Heworth, York
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Heworth is part of the City of York, England, about a mile north-east of the centre. It is sometimes referred to as Heworth Village. The name "Heworth" is Anglo-Saxon and means a "high enclosure".
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[edit] Location and demographics
The area ranges from terraced houses along East Parade towards Layerthorpe, via large Victorian Villas (the Heworth Green Villas) on Heworth Green to older houses along Heworth Village and the 1830’s Elmfield Villa, home to Elmfield College, and 1930s semi-detached houses on Stockton Lane.
Much modern suburban development has taken place, particularly in the outlying area of Heworth Without. The area is split into two wards for the purposes of local elections -- Heworth (including all land within the old city boundary) and Heworth Without (outside the old city boundary). Heworth Holme is a popular open space near Heworth Village.[1]
In recent years there has been an increasing tendency for estate agents to describe properties in the less desirable areas of Layerthorpe, Burnholme and Tang Hall as being in the more desirable Heworth causing some confusion about the extent of the area.[citation needed]
[edit] History
Very little is known about the prehistoric history of the Heworth area, some researchers believe the area was largely boggy land.[2] The village is of Roman origin and two Roman cremation cemeteries have been found in the area. Heworth Green, the road from York city centre to the village, is on the site of a Roman road.
During the early Medieval period, contemporary burials took place in a similar area to the Roman ones; this was during the 5th and 6th centuries. However, evidence for settlement in Heworth during this period of time still remains minimal.
The village appears as Heworde in the Domesday Book, and as Hewud in 1219.[3]
[edit] Battle of Heworth Moor
On 24 August 1454, a skirmish took place and was the first meeting of the two families involved in the Percy-Neville feud, the feud which eventually helped provoke the Wars of the Roses.[4] Historical analysts have described an attack on the Neville family's wedding party by Lord Egremont; numerous contemporaries regard it as the very first military action of the Wars of the Roses.
The Neville family was returning to Sheriff Hutton castle following a wedding between Sir Thomas Neville and Maud Stanhope. Stanhope was the heiress and niece of Ralph de Cromwell. Cromwell had previously confiscated Percy strongholds such as Wressle and Bunwell after Henry 'Hotspur' Percy's death in 1403; the thought of those properties one day being handed over to the Neville family angered Lord Egremont greatly.[4]
Egremont decided to ambush the Neville family's returning wedding party at Heworth Moor, along with 1,000 retainers from York. The Neville family were said to have given a good account of themselves and defended themselves well in the skirmish.[4]
[edit] Settlement
Construction of the Heworth Green Villas on Heworth Road began about 1817.[5] Through the middle of the 19th century, the Lord of the Manor was the Reverend Robert William Bilton Hornby. The Ordnance Survey map of 1849, shows that Heworth was effectively a square of three parallel streets sandwiched between the then Scarborough Road and East Parade.
On the outskirts of the village near Monk Stray was Elmfield College, a Primitive Methodist foundation which existed from about 1860 to 1930 when it merged with Ashville College in Harrogate. All that is left of the college now is numbers 1 and 9 Straylands Grove, next to Monk Stray, and staff housing along Elmfield Terrace and Willow Grove.
The church of Holy Trinity (architect: George Fowler Jones) was added in 1869; outlying features included a Wesleyan Chapel, the manor house, a public house (The Britannia), a windmill, several potteries, Heworth Hall and Heworth House. At that time Tang Hall was just that - a hall situated in parkland; since then it has developed into its own neighbourhood. Heworth became a Conservation Area in 1975
[edit] Notable people associated with Heworth
- Mary Ward, an English Roman Catholic nun who founded the Sisters of Loreto (also known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary), moved to the village in 1642 and stayed there until her death.
- Barbara Ward, an economist, writer and environmentalist who was interested in the problems of developing countries, was born in the village in 1914 and was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire later in her life.
- Dame Judi Dench was born in Heworth Green.
[edit] Sports
Heworth has some history in the sports of cricket, football, rugby league and others. Heworth's football club were one of the earliest to play in the York area, and featured in the York Football League from 1898 onwards. They finished as runners-up of the top level during the 1908-09, 1909-10 and 1911-12 seasons.
Elmpark Way in the village has hosted the York International 9s competition since 2002. It is an annual rugby league nines competition and in the past has featured clubs from England, France and Russia. It has been given a five-star rating by the Rugby League European Federation.
[edit] References
- ^ "Shades of green", ThisIsYork.co.uk, 23 July 2007.
- ^ Appleton, Avril E. Webster (1999). Looking Back at Heworth — a York Suburb. ISBN 0-9536257-0-2.
- ^ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.), p. 237.
- ^ a b c "Battle of Heworth", Heworth History, 23 July 2007.
- ^ Archaeological investigation of Heworth Croft area, pp. 1-7
