Thirsk, N Yorkshire - 'Golden Fleece' coaching inn, pub - art postcard c.1980s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  'The Golden Fleece' Thirsk [North Yorkshire] - a fine old coaching in still dominates the Market PLace
• Publisher:  none stated but printed by Studio Print, Ayton / artist K. Ashcroft
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Thirsk is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is 8 miles (13 km) south-south east of the county town of Northallerton.

According to the 2011 UK Census, the population was 4,998. Thirsk is a popular tourist destination close to the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It has a variety of small and medium-sized businesses. It was the home of author James Herriot and birthplace of Thomas Lord, after whom Lord's Cricket Ground is named. Thirsk racecourse is on the western edge of the town.

Local archeological finds indicate there was a settlement here around 500–600 BC.^[2] The town is mentioned twice in the Domesday Book as Tresche, in the Yarlestre hundred. At the time of the Norman invasion the manor was split between Orm and Thor, local Saxon landowners. Afterwards the manor was split between Hugh, son of Baldric and the Crown.^[3] Most of the land was granted thereafter to Robert de Mowbray, after whom the surrounding vale is named.^[4][5]

By 1145, what is now Old Thirsk was known as a borough, whilst the remaining land in the parish was subject to manorial rights. The manor continued to be in the possession of the Mowbrays, despite several claims, until the death of the 16th Lord Mowbray in 1476. With no direct succession, it passed to the daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk who had married into the Berkeley family. Her son, William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley then inherited the manor on her death. It remained with this family until 1723 when it was sold to Ralph Bell of Sowerby. It remained in the Bell family into the 20th century.^[4][5]

The name is derived from the Viking (Old Norse) word þresk meaning fen or lake.^[6][7]

The Mowbrays built a castle on the north side of present-day Castlegate. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book and an exact date is not recorded but by 1176 the castle was completely destroyed after the uprising against Henry II. The Mowbrays then built a manor house on the site but this was later destroyed by the Scots in 1322.^[4][5]

After the War of the Roses, Henry VII raised taxes that caused uprisings in the north. This led to the murder of the Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, allegedly on The Little Green, when he was sent to collect the taxes. However, other evidence points to the murder occurring in nearby South Kilvington^[8]

A 1767 Act of Parliament^[9] provisioned for the building of a navigable waterway to the town from the River Swale along Cod Beck. The project (to deepen the channel, straighten part of its course, and build locks and a wharf) ran out of funds and was never completed, although remains of the wharf and a lock can be seen near Lock Bridge.^[4][10]

The Thirsk Poor Law Union was formed in 1837 and covered a large part of the North Riding of Yorkshire. A workhouse was erected in Sutton Road in 1838.^[5]

A rail crash occurred at Manor House signal box on 2 November 1892, on the North Eastern Railway about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Thirsk railway station, when an express train collided with the back of a goods train, both heading south in fog. There were ten deaths and forty three injured.^[11]

A rail crash occurred on 31 July 1967, at Thirsk on the British Rail East Coast Main Line. An express train travelling north collided with a derailed freight train on the same line. There were seven deaths and forty five injured.^[12]

Thirsk was home to the veterinary surgeon and author James Herriot (pen name of James Alfred Wight, OBE, FRCVS).^[13] Thirsk was referred to as Darrowby in the semi-autobiographical books about a vet's life in the Yorkshire Dales. Wight and his business partner Donald Sinclair (Siegfried Farnon in the books) established their veterinary practice at 23 Kirkgate which now houses The World of James Herriot museum, dedicated to Herriot's life and works.^[14]

Thirsk is in the Thirsk and Malton Parliamentary constituency since its creation for the 2010 general election, before this it was in the Vale of York constituency. At the 2010 UK general election, Anne McIntosh was returned as the constituency's Member of Parliament. Representing the Conservative Party, she won the seat with 52.9% of the vote from a turnout of 50% of the eligible electorate.^[15]

The town was a parliamentary borough that had representation in 1295 and then from 1547 to 1885. For the majority of the latter period, it was represented by two members until 1882 when it was reduced to one member.^[16]

The constituency of Thirsk and Malton was originally created for the 1885 General Elections by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 and existed until 1983. During that period it returned six Conservative party members to parliament, which included one by-election in 1915.^[17]

It gives its name to the local district ward of Hambleton District Council and to the local electoral division of North Yorkshire County Council. The town returns one Councillor to the County Council and three Councillors to the District Council.^[18] The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 5,988.^[19]

The Civil Parish of Thirsk was created by the Local Government Act 1894. The Local Government Act 1972 afforded Parish Councils the opportunity to change titles. Thirsk renamed itself a Town Council. In so doing, the Chairman was also renamed as Mayor. The council is represented by eleven Councillors.^[18][20]

The town lies in the Vale of Mowbray, 23 miles (37 km) north of York. Cod Beck runs through the centre of Thirsk. The area to the east of the river is called Old Thirsk.

Thirsk is surrounded by a number of other villages having names of Danish origin (the -by suffix meaning village or farmstead). Examples are Thirlby, Boltby, Borrowby and Sowerby. The village of Sowerby merges into Thirsk but they are separate parishes.^[21]

The parish boundary between Thirsk and Sowerby runs east from the railway station behind the buildings along the A61 as far as Millbank Court from where it runs through the middle of the road. It continues to divide the highway through Westgate and Castlegate as far as the junction with Chapel Street down which it also runs dividing the street in two. It then crosses Cod Beck and runs along Moor Lane Stell before ending at Barbeck Bridge. Thirsk Industrial Estate lies outside the parish boundary. Bordering parishes include South Kilvington, Thornborough, Thornton-le-Moor, Newsham, Sandhutton and Carlton Miniott (also the location of Thirsk railway station).^[21]