West Witton

Last updated

West Witton
St Bartholomews Church West Witton.jpg
St Bartholomew's Church, West Witton
North Yorkshire UK location map (2023).svg
Red pog.svg
West Witton
Location within North Yorkshire
Population347 (2011 Census) [1]
OS grid reference SE062884
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Leyburn
Postcode district DL8
Police North Yorkshire
Fire North Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
54°17′29″N1°54′19″W / 54.29141°N 1.90527°W / 54.29141; -1.90527 Coordinates: 54°17′29″N1°54′19″W / 54.29141°N 1.90527°W / 54.29141; -1.90527

West Witton is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. Located in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales it lies on the A684 (the main road between Leyburn and Hawes).

Contents

The civil parish also includes the hamlet of Swinithwaite. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 347. [1] In 2015, North Yorkshire County Council estimated the population to be 340. [2]

The educator Eric James, Baron James of Rusholme, lived in West Witton, and after his death had his ashes scattered there. [3]

History

There was a settlement at West Witton during the Iron Age and the Roman occupation of Britain. [4]

West Witton was originally known simply as Witton, and was mentioned (as Witun) in the Doomsday Book. [5] The name is Old English, from widu and tūn, meaning "wood settlement", suggesting a place where wood was felled or worked. [6] By the late 12th century the village became known as West Witton to distinguish it from another Witton, now known as East Witton, 5 miles (8 km) down Wensleydale.

The parish church of St Bartholomew dates back to 1281 but was largely rebuilt in the 19th century. It was under the governance of Jervaulx Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries, when the patronage of the parish passed to the crown, before being sold to the Earl of Sunderland. [7] The old vicarage is now an hotel.

Burning of Bartle

The village is famous locally for its "Burning of Bartle" ceremony [8] [9] [10] held on the Saturday nearest 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day). [11]

A larger than life effigy of 'Bartle' is paraded around the village, complete with glowing eyes. Bartle stops at various strategic places to recite the doggerel, before finally being burnt at Grassgill End to much merry singing.

The doggerel is:

On Penhill Crags he tore his rags; Hunter's Thorn he blew his horn; Capplebank Stee happened a misfortune and brak' his knee; Grisgill Beck he brak' his neck; Wadham's End he couldn't fend; Grassgill End we'll mak' his end. Shout, lads, shout. [11]

At Grassgill end they burn the Bartle effigy. This celebration has its similarities to Guy Fawkes night. One local folk-story is that Bartle was the sheep-stealing Penhill Giant. [12]

St Bartholomew's Church was featured in the British television series All Creatures Great and Small , in the episode "Cats and Dogs". [13] Meanwhile, when filming in Yorkshire, several of the cast stayed at West Witton's pub, the Heifer. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jervaulx Abbey</span> Ruined monastery in North Yorkshire, England

Jervaulx Abbey in East Witton, 14 miles north-west of the city of Ripon, was one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire, England, dedicated to St Mary in 1156. It is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wensleydale</span> Upper valley of the River Ure in North Yorkshire, England

Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedale</span> Market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

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 34 miles (55 km) north of Leeds, 26 miles (42 km) south-west of Middlesbrough and 7 miles (11 km) south-west of the county town of Northallerton. It was originally in Richmondshire and listed in Domesday Book as part of Catterick wapentake, which was also known as Hangshire (named after Hang Bank in Finghall; it was split again and Bedale remained in East Hang. Bedale Beck is a tributary of the River Swale, which forms one of the Yorkshire Dales, with its predominance of agriculture and its related small traditional trades, although tourism is increasingly important.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleham</span> Market town in North Yorkshire, England

Middleham is an English market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire. It lies in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, on the south side of the valley, upstream from the junction of the River Ure and River Cover. There has been a settlement there since Roman times. It was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Medelai, meaning "middle ham or village".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masham</span> Market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Masham is a market town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,205 at the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawes</span> Market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a tourist attraction in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Askrigg</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Askrigg is a small village and civil parish in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is part of the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village and its parish are located in Upper Wensleydale, 12 miles (19 km) west of Leyburn, and 5 miles (8 km) east of Hawes. It is 31.4 miles (50.5 km) west of the county town of Northallerton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aysgarth</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Aysgarth is a village and civil parish in Wensleydale, in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, about 16 miles (26 km) south-west of Richmond and 22.6 miles (36.4 km) west of the county town of Northallerton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thornton Steward</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Thornton Steward is a small village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, near Wensleydale, with a population of 100–200, measured at 199 in the 2011 Census. The name derives from Old English relating to a hawthorn tree on a farm and Steward. The village was formerly owned by Wymar, who was the steward of the Earls of Richmond. The village is very similar to the others that dot Wensleydale, but Thornton Steward has a reservoir owned by Yorkshire Water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Witton</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

East Witton is a village and civil parish in Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England. It lies south of Leyburn, in the Richmondshire district. Richard Whiteley is buried there; he and his partner, Kathryn Apanowicz, lived in the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redmire</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Redmire is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Leyburn in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wensley, North Yorkshire</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Wensley is a small village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a few homes and holiday cottage, an inn, a pub and a historic church. It is on the A684 road 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west of the market town of Leyburn. The River Ure passes through the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swinithwaite</span> Hamlet in North Yorkshire, England

Swinithwaite is a hamlet in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the A684 road, 2 miles (3.2 km) miles east of Aysgarth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Burton, North Yorkshire</span> Village in North Yorkshire, England

West Burton is a village in Bishopdale, a side valley of Wensleydale, in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies 6.2 miles (10 km) south-west of Leyburn and 22.3 miles (35.9 km) west of the county town of Northallerton. It is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Burton-cum-Walden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spennithorne</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Spennithorne is a village and civil parish in lower Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of the market town Leyburn, on a slight elevation above the River Ure, which forms the southern boundary of the parish. The village is overlooked by the steeple of St Michael and All Angels Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Tanfield</span> Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

West Tanfield is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated approximately six miles north of Ripon on the A6108, which goes from Ripon to Masham and Wensleydale. The parish includes the hamlets of Nosterfield, Thornborough and Binsoe.

<i>All Creatures Great and Small</i> (1978 TV series) British veterinary TV series (1978-90)

All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series made by the BBC and based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot. The title aired over seven series, totalling 90 episodes, from 1978 to 1990.

Penhill is a prominent hill, 5.5 miles (9 km) south west of Leyburn, in the Pennines, North Yorkshire, England. It forms a ridge that commands the southern side of Wensleydale and the northern side of Coverdale. Its concave shape was formed during the last ice age, when glaciers carved Wensleydale into a U-shape. The summit plateau has a trig point, small tarns on the peat moor, and, visible from the valley floor, a beacon at its eastern end, part of the large network built to warn of a Spanish invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Andrew's Church, Aysgarth</span> Grade II* listed church in England

St Andrew's Church, Aysgarth, is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Aysgarth, North Yorkshire. It is located on the south side of the River Ure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Bartholomew's Church, West Witton</span> Church in West Witton, England

St Bartholomew's Church, West Witton is a Grade II listed parish church in the Church of England in West Witton, North Yorkshire.

References

  1. 1 2 UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – West Witton Parish (E04007539)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  2. ↑ "2015 Population Estimates Parishes" (PDF). northyorks.gov.uk. December 2016. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  3. ↑ Roger Young, ‘James, Eric John Francis, Baron James of Rusholme (1909–1992)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, October 2009 accessed 30 April 2011
  4. ↑ Archi UK
  5. ↑ "[West] Witton". Open Domesday Book. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Watts, Victor, ed. (2010). "Witton". The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-16855-7.
  7. ↑ Page, William. "Parishes: West Witton Pages 286-290 A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1". British History Online. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  8. ↑ http://www.burningbartle.org.uk Official Burning Bartle site
  9. ↑ http://www.halikeld.f9.co.uk/traditions/bartle/bartle1.htm Burning of Bartle – photos
  10. ↑ http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=704 Burning of Bartle – historical origins
  11. 1 2 Sedgwick, Phillip (16 August 2019). "Villagers get ready for annual Burning of Bartle ceremony". Darlington & Stockton Times. No. 33–2019. p. 32. ISSN   2516-5348.
  12. ↑ Dooks, Brian (24 August 2006). "Trail brings village tradition to life" . The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "St Bartholomew’s Church, West Witton, N Yorks, UK – All Creatures Great & Small, Cats & Dogs (1978)" - Waymarking.com
  14. ↑ All Memories Great & Small, Oliver Crocker (2016; MIWK)

Commons-logo.svg Media related to West Witton at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.