Swainby

Swainby is located at the north-western corner of the North York Moors National Park.{{cite map|title =North York Moors - Western area |map =OL26 |year = 2016|scale =1:25,000 |series =Explorer |publisher =Ordnance Survey |isbn =9780319242650 }} The characteristics of the village and the surrounding area consist of traditional Yorkshire dry stone walls, hills, sheep, heather and moorland.{{cite book |last1=Bagshaw |first1=Mike |title=Slow Yorkshire Moors & Wolds : including York & the coast |date=2014 |publisher=Bradt |location=Chalfont St Peter |isbn=978-1-84162-548-5 |page=23}} The name of the village derives from Old Norse, Sveins and by which means the village next to the swans or the land of Svein's people.{{cite book |last1=Ekwall |first1=Eilert |title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-869103-3 |page=455 |edition=4}}

The village is close to the ruins of Whorlton Castle; Swainby appears to have been built after its abandonment, possibly due to the Black Death (or some other disease) leaving the inhabitants of the castle low in number in 1428.{{cite book|last1=Chrystal|first1=Paul|title=The Place Names of Yorkshire|date=2017|publisher=Stenlake|location=Catrine|isbn=9781840337532|page=80}}

File:Holy Cross Church, Swainby - geograph.org.uk - 517158.jpg

Holy Cross Church (Church of England) was designed by T. H. Wyatt; he was commissioned to do it by the Marquess of Ailesbury. It is in the Early English style and constructed of locally quarried stone. The grade II listed church was consecrated on 4 October 1877.{{NHLE|desc=Church of Holy Cross|num=1314939|grade=II|accessdate=31 January 2019}}

In the 19th century the housing of miners who worked the nearby hills for ironstone and jet led to an expansion of the village.{{cite book |last1=Whitworth |first1=Alan |title=In & around the North York moors through time. |date=2011 |publisher=Amberley Pub |location=Stroud |isbn=978-1-4456-0599-9 |page=84}}

File:High Street and Scugdale Beck, Swainby (geograph 6564528).jpg

Scugdale Beck, a tributary of the River Leven, cuts northwards through the village with two roads either side of the water and houses built on both sides.{{cite web |title=Genuki: WHORLTON: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1890., Yorkshire (North Riding) |url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Whorlton/Whorlton90 |website=www.genuki.org.uk |accessdate=31 January 2019}}{{cite web |title=Parishes: Whorlton {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp309-319 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk |accessdate=31 January 2019}}{{cite web |title=Potto Beck Catchment (trib of Leven) |url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB103025071850 |website=environment.data.gov.uk |accessdate=31 January 2019}}

Swainby contains two public houses, "The Blacksmiths Arms" and "The Black Horse", and a caravan park with farm house.

Swainby is in Whorlton civil parish, the village is presently larger than the parish's namesake therefore the electoral ward is under Swainby's name. The ward's population was 1,820 at the 2011 census.{{NOMIS2011|id=1237325082|title=Swainby Ward (as of 2011)|accessdate=4 November 2018}}

From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

Swainby was the site where an old drover's road entered the North York Moors. The road continued south to Sutton Bank where it fed into the prehistoric road that is now the A170. Cattle from Ryedale were brought up to Swainby to be sold in the village.{{cite news |title=The history of Sutton Bank - always a popular place to be |url=https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/1789051.the-history-of-sutton-bank-always-a-popular-place-to-be/ |accessdate=31 January 2019 |work=Darlington and Stockton Times |date=26 October 2007}}{{cite book |last1=Peach |first1=Howard |title=Curious tales of old North Yorkshire |date=2004 |publisher=Sigma Leisure |location=Wilmslow |isbn=1-85058-793-0 |page=72}}

The village is just south of the A172 road which connects the A19 road with Middlesbrough bypassing Stokesley. The village lies on the Northallerton to Stokesley bus route.{{cite news |title=Weekend Walk: Swainby and Live Moor |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/walks-and-cycling/weekend-walk-swainby-and-live-moor-1-8848961 |accessdate=31 January 2019 |work=The Yorkshire Post |date=11 November 2017}}

A railway ran through the village between 1857 and 1899. It connected with {{rws|Potto}} railway station on the Picton–Battersby line but it was not open to passenger traffic, being used to move ironstone from Whorlton to the smelters on Teesside only.{{cite book |last1=Hoole |first1=Ken |title=A regional history of the railways of Great Britain. Vol. 4, North East England |date=1974 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbot |isbn=0-7153-6439-1 |page=73}}

• Robert Aske

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Category:Villages in North Yorkshire