Sleights

Sleights
Sleights
Sleights shown within North Yorkshire
OS grid reference NZ868069
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United 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 Parliament

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 Malton via 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.[1] 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,[2][3] same as many places in Denmark called dk:Sletten.[4]

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 in 2006. The money for the new build was collected through local fundraising.[5] The cricket team play in the Eskdale League on Saturdays. In June 2011, a new Sleights Football club was formed by James Howard 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 to the First in the space of two seasons. There is also a bowls club which is used by people from Sleights and neighbouring towns and villages.

Education

The village contains only one school, Sleights Church of England primary school. The school has about 100 pupils and hosts fundraising events.[6] 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. ↑ "A169 Road". SABRE - Roaders Digest. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ Ernest Nègre, Toponymie générale de la France (on line)
  4. ↑ De Beaurepaire
  5. ↑ "Perfect day for pavilion opening". Whitby Gazette. 8 September 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Sleights Church of England Controlled Voluntary Primary School", Sleightsschool.co.uk
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