| Middleham | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Market Cross  Mightens Bank  Castle | |
.svg)  Middleham Location withinNorth Yorkshire | |
| Population | 825 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SE124878 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LEYBURN |
| Postcode district | DL8 |
| Dialling code | 01969 |
| Police | North Yorkshire |
| Fire | North Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| UK Parliament | |
| 54°17′09″N1°48′32″W / 54.28583°N 1.80889°W /54.28583; -1.80889 | |
Middleham (/ˈmɪdələm/MID-əl-əm;[2] meaning "middleham", i.e. "middle village") is amarket town andcivil parish[3] in thedistrict andcounty ofNorth Yorkshire, England. It lies inWensleydale in theYorkshire Dales, on the south side of the valley, upstream from the confluence of theRiver Ure andRiver Cover. There has been a settlement there sinceRoman times. It was recorded in the 1086Domesday Book asMedelai.
Though there is no evidence of civil settlement in the Roman period, a rural villa was discovered in the 19th century some 330 yards (300 m) east of the castle, in farmland south of the road toMasham. A branch road from the major Roman thoroughfare ofDere Street passed by, across the valley, through the fort of Wensley to the Roman site of Virosidium atBainbridge.[4]
Before theNorman Conquest, the lands around were controlled by Gilpatrick. In 1069,William the Conqueror granted them to his Breton cousinAlan Rufus, who built a woodenmotte-and-bailey castle above the town. By the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, Alan had passed the castle to his brother Ribald. Its earthworks are still visible at William's Hill. Alan also built thecastle atRichmond.
Construction began in 1190 ofMiddleham Castle, which still dominates the town. TheNevilles, Earls of Westmorland, acquired it through marriage to a female descendant of Ribald in the 13th century. It has been dubbed the "Windsor of the North". The castle belonged toRichard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, when his cousin Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the futureRichard III) came there to learn knighthood skills in 1462. During theWars of the Roses, bothEdward IV andHenry VI were held prisoner there. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became master of the castle in 1471 after Warwick's death at theBattle of Barnet. He used it as his political base for ruling the North on behalf of his brother Edward IV. Richard married Warwick's daughter,Anne Neville, in 1472. Middleham Castle is where their sonEdward was born in about 1473 and died in April 1484. Richard III, who died in August 1485 at theBattle of Bosworth, was the last reigning King of England to perish in battle.[5]
Under Richard III, Middleham was a bustling market town and political centre.[6] In 1389, the Lord of Middleham Manor received a crown grant to hold a weekly market and yearly fair on the feast of StAlkelda the Virgin.[7] The town has market places: the larger, lower one is dominated byMiddleham Market Cross, topped by a modern iron cross in Celtic style. The upper or swine market centres on the remains of the 15th-centurySwine Cross and a line of steps. At one end of the cross is a worn effigy of an animal reclining; the other may have had a moulded capital.
Most buildings in old parts of Middleham predate 1600. The old rectory incorporates some medieval features.[8] In 1607 Middleham was important enough to house a royal court for residents of the forest of Wensleydale.[9] Middleham and surrounding lands were part of the Crown estates from the accession of Richard III untilCharles I sold the manor to theCity of London in about 1628.[10] In 1661 the City of London sold Middleham Manor on to Thomas Wood of Littleton. It has remained in private hands since then.[11] In 1915 the annual livestock market was still regionally important, but the weekly market had been discontinued. Today's livestock market is inLeyburn.
The Church of Saints Mary andAlkelda was founded in 1291. Its mainly 14th and 15th-century architecture includes some stones that indicate a church on the site perhaps a century before.[8] The only remaining Norman artefact is a section ofzigzag moulding that once surrounded a door or window and now appears above the north aisle. The church has a three-metrePerpendicular font cover and a replica of theMiddleham Jewel, found locally. West of the church is St Alkelda's Well, whose waters were once said to restore weak eyes.
In 1478 Edward IV gave permission for a leper hospital to be built on the east side of town, in conjunction with the church. The location, Chapel Fields, now holds a horse-training stables. No trace of a hospital or chapel remains.[4]
Today's Middleham is a centre ofhorse racing and home to Middleham Trainers' Association. The firstracehorse trainer at Middleham was Isaac Cape in 1765. Today there are several, includingMark Johnston, Jedd O'Keefe,James Bethell, and Ben Haslam. Racing is the foremost employer in the town and tourism the second. The castle is a ruin, having been dismantled in 1646, but thekeep, built by Robert Fitz Ralph in the 1170s, survives, as do the 13th-century chapel and 14th-century gatehouse.
Middleham has four pubs, a village shop, a fish and chip shop, a tea room, several bed and breakfast suppliers, a primary school and nursery and a community centre called Middleham Key Centre. The picture depicts theRichard III Hotel. The building next door was a tearoom called The Nosebag. It is now aRacing Welfare office providing support and guidance to hundreds of stable staff based in and around the town.
Middleham is part of theRichmond and Northallerton parliamentary constituency. The currentMember of Parliament isRishi Sunak, aConservative, who is also a formerPrime Minister of the United Kingdom. His predecessor wasWilliam Hague, former Conservative Party Leader andForeign Secretary, who represented the constituency from 1989 to 2015.[12]
Anelectoral ward of the name exists, stretching south-west toMelmerby in Coverdale. Its population in the 2011 census was 1,284,[13] when the parish population was 825 in the 2011 census, estimated at 781 in 2019.[14]
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district ofRichmondshire, it is now administered by the unitaryNorth Yorkshire Council.
In 1985 theMiddleham Jewel was found on a bridle path near Middleham Castle by Paul Kingston and Ted Seaton using ametal detector.[15] A late 15th-century 68-gram gold pendant with a 10-carat bluesapphire stone, it has since passed to theYorkshire Museum inYork for £2.5 million. The lozenge pendant, engraved on the obverse with a representation of the Trinity, is bordered by a Latin inscription warding off the evil of epilepsy.[16] The reverse has a decorative engraving of the Nativity, bordered by faces of 13 saints.[17]
The back panel slides to reveal a hollow interior, which originally contained three-and-a-half tiny discs of silk embroidered with gold thread.[17] The textile contents identify the jewel as areliquary, containing a fragment of reputed holy cloth. It would have been worn by a lady of high social status as the crest for a large necklace.[15] The sapphire may represent Heaven,[18] and have acted as an aid to prayer.
Other notable finds from Middleham include:
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC North East and Cumbria andITV Tyne Tees. Television signals are received from theBilsdale transmitter.[23]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio York on 104.3 FM,BBC Radio Tees can also be received on 95.0 FM,Greatest Hits Radio York & North Yorkshire on 103.5 FM andDales Radio on 104.9 FM.
The town is served by the local newspapers,The Northern Echo andDarlington & Stockton Times.[24][25]
The town lies between 400 and 500 feet (120 and 150 m) aboveordnance datum. The valley of the River Ure below the town has an altitude of 325 feet (99 m) and the summit of the hill to the south-west of the town of 850 feet (260 m). The parish contains 2,155 acres (872 ha) of land, mostly permanent pasture with about 150 acres (61 ha) arable. The topsoil is mixed. The valley has modern alluvial terraces and gravel deposits, but thesubsoil is mainly limestone, intersected here and there by sandstone with plate. There is a known vein of lead in the northern part of the parish. Braithwaite lead mine lies just outside the parish borders.[8]
In birth order:
Middleham appeared three times in the UK television seriesAll Creatures Great and Small. The episode "Against the Odds" had the Manor House as the home of the Barraclough family.[26] In the episode "Where Sheep May Safely Graze", Middleham Antiques, in North Road, became Geoff Hatfield's confectionery shop.[27] Ferndale became the home of the Darnley sisters in the episode "The Rough and the Smooth".[28]
Middleham istwinned withAzincourt, France.[29]
Valleys and settlements in theYorkshire Dales | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dales |  | |
| Settlements | ||
| See also | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
