Leyburn Old Glebe

Leyburn Old Glebe Nature Reserve is a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It is about 440 yards (400 m) east of the village of Wensley and 0.6 miles (1 km) southwest of Leyburn. The site is a traditionally-managed 3 hectare hay meadow on a south-facing slope, overlooking the River Ure. It is one of the best preserved unimproved meadows in the Yorkshire Dales. Each year, after the flowers have set seed, an autumn hay cut and grazing by a limited number of sheep are essential management to prevent the area becoming overgrown. Meadows have declined in Britain over the last century, due mainly to intensive agriculture, and it is estimated that 97% of Britain's meadows have been destroyed since the 1930s, so areas like Leyburn Glebe are vital to the survival of many plant species. Many unusual flowers can be seen there. The Wildlife Trust ask that visitors keep to the edges of the meadow so that rare and/or delicate plants are not damaged. Animals seen in the reserve include small skipper butterfly, yellowhammer and stoat. The word glebe means land that was granted to the local priest, to provide him with an income. It comes from the Latin gleba, meaning clod/soil/land. The nature reserve was owned by a local church until 1983.

1. References

Nearby Places View Menu

Wensley, North Yorkshire

Wensley is a small village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a few homes and holiday cottage, an inn, a pub and a historic church. It is on the A684 road 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west of the market town of Leyburn. The River Ure passes through the village. The etymology of the name ultimately originates either from a compound of an Old English form of the god Woden (attested Wednesleg c. 1212, earlier Wodnesleie, see Wednesday), and the Old English leah meaning wood or meadow. Another possible route for the first part is the personal name Wændel. Wensley gives its name to the dale Wensleydale. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Richmondshire, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council. For a century after its charter in 1202, Wensley had the only market in the dale and this continued into the 16th century. Plague struck Wensley in 1563, some surviving villagers fled to Leyburn, but the village recovered a century later when Charles Paulet built Bolton Hall in 1678 and became Duke of Bolton. Bolton Hall, is now 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from the heart of Wensley, near Preston-under-Scar, Richmondshire; it was rebuilt after a fire in 1902. Wensley's Holy Trinity Church dates to 1300 and is a Grade I listed building. It is now redundant and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust. It was featured as the wedding venue of James and Helen Herriot in the 1978 BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small, in the episode "The Last Furlong". Wensley's railway station is now closed. It was situated 1-mile (1.6 km) to the north between Wensley and Preston-under-Scar, on the Wensleydale Railway line which still passes the village. Leyburn Old Glebe nature reserve lies about 440 yards (400 m) east of the village. Ernie Gillatt, a footballer active in the 1920s, was born in Wensley.

Church Landmark

Holy Trinity Church, Wensley

Holy Trinity Church is a redundant Anglican church on Low Lane in the village of Wensley, North Yorkshire, England. The building is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building (since 13 February 1967), and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Alec Clifton-Taylor included the church in his list of 'best' English parish churches.

Church Landmark

Leyburn Hall

Leyburn Hall is a historic building in Leyburn, a town in North Yorkshire, in England. The hall was built in about 1750, for John Yarker, although it is possible that it may retain some material from a 17th century forerunner. A Catholic chapel is supposed to have stood nearby, and it is possible that this may have been in the west pavilion. The house was grade II* listed in 1967. The house is roughcast, and has stone dressings, a stone slate roof, two storeys and an E-shaped plan. The south front has a central five-bay block on a plinth, with rusticated quoins, a string course, a moulded cornice, and a blind parapet. The windows are sashes with moulded surrounds, the central ground floor window with an eared architrave and a cornice on consoles. The block is flanked by single-bay links containing openings with quoined surrounds. At the ends are pedimented pavilions with quoins, each containing a full-height round-arched opening with a moulded surround, and containing a tripartite window with Doric half-columns, and a Diocletian window above. On the top is a wrought iron weathervane. The north front has seven bays, a central Doric portico, and Venetian windows. Inside, there is a grand staircase hall with a plasterwork ceiling which may have been designed by Giuseppe Cortese. The Morning Room has early panelling, and both it and the Drawing Room have high-quality doorcases and cornices.

Historic Site Landmark

Leyburn Town Hall

Leyburn Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which is used for retail purposes and as an events venue, is a grade II listed building.

Event Landmark