MASHAM, a parish partly in the liberty of ST-PETER
of YORK, but chiefly in the eastern division of the wapentake
of HANG, North riding of the county of YORK, comprising
the market-town of Masham, and the townships
of Burton upon lire, Ellingstring, Ellingtons, Fearby,
Healey with Sutton, Ilton with Pott, and Swinton with
Warthermask, and containing 2767 inhabitants, of which
number, 1171 are in the town of Masham, 34 miles
(N,"W.by W.) from York, and 223 (N. N. W.) from London.
The town is very pleasantly situated upon a gentle
eminence in a fertile district, on the western bank of
the river Ure; the houses are well built, and the air is
remarkably pure. The trade consists principally in the
spinning of yarn, for which an extensive manufactory
has of late been established, affording employment to
about one hundred persons. There is a small market
on Wednesday; and fairs are held on the 17th and 18th
of September, for live stock. During the spring, a fair
for cattle and sheep is held every alternate Monday. A
court leet is held annually, at which a constable is
chosen, its jurisdiction also extending to the recovery of
debts under 40a. The living is a vicarage, with that of
Kirkby-Malzeard, in the jurisdiction of the peculiar
court of Masham, or in that of the Dean and Chapter
of York, being claimed by both, and the matter not yet
decided; "it is rated in the king's books at £30, and is
in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Trinity
College, Cambridge. Masham was formerly a prebend,
and the richest in the cathedral church of York, being
rated in the king's books at £ 136: it was dissolved
and made a lay-fee, by Archbishop Holgate, in 1546.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a small but
handsome edifice, in the English style of architecture,
with a tower surmounted by a lofty and elegant spire.
Over the organ gallery is a fine painting representing
an angel praying before the cross of Christ. There are
places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends,
and Wesleyan Methodists. The grammar school, founded
by William Danby, Esq., in 1760, is endowed with
property producing about £50 per annum; there are
about eighty boys, who are all stipendiary pupils; the
master is also superintendent of a charity school, for
thirty-six poor children, under the same foundation, endowed
with about £24 per annum, from the benefactions
of Oswald Coates, Isabel Beckwith, and Ann Dauby. Two
Sunday schools, in which two hundred and fifty children
are instructed, are supported by subscription. This
place was anciently the residence of the baronial family
of Scroop, to which belonged Henry, Lord le Scroop,
Lord Treasurer, and Archbishop Scroop, both beheaded
for high treason in the reign of Henry IV.