Shipton, North Yorkshire

Shipton (also known as Shipton-by-Beningbrough) is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England, about five miles north-west of York.

History

Despite lying almost two miles apart, the alliance of Shipton and Beningbrough is steeped in history, and stems from the fact that Shipton was part of the Beningbrough Estate when it was owned by first the Bourdner family, and then the Dawnay family. It only gained its independence in 1917, when the Beningbrough Estate was broken up.

The village of Shipton was first mentioned in 1066, in the Domesday Book. Shipton, Overton and Beningbrough were, by all accounts, very popular settlements in the 16th and 17th centuries, because they were part of the Royal Forest of Galtres, where English monarchs loved to hunt. In 1655, Ann Middleton, one of Yorkshire's greatest philanthropists, left £1,000 to build a grammar school in the village. She also left 20 shillings a year to the poor of Shipton until 1850, when the Lord of the Manor, the Hon. Payan Dawnay, knocked it down, and built a new one.

The village public house was once known as "The Bay Horse", and was originally built in 1730. It became "The Dawnay Arms" in Payan’s lifetime and boasts the family coat of arms over the door. Despite the A19 dominating the village, it remains full of character, and "The Dawnay Arms" is one of the most attractive and welcoming village inns in the whole of the Vale of York.