Kirklington is a village in the English county of
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
close to the
A1(M) motorway
A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greater ...
. Kirklington forms the major part of the
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Kirklington-cum-Upsland.
The population of the parish in the 2001 UK Census was 277, 315 in the
2011 census and estimated to be 220 in 2014.
Governance
The village lies within the
Richmond and Northallerton UK Parliament constituency. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of
Hambleton, it is now administered by the unitary
North Yorkshire Council
North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...
.
History
There is some evidence of
Roman occupation around the village, in the form of a white-ware burial at the ''Lady well'', a stretch of Healam Beck, behind the Hall. Also close to the village on the A1(M), at Healam Bridge lie buried the remains of a Roman
Dere Street
Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman roads, Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond int ...
fort, almost entirely ploughed away. Just beyond the village to the north lies 'Camp Hill', the remains of an
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
camp.
Kirklington is mentioned 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
'' as ''Cherdinton'' alongside ''Yarnwick'', a lost village whose remains lie to the north of the village, between the Hall and Camp Hill prehistoric sites. The principal landowner at the time was
Count Alan of Brittany
Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz (Breton language, Breton), Alain le Roux (French Language, French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond, was a Bretons, Breton nobleman, ...
. At the time of the Norman invasion the Lord of the Manor was ''Rosskell'', but the title was granted by the Crown to Robert of Moutiers. The Anglicised form of Moutiers was ''Musters'' and this family held the manor until the mid 14th century, when is passed via marriage into the ''Wandesforde'' family. The line of succession was not a complete one thereafter, but the name was continued by those marrying into the family who adopted the Wandesford surname. Among the notable people to hold the title were
Christopher Wandesford
Christopher Wandesford (24 September 1592 – 3 December 1640) was an English administrator and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1629. He was Lord Deputy of Ireland in the last months of his life.
Life
Wandesford w ...
, successively MP for Aldborough, Richmond and Thirsk and briefly
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...
. In 1662, his son, another Christopher Wandesford was created a baronet and his son, yet another Christopher, was created
Viscount Castlecomer in 1707. John Wandesford, 5th Viscount Castlecomer was created Earl Wandesford in 1758, but the title ended with him as he had no male issue.
The Hall which stands in Whinwath Lane on the northern edge of the village, was built for Sir Christopher Wandesford, with alterations in the early 18th and 19th centuries. It is a Grade II* listed building.
There was a school house, now converted to housing, that served the village until the 1970s.
A
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
burial mound
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
known variously as 'Stapler's Mound' or 'Stapley Mound' lies between the village and the A1(M) motorway. Many of the village's houses are still owned by the estate.
There are three known ghost stories about the village, one in the pub, one in the Hall and one around Stapley Lane.
Parish

Kirklington was a large ancient parish, with an area of . Until the 19th century it included the
township
A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
s of Kirklington with Upsland,
Howgrave
Howgrave is a civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is a very small parish, with an area of only and an estimated population in 2014 of only 10. There is no modern village in the parish. The site of the deserted medieval village of ...
,
Sutton Howgrave and
East Tanfield
East Tanfield is a civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. There is no modern village in the parish, and the population was estimated at 30 in 2013. The deserted medieval village of East Tanfield lies near Manor Farm on the banks of the Ri ...
, all of which became separate civil parishes in 1866.
The
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Kirklington has now been united with other nearby parishes to form the united parish of Kirklington,
Burneston,
Wath
WATH (970 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio, Sports format. Licensed to Athens, Ohio, United States, the station is currently owned by Total Media Group and features programming from CBS News Radio, Fox Sports R ...
and
Pickhill.
St Michael's Church, Kirklington was built in the 13th century with subsequent restorations and contains banners and armour of the Wandesford family who still own the Hall. It is a Grade I listed Building.
Amenities
The public house in the village is the ''Black Horse''. On the edge of the village is a cricket pitch used by the village team.
Geography
The nearest settlements are
Carthorpe to the north;
Sinderby to the east;
Sutton Howgrave to the south and
Thornborough, North Yorkshire
Thornborough is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is about south of Bedale and west of the A1(M) motorway. Thornborough is in the West Tanfield parish. The Thornborough Henges ancient monuments are situated south and wes ...
to the south-west. Healam Beck flows northwards past the west side of the village as 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, Yorkshire, River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley throu ...
.
Notable people
*
Johanna Ropner,
lord lieutenant of North Yorkshire, lives in the village
*
Alice Thornton (1626–1707), writer, was born in the village
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in North Yorkshire