Girsby

---

title: "Girsby" 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/Girsby" 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
coordinates
official_name	Girsby
static_image	Girsby Bridge.jpg
static_image_caption	Girsby Bridge, built 1870
population	40
population_ref	(NYCC 2015)
civil_parish	Girsby
unitary_england	North Yorkshire
lieutenancy_england	North Yorkshire
region	Yorkshire and the Humber
constituency_westminster	Richmond and Northallerton
post_town	DARLINGTON
postcode_district	DL2
postcode_area	DL
os_grid_reference	NZ355083
::

| country = England | coordinates = | official_name = Girsby | static_image = Girsby Bridge.jpg | static_image_caption = Girsby Bridge, built 1870 | population = 40 | population_ref = (NYCC 2015) | civil_parish = Girsby | unitary_england = North Yorkshire | lieutenancy_england = North Yorkshire | region = Yorkshire and the Humber | constituency_westminster = Richmond and Northallerton | post_town = DARLINGTON | postcode_district = DL2 | postcode_area = DL | dial_code = | os_grid_reference = NZ355083 Girsby is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The village lies on high ground on the eastern bank of the River Tees. The population of the parish was estimated at 40 in 2015. The population as of the 2011 census remained less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Over Dinsdale.

History

The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to the then bishop of Durham (St Cuthbert), and having three ploughlands. The name of the village derives from Old Norse and is either a personal name (Gris's farm or village) or from Griss (a young pig), meaning a pig farm. Historically the village was a township in the ancient parish of Sockburn, a parish divided by the River Tees between the North Riding of Yorkshire (which included Girsby) and County Durham (which included the township of Sockburn). Girsby became a separate civil parish in 1866. The village is 50 m above sea level and sits within a loop of the River Tees, with the nearest side being just to the west of the village, with the land dropping away to 15 m above sea level.

The settlement has fallen into disrepair, many of the remaining buildings are derelict, there are barely enough houses to constitute a hamlet.

The small and secluded All Saints' Church, Girsby, overlooks the meandering Tees from its elevated position.

A private farmers track leads down to a rarely used bridge over the Tees. A public bridle path crosses the bridge linking Girsby with the nearby village of Neasham on the opposite bank of the river. A plaque on the bridge is inscribed;

Bridle Bridge,

Erected by Theophania Blackett 1870,

Thomas Dyke Esq Civil Engineer.

The church at Girsby was visited each Sunday by worshippers from across the River Tees, and in her later years (when she was widowed), Theophania Blackett objected to people traipsing past her house, and so she blocked off the paths to the ford. After many legal disagreements, Blackett agreed to fund the bridge.

The name bridle may refer to the historic right of way called bridleway.

Governance

The village was in the wapentake of Allertonshire, the parish of Sockburn (which was actually in County Durham), and the Croft Rural District. It was in the North Riding of Yorkshire, but was moved into North Yorkshire when the boundaries changed in 1974. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

It is represented at Parliament as part of the constituency of Richmond and Northallerton.

::data[format=table title="Population of Girsby 1801–2015"]

1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	2011	2015
editor1-last=Page	editor1-first=William	title=The Victoria history of the county of York. vol 3	date=1907	publisher=Constable & Co	location=London	page=503	oclc=500092527}}	93	85	83	80	101	90	77	68	89	68
::

Notes

References

References

1. (December 2016). "2015 Population Estimates: Parishes".
2. "Over Dinsdale Parish".
3. "Girsby {{!}} Domesday Book".
4. "Girsby :: Survey of English Place-Names".
5. (1960). "The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names". Oxford University Press.
6. (1979). "The Place Names of the North Riding of Yorkshire". English Place Name Society.
7. [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Sockburn/Sockburn68.html The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)]
8. (2015). "Darlington & Richmond". Ordnance Survey.
9. (2002). "Yorkshire, the North Riding". Yale University Press.
10. (17 June 2009). "Bridge over Troubled Water. Details the history of the building of Girsby bridge". The Northern Echo.
11. "Girsby Bridge".
12. (17 June 2009). "Bridge over troubled water". The Northern Echo.
13. "Genuki: Sockburn, Yorkshire (North Riding)".
14. (2021). "Guide No. 6: North Yorkshire Gazetteer of Townships and Parishes". North Yorkshire County Council.
15. "Election Maps".
16. (1907). "The Victoria history of the county of York. vol 3". Constable & Co.
17. "Girsby CP/Tn".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::