Kirkby-in-Cleveland

Or should that be Kirby-in-Cleveland? After all, we have a Kirby Lane, Hall, and Bridge.

Villages often feel to me like a last resort for photography, with parked cars cluttering the streets and interesting buildings shielded by being private houses. Yet, churches and pubs stand out as two exceptions, bearing the charm and history of a place that begs to be captured.

A wet cycle ride but, by the time I passed through Kirkby, the clouds were breaking, and I had begun to dry off.

This, then, is the Black Swan, a pub listed as far back as the 1841 census, run by Joseph Gales who was also the village cartwright and blacksmith¹Kirkby-in-Cleveland—A look at village life in 1837. Kirby, Great Broughton and Ingleby Greenhow Local History Group. 2018..

The very name Kirkby speaks of Scandinavian roots; kirkja meaning a church, thus “the village with a church.”²Morris, R.W. “Yorkshire through Place Names”. page 106. David & Charles. 1982. ISBN 0-7153-8230-6. In the Domesday Book, Kirkby appears as “Cherchbi”, linked to the “Stocheslage” entry, which refers to Stokesley³Cook, Hugh W. ‘Cleveland Revisited: Saxon Kirkby—Its Ancient Church and Stone Effigies. | Cleveland Standard | Saturday 04 February 1933 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2022. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003490/19330204/107/0008> [accessed 22 July 2022]. This historical evidence seems to settle the correct modern spelling.

After the survey, the lands were the subject of grants to various religious houses. The manor had already given its name to one resident family when Simon de Cherchby generously contributed to Guisborough Priory, supporting the maintenance of a “continued light” at the grand altar.

Ties between Kirkby and other religious houses endured. William de Mowbray, lord of the manor of Tameton, who apparently resided at Kirkby, made a substantial offering to Guisborough Priory, pledging the “homage and service of John, son of Roberties de Kirkby, and his brother Alan, with all their families and cattle.” Even the monks of Rievaulx Abbey had lands here for which “they were exempted from doing homage” by John De Eure.

The history of Kirkby’s church is equally compelling. Back in 1143, Adam de Ingleby bestowed the church at “Kirchby” to the Abbey of Whitby. For centuries, Whitby Abbey held patronage over the church until 1538, when the dissolution of the monastery shifted the responsibility to the Archbishop of York.

Thus, Kirkby-in-Cleveland is a village steeped in rich history, with its name echoing the distant whispers of a Saxon past.

• 1
  Kirkby-in-Cleveland—A look at village life in 1837. Kirby, Great Broughton and Ingleby Greenhow Local History Group. 2018.
• 2
  Morris, R.W. “Yorkshire through Place Names”. page 106. David & Charles. 1982. ISBN 0-7153-8230-6.
• 3
  Cook, Hugh W. ‘Cleveland Revisited: Saxon Kirkby—Its Ancient Church and Stone Effigies. | Cleveland Standard | Saturday 04 February 1933 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2022. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003490/19330204/107/0008> [accessed 22 July 2022]