{{Short description|Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England}} {{other uses}} {{Use British English|date=July 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Skipwith | static_image_name = The Parish Church of Skipwith and North Duffield - geograph.org.uk - 196371.jpg | static_image_caption = St Helen's parish church | label_position = top | coordinates = {{coord|53.8387|-0.9966|display=inline,title}} | os_grid_reference = SE6638 | population = 266 | population_ref = (2011 Census)<ref name=ONS>{{NOMIS2011|id=E04007767|title=Skipwith Parish|accessdate=4 May 2020}}</ref> | civil_parish = Skipwith | unitary_england = North Yorkshire | lieutenancy_england = North Yorkshire | region = Yorkshire and the Humber | country = England | constituency_westminster = Selby | post_town = Selby | postcode_district = YO8 | postcode_area = YO | dial_code = 01757 | website = [http://www.skipwithpc.org.uk/ Skipwith] }}
'''Skipwith''' is a village and civil parish about {{convert|4|mi}} north-east of Selby and {{convert|10|mi|km|0}} south-east of York in North Yorkshire, England. It was historically in the East Riding of Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Skipwith, in Selby and East Riding {{!}} Map and description|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/14232|access-date=25 November 2020|website=www.visionofbritain.org.uk}}</ref> After the 1974 local government reorganisation Skipwith was in the Selby District of the shire county of North Yorkshire. In 2023 the district was abolished and North Yorkshire became a unitary authority.
The name Skipwith derives from the Old English ''scēpwīc'' meaning 'sheep trading settlement'. ''Wīc'' was later changed to the Old Norse ''viðr'' meaning 'wood'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire%20ER/Skipwith|title=Skipwith |website=Key to English Place-Names |publisher=The Institute for Name-Studies |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>
==Manor== The Domesday Book records that by 1086 Robert de Stutville held a carucate of land at Skipwith.<ref name=Allison>{{harvnb|Allison|1976|pp=89–101}}</ref> His family held a manor here until 1229, when it passed to Hugh Wake by his marriage to Joan de Stutville.<ref name=Allison/> In 1325 it passed to Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent by his marriage to Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell.<ref name=Allison/> It remained with his heirs until 1418,<ref name=Allison/> a decade after their line became extinct with the death of Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent in 1408.<ref name=Allison/>
==Churches==
===Church of England=== The oldest parts of St Helen's Church, Skipwith are Saxon. The west tower began as a porch, but in the 11th century upper stages were added to turn it into a tower.<ref name=Pevsner341>{{harvnb|Pevsner|1972|p=341}}</ref> The tower is linked with the nave by a characteristic Saxon plain Romanesque round arch,<ref name=Pevsner341/> so the nave must also have originally been Saxon. St Helen's parish is now part of a joint benefice with the parish of Bubwith with Ellerton and Aughton.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.achurchnearyou.com/skipwith-st-helen/ |title=St Helen, Skipwith |work=A Church Near You |author=Archbishops' Council |author-link=Archbishops' Council |publisher=Church of England |year=2010 |access-date=27 October 2013}}</ref>
thumb|Wesleyan chapel of 1876, now the Methodist church
===Methodist=== Two families in Skipwith were Methodists by 1764.<ref name=Allison/> The village's Methodists worshipped in each other's homes until 1833, when a Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built.<ref name=Allison/> In the 1860s the Vicar of St Helen's claimed that 300 or 400 of the villagers were Methodists.<ref name=Allison/> In 1876 the first chapel was replaced with a larger brick one next to the parish school.<ref name=Allison/>
The chapel is now Skipwith Methodist Church.<ref name=Allison/> It is a member of the Goole and Selby Methodist Circuit.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.gooleselbymethodist.org.uk/churches.php?id=113 |title=Skipwith Methodist Church. |work=Churches |publisher=Goole and Selby Circuit |year=2013 |access-date=27 October 2013}}</ref>
==Historic secular buildings== [[File:The Drovers' Arms, York Road, Skipwith - geograph.org.uk - 196493.jpg|thumb|The Drovers Arms gastropub]] Skipwith Hall is an early 18th century house of seven bays and two and a half storeys,<ref name=Pevsner341/> flanked by a three-bay wing on each side.<ref name=Pevsner342>{{harvnb|Pevsner|1972|p=342}}</ref> It is now a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1172750 |desc=Skipwith Hall |date=25 October 1951 |accessdate=27 October 2013}}</ref>
A school and schoolmaster's house built in 1714,<ref name=Pevsner342/> founded and endowed by the bequest of a Dorothy Wilson.<ref name=Allison/><ref>{{NHLE |num= 1148468 |desc=Village Hall and School House |date=17 December 1966 |accessdate=27 October 2013}}</ref> In the 1851 its pupils included 11 boarders, and in the 1860s a separate classroom for girls was added.<ref name=Allison/> In 1871 the school had 54 pupils but in 1872 this fell to only 30.<ref name=Allison/> From the 1900s to the 1930s the school averaged 30–40 pupils, but in 1938 this had declined to 26.<ref name=Allison/> In 1957 the school was closed and its pupils were transferred to Thorganby.<ref name=Allison/> Since 1959 the school has served as the village hall.<ref name=Allison/>
{{convert|0.5|mi|m}} south-west of the village is the site of RAF Riccall, a training airfield that was a heavy bomber conversion unit in the Second World War. The site is now a national nature reserve known as Skipwith Common.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harris |first1=Richard |title=Former Skipwith Common RAF base is given reserve status |url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4804342.former-skipwith-common-raf-base-is-given-reserve-status/ |access-date=4 May 2020 |work=York Press |date=18 December 2009 }}</ref>
==Amenities== Skipwith has a public house, the Drovers Arms, which is now a gastropub.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedroversarmsskipwith.com/ |title=Drovers Arms at Skipwith|access-date=27 October 2013}}</ref>
==See also== *Listed buildings in Skipwith *Skipwith railway station *Skipwith Common
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources and further reading== *{{cite book |editor-last1=Allison |editor-first1=K. J. |last1=Baggs |first1=A. P. |last2=Kent |first2=G. H. R. |last3=Purdy |first3=J. D. |title=A History of the County of York East Riding |volume=3 Ouse and Derwent wapentake, and part of Harthill wapentake |series=Victoria County History |year=1976 |pages=89–101 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23011 |ref={{harvid|Allison|1976}}}} *{{cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |year=1972 |title=Yorkshire: York & the East Riding |series=The Buildings of England |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-071043-4 |pages=340–342 }}
==External links== {{Commons category|Skipwith}} *[http://www.skipwithpc.org.uk Skipwith Parish Council] *[http://friendsofskipwithcommon.org.uk/history Friends of Skipwith Common]
{{Portalbar|Yorkshire|England|United Kingdom}} {{North Yorkshire|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}} Category:Skipwith Category:Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Category:Villages in North Yorkshire