North Duffield
ABOUT North Duffield
North Duffield is situated about 6 miles NE of Selby. It has an electorate of 977 and is part of the Selby & Ainsty constituency.
North Duffield was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, where it was know as Nort Dufelt which is Norman Latin. The village name derives from the Anglian culture which came across from the continent about 900AD. We know, however, that Iron Age people were here before that as traces of their houses can be seen north of the village. The Iron Age ended at 43AD when the Romans invaded. We now have evidence that the Romans lived here as well. The city of York, approximately 12 miles away, was known in Roman times as Eboracum and for a long time was capital of England.
The village has a regular bus service to York and a service 6 days a week to Selby. Timetables and other information are available on their websites; www.thornes.info and www.yorkpullmanbus.co.uk It is within easy reach of the M62. The nearby A64 links Leeds with the east coast. A good road network makes the village popular with commuters, but also gives easy access to popular tourist destinations.
The village Primary school recently achieved an Outstanding Ofsted report. The school’s website can be viewed at www.northduffield.n-yorks.sch.uk.
The village has a shop/Post Office, a Methodist Chapel and a pub. The King’s
Arms is situated near the centre of the village, with a beer garden overlooking
the village green.
www.kingsarmsnorthduffield.co.uk.
The nearest Anglican Church is St Helen’s at Skipwith, a beautiful building which dates back to before the Norman Conquest. There is a Roman Catholic Church in Selby and Churches and chapels of other denominations are located in Selby. Nearby, Hemingbrough has a 12th century church with a landmark 58 m spire.
The Doomsday entry refers to a castle, which had been destroyed. It is believed this was a wooden motte and bailey castle guarding the ferry over the Derwent. After the destruction of the castle, a fortified manor house was built on the site, now the site of Hall Farm. Traces of the later manor house still exist as lumps and bumps and a moat. Some of the stones survive in the possession of another local farming family. These invaders were largely peaceful and came across as farmers to farm the land. Villages did not exist as such, in the Iron Age, although we have the closest thing to an Iron Age Village, a collection of scattered round-houses. Probably during the Dark Ages, after the Romans left, villages started to grow. The ferry at the Derwent crossing existed from at least the 12thC and probably earlier. It was replaced by a bridge, the current bridge, in 1793 and a new road, the A163, was created a Turnpike Road. The toll was paid at the bridge.
