SPOFFORTH, a parish in the upper division of the wapentake of CLARO, West riding of the county of YORK, comprising the chapelry of Wetherby, and the townships of Follifoot, Linton, Plompton, Little Ribston, Spofforth, and Stockeld, and containing 3044 inhabitants, of which number, 895 are in the township of Spofforth, 8 miles (N.W. byW.) from Wetherby. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of York, rated in the king's books at £73. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Earl of Egremont. The church is dedicated to All Saints. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. This was for several ages, prior to Alnwick, or Warkxvorth, the seat of the Percy family, who had a princely castle here, which was demolished by the Yorkists after the battle of Towton, in which the Earl of Northumberland and Sir Charles Percy, his brother, were slain. The grand hall of this once magnificent mansion, though in ruins, still remains; it is nearly seventy- six feet in length, and about thirty-seven in breadth, and is lighted by one of those large cathedral windows introduced subsequently to the reign of Edward I. A school for fifteen poor children is supported by an annuity of £5, the gift of the Earl of Egremont, in 1786, and another of £2. 10., by the Rev. Dr. Trip.