Riccall

Riccall is a major part of the electoral ward called Riccall with Escrick.{{cite web |title=The County of North Yorkshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2005 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/172/made?view=plain |website=legislation.gov.uk |access-date=17 May 2023}} The total population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,312.{{NOMIS2011|id=1237325205|title=Riccall with Escrick Ward (as of 2011)|accessdate=1 October 2018}}

It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire,{{cite web|title=History of Riccall, in Selby and East Riding {{!}} Map and description|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/14126|access-date=25 November 2020|website=www.visionofbritain.org.uk}} but from 1974 to 2023 was in the Selby District of the shire county of North Yorkshire. In 2023 the district was abolished and North Yorkshire became a unitary authority.{{cite news |last1=Sandeman |first1=Kit |title=New era begins in authority shake-up |work=The Yorkshire Post |date=1 April 2023 |page=1|issn=0140-0460}}

The settlement of Riccall lies on the Humberhead Levels.{{cite web |title=Humberhead Levels |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/8056/HumberheadLevelsEasternArable |website=historicengland.org.uk |access-date=17 May 2023 |page=3}} At the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago Riccall lay underneath the very large Glacial Lake Humber. This gives the area its characteristic light sandy soil. Riccall is the finishing point of the {{convert|10|km|adj=on}} Cycle the Solar System route which follows the Selby−York cycle track starting in Dringhouses, York.{{cite news |title=Work starts to improve access on Solar System Way |url=https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/news/2021/november/work-starts-on-the-solar-system-way-to-provide-better-access-for-everyone |access-date=18 May 2023 |work=Sustrans |date=22 November 2021}} The cycle track used to form the old route of the East Coast Main Line via Selby, and Riccall station served the village until 1964.{{cite web |title=Cycle the Solar System |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/physics-engineering-technology/outreach/astrocampus/cycle-solar-system/#:~:text=The%20York%20Solar%20System%20model,the%20Cassini%20and%20Voyager%20spacecraft. |website=york.ac.uk |access-date=17 May 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Everett |first1=Colin |title=A bike ride in my home county: the York Solar System Route |url=https://www.bradtguides.com/york-solar-system-cycle-route/ |website=bradtguides.com |access-date=17 May 2023 |date=13 May 2021}}{{cite book|last=Hoole|first=Ken|title=Railway Stations of the North East|year=1985|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|isbn=0-7153-8527-5|page=182}}

File:St Mary's Church Riccall - geograph.org.uk - 1460592.jpg

Homo sapiens first arrived in Great Britain around 12,000 years ago as the earth was warming before the beginning of the Holocene era. It is not known when Man first arrived in the area, however there is evidence that the Humberhead Levels have been settled for several thousand years, and that the drier northern area where Riccall is situated was settled before the Roman era being host to Iron Age burial sites.{{sfn|Taylor|2015|p=5}}{{NHLE|desc=Danes Hills square barrow cemetery, 300m south of Adamson Farm |num= 1018603|grade=|access-date=18 May 2023 }}

The village was the site of an Anglo-Saxon settlement and there is evidence of a Saxon church on the site of the current St Mary's Church.{{sfn|Taylor|2015|p=14}} The early settlers most likely chose the site because of two geographical factors: the area forms a slightly raised plateau above a flood plain, and it is near the Ouse.{{sfn|Allison|1976|p=83}}

Riccall was the site of the base camp of Harald Hardrada in 1066.{{cite web |title=Riccall {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/east/vol3/pp82-89 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk |access-date=17 May 2023}} He landed on the banks of the Ouse after sailing up the Humber Estuary and set up camp at Riccall before his victory in the Battle of Fulford.{{cite book|last1=Chrystal|first1=Paul|title=The Place Names of Yorkshire; Cities, Towns, Villages, Rivers and Dales, some Pubs too, in Praise of Yorkshire Ales|date=2017|publisher=Stenlake|location=Catrine| isbn=9781840337532|page=67|edition=1}} However this was to be his last taste of victory, as his army was defeated shortly afterwards by the forces of King Harold Godwinson of England with the false parlay and preceding battle at Stamford Bridge, with many of his troops back at the base camp the battle was short and Hardrada himself died.{{cite journal |last1=Auden |first1=G. A. |title=The Strategy of Harold Hardrada in the Invasion of 1066 |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |date=1927 |volume=6 |issue=26 |page=217 |publisher=Society for Army Historical Research |issn=0037-9700}} This battle had a knock-on effect as it distracted Harold from the defence of the south coast and left the land open to Norman invasion.{{cite magazine|last1=Finch |first1=Paul |title=Viking Dust at Stamford Bridge |magazine=Military History |date=April 2003|volume=20 |issue=1 |page=40 |issn=0889-7328}} The event is commemorated in one of Riccall's streets, now a footpath, named after Olaf who looked after the camp in Harald's absence, and in Danes Hills, so named for its tumuli.{{cite magazine|last1=Manley |first1=Brendan |title=The Last of the Vikings |magazine=Military History |date=October 2008 |volume=25 |issue=4 |page=41 |issn=0889-7328}} There is now a small information panel about the event at the bottom of Landing Lane, approximately where the Danes moored.

File:Riccall Cycle Path Distance Marker.JPG

The settlement is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Richale, having a manor, 27 villagers, ploughlands and meadowlands.{{cite book |editor1-last=Morris |editor1-first=John |title=Domesday book. 30: Yorkshire: Pt. 2 / ed. by Margaret L. Faull |date=1986 |publisher=Phillimore |location=Chichester |isbn=0850335310 |page=302D}} The population places it within the top 40% of listings in the whole of the Domesday Book.{{cite web |title=Riccall {{!}} Domesday Book |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SE6137/riccall/ |website=opendomesday.org |access-date=18 May 2023}} The name was recorded in the Domesday Book as Richale, then as Richenhale in 1190, as Rikinhal in 1230, and Rycall in 1539.{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=A. H. |title=Place-names of East Riding of Yorkshire and York |date=1970 |orig-date=1937|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-04907-5 |page=265}} The first part is from a personal name (Rica) and the suffix halh, meaning a nook of land.{{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 |pages=212, 386 |edition=4}}

Sometime in the latter half of the twelfth century, the current St Mary's was built using stone quarried from the Magnesian Limestone ridge which lies approximately {{convert|8|mi|km|0}} to the west.{{sfn|Taylor|2015|p=35}}{{cite web |title=Riccall St Mary |url=https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/riccall-st-mary-riccall |website=nationalchurchestrust.org |access-date=18 May 2023}} The old south door of the church has a carved Romanesque arch, and its 12th-century three-stage tower has Norman double window openings.{{NHLE|desc=Church of St Mary |num=1148464 |grade=I|access-date=18 May 2023 }}

Land to the north-east of the village was requisitioned in 1940 for a new airfield, and construction began in 1941. RAF Riccall was used by 76 and 78 Squadrons of the RAF and two Heavy conversion units. It was used for flying between 1942 and 1945, thereafter it was used as an ammunition store until final closure in 1957.{{sfn|Taylor|2015|p=189}}{{cite book |last1=Delve |first1=Ken |title=The Military Airfields of Northern England |date=2006 |publisher=Crowood Press |location=Marlborough |isbn=1-86126-809-2 |pages=211, 213}}

{{main|Selby Coalfield}}

Between 1983 and 2004 the village was home to UK Coal's Riccall Mine which was part of the Selby Coalfield. The colliery, located south-east of Riccall, closed in 2004.{{cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3944383.stm| date = 25 October 2004|title = Mourning subdued as last Selby pit shuts| first = Marcia |last=Hughes | work = BBC News| publisher = BBC| accessdate = 1 April 2012}} The site of the colliery was re-developed as a business park.{{cite web| url = http://www.ukcoal.com/in-riccall| title = Riccall Business Park| publisher = UK Coal| accessdate = 1 April 2012| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120401190956/http://www.ukcoal.com/in-riccall| archivedate = 1 April 2012 }}

File:Riccall, Regen Centre - geograph.org.uk - 264961.jpg

The village has a primary school, post office, NISA store, hairdresser/beauty salon, butcher, two pubs, an Italian restaurant and the Regen Centre, an award-winning conference, events, and community facility. The Regen Centre, which opened in September 2000, houses a bar, four outdoor tennis courts, and a small sports hall where football and badminton can be played.{{sfn|Taylor|2015|p=199}}{{cite web |title=Riccall VDS |url=https://www.riccallparishcouncil.org.uk/media/General/Riccall%20VDS%20Final%20version.pdf |website=riccallparishcouncil.org.uk |access-date=18 May 2023 |page=7}}

The village has its own traditional Long Sword dance group, who have performed with other teams at sword dance events nation and worldwide.{{cite news |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Charles |title=Sword play |url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/theatre/2277164.sword-play/ |access-date=18 May 2023 |work=York Press |date=16 May 2008}} The dance is similar to the one acted out by the Goathland Plough Stots, and consists of eight to twelve dancers holding wooden swords in their left hands.{{cite thesis|title=Continuity, conflict and change : a contextual and comparative study of three South Yorkshire longsword dance teams|last=Sughrue|first=Cynthia Marie|date=1993|publisher=University of Sheffield, Dept. of English Language and Linguistics|location=Sheffiedl|page=119|oclc=966460647}} A manuscript detailing the songs, dances, moves and characters within the dance, was first recorded in the 1880s.{{cite journal |last1=Cawte |first1=E. C. |title=The Riccall Sword Dance |journal=Folk Music Journal |date=1971 |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=102 |publisher=English Folk Dance + Song Society |issn=0531-9684}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor1-last=Allison |editor1-first=K. |title=A history of the county of York, East Riding. 3 |date=1976 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0197227449}}
• {{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=J. P. G.|title=Riccall: a village history |date=2015 |publisher=Oblong Creative |location=Thorp Arch |isbn=978-0-9575992-6-0}}

{{Commons category-inline |Riccall}}

• {{coord|53.82495|-1.0324|display=inline|type:landmark|name = Riccall Business Park, formerly Riccall colliery}}, Riccall Business Park, formerly Riccall colliery, map location
• [http://www.riccall.co.uk Regen Centre website]
• [http://www.riccallparishcouncil.org.uk Riccall Parish Council website]
• [http://www.riccallunited.com Riccall United Football Club website]

{{North Yorkshire}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Civil parishes in North Yorkshire

Category:Villages in North Yorkshire