Weaverthorpe

Bronze Age settlements have been found at nearby Cowlam, which is {{convert|4.5|km|order=flip}} to the south. It was one of the leading burial sites in Yorkshire where the dead were interred in their chariots.{{cite book|last1=Roe|first1=Derek Arthur|title=Prehistory: an introduction|date=1970|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|location=London|isbn=9781349003600|page=210|edition=1|chapter=6: The Iron Age}}

There was a vill on the site in the period of Viking/Norse settlement when it was known as Wifertorp (11th century). The village's name is linked to a certain Vidhfari, anglicised in Wivar. In the Domesday Book there is a mention of Wiveretorp where it was classed as very small and had depreciated in value from 1066 to 1086.{{cite web|last1=Powell-Smith|first1=Anna|title=Weaverthorpe, Domesday Book|url=http://opendomesday.org/place/SE9671/weaverthorpe/|website=opendomesday.org|accessdate=13 March 2017}} Same male's name as in Wiverton (Nottingham) and in the Vierville (Wiarevilla 1158), Virville (Wivarevilla v. 1210) and Viertot of Normandy which appears to come from Old Scandinavian; which means that Weaverthorpe translates as the farm or settlement of the male name Vidhfari or Wivar.{{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=503 |edition=4}}{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=A.H.|title=The place-names of the East Riding of Yorkshire and York|date=1970|publisher=University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521049078|page=122|edition=2|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/epns/documents/east-riding-of-yorkshire-and-york.pdf}}

After the Norman conquest, it was held by the Archbishop of York under Michael FitzHerbert. In the 12th century the church of St Andrew was granted to Nostell Priory until 1268.

Lucy, daughter of Piers FitzHerbert, married Sir William de Ros of Helmsley-in-Holderness [alias Hamlake] (died {{circa|1264}}) who acquired the manor of 'Wyverthorp'. In about 1271 the manor was acquired by William de Brewes, Baron Braose of Gower, on his marriage with Mary de Ros.Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families By Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham Published 2005, Genealogical Publishing Com; p. 136

From the mediaeval era until the 19th century Weaverthorpe was part of the Wapentake of Buckrose.{{cite web |title=Weaverthorpe AP/CP |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10473380 |website=A Vision of Britain Through Time |publisher=University of Portsmouth |accessdate=3 December 2019}} Historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, from 1894 it was in the Driffield Rural District, then moving to the Norton Rural District in 1935. In 1974 it became part of the county of North Yorkshire. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Ryedale, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.{{cite web|title=Ryedale|url=http://statistics.data.gov.uk/resource?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fstatistics.data.gov.uk%2Fid%2Fstatistical-geography%2FE07000167|website=data.gov.uk|publisher=Office for National Statistics|accessdate=13 March 2017}}

During the Second World War, MI6 secretly installed a new type of direction finding station in a field just south of the village, it consisted of an underground metal tank with an aerial protruding above rotated by the operator inside the tank. The station was used to find the locations of German secret service radio stations and their spies in Europe.{{cite web|title=MI6 in Weaverthorpe|url=http://luttonsandweaverthorpe.ryedaleconnect.org.uk/2015/07/mi6-in-weaverthorpe/|website=Luttons and Weaverthorpe|accessdate=13 March 2017|date=20 July 2015}}

File:Weaverthorpe Church.jpg

The tower is reputed to be a mix of late Saxon and Norman in construction. The chancel is separated from the nave by a Norman arch. The font is probably Norman. Above the south door of the nave is a sun-dial, with a part-illegible fragment of an inscription in Saxon characters, claimed as reading: " In honore Sancti andre - Herbert W.... Hoc Monasterium ". It has been claimed as a memorial to Herbert de Winchester (died 1120/1130) who built the church. Herbert of Winchester was chamberlain to King Henry I. His son William FitzHerbert was granted by King John, the lands of "Launsborough, Collerthorpe, Wyderthorpe, Holperthorpe and the two Lottum". The unexplained reference to "ecclesiam de Clera[m]" in the charter of King Stephen relating to "Wiverthorpe", might refer to a chapel attached to a local manor house.

A Victorian benefactor of Weaverthorpe's St Andrew's church was local landowner Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet. He paid for 18 rural churches to be built, repaired or rebuilt in the East and North Yorkshire areas, but mainly in the Wolds. St Andrew's church was restored by G E Street with "lavish furnishings and decorated roofs".{{cite news|title=On the trail of Sir Tatton Sykes' churches|url=http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/features/10384596.On_the_trail_of_Sir_Tatton_Sykes__churches/|accessdate=13 March 2017|work=York Press|date=27 April 2013}} The Yorkshire Post described the church as boasting some impressive stained glass windows.{{cite news|title=Crumbling churches find guardian angel|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crumbling-churches-find-guardian-angel-1-5644407|accessdate=13 March 2017|work=The Yorkshire Post|date=5 May 2013|language=en}} The church was listed as Grade I in October 1966.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1175527|desc=Church of St Andrew|grade=I|accessdate=13 March 2017}}

The village sits in the Great Wold Valley and the waters of the winterbourne stream the Gypsey Race flow alongside the main street in the village.{{cite web|title=Weaverthorpe - The Villages of the Yorkshire Wolds - Driffield YO25|url=http://www.driffield.co.uk/wolds_village_weaverthorpe.htm|website=www.driffield.co.uk|accessdate=13 March 2017}} The waters of the Gypsey Race have carved a small valley out of the surrounding chalk. This has left small plateaus like the one that the Church of St Andrew is perched on as it overlooks the village.{{cite book|last1=Fox-Strangways|first1=Charles Edward|title=The water supply, from underground sources, of the East Riding of Yorkshire, together with the neighbouring portions of the Vales of York and Pickering: with records of sinkings and borings.|date=1906|publisher=HMSO|location=London|page=11|chapter=Introduction: Outline of geology as far as relates to water supply|oclc=876761985}}{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Joseph E|title=The east Riding of Yorkshire|date=1932|publisher=Methuen & Co|location=London|page=9|chapter=I. Area, population and divisions|oclc=752835245}}

The village is served by unclassified roads and lies {{convert|5|km|order=flip}} south of the A64 road at Sherburn. There was a railway station on the York to Scarborough Line at Sherburn which was called Weaverthorpe.{{cite book|last1=Chapman|first1=Stephen|title=York to Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale|date=2008|publisher=Bellcode Books|location=Todmorden|isbn=9781871233193|page=46|edition=1}} It had been renamed from Sherburn to Wykeham and then renamed again to Weaverthorpe. This was to avoid confusion over place names (as there was a Wykeham station on the Forge Valley Line between Pickering and Seamer).{{cite web|title=Sherburn Parish Plan 2009|url=http://www.sherburnparishcouncil.org.uk/docs/Sherburn%20Parish%20Plan%202009.pdf|website=sherburnparishcouncil.org.uk|accessdate=13 March 2017|page=7}}

Television signals in the village are received from the local relay transmitter which is transmitted via the Belmont transmitter with signals cannot be received from either the Emley Moor and Bilsdale transmitters.{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Weaverthorpe|title=Freeview Light on the Weaverthorpe (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=11 April 2024}}

Local radio stations are BBC Radio York on 103.7 FM, Greatest Hits Radio York and North Yorkshire on 104.7 FM, and Coast & County Radio on 97.4 FM.

The village is served the local newspaper, Gazette and Herald.{{cite web |url= http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/ |title=Ryedale & North Yorkshire news and information from the Gazette & Herald newspaper |work=gazetteherald.co.uk |year=2024 |access-date=11 April 2024}}

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(Note: Interesting that William FitzHerbert was granted such lands by a king whose reign did not begin until 1199; when William, archbishop and saint, had died back in 1154.)

Gazetteers e.g.: "Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892)"

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Category:Villages in North Yorkshire

Category:Civil parishes in North Yorkshire