Kirby Hill, Richmondshire

Not to be confused with Kirby Hill, Harrogate.

Kirby Hill
Parish church of SS Peter and Felix
Kirby Hill is located in North Yorkshire
Kirby Hill
Kirby Hill
Location within North Yorkshire
Population60 
OS grid referenceNZ139065
Civil parish
  • Kirby Hill
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townRichmond
Postcode districtDL11
Dialling code01748
PoliceNorth Yorkshire
FireNorth Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
54°27′15″N 1°47′06″W / 54.454170°N 1.785000°W / 54.454170; -1.785000
Kirby Hill

Kirby Hill, historically also known as Kirby-on-the-Hill,[1] is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Ravensworth and about 4 miles (6 km) north-west of the town of Richmond.

The parish population is about 60.[2] At the 2011 census, it was less than 100. Population data about Kirby Hill is now included in population data about the parish of Gayles.

Kirby Hill was a township in the parish of Kirkby Ravensworth until 1866, when it was made a separate civil parish.[3]

As early as 1859, the centre of the village green featured "a beautiful spring". It continued to be used by residents until at least 1932.[4] Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described Kirby Hill as "a perfect village, but ... also ... exceptional".[5][6]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Sts Peter and Felix historically served the large ancient parish of Kirkby Ravensworth.[1] It was built in the 12th century on the site of a previous Anglo-Saxon church.[7]

The east window of the chancel was added in the 13th century. Several other features were added in the 14th century, including the vestry, the north aisle, the south porch, several new windows, and the west tower (built in 1397).[5] And the clerestory and south aisle were added in the 15th century. The church is a Grade I listed building.[8]

The tower has two bells. One is inscribed with the phrase Venite exultemus domino[1] (Latin for "Let us come and praise the Lord", a quotation from Psalm 95), “SS 1664” (the year the bell was added), and the initials of the master founder, Samuel Smith of York.[1]

A monument in the church commemorates a former rector, Dr John Dakyn (1497–1558), who was an archdeacon of East Riding.[8] He took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace (and is a noted chronicler of it),[9] but wrote that he "managed to exculpate himself".[1]

Other notable rectors of the parish include George Fitzhugh (died 1505), who was a chancellor of Cambridge University and a dean of Lincoln; William Rokeby (died 1521), who was a lord chancellor of Ireland; and Alan Percy (circa 1480–1560), who was a master of St John's College, Cambridge.[10]

The church also has a monument to Thomas Wycliffe, who died in 1821; he was the last surviving male descendant of the religious reformer John Wycliffe.[8]

Grammar school

The Old Grammar School

Dr John Dakyn, a 16th-century vicar of Kirby Ravensworth, left a legacy to fund the establishment of a grammar school in the village. It was built in 1556 and enlarged in 1706.[1]

Notable alumni of the grammar school include Matthew Hutton (1693–1758), who was born in the village and was made archbishop of Canterbury in 1757;[11] the astronomer William Lax (1761–1836)[12] and the antiquarian and the topographer James Raine (1791–1858).

The school closed in 1957, just one year after its 400th anniversary.[13] The former school’s building is now a private house and a Grade II* listed building.[14]

Amenities

Kirby Hill has an 18th-century public house, the Shoulder of Mutton.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Page 1914, pp. 87–97
  2. ^ "Population Estimates 2009". North Yorkshire County Council. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Kirby Hill Tn/CP". Vision of Britain. University of Portsmouth.
  4. ^ Whellan 1859, pp. 500–.
  5. ^ a b Pevsner 1966, p. 209.
  6. ^ Forbes, Ernest (8 March 1932). "This Mellow Shire". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer.
  7. ^ Lewis 1931, pp. 692–697.
  8. ^ a b c Historic England. "Church of St Peter and St Felix (Grade I) (1301472)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  9. ^ Hoyle, R. W. (2003). The pilgrimage of grace and the politics of the 1530s. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 0-19-820874-X.
  10. ^ Underwood, Malcolm G. "Percy, Alan". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21922. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. ^ Holtby, Robert T (2004). "Hutton, Matthew (1693–1758)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14310. Retrieved 5 May 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  12. ^ "A Cambridge Alumni Database". University of Cambridge.
  13. ^ "The Grammar School, Kirby Hill, North Yorkshire" (PDF). Landmark Trust. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2014.
  14. ^ Historic England. "The Old Grammar School and Grammar School House and attached wall and railings (Grade I) (1131319)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  15. ^ Shoulder of Mutton
  16. ^ "Pub Of The Week: Shoulder of Mutton, Kirby Hill". Yorkshire Post. Yorkshire Post Newspapers. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2017.

Bibliography

Media related to Kirby Hill, Richmondshire at Wikimedia Commons