HELMSLEY, a parish in the wapentake of RYEDALE,
North riding of the county of YORK, comprising
the market-town of Helmsley, the joint chapelry of Bilsdale-
Midcable with Bilsdale-Birkham, and the townships
of Haram, Laskill-Pasture, Pockley, Rivaulx, and Sproxton,
and containing 3458 inhabitants, of which number,
1520 are in the town of Helmsley, 23 miles (N.) from
York, and 218 (N. byW.) from London. This place,
which was formerly of considerable importance, derives
its name from the dark heathy moors in the pa-
rish, and belonged, in the reigns of Edward I. and II., to
{he family of Ross, who built here a strong castle for
their baronial residence, which, in the parliamentary
war, being garrisoned for the king, was besieged and
taken by Fairfax, in 1644, and soon afterwards dismantled
by order of the parliament: the remains of this
structure, which was erected on an eminence, and surrounded
by a double moat, consist principally of detached
portions of the state apartments and offices, and part of
the keep and gateway. The town is situated on the declivity
of a small eminence, sloping gently towards the
river Rye, which gives name to the wapentake; the
houses are chiefly built of stone, and roofed with slate,
and the inhabitants are supplied with water from springs
and from a rivulet called the Boro Beck, which, after
tunning through the town, disappears at the distance
of a mile, and rises again at the distance of four miles.
The environs are extremely pleasant, being richly diversified
with extensive woods and fertile valleys. The linen
manufacture, which was carried on extensively by families
at their own houses, has been almost destroyed
here by the introduction of machinery. There are mines
of coal in the parish. The market is on Saturday: the
fairs are, May 19th, July 16th, October 1st and 2nd, and
November 5th and 6th, for cattle, sheep, and linen and
woollen cloth. A court for the recovery of debts
under 40s. is occasionally held. The living is a discharged
vicarage, in jthe archdeaconry of Cleveland, and
diocese of York, rated in the king's books at £ 11. 8.6.,
endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal
bounty, and in the patronage of Charles Duncombe, Esq.
The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a large and handsome
structure, partly in the Norman, and partly in the
early, style of English architecture, with later insertions,
having a tower at the west end: the interior contains
some elegant screen-work, and an hexagonal font of early
English character. At Haram and Pockley are chapels
of ease, the latter built, in 1822, at the sole expense of
C. Duncombe, Esq., of Duncombe Park (a noble mansion,
within a mile of Helmsley, built, in 1718, in the
Doric order of architecture, from a design by Vanbrugh),
who is proprietor of nearly the whole of the parish,
which is about sixteen miles long from north to south,
averaging nearly five miles in breadth, and contains
about fifty thousand acres. There are places of worship
for the Society of Friends and Wesleyan Methodists. A
National school for children of both sexes is supported
by Mr. Duncombe. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham,
after he had withdrawn from the court and cabinet
of Charles II., spent a considerable portion of his time
here, this period of his life having been distinguished
by the revelries and profligacy, which soon reduced him
to a state of indigence; he died at Kirkby-Moor-Side,
in April, 1687. About two miles to the north-west are
the interesting remains of the abbey of Rivaulx, or
Rivall, so called from its situation in the vale "of the
river Rye; it was the first Cistercian abbey in Yorkshire,
and was founded in 1131, and dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, by Walter Espec, who endowed it
with ample revenues, which at the dissolution were estimated
at £351. 14. 6.