{{Short description|Hamlet and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England}} {{Use British English|date=April 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox UK place | country = England | coordinates = {{coord|54.299795|-0.890640|display=inline,title}} | official_name = Spaunton | static_image = Spaunton village.jpg | static_image_caption = Spaunton village | population = | civil_parish = Spaunton | unitary_england = North Yorkshire | lieutenancy_england = North Yorkshire | region = Yorkshire and the Humber | constituency_westminster = Thirsk and Malton | post_town = YORK | postcode_district = YO62 | postcode_area = YO | dial_code = | os_grid_reference = SE722899 }} '''Spaunton''' is a hamlet and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. At the 2011 the civil parish had a population of less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Lastingham.<ref>{{cite web|title=Area: Lastingham (Parish)|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=11125459&c=lastingham&d=16&e=13&g=6454963&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1492202227302&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2491|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|publisher=Office for National Statistics|accessdate=14 April 2017|date=14 April 2008}}</ref> It is situated near Lastingham and about {{Convert|5|mi|km|0}} north west of Pickering.<ref>{{cite map|title =Whitby & Pickering|map =100 |year =2016|scale =1:50,000 |series =Landranger |publisher =Ordnance Survey|isbn =9780319261989}}</ref> The name Spaunton derives from Old Norse and means a farmstead or settlement which had shingle roofs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ekwall |first1=Eilert |author-link=Eilert Ekwall |title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |oclc=1228215388 |page=433 |edition=4}}</ref>
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Ryedale, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.
Spaunton is still the setting for a Court Leet. Every year in October, the court convenes to hear cases involving encroachment on village common land and to impose penalties on violators. The full title of the court is the ''Manor of Spaunton Court Leet and Court Baron with View of Frankpledge''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rhea|first1=Nicholas|title=When sheep were big business|url=http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/14224382.When_sheep_were_big_business/|accessdate=14 April 2017|work=Darlington and Stockton Times|date=22 January 2016}}</ref>
Just after 9:00 pm on the 7 October 1943, a Lancaster bomber of No. 408 Squadron RCAF from RAF Linton-on-Ouse crashed into the village with a full load of ordnance. One of the bombs exploded and killed a civilian from the village, George Strickland, as he went to see what the noise was about. He is buried in Lastingham graveyard.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lancaster DS724 at Spaunton village|url=http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/43/ds724.html|website=www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk|accessdate=14 April 2017}}</ref>
==See also== *Listed buildings in Spaunton
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Spaunton}} *[http://huttonlehole.ryedaleconnect.org.uk/about/court-leet/ Details of Spaunton's Court Leet]
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Category:Villages in North Yorkshire Category:Civil parishes in North Yorkshire
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