Lably
Skip to content

Thirsk

Market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

  • 9 min read
  • 11 chapters

Related on Lably

Through World War II, Village and Middle Ages

Lab · Class 8–10India's Freedom StruggleLab · Class 8National MovementLab · Class 8–9Story of Village Palampur — EconomicsLabWho Lives Where?

History

Archeological finds indicate there was a settlement in Thirsk around 500–600 BC. The town's name is derived from the Old Norse word þresk, meaning 'fen' or 'lake'.

Thirsk is mentioned twice in the 1086 Domesday Book as Tresche, in the Yarlestre wapentake, a village with ten households. At the time of the Norman invasion the manor was split between Orm and Thor, local Anglo-Saxon landowners. Afterwards, it was split between Hugh, son of Baldric, and the Crown.

House of Mowbray

Most of Thirsk was granted to a Robert de Mowbray from Montbray in Normandy, for whose descendants the House of Mowbray and the Vale of Mowbray are named.

By 1145, what is now Old Thirsk had gained a Market charter giving it town and borough status. The remaining land in the parish was under manorial rights.

The Mowbray family built a castle on the north side of Castlegate. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book and an exact date is not recorded for its construction, but it was completely destroyed by 1176 following an uprising against Henry II.

William de Mowbray, 6th Baron of Thirsk, 4th Baron Mowbray, was one of the 25 executors of the Magna Carta in 1215. The Mowbrays built a manor house on the old castle site which was destroyed by the Scots in 1322. The manor continued to be in the Mowbrays' possession, despite several claims, until the death of the 16th Lord Mowbray in 1476.

Berkeley and Derby

After the War of the Roses, Henry VII raised taxes that caused uprisings in the north leading to the murder of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, either on The Little Green, where he was sent to collect taxes, or in nearby South Kilvington. With no direct succession, the daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who had married into the Berkeley family, inherited the manor. Her son, William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley, inherited it on her death. For some years, the manor was held by Thomas Stanley Earl of Derby, whose successors held it after William's death, until 1723.

Bell, Industrial Revolution and modern

In that year, it was sold by James, Earl of Derby to Ralph Bell of Sowerby, "whose descendants thereafter held the manor". It remained in the Bell family into the 20th century.

Thirsk Hall in Kirkgate is a grade II* listed three-storey town house built in 1720 and extended in 1770 by York architect John Carr.

A 1767 act of Parliament, the Codbreck Brook Navigation Act 1766 (7 Geo. 3. c. 95) provided for building a navigable waterway to the town from the River Swale along Cod Beck. The project ran out of funds and was never completed, although remains can be seen of the wharf and a lock near Lock Bridge.

A 'squalid' but 'humane' poorhouse, for up to 40 paupers of the parish, was established in 1737 between Long Street and St James Green. One hundred years later in 1837, the Thirsk Poor Law Union was formed to serve the wider district. Despite mob protests and the 'burning of effigies', it erected a workhouse on Sutton Road in 1838, initially with a capacity of 120 beds. At the time of the 1881 census, there were 81 residents, including staff and inmates. The building was used for military and first-aid purposes during World War II. Before conversion to housing, it was used to rear chickens and as a factory.

A rail crash occurred at Manor House signal box on 2 November 1892, on the North Eastern Railway about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Thirsk railway station, when an express train collided with the back of a goods train, both heading south in fog. There were 10 people killed and 43 injured. Another took place on 31 July 1967 on the East Coast Main Line. On that occasion an express train travelling north collided with a derailed freight train. Seven people were killed and 45 injured.

Sign in to keep reading

10 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in From Lably lessons

Port and starboardNautical terms for directionDress codeClothing code based on event or occasionRefrainRepeated lines in music or poetryInspectorPolice rank and administrative positionLetter to the editorLetter sent by readers to a publicationRefereeOfficial in a variety of sports