Girsby

The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to the then bishop of Durham (St Cuthbert), and having three ploughlands.{{cite web |title=Girsby {{!}} Domesday Book |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/NZ3508/girsby/ |website=opendomesday.org |access-date=20 September 2023}} The name of the village derives from Old Norse and is either a personal name (Gris's farm or village) or from Griss (a young pig), meaning a pig farm.{{cite web |title=Girsby :: Survey of English Place-Names |url=https://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/Durham/Sockburn/532853b3b47fc40a380004bd-Girsby |website=epns.nottingham.ac.uk |access-date=20 September 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Ekwall |first1=Eilert |author-link=Eilert Ekwall |title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |oclc=1228215388 |page=196 |edition=4}}{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=A. H. |title=The Place Names of the North Riding of Yorkshire |date=1979|orig-date=1928|oclc= 19714705|publisher=English Place Name Society|page=280}} Historically the village was a township in the ancient parish of Sockburn, a parish divided by the River Tees between the North Riding of Yorkshire (which included Girsby) and County Durham (which included the township of Sockburn).[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Sockburn/Sockburn68.html The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)] Girsby became a separate civil parish in 1866. The village is {{convert|50|m|order=flip}} above sea level and sits within a loop of the River Tees, with the nearest side being just to the west of the village, with the land dropping away to {{convert|15|m|order=flip}} above sea level.{{cite map|title = Darlington & Richmond|map =304 |year =2015 |scale =1:25,000 |series =Explorer |publisher =Ordnance Survey |isbn =978-0-319-24556-9 }}

The settlement has fallen into disrepair, many of the remaining buildings are derelict, there are barely enough houses to constitute a hamlet.

The small and secluded All Saints' Church, Girsby, overlooks the meandering Tees from its elevated position.{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |title=Yorkshire, the North Riding |date=2002 |orig-date=1966|publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0300096658 |page=170}}

A private farmers track leads down to a rarely used bridge over the Tees.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/4443058.Bridge_over_troubled_water/ |work=The Northern Echo|title= Bridge over Troubled Water. Details the history of the building of Girsby bridge|date=17 June 2009 |accessdate= 2 May 2016}} A public bridle path crosses the bridge linking Girsby with the nearby village of Neasham on the opposite bank of the river. A plaque on the bridge is inscribed;

Bridle Bridge,

Erected by Theophania Blackett 1870,

Thomas Dyke Esq Civil Engineer.{{cite web |title=Girsby Bridge |url=https://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/girsby.html |website=bridgesonthetyne.co.uk |access-date=20 September 2023}}

The church at Girsby was visited each Sunday by worshippers from across the River Tees, and in her later years (when she was widowed), Theophania Blackett objected to people traipsing past her house, and so she blocked off the paths to the ford. After many legal disagreements, Blackett agreed to fund the bridge.{{cite news |last1=Lloyd |first1=Chris |title=Bridge over troubled water |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/4443058.bridge-troubled-water/ |access-date=20 September 2023 |work=The Northern Echo |date=17 June 2009}}

The name bridle may refer to the historic right of way called bridleway.

The village was in the wapentake of Allertonshire, the parish of Sockburn (which was actually in County Durham), and the Croft Rural District.{{cite web |title=Genuki: Sockburn, Yorkshire (North Riding) |url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Sockburn |website=genuki.org.uk |access-date=20 September 2023}}{{cite book |title=Guide No. 6: North Yorkshire Gazetteer of Townships and Parishes |date=2021 |orig-date=1986 |publisher=North Yorkshire County Council |location=Northallerton |isbn=978-0-906035-29-0 |page=14}} It was in the North Riding of Yorkshire, but was moved into North Yorkshire when the boundaries changed in 1974. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

It is represented at Parliament as part of the constituency of Richmond and Northallerton.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/?x=436004&y=508575&z=7&bnd1=WMC&bnd2=CPC&labels=on |website=ordnancesurvey.co.uk |access-date=20 September 2023 |quote=On the left of the screen is the "Boundary" tab; click this and activate either civil parishes or Westminster Constituencies (or both), however, only two functions can be active at any one time.}}

• Listed buildings in Girsby

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Category:Villages in North Yorkshire

Category:Civil parishes in North Yorkshire