Coxwold

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Coxwold village hall

Coxwold is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated 18 miles north of York and is where the Rev. Laurence Sterne wrote A Sentimental Journey.

Coxwold stands on a slight hill. At the bottom is the village smithy and well. Facing a big elm tree is the Fauconberg Arms Inn, bearing the arms and motto of Baron Fauconberg. The villagers' cottages are on the slope, and at the top is the church to which Sterne was appointed vicar in 1760. Since 700 AD, Coxwold has had a church on this site at the top of the hill. The present church was built in 1420.

Nearby is Shandy Hall, the house where Sterne lived from 1760 to 1768, and playfully named by him. Shandy Hall was originally built in 1430 as a parsonage for the Coxwold village priest. It is a small building, with a mossy stone-covered roof, wide gables, and massive chimney-stacks, originally a timber framed open-hall house considerably altered in the 17th century. The stone tablet above its doorway states that Sterne wrote Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey at Shandy Hall. This is not entirely accurate, for two volumes of Tristram Shandy had already been published in 1759 before Sterne moved to Coxwold.