarded. A pre-school meet on-site in term-time; there is a breakfast club and after-school club. The school has a mixture of new and old buildings, a sports hall and a community room which can be hired out. It is a Church school and there are good links with the community an
Church
The village pub is the
Shoulder of Mutton
' on Main Street. Black Sheep Ale is usually served, amongst other beers. A harvest auction at the pub raises money for charity. There is also a village post office. In the 2001 Census, the population was 344, which had risen to 405 by the 2011 Census. In 2015,

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 the population to be at 390.

References

External links

The Smeaton VillagesSmeaton Church

Primary school
{{authority control Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Selby District Villages in North Yorkshire