Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SKIPTON

SKIPTON, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in W. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on a branch of the river Aire, the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and the Little Northwestern railway, at the junction of the S. and Wharfdale railway, 26¼ miles N W by W of Leeds; was anciently called Sceptone or Sciptone; is now sometimes called Skipton-in-Craven; belonged, at the Norman conquest, to Earl Edwin; went soon afterwards to Robert de Romeli; acquired a castle, as his baronial residence; rose then from the condition of a village to that of a town; passed to successively the Albemarles, the Crown, Piers de Gaveston, and the Cliffords; made considerable figure in history, in connexion with the Cliffords; is now a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; consists chiefly of two long, broad, stone-built streets; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking offices, two chief inns, a town hall, a public hall of 1861, two churches, five dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel with nunnery and schools, a mechanics' institution, a public library, an endowed grammar-school, national and British schools, a workhouse, and charities £1,125. The castle was the birthplace of the famous Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery; was taken and dismantled by the parliamentarians in the time of Charles I.; retains little of its original architecture; comprises portions of the time of Edward II., and portions of the time of Henry VIII.; and belongs now to Sir R. Tufton, Bart. Trinity church is partly of the time of Richard III., and was restored in 1854. Christ church is modern; and a neat cemetery adjoins it. The grammar-school was founded in 1548; has about £800 a year from endowment, and three small exhibitions at Christ's college, Cambridge; and is under new regulations sanctioned by act of parliament in 1867. A weekly market is held on Saturday; sheep and cattle fairs are held on every alternate Monday; a horse fair is held on 25 Sept.; a newspaper is published on every alternate Saturday; and some cotton manufacture is carried on. Pop. of the town in 1861, 4,533. Houses, 952.

The township comprises 3,826 acres. Real property, £23,343; of which £588 are in quarries, £579 in the canal, and £300 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 5,044; in 1861, 5,454. Houses, 1,120.—The parish contains also seven other townships and a part, and comprises 25,755 acres. Pop. in 1851, 7,146; in 1861, 7,734. Houses, 1,588. A reach of about 6 miles, along the river Aire and its branch above and below the town, is called the Vale of Skipton, and shows features of striking beauty. Much of the other portions of the parish also is picturesque. The living of Trinity is a vicarage, and that of Christ church is a p. curacy, in the diocese of Ripon. Value of the former, £307; of the latter, £130. Patron of Trinity, Christchurch, Oxford; of Christ church, the Vicar of Skipton. The vicarage of Embsay and the rectory of Bolton-Abbey are separate benefices. The sub-district excludes four townships and a part; includes two other parishes and a part . and comprises 22,556 acres. Pop., 8,590. Houses, 1,777.—The district comprehends also the sub-districts of Kettlewell, Gargrave, Barnoldswick, Kildwick, Addingham, and Grassington; and comprises 157,073 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £14,601. Pop. in 1851, 31,274; in 1861, 31,343. Houses, 6,571. Marriages in 1863, 224; births, 979,-of which 85 were illegitimate; deaths, 613, -of which 203 were at ages above 5 years, and 11 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,334; births, 9,678; deaths, 6,113. The places of worship, in 1851, were 28 of the Church of England, with 8,651 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 1,045 s.; 5 of Baptists, with 1,351 s.; 5 of Quakers, with 1,374 s.; 28 of Wesleyans, with 5,517 s.; 10 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,724 s.; 5 of the Wesleyan Association, with 1,354 s.; 1 of the New Church, with 222 s.; 3 undefined, with 350 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 278 s. The schools were 45 public day schools, with 2,448 scholars; 46 private day schools, with 917 s.; 71 Sunday schools, with 5,989 s.; and 12 evening schools for adults, with 323 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Skipton Tn/AP/CP       Skipton SubD       Skipton RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place names: SCEPTONE     |     SCIPTONE     |     SKIPTON     |     SKIPTON IN CRAVEN
Place: Skipton

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