Heslington Village
The Seat of Major Yarborough by John Harper.
Dated 1800 (before reconstruction) Image: YORAG R1762
The small village of Heslington lies about a mile to the east of Fulford, with the two villages separated by the southern end of Walmgate Stray. Like Fulford, Heslington's Main Street is defined by its medieval layout of houses with long plots to a back lane. The street leads south to the Tilmire, a large flat expanse of very productive arable farmland reclaimed from the fen by drainage begun in the 14th century by St Mary's Abbey.
To the north of Main Street, Heslington Hall Estate has been re-purposed as the University of York, with the library perched on the rising landscape towards Siward’s How and Kimberlow Hill.
As the university expands east to create a new Heslington East Campus, archaeologists have found evidence of people taking advantage of the springs emitting from the higher ground around Kimberlow Hill. Flint arrows dropped by passing hunter-gatherers have been found, along with Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements and Roman and medieval farming.
Roman coin hoards have also been found and you can read our web-page about the pot containing 2,800 coins, discovered when the university library was built HERE
You can download a booklet on the Heslington East investigations HERE and a detailed archaeological report HERE
The most stunning discovery is a 2600 year old human brain, the oldest ever found! You can read more about it HERE.
In medieval times Heslington village became established as an agricultural settlement and in 1578 the Hall was built by Thomas Eymes Esq., being much enlarged by Mr Yarburgh Esq in 1854. His descendents became the Lords Deramore and a windmill was build on the high ground of the glacial moraine east of Siward's How.
The Hall has been requisitioned three times, first about 1580 to be used as an overspill prison by the High Commissioners seeking Roman Catholic priests, second as headquarters for Lord Fairfax's Parliamentary Army during the Siege of York, and again during World War II as headquarters for 4 Group, Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force. After the war, there were plans to redevelop the estate as a Folk Park, but these were dropped and the Hall became the headquarters of the new university.
Higher Ground
The ground rises to the north of Heslington, with two high points; Lamel Hill was the site of an Anglian cemetery and Roman cremations burials were also discovered during 19th century excavations by the head of The Retreat. In 1644, the hill proved a convenient high point to shoot cannon at the City during the siege of York.
It is not known if Siward's Hill has any direct connection to the 11th Century earl of Northumberland, but later records show someone named Siward owning land nearby and medieval ridge and furrow ploughing run over the windmill mound.
Just north of the mound is a large concrete water tower (click HERE) disguised as a medieval castle at the insistence of the Fine Arts Commission.
It was then Europe's largest water tower, holding 1 million gallons of water. Graham Wilford, former Chief Engineer at York Waterworks Company (now Yorkshire Water) has kindly given us an article about construction of the tower in 1956, which you can read HERE. The Company also published a booklet about the water tower and Graham Wilford has obtained a copy from the Borthwick Institute which you can download here in two parts: PART 1 & PART 2.
The tower acts as a header tank to the 10 million gallon service reservoir built nearby in 1977, pictured here during construction. In 1855 the village pond was filled in and is now a small green by the mini-roundabout on Main Street.
St Paul's church was first built around 1150. It was rebuilt in 1858 and the only element of the medieval church that remain are the two bells, cast in 1388. The church was extensively re-modelled and extended in the 1970s, to create a large open interior, designed by Ronald Sims. It now serves as a 'local ecumenical partnership' between the Church of England and the Methodist Church. The old Methodist Chapel has been converted into a village meeting room. You can read much more about the history of Heslington's Churches in Rev Peter Mott's notes for his talk in October 2019 on the Chapels and Churches of Heslington - HERE
The school was built in 1856 to replace the 1795 building across the road which had been outgrown buy the rising population and demand for education. But that too was recently replaced by a light modern building. In the late 19th Century, there were 8 active farms in Main Street alone as well as a Post Office, the 2 pubs and 2 blacksmiths. The population of the village in 1881 was 477 and by 2001 it had risen to 506. Although now dominated by the university, Main Street retains its village character.
It is not known if Siward's Hill has any direct connection to the 11th Century earl of Northumberland, but later records show someone named Siward owning land nearby and medieval ridge and furrow ploughing run over the windmill mound.
Just north of the mound is a large concrete water tower (click HERE) disguised as a medieval castle at the insistence of the Fine Arts Commission.
It was then Europe's largest water tower, holding 1 million gallons of water. Graham Wilford, former Chief Engineer at York Waterworks Company (now Yorkshire Water) has kindly given us an article about construction of the tower in 1956, which you can read HERE. The Company also published a booklet about the water tower and Graham Wilford has obtained a copy from the Borthwick Institute which you can download here in two parts: PART 1 & PART 2.
The tower acts as a header tank to the 10 million gallon service reservoir built nearby in 1977, pictured here during construction. In 1855 the village pond was filled in and is now a small green by the mini-roundabout on Main Street.
St Paul's church was first built around 1150. It was rebuilt in 1858 and the only element of the medieval church that remain are the two bells, cast in 1388. The church was extensively re-modelled and extended in the 1970s, to create a large open interior, designed by Ronald Sims. It now serves as a 'local ecumenical partnership' between the Church of England and the Methodist Church. The old Methodist Chapel has been converted into a village meeting room. You can read much more about the history of Heslington's Churches in Rev Peter Mott's notes for his talk in October 2019 on the Chapels and Churches of Heslington - HERE
The school was built in 1856 to replace the 1795 building across the road which had been outgrown buy the rising population and demand for education. But that too was recently replaced by a light modern building. In the late 19th Century, there were 8 active farms in Main Street alone as well as a Post Office, the 2 pubs and 2 blacksmiths. The population of the village in 1881 was 477 and by 2001 it had risen to 506. Although now dominated by the university, Main Street retains its village character.
The last areas of medieval open fields were finally enclosed in 1857. For many centuries, probably since the time of Domesday, the township had a complicated division of lands between the parish of St Lawrence and the village church of St Paul, (see the parish boundary map HERE) But this was resolved in the 1857 allocation of fields and commons, as shown on this beautiful map (HERE) held in the Church Archives at the Borthwick Institute of the University of York.
University of York
Early aerial view of the University looking SE
In 1954 the Hall, lake and 18 acres were sold to Rowntree Social Trust for £10,000, the first sale of the Hall in over 350 years. Plans for a Folk Park did not succeed and in 1962 the Hall, with a further 137 acres, was given for the founding of the University of York. The land was all still in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The University accepted its first students in 1963.
Read more about the history of the university HERE.
Heslington Main Street now has banks, a Post Office, and 2 pubs, a sandwich shop, a hairdresser and a student accommodation-letting agent. There are about 15,000 students and 5,000 staff. This has been something of a culture shock to a village of 750 local residents, which did not get its first electric streetlights till 1954.
For more information about Heslington search the drop-down menu at the top of this page. The Victoria County History has an excellent page on the village, which has been compiled by FFH - HERE
Read more about the history of the university HERE.
Heslington Main Street now has banks, a Post Office, and 2 pubs, a sandwich shop, a hairdresser and a student accommodation-letting agent. There are about 15,000 students and 5,000 staff. This has been something of a culture shock to a village of 750 local residents, which did not get its first electric streetlights till 1954.
For more information about Heslington search the drop-down menu at the top of this page. The Victoria County History has an excellent page on the village, which has been compiled by FFH - HERE