Girsby

Girsby is a village and civil parish in the former Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. The village lies on high ground on the eastern bank of the River Tees. The population of the parish was estimated at 40 in 2015.[1] The population as of the 2011 census remained less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Over Dinsdale.[2]

For the hamlet in Lincolnshire, see Girsby, Lincolnshire.

Girsby
Girsby Bridge, built 1870
Girsby is located in North Yorkshire
Girsby
Girsby
Location within North Yorkshire
Population40 (NYCC 2015)[1]
OS grid referenceNZ355083
Civil parish
  • Girsby
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townDARLINGTON
Postcode districtDL2
PoliceNorth Yorkshire
FireNorth Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire

History

The village was mentiond in the Domesday Book as belonging to the then bishop of Durham (St Cuthbert), and having three ploughlands.[3] The name of the village derives from Old Norse and is either a personal name (Gris's farm or village) or from Griss (a young pig), meaning a pig farm.[4][5][6] Historically the village was a township in the ancient parish of Sockburn, a parish divided by the River Tees between the North Riding of Yorkshire (which included Girsby) and County Durham (which included the township of Sockburn).[7] Girsby became a separate civil parish in 1866.[8] The village is 160 feet (50 m) above sea level and sits within a loop of the River Tees, with the nearest side being just to the west of the village, with the land dropping away to 49 feet (15 m) above sea level.[9]

The settlement has fallen into disrepair, many of the remaining buildings are derelict, there are barely enough houses to constitute a hamlet.

The small and secluded 'Girsby All Saints Church' overlooks the meandering Tees from its elevated position.[10]

A private farmers track leads down to a rarely used bridge over the Tees.[11] A public bridle path crosses the bridge linking Girsby with the nearby village of Neasham on the opposite bank of the river. A plaque on the bridge is inscribed;

Bridle Bridge,
Erected by Theophania Blackett 1870,
Thomas Dyke Esq Civil Engineer.[12]

The church at Girsby was visited each Sunday by worshippers from across the River Tees, and in her later years (when she was widowed), Theophania Blackett objected to people traipsing past her house, and so she blocked off the paths to the ford. After many legal disagreements, Blackett agreed to fund the bridge.[13]

The name bridle may refer to the historic right of way called bridleway.

Governance

The village was in the wapentake of Allertonshire, the parish of Sockburn (which was actually in County Durham), and the Croft Rural District.[6][14][15] It was in the North Riding of Yorkshire, but was moved into North Yorkshire when the boundaries changed in 1974. It was then in the district of Hambleton between 1974 and 2023. It is represented at Parliament as part of the Richmond Constituency.[16]

Population of Girsby 1801–2015
1801 1811 1821 1831 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 2011 2015
80[17] 93[17] 85[17] 83[17] 80[17] 101[17] 90[17] 77[17] 68[17] 89[17] 68[17] 70[8] 76[8] 60[8] 65[8] 47[8] 40[note 1] 40[note 2]

Notes
  1. Estimated population.[1]
  2. Estimated population.[1]

References
  1. "2015 Population Estimates: Parishes" (PDF). northyorks.gov.uk. December 2016. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Over Dinsdale Parish (E04007239)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  3. "Girsby | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  4. "Girsby :: Survey of English Place-Names". epns.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  5. Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 196. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
  6. Smith, A. H. (1979) [1928]. The Place Names of the North Riding of Yorkshire. English Place Name Society. p. 280. OCLC 19714705.
  7. The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
  8. "Girsby CP/Tn". visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  9. "304" (Map). Darlington & Richmond. 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2015. ISBN 978-0-319-24556-9.
  10. Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002) [1966]. Yorkshire, the North Riding. Yale University Press. p. 170. ISBN 0300096658.
  11. "Bridge over Troubled Water. Details the history of the building of Girsby bridge". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  12. "Girsby Bridge". bridgesonthetyne.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  13. Lloyd, Chris (17 June 2009). "Bridge over troubled water". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  14. "Genuki: Sockburn, Yorkshire (North Riding)". genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  15. Guide No. 6: North Yorkshire Gazetteer of Townships and Parishes. Northallerton: North Yorkshire County Council. 2021 [1986]. p. 14. ISBN 0 906035 29 5.
  16. "Election Maps". ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2023. On the left of the screen is the "Boundary" tab; click this and activate either civil parishes or Westminster Constituencies (or both), however, only two functions can be active at any one time.
  17. Page, William, ed. (1907). The Victoria history of the county of York. vol 3. London: Constable & Co. p. 503. OCLC 500092527.

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