Fearby

Cottages overlooking the village green at Fearby

Fearby is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Bedale and 2 miles (3 km) west of Masham. Nearby settlements include Healey, High Ellington and Swinton. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 195.[1]

The village is first mentioned, as Federbi, in the Domesday Book which records a population of eight villagers and one smallholder.[2] The toponym is of uncertain derivation. The element -by is of Old Norse origin, meaning "village", and the name could mean either "four villages" or "feather village".[3]

Fearby was historically a township in the large ancient parish of Masham in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It became part of the new ecclesiastical parish of Healey in 1849.[4] The civil parish of Fearby was formed in 1866.[5]

Fearby is also an English surname with origins in York. Famous Fearbys include Richard Lambert Fearby.

References

  1. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  2. Open Domesday website
  3. Watts, Victor, ed. (2010), "Fearby", The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge University Press
  4. William Page (editor) (1914). "Parishes: Masham". A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  5. Vision of Britain: Fearby: Relationships/unit history

External links

Media related to Fearby at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 54°13′N 1°42′W / 54.217°N 1.700°W / 54.217; -1.700


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.