In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Masham like this:
MASHAM, a village, a township, and a sub-district, in Bedale district, and a parish partly also in Leybourn district, N. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Ure, near the line of the Hawes and Melmerby railway which was authorized in 1865, and 6 miles SW by W of Bedale town and r. station; is a well built and picturesque place, amid beautiful environs; has a postoffice ‡ under Bedale, and three good inns; and gave the title of baron to the family of Scroop, one of whom, the friend and councillor of Henry V., was executed for treason in 1415, and has been immortalized by Shakespeare. ...
A weekly market is held on Wednesday; a fortnightly market for cattle and sheep is held, during the spring months, on Monday; a fair for live-stock is held on 17 and 18 Sept.; and there are malt-houses, breweries, anf flax and woollen mills.-The township comprises 8,756 acres. Real property, £4,300. Pop. in 1851,1,139; in 1861,1,079. Houses, 278. The manor belonged to the Scroops, passed to the Danbys, and belongs now to Admiral Harcourt.—The sub-district contains also the Masham townships of Ilton-cum-Pott and Swinton-with-Warthermask, the Thornton-Watlass township of Thornton-Watlass, and the entire parish of Well. Acres, 20,378. Pop. in 1851,2,821; in 1861,2,650. Houses, 620.-The parish, in addition to its three townships in the sub-district, contains the townships of Fearby, Ellingstring, Ellingtons, Healey-with-Sutton, and Burton-upon-Ure; and is sometimes called Mashamshire. Acres, 22,525. Real property, £17,606; of which £.22 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851,2,695; in 1861,2,438. Houses, 578. The property is subdivided. Fine salmon and trout fishings are in the Ure; and some beautiful walks are along the river's banks. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Kirkby-Malzeard, in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £440.* Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church has a fine Norman W doorway; is chiefly early English; has a lofty tower and spire, figuring conspicuously in the landscape; and contains a brass of 1689, a monument to Sir Marmaduke Wyville, Bart., and several other monuments. The churchyard contains a curious sculptured cylindrical stone, which may have been the base of an ancient cross. The vicarages of Dallo-Gill, Healey, MIickley, and Middlesmoor, are separate benefices. There are chapels for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, an endowed grammar school with £100 a year, and a national school.
Masham through time
Masham is now part of Harrogate district. Click here for graphs and data of how Harrogate has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Masham itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Masham, in Harrogate and North Riding | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/546
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
Not where you were looking for?
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Masham".