Sleights

Sleights
Sleights
 Sleights shown within North Yorkshire
OS grid referenceNZ868069
DistrictScarborough
Shire countyNorth Yorkshire
RegionYorkshire and the Humber
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town WHITBY
Postcode district YO22
Dialling code 01947
Police North Yorkshire
Fire North Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
EU Parliament Yorkshire and the Humber
UK ParliamentScarborough and Whitby
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire

Coordinates: 54°27′01″N 0°39′45″W / 54.4503°N 0.6624°W

Sleights is a village in North Yorkshire, England. It is located in the Esk Valley in the postal region of Whitby, and is part of the borough of Scarborough. The village lies along the steep main A169 road that runs north to south between Whitby and Pickering across the North York Moors.

At the bottom of the village, the road crosses the Esk Valley Railway, allowing access to Sleights railway station. The road crosses the River Esk on a high bridge, opened on 26 January 1937. The road continues up the hill to reach the A171 Whitby to Middlesbrough trunk road. At the top of the village is Blue Bank. Due east of the village is the hamlet of Iburndale.

Due to road accidents, Blue Bank, with a gradient of 1 in 4 (25%), has an escape lane of soft sand.

Like other place names in Yorkshire, the etymology of Sleights is Old Norse, sletta 'flat land' with an English plural, like the Norman place name Eslettes.,[1][2] same as many places in Denmark called dk:Sletten.[3]

The Horticultural & Industrial Society show has been held each year since 1880. Since 2006 the show has been held on the sports field, with classes for produce, fruit, flowers vegetables, crafts, cake decorating, photography,flower arranging etc. Additional attractions include a bouncy castle, face painting, tombola and a fun dog show. The infamous Victorian forger Edward Simpson was born here in 1815.

Amenities

There is a village shop, a branch of the Spar chain, a Post Office, tearoom, two public houses, a butchers, bakers a fish and chip restaurant and a hair dressers salon.

Sport

Sleights Cricket Club(top right) with the village behind

The village sports field, which is mainly used for cricket, has a new pavilion, built through local fundraising. The cricket team play in the Eskdale League on Saturdays. In June 2011, a new Sleights Football club was formed by James Dean and joined the Scarborough and District Saturday League, with several players coming from Sleights, but training and playing at Caedmon School in Whitby. They were promoted from the league's Third Division in April 2013. There is also a bowls club which is used by people from Sleights and neighboring towns and villages.

Not to mention the Sleights Junior Cricket Club Team. The 2014 team consisted of Ben Braim, Matthew Smith, Aron Calvert, Lewis Hutton, Dylan Humble, Stephen Hartas, Luke Ward-Hepburn, Matthew Tiplady, Marc Giddens, Mitchell Humble and John-Paul Smith, with player Lucas Christopher playing four games at the beginning of the season. Such a strong team brought Sleights to victory in Summer, 2014.

Sleights Cricket Club also contains two of the best cricketers England has ever seen. They go by the names of Isaac Christopher and his younger brother, Lucas Christopher. These two players are a fine example of great cricketers for the next generation. The rise of their game was aided by their loyal Jack Russell Terrier, Hector and his unique method of Dog-Fielding. Hectors enthusiasm to field despite being a dog greatly inspired many players to never give up when's times are hard.

Also Stevie got a catch once.

Education

The village contains only one school, Sleights Church of England primary school. The school has about 100 pupils and hosts fundraising events.[4] Students aged over 11 years old travel to nearby schools in Whitby.

Religion

St John's Church

There are three places of worship in the village, St John's Church of England Church, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, English Martyrs Roman Catholic Church, on Eskdaleside and, at the bottom of the village, the Briggswath and Sleights Methodist Chapel.

Notes

  1. François de Beaurepaire, Les Noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Seine-Maritime, A. et J. Picard, foreword Marianne Mulon, 1979, Paris, isbn 2-7084-0040-1, oclc 6403150, p.70.
  2. Ernest Nègre, Toponymie générale de la France (on line)
  3. De Beaurepaire
  4. "Sleights Church of England Controlled Voluntary Primary School", Sleightsschool.co.uk

External links