Situated approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of Leeds, the village lies close to the A1(M) motorway and the M62 motorway and until 2005, when the A1(M) motorway was opened, Fairburn was divided in two by the old A1 and the two sides of the village were connected by just one vehicle bridge and one pedestrian footbridge, both of which have subsequently been removed.
Overview
The Wagon & Horses
The village sits on the eastern edge of a narrow ridge of southern magnesian limestone which runs from near Worksop in the south to near Richmond in the north. The geology gives rise to a particularly flower-rich limestone grassland which still exists in areas unsuitable for cultivation, whilst alluvial soils and clays are found in the river valley bottoms. This outcrop of limestone was used to construct many of the older houses in the village.
The name of Fairburn was first attested around 1030, as Faren-burne. This name comes from the Old English words fearn ('fern') and burna ('spring, stream'), and thus meant 'spring characterised by ferns'.[2]
Fairburn was historically a township in the ancient parish of Ledsham in the wapentake of Barkston Ash in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[3] The township became a separate civil parish in 1866.[4] In 1974 Fairburn was transferred to Selby District in the new county of North Yorkshire. Selby District was abolished in 2023.
Notable residents
William Jessop, one of the most prolific engineers of the canal age, was living in Fairburn with his wife Sarah in 1781, as their second son Josias was baptised there on 26 October. They left to move to Newark two or three years later, and Josias went on to become a civil engineer in his own right.[5]
Bibliography
Skempton, Sir Alec; et al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830. Thomas Telford. ISBN0-7277-2939-X.
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