STRENSALL'S STORY
Strensall lies six miles N.N.E. of York.
The discovery of deposits of knapped flints in the area are an indication that people lived around Strensall during the Stone Age.
Finds of Roman coins, and aerial images of Iron Age settlement, suggest that Strensall
was inhabited during the Roman occupation.
Strensall was once a Township inside the Forest of Galtres - a royal forest which at one time stretched from the River Ouse to the Derwent and which comprised some 60 villages in 100,000 acres. Sometime during the 14th century the area East of the Foss was deforested, so relieving Strensall of some of the burden of forest law. (Under the law of the forest the game, timber and other products of England's forests were protected for the benefit of the Crown).
Strensall was cited in the Domesday Book in 1086 and was named Streonaeshalch. (Streona probably meant an ancient personal name, although some translations suggest that streona meant 'gift'. Halch meant a corner or nook of land).
Sasford and Turchil held the Manor of Strensall in the time of Edward the Confessor when the owner of the Manor was the Church of St. Peter in York.
Strensall was one of the many Manors given to Robert, William's half-brother, after the Norman Conquest and Robert installed one of his men, Nigel Fossard, as Lord of the Manor of Strensall.
Soon afterwards the Manor was taken back from Robert and returned to the Church of St. Peter and becoming a Prebend supporting one of the Canons of the Cathedral. It seems to have been a wealthy Manor, being known as the 'Golden Prebend'. The Manor remained a Prebend of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter until the 19th century.
There has been a Manor House situated in the Village on what was an ancient moated site from mediaeval times. The current building on the site dates from 1695.
It is thought that the first Parish Church in Strensall was built between 1100 and 1150 A.D. and until at least the 15th century St. Mary's was dedicated to St. James. It is known that in 1425 penitents visiting the Church of St. James in Strensall could receive indulgences. The Church was rebuilt in 1803-04 but the present Church dates from a rebuild in 1865-66 from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. A Wesleyan Chapel was erected in 1823 and a Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1875.
Robert Wilkinson established a Charity School in 1718, followed by the National School in 1857. The School is still named after Robert Wilkinson and is now one of the biggest primary schools in the York area.
Farming and the small farmer was a feature of Village life in Strensall for hundreds of years. The essentially rural nature of the Village experienced change and upheaval with the purchase of Strensall Common for £300,000 in 1872 under the Localization of the Forces Act to become a military training camp.
The expansion of the Foss Navigation between the late 18th and mid 19th centuries led to coal, lime, bark, bricks, earthenware pottery and farm produce being transported on barges and keels from York to Strensall and beyond. But this waterway declined with the opening of the York to Scarborough railway line in 1845, and with the increase in the amount of freight being transported to and from the Village, and then later the Army Camp
This transport revolution brought new industries to Strensall - including a tannery, potteries and brickyards.
The expansion of the Village caused a growth in shops and businesses to support the rapid population increase at the end of the nineteenth century.
Many of the older residents of Strensall still remember the railway station, the brickyards, the routines of the farming year, the impact of the Second World War, and the changes brought about by rapid expansion in motor vehicle traffic.
The nature of the village has changed dramatically over the last fifty years. The population has increased, and this growth of the local community and its facilities all add to the rich tapestry of the history of Strensall.
Strensall lies six miles N.N.E. of York.
The discovery of deposits of knapped flints in the area are an indication that people lived around Strensall during the Stone Age.
Finds of Roman coins, and aerial images of Iron Age settlement, suggest that Strensall
was inhabited during the Roman occupation.
Strensall was once a Township inside the Forest of Galtres - a royal forest which at one time stretched from the River Ouse to the Derwent and which comprised some 60 villages in 100,000 acres. Sometime during the 14th century the area East of the Foss was deforested, so relieving Strensall of some of the burden of forest law. (Under the law of the forest the game, timber and other products of England's forests were protected for the benefit of the Crown).
Strensall was cited in the Domesday Book in 1086 and was named Streonaeshalch. (Streona probably meant an ancient personal name, although some translations suggest that streona meant 'gift'. Halch meant a corner or nook of land).
Sasford and Turchil held the Manor of Strensall in the time of Edward the Confessor when the owner of the Manor was the Church of St. Peter in York.
Strensall was one of the many Manors given to Robert, William's half-brother, after the Norman Conquest and Robert installed one of his men, Nigel Fossard, as Lord of the Manor of Strensall.
Soon afterwards the Manor was taken back from Robert and returned to the Church of St. Peter and becoming a Prebend supporting one of the Canons of the Cathedral. It seems to have been a wealthy Manor, being known as the 'Golden Prebend'. The Manor remained a Prebend of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter until the 19th century.
There has been a Manor House situated in the Village on what was an ancient moated site from mediaeval times. The current building on the site dates from 1695.
It is thought that the first Parish Church in Strensall was built between 1100 and 1150 A.D. and until at least the 15th century St. Mary's was dedicated to St. James. It is known that in 1425 penitents visiting the Church of St. James in Strensall could receive indulgences. The Church was rebuilt in 1803-04 but the present Church dates from a rebuild in 1865-66 from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. A Wesleyan Chapel was erected in 1823 and a Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1875.
Robert Wilkinson established a Charity School in 1718, followed by the National School in 1857. The School is still named after Robert Wilkinson and is now one of the biggest primary schools in the York area.
Farming and the small farmer was a feature of Village life in Strensall for hundreds of years. The essentially rural nature of the Village experienced change and upheaval with the purchase of Strensall Common for £300,000 in 1872 under the Localization of the Forces Act to become a military training camp.
The expansion of the Foss Navigation between the late 18th and mid 19th centuries led to coal, lime, bark, bricks, earthenware pottery and farm produce being transported on barges and keels from York to Strensall and beyond. But this waterway declined with the opening of the York to Scarborough railway line in 1845, and with the increase in the amount of freight being transported to and from the Village, and then later the Army Camp
This transport revolution brought new industries to Strensall - including a tannery, potteries and brickyards.
The expansion of the Village caused a growth in shops and businesses to support the rapid population increase at the end of the nineteenth century.
Many of the older residents of Strensall still remember the railway station, the brickyards, the routines of the farming year, the impact of the Second World War, and the changes brought about by rapid expansion in motor vehicle traffic.
The nature of the village has changed dramatically over the last fifty years. The population has increased, and this growth of the local community and its facilities all add to the rich tapestry of the history of Strensall.