Osmotherley 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 Hambleton hills in

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 ...

, six miles north-east of

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 increa ...

. The village is at the western edge of the

North York Moors National Park North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

.Osmotherley, North York Moors
/ref> Osmotherley is on the route of the 110-mile

Cleveland Way The Cleveland Way is a National Trail in the historic area of Cleveland in North Yorkshire, northern England. It runs between Helmsley and the Brigg at Filey, skirting the North York Moors National Park. History Development of the Clevela ...

, one of the

National Trails National Trails are long distance footpaths and bridleways in England and Wales. They are administered by Natural England, a statutory agency of the UK government, and Natural Resources Wales (successor body to the Countryside Council for Wal ...

established by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

Origin of name

Osmotherley probably means the clearing or 'ley', belonging to a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

called 'Asmund' or a Saxon called 'Osmund'. In ''

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 ...

'' it was recorded as Asmundrelac and subsequently as Osmundeslay and Osmonderlay. Local legend says that Osmotherley was named after the mother of a villager named Oswald or Osmund, who went out to gather firewood in the winter. When she did not return her son became anxious and went out to look for her. He found her lying in the snow, dead or dying from the cold. Because he was not able to carry her back, he lay down beside her and died himself. It is where Oswald's mother lies, hence Osmotherley.

Governance

Located in the North Riding of Yorkshire, a division of the historic county of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, Osmotherley has been administered as part of the

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...

since 1972.

North Yorkshire Police North Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force covering the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire and the unitary authority of York in northern England. As of September 2018 the force had a strength of 1,357 police officers, 127 ...

, created by the same Local Government Act 1972 as the non-metropolitan county, are responsible for Osmotherley. An electoral ward of the same name stretches north and south from the village and had a population at the 2011 census of 1,764. It is in the Richmond parliamentary constituency.

Amenities

The Top Shop 15 North End Osmotherley 9613

The village school, Osmotherley

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, was founded 1857 and the present building dates from 1878. It is on School Lane and has fewer than 50 pupils. Osmotherley has three

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 wa ...

s within a radius: the Queen Catherine, the Three Tuns and the Golden Lion. The village also has a newsagents, a Top Shop, a

Youth Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

and an

antique shop An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops can be located either locally or, with the advent of the Internet, found online. An antiques shop can also be located within an ant ...

. In 2019, the Osmotherley Fish and Chip Shop was named the best fish and chip shop in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

at the England Business Awards event. Thompson, the shop that served Osmotherley since 1786, and an Art and Craft Shop have both recently closed. The ''Barter Table'' on the village green is a five-legged structure with a stone slab on top, which is about high. Goods were exchanged or bartered on the table and it is now a grade II listed structure.

Religion

The Anglican parish church dedicated to St Peter is built on an

Angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the '' vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles a ...

site and parts of the building date from the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

period. Largely rebuilt by architect C. Hodgson Fowler in 1892, it is a grade II* listed building. John Wesley preached at the Barter Table on the green on several occasions, the first in 1745. In 1754 a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Chapel was erected in Chapel Yard. Osmotherley Friends Meeting House, a traditional stone building, was erected in 1690 or 1723. Meetings are held monthly. It is thought that George Fox may have visited the village in the late-17th century.

Geography

The village is in the North York Moors, one of the largest areas of moorland in Great Britain. Cod Beck Reservoir to the north is named from Cod Beck, a tributary of the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. ...

. The beck derives its name from the Celtic word 'Coed', meaning woody. Just before Cod Beck reaches the reservoir is a picturesque location called Sheepwash. Osmotherley is close to the western terminus of the Lyke Wake Walk. The official starting point is at the edge of the moors above the village where there is a stone marker. About 1½ miles from Osmotherley near the A19 is

Mount Grace Priory Mount Grace Priory is a monastery in the parish of East Harlsey, North Yorkshire, England. Set in woodlands within the North York Moors National Park, it is represented today by the best preserved and most accessible ruins among the nine house ...

. Its ruins are situated at the foot of a steep wooded hill with a footpath leading into the village. The

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...

religious house was founded around 1396.

In popular culture

Osmotherley is the setting of some of the final chapters of the novel '' Brother in the Land'' by Robert Swindells. In the novel, many towns and cities are hit by individually programmed nuclear missiles, but because of Osmotherley's small size, the village is spared.

References

External links

Osmotherley WebsiteOsmotherley Community Website
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Hambleton District