Barlby

Barlby
Barlby

 Barlby shown within North Yorkshire
OS grid reference SE635344
Parish Barlby with Osgodby
District Selby
Shire county North Yorkshire
Region Yorkshire and the Humber
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town SELBY
Postcode district YO8
Dialling code 01757
Police North Yorkshire
Fire North Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
EU Parliament Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament Selby
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Barlby is a linear village in North Yorkshire, England. It lies to the north-east of the market town of Selby, and is bordered to the west by the River Ouse and to the east by the A19 Barlby bypass. Across the bypass is Barlby's smaller sister village, Osgodby with which it forms the civil parish of Barlby with Osgodby.

Seen from the air, Barlby is long and thin, roughly three miles in length, and runs along the old route of the A19. Although it is classified as a single village, it consists of two distinct areas, Barlby Hilltop, at the north end of the village, and Barlby Bridge which lies slightly to the south west. The building of new estates in recent years has meant, however, that the division between them has blurred somewhat.

Barlby Hilltop, contains Hilltop Primary School, the Post Office, a library, the Craig Bonner memorial centre, the late nineteenth century church, and Barlby High School, which also serves students from the surrounding villages of Osgodby, Riccall, Kelfield, Escrick, Cliffe, North Duffield, South Duffield, Hemingbrough and Bubwith. Despite its name, it is not really on much of a hill, but is slightly higher than Barlby Bridge.

A brief stretch of road separates 'Hilltop' from 'Bridge', which takes its name from the old toll bridge at the southernmost end of the village. This is the boundary with Selby, and in fact Barlby Bridge is practically a suburb of the town - it is much closer to Selby than it is to the Hilltop end of the village. Barlby Bridge also has a primary school, as well as two of the village's major employers, BOCM Pauls, which produces animal feed, and Greencore Foods.

Traditionally, Barlby's population was split between the coal mining and farming communities, but with the closure of many mines and the changes in the agricultural sector, the professions of 'Barlbarians' are now far more diverse.

Notable events and people

Situated as it is in the Vale of York, the village is vulnerable to flooding, and was particularly badly hit in November 2000, when about half of it was submerged resulting in loss of power for two weeks as the main sub station in the area been destroyed. Prince Charles was also noted for visiting Barlby when the area flooded the worst areas were that of the primary school, George Terrace and the recently finished housing estate. Most of Barlby sites are higher than the river bank but the lower areas of Barlby were the worst hit by the Floods. The primary school out-building were completely ruined, the park was unusable for about a year and the houses in and around the riverbank were uninhabitable for months and it took weeks to get the electric fixed to all areas. The army was based in Barlby High with the big helicopters taking sand bags to try to keep the water back.

The Environment Agency has completed work to substantially upgrade the flood defences in the area.

Footballer Russell Howarth, who attended the high school in the mid-90s, was a youth international for the England football team.

External links