AYSGARTH, a parish in the western division of
the wapentake of HANG, North riding of the county of
YORK, comprising the chapelries of Askrigg and Hawes,
and the townships of High Abbotside, Low Abbotside,
Aysgarth, Bainbridge, Bishop-Dale, Burton with Waiden,
Carperby, Newbiggin, Thoralby, and Thornton-
Rust, and containing 5621 inhabitants, of which number,
293 are in the township of Aysgarth, 83 miles (W.)
from Middleham. The living is a discharged vicarage,
in the archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese of Chester,
rated in the king's books at £19. 6. 8., endowed
with £400 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty,
and in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of
Trinity College, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to
St. Andrew, is a spacious structure, and has an elegant
screen and rood-loft between the nave and the chancel,
supposed to have been brought from the abbey of Jervaulx.
There are places of worship for the Society of
Friends and Wesleyan Methodists. Here is an endowed
grammar school, also almshouses for six widows. The
river Ure, which rises in this parish, passes over a precipitous
and irregular ledge of rocks, and produces some
fine waterfalls, called Aysgarth Force, Mossdale Fall,
and Hardraw Fall. At some distance above there is
a curious and highly ornamented bridge of one arch,
having a span of seventy feet, from which a beautifully
picturesque prospect may be obtained. Several veins of
lead and some strata of coal exist in the neighbourhood.
Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned for a short time
in Nappa Hall, an ancient mansion in this parish.