Finghall
Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England
title: "Finghall" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-north-yorkshire", "civil-parishes-in-north-yorkshire"] description: "Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-north-yorkshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finghall" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| country | England |
| static_image | Finghall church.jpg |
| static_image_width | 240px |
| static_image_caption | St Andrews Church, Finghall |
| coordinates | |
| official_name | Finghall |
| population | 140 |
| population_ref | |
| unitary_england | North Yorkshire |
| lieutenancy_england | North Yorkshire |
| region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| constituency_westminster | Richmond and Northallerton |
| post_town | Leyburn |
| postcode_district | DL8 |
| postcode_area | DL |
| os_grid_reference | SE181895 |
| :: |
| country = England | static_image = Finghall church.jpg | static_image_width = 240px | static_image_caption = St Andrews Church, Finghall | coordinates = | official_name = Finghall | population = 140 | population_ref = | unitary_england = North Yorkshire | lieutenancy_england = North Yorkshire | region = Yorkshire and the Humber | constituency_westminster = Richmond and Northallerton | post_town = Leyburn | postcode_district = DL8 | postcode_area = DL | dial_code = | os_grid_reference = SE181895 Finghall, historically spelt Fingall, is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is in lower Wensleydale south of the A684 road, about 10 km west of Bedale and about 8 km east of Leyburn.
The population of the parish was estimated at 140 in 2016.
History
The village is mentioned in Domesday Book as Fingall, when it belonged to Count Alan and had 13 villagers. The origin of the place-name is the Old English words Fin, inga and hall meaning a nook of land of the family or followers of a man called Fina. The place-name appears as Finegala in Domesday Book of 1086 and as Finyngale in 1157. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Looking_Towards_Finghall_Village.jpg" caption="Looking towards Finghall from the south-east"] ::
Finghall was a large ancient parish in the wapentake of Hang West in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The parish included the townships of Finghall, Constable Burton, Akebar and Hutton Hang, all of which became separate civil parishes in 1866. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Richmondshire, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.
In the 1820s Finghall had a population of 126, which had dropped to 111 by 1872 and 99 by 1897. The 12th-century church is dedicated to St Andrew and is adjacent to the beck and quite near the A684 road. It is thought that the Medieval village of Fingall was clustered around the church but was abandoned during a plague.
The village had a railway station on the Wensleydale Railway, which opened in the 1850s and closed in 1954. It was reopened on the heritage Wensleydale Railway in 2004. The village has an annual Spring Bank Holiday Barrel Push, which sees competitors push an 18 impgal metal beer barrel over a distance of 1,000 m.
Culture and community
The village public house is the Queen's Head. A local legend maintains that the willows that line the beck to the north of the village, of which there is a good view from the dining room and terrace of the pub, inspired Kenneth Grahame to write The Wind in the Willows. The village to the east is Newton-le-Willows.
Famous residents
- Edward Banks (4 January 1770 – 5 July 1835), noted builder (Waterloo Bridge and London Bridge)
- Russ Swift (born 1951), British precision driver.
References
References
- (1914). "Parishes: Fingall, in A History of the County of York North Riding". [[Victoria County History]].
- (2013). "Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 99 ''Northallerton & Ripon (Pateley Bridge & Leyburn)''". Ordnance Survey.
- (1 January 2016). "Ordnance Survey: 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer". Ordnance Survey.
- "FINGHALL Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan".
- (2016). "Population Estimates". North Yorkshire County Council.
- "Fingall {{!}} Domesday Book".
- Mills, A. D.. (2011). "A Dictionary of British Place Names". Oxford University Press.
- "History of Finghall, in Richmondshire and North Riding {{!}} Map and description".
- (1897). "Romantic Richmondshire : Being a complete account of the history, antiquities and scenery of the picturesque valleys of the Swale and Yore". E Stock.
- "Genuki: Finghall, Yorkshire (North Riding)".
- (26 August 2000). "Nowt tekken out". The Northern Echo.
- (1985). "Railway stations of the North East". David & Charles.
- (17 May 2019). "Little Alf star guest at barrel push". Darlington & Stockton Times.
- "The Queen's Head, Finghall {{!}} Home page".
- (25 September 2015). "Review: The Queen's Head, Finghall, Leyburn". Darlington and Stockton Times.
- (1897). "Romantic Richmondshire : Being a complete account of the history, antiquities and scenery of the picturesque valleys of the Swale and Yore". E Stock.
- (8 January 2019). "History Day to gather information". The Northern Echo.
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