Gilling West | |
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Gilling West |
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Gilling West shown within North Yorkshire | |
Population | 534 |
OS grid reference | NZ183050 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | RICHMOND |
Postcode district | DL10 |
Police | North Yorkshire |
Fire | North Yorkshire |
Ambulance | Yorkshire |
EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
Gilling West is a village about 3.5 miles north of Richmond in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located in the civil parish of Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury.
Gilling was mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name of Ghellinges. Contrary to the now sleepy nature of the village, it was once a place of some importance in the Anglo-Saxon period of British history, in the 7th century it was a seat of the Deira in the southern region of the Anglican kingdom of Northumbria, and from the 9th century, the surrounding area known as Gillingshire was ruled by the Earls of Mercia, specifically Edwin, who was the last of the Earls to have a seat of power at Gilling before the Norman Conquest saw Edwin's lands given to William the Conqueror's kinsman, Alan Rufus. St Agatha's Church in the village features a monument to Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, who was born in the parish, at Hartforth. In April 1976 nine-year-old Garry Fridd found a sword in the beck while playing close to the bridge in Gilling. It turned out to be a double-edged, iron-bladed sword with a silver-decorated handle, dating from the 9th century. It is regarded as being amongst the best Anglian weapons ever to be discovered in England. The restored sword is currently in the collection of the Yorkshire Museum in York