Name: Wolds' wonders: Fridaythorpe, Fimber, Wharram Percy, Thixendale.
Start: 2024-12-08T09:47:00Z
End: 2024-12-08T16:33:00Z

A wander in the Yorkshire Wolds to view the wonders, visiting Fridaythorpe, Fimber, Wharram Percy and Thixendale, with several 'ups and downs' in the Dales in between.

Human bones excavated from a deserted medieval village in North Yorkshire show people mutilated and burnt bodies to stop them rising from the dead. Knife marks were found on 137 bones dating between the 11th and 14th Centuries, discovered at Wharram Percy.

Wharram Percy is one of the largest and best preserved of Britain's 3,000 or so known deserted medieval villages. It is also undoubtedly the most famous.

Following changes in prices and wages during the 15th century, pastoral farming (particularly sheep) was more profitable for landowners than cereal farming. ... During the early 16th century, the last residents of Wharram Percy were evicted and their homes were demolished to make room for more sheep pasture.

The village of Wharram Percy, in the Yorkshire Wolds, was continuously occupied for about 600 years. Probably founded in the 9th or 10th century, it flourished between the 12th and early 14th centuries, when members of the noble Percy family lived in the village.

By 1086 William the Conqueror had confiscated Wharram and had granted Lagmann and Carli’s holdings to Osbert the Sheriff. Ketilbjorn’s land was perhaps given to William de Percy, an important Norman baron, from whom the Percy Earls and Dukes of Northumberland, with castles at Warkworth, Alnwick and elsewhere, were descended.

The Percy family, who acquired the lordship of Wharram were a minor branch of this family, and their main landholding was in Bolton Percy, south-west of York. By 1176 one William Percy had acquired half the large landholding of the Chamberlain family (which had belonged to Osbert), making him the major owner in the village. The building of the South Manor, the foundation of the adjacent planned row of peasant houses, and improvements to the church all probably represent signs of the Percys’ growing ascendancy.

In 1254 Henry Chamberlain sold his remaining rights in Wharram to Peter Percy I, making Percy all-powerful within the village. The name Wharram Percy probably came into use soon after.

It was probably Peter Percy I who then demolished the South Manor and built the North Manor, together with two more rows of houses, increasing the number of properties to about 40. This suggests a population of perhaps 200. The extent of the village’s arable land in 1267 was the same as that recorded in Domesday Book. For most peasants in the Middle Ages, life centered around the village. The village was usually part of a manor run by a lord or someone of noble birth or a church or an abbey. ... Not all peasants in the village farmed. There were blacksmiths, tapers, ale makers (usually women), potters, and all-around handy men.

The place-name 'Thixendale' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Sixtendale and Xistendale. The name means 'Sigstein's dale or valley'. The name 'Sigstein' is also the source for the name of Sysonby in Leicestershire.

The only pub, the Cross Keys, is a regular winner of local CAMRA awards.

The church of St Mary, Thixendale is one of a group of village buildings constructed to designs by George Edmund Street in 1868–70.

In 1823 the village was in the parish of Wetwang, the Wapentake of Buckrose, and the Liberty of St Peter. At the time there was a chapel of ease at which the rector of Wetwang was its incumbent curate.

The Yorkshire Wolds Way National Trail, a long distance footpath passes through the village and the village is the midpoint of the trail.

The village previously hosted the World Championship Flat Cap Throwing Competition at its summer fete. The championship was last contested in 2014.

Around 16 - 17 miles and 2000 ft.

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Wolds' wonders: Fridaythorpe, Fimber, Wharram Percy, Thixendale. 

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Wolds' wonders: Fridaythorpe, Fimber, Wharram Percy, Thixendale.

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