{{Short description|Village in North Yorkshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox UK place | country = England | static_image_name = Aiskew Methodist Church - geograph.org.uk - 139454.jpg | static_image_caption = Aiskew Methodist Church | coordinates = {{coord|54|17|35|N|1|34|54|W|display=inline,title}} | official_name = Aiskew | population = 2,427 | population_ref = (2011 Census)<ref name="2011 census"/> | civil_parish = Aiskew and Leeming Bar | unitary_england = North Yorkshire | lieutenancy_england = North Yorkshire | region = Yorkshire and the Humber | constituency_westminster = Thirsk and Malton | post_town = BEDALE | postcode_district = DL8 | postcode_area = DL | dial_code = 01677 | os_grid_reference = SE271885 }} '''Aiskew''' is a village in the civil parish of Aiskew and Leeming Bar,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/55617.html|title=Aiskew and Leeming Bar|publisher=Mapit|accessdate=5 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://democracy.hambleton.gov.uk/documents/s9817/170418%20Change%20of%20Name%20Request%20Aiskew%20Parish.pdf|title=Change of Name Request Aiskew Parish|publisher=Hambleton District Council|accessdate=5 July 2019}}</ref> in North Yorkshire, England.<ref name=OS99>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 99 ''Northallerton & Ripon (Pateley Bridge & Leyburn)''|ISBN= 9780319231593 |publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2013}}</ref><ref name=OSGaz50>{{cite web|url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html|title=Ordnance Survey: 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer|format=csv (download)|date= 1 January 2016|publisher=Ordnance Survey|website=www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk|accessdate=30 January 2016}}</ref> The village is situated to the immediate north-east of Bedale and separated from it by Bedale Beck.
==History==
Remains of a Roman villa were unearthed in 2015 north of Sand Hill. The building is thought to have been two storeys high with a hypocaust on the ground floor. Animal remains were found extensively across the site. It is thought the site dated from the third to fourth century AD and would have been situated along Dere Street.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Aiskew Roman Villa|num=1426407|accessdate=11 December 2016|ref={{sfnref|Historic England|1426407}}}}</ref> The site was covered as part of the construction of the Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar bypass, which opened on 11 August 2016 as part of the upgrade to the A1(M).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/article/26199/Bedale-Aiskew-and-Leeming-Bar-bypass|title=Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar bypass|publisher=North Yorkshire County Council|accessdate=11 December 2016}}</ref>
The village was known as ''Echescol'' in ''Domesday Book'' in the Hundred of Count Alan of Brittany, the previous Lord having been ''Gospatric''. The village had 7 ploughlands.<ref>{{OpenDomesday|SE2788|aiskew|Aiskew}}</ref> The Lordship of the Manor followed that of neighbouring Bedale.<ref name="Bulmers">{{cite book|title=Bulmer's Topography, History and Directory (Private and Commercial) of North Yorkshire 1890 |page=364|date=2002|orig-date=1890 |publisher= S&N Publishing|isbn= 1-86150-299-0}}</ref> The name is derived from Old Norse words ''eik'' (oak) and ''skógr'' (wood) and thus means ''Oak wood''.<ref>{{cite book|title= Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names|editor= Watts|page= 5|publisher= Cambridge University Press (2011)}}</ref> Robert Hird, Bedale poet and diarist, noted that in late 18th Century the village name was spelled ''Ascough'' – he credits "Mr. Edward Strangeways, near Fencote" with the introduction of the modern spelling "by writing it Aiskew on his cartboard".<ref>{{cite book |last=Hird |first=Robert |title=Hird's Annals of Bedale |date= |publisher=North Yorkshire County Record Office |year=1975 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=Lesley |location=Northallerton |pages=98}}</ref>
In 2013 Masons Gin established its first distillery in the village.<ref>{{cite news |title=Major blaze damages gin distillery |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-47784459 |accessdate=8 April 2019 |work=BBC News |date=2 April 2019}}</ref> This was damaged by fire in April 2019, leading to the opening of a new distillery in Leeming Bar in March 2020.<ref>{{cite web |date=3 April 2019 |title=Explosion believed to have caused catastrophic fire at Masons Gin distillery |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17546562.explosion-believed-cause-fire-masons-gin-bedale/ |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=The Northern Echo }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=12 November 2019 |title=Masons Gin reveals new location after distillery was destroyed by fire in April |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/18029219.fire-ravaged-masons-gin-announce-distillery-move-leeming-bar/ |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=The Northern Echo }}</ref>
==Governance==
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Hambleton District, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.
Aiskew Civil Parish (as it was before being renamed on 17 April 2018) includes the village of Leeming Bar.<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps Aiskew & Leeming Bar |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/?x=428863&y=490116&z=6&bnd1=CPC&bnd2=WMC&labels=on |website=www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk |access-date=1 April 2023 |quote=Make sure that the Civil Parish and Westminster Constituencies are the only two options elected using the Boundary Function on the left of the screen}}</ref>
Until 2023, it was part of the Richmond (Yorks) parliamentary constituency. It was removed and added to the expanded Thirsk and Malton Constituency, in part due to areas from that constituency being created into a new seat of Wetherby and Easingwold.<ref>{{cite web |title=Boundary Commission for England – Revised Proposals for the Yorkshire and Humber Region |url=https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/review2023/b65f7782-658b-4c4a-9cba-59c16c807f77/a3-maps/YH_49_Thirsk%20and%20Malton%20CC.pdf |website=boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk |access-date=30 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gleeson |first1=Janet |title='How stupid' protest over moving Bedale out of Richmond |url=https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/23633282.anger-bedale-moved-richmond-constituency/ |access-date=30 June 2024 |work=Darlington and Stockton Times |date=9 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Darley |first1=Karen |title=New Conservative Association created to reflect boundary change |url=https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/23791563.new-conservative-association-created-reflect-boundary-change/ |access-date=30 June 2024 |work=Gazette & Herald |date=15 September 2023}}</ref>
==Demography==
According to the 2001 UK Census, the population was 2,163 living in 863 dwellings.<ref>{{NOMIS2001|id=36UC004|title= Aiskew Parish|accessdate=7 April 2019}}</ref> The 2011 UK Census showed this had increased to 2,427 in 985 dwellings.<ref name="2011 census">{{NOMIS2011|id=1170216794|title=Aiskew Parish|accessdate=3 March 2018}}</ref> {{Demography |1881 = 831 |1891 = 847 |1901 = 833 |1911 = 880 |1921 = 821 |1931 = 789 |1941 = n/a |1951 = 860 |1961 = 881 |source = GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10386858/cube/TOT_POP|title= Aiskew through Time: A Vision of Britain through Time|publisher = University of Portsmouth|accessdate= 11 December 2016}}</ref> }}
==Community== thumb|left|Aiskew Mill thumb|right|The Leech House The village is in the Primary Education Catchment Area of Bedale Church of England Primary School, though it is also close to Aiskew, Leeming Bar Church of England Primary School, in Leeming Bar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/recruitment/maps/Primary/Bedale_School.pdf|title=Primary Education Catchment Area|accessdate=11 December 2016}}</ref> It is within the Secondary Education Catchment Area of Bedale High School.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/recruitment/maps/Secondary/Bedale_High_School.pdf|title=Secondary Education Area|accessdate=11 December 2016}}</ref>
The Wensleydale Railway, a tourist and heritage line, includes {{rws|Bedale}} station on the Aiskew side of Bedale Beck at the edge of the village.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wensleydalerail.com/about-us/history-of-the-line/|title=Wensleydale Railway|accessdate=11 December 2016}}</ref> The signal box opposite Park House is a Grade II listed building.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Aiskew Signal Box|num=1252652|accessdate=11 December 2016|ref={{sfnref|Historic England|1252652}}}}</ref>
In the village is the 18th-century Grade II listed Aiskew Mill with all its original wooden machinery.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Aiskew Water Millx|num=1150910|accessdate=11 December 2016|ref={{sfnref|Historic England|1150910}}}}</ref> There is also an 18th-century Leech House next to the beck.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Aiskew Leech House|num=1150909|accessdate=11 December 2016|ref={{sfnref|Historic England|1150909}}}}</ref>
==Religion== thumb|right|St Mary & St Joseph Church
St Mary and St Joseph's Church, Bedale lies in the village. It was built in 1878, designed by Mr George Goldie of London, after the original chapel became too small for the congregation.<ref name="Bulmers"/>
There had been both a Baptist church and Primitive Methodist Chapel in the village.<ref name="Bulmers"/>
The Methodist Church in Aiskew, which was part of the Ripon & Lower Dales Methodist Circuit, has closed and the congregation merged with the Bedale & District Methodist Church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.riponlowerdalesmethodists.org.uk/our-churches/aiskew.html|title=Methodist Church Closure|accessdate=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220182045/http://www.riponlowerdalesmethodists.org.uk/our-churches/aiskew.html|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{clear}}
==See also== *Listed buildings in Aiskew and Leeming Bar
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== * {{commons category-inline}}
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Category:Villages in North Yorkshire