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Northallerton

England & Scotland at loggerheads
The English Civil War, and after...
Fair Trade

Northallerton is the administrative centre and county town of North Yorkshire and reputed to be one of the most prosperous market towns in the whole of the country.

It's situated at the northern end of the Vale of Mowbray, south of Darlington and Middlesbrough and 25 miles north of York.

It has been a communication point since Roman times - there is evidence that the Romans had a signal station on Castle Hills just to the west of Northallerton as part of the imperial Roman postal system and a path connecting Hadrian's Wall with Eboracum (York) ran through what is now the neighbouring village of Brompton. Later it was an important staging post on the route from London to Edinburgh and, when rail superseded coaching, a station was built and this is now part of the East Coast Mainline - connecting London with the far north of Scotland. There is a transverse rail link between the industrial towns of what used to be the West Riding - Leeds, Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield - and the east coast port of Middlesbrough. The A1 (Dere Street in Roman times) to the west and the A19 to the east run within a few miles of Northallerton.

Northallerton Town Council Building

Although it can trace its history back to the Romans, Northallerton's real roots are Anglo-Saxon. It was originally called Alverton or Aelfereton meaning the farm belonging to Aelfere, which over the years transmuted into Allerton. It was later called North Allerton to distinguish it from the many other Allertons in Yorkshire. Allerton was a wapentake - a territorial division of the county of Yorkshire - and 24 surrounding villages, came under its soke or jurisdiction.

All Saints Parish Church is the main church in Northallerton and it is located at North End, which is the northern continuation of the High Street.

The first church was set up by St Paulinus of York on the site of the present All Saints Parish Church in the 7th Century. It was made out of wood and probably very rudimentary. In 855 a stone church was built on the same site. Stone fragments have been found during restoration work which provide strong evidence of this Saxon church.

In the 10th century Vikings came over from Denmark and made settlements at nearby Romanby and Brompton, two of the villages held in soke.

When the Normans came Northallerton was attacked and destroyed by William the Conqueror's army when the Harrying of the North took place - King William's army was encamped at Northallerton for a time whilst they were in the process of laying waste the whole area between York and Durham. Northallerton had still not recovered by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086.

King William was very strong on organisation - he collected his taxes with a thoroughness that today's Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise can only stand back and admire.

William granted the Right of the Manor to the Bishop of Durham who became responsible for the appointment of clergy to local churches (giving rise to long-standing disputes with the Archbishop of York), the collection of tolls and market fees, and acting as Supreme Judge at Northallerton court proceedings.

There is still one part of a Norman building in Northallerton - the northwest corner of All Saints Parish Church.

Northallerton has been the centre of conflict and strife on several occasions.

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England & Scotland at loggerheads

As Northallerton lies on one of the principal routes running north to south through northern England it has played a major role in commercial traffic between England and Scotland. Unfortunately not all the toing and froing has been peaceful and every now and then from the Middle Ages through to the Jacobite rebellions, Northallerton has been involved in some way in some of the many of the disputes between the two countries.

The Anglo-Scottish wars were a series of skirmishes, raids and battles spanning the much of the period from 1100 to 1400.

In an attempt to keep the Scots under control, various kings - Edward I, Edward II and Edward III - brought their armies to Northallerton on their way northwards. Whilst staying in Northallerton, the kings would usually reside at the Bishop’s Palace.

Two miles north of Northallerton, near the Darlington road, is a stone obelisk marking the site of the Battle of the Standard (1138) where the Scots were heavily defeated by English bowmen under the barons of Northern England.

The Battle of the Standard is the most famous of the many battles local to the area between the English and the Scots King. Stephen was on the throne of England at the time and the Scots were led by King David I. David brought an army of 12,000 men to challenge Stephen and to try and instate Empress Matilda as Queen of England. Stephen was fairly tied up at the time (he had a couple of insurrections to deal with in the south of England) so he charged Archbishop Thurstan of York with the task of taking care of the Scots.

The battle was a bloody affair indeed. There are estimates of up to 10,000 killed and mass burials of the defeated Scots took place in large holes called “Scots Pits”. After the Battle, the surviving Scots beat a tactical retreat across the border.

The Scots gained some revenge on Northallerton after Bannockburn in 1318 when a marauding army burned the parish church and sacked the town during Edward II’s reign.

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The English Civil War, and after...

King Charles I visited the town in 1641 and stayed in Porch House - one of the oldest buildings in the Town, dating back to 1584. A few years later, in 1647, he was held in the same building as a prisoner of the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War. It is said that he managed to escape from a window, but his liberty was comparatively short-lived - he was recapture soon after and less than two years later he was executed outside Whitehall on a cold January day in 1649.

There was further trouble with the Scots during the Jacobite rebellions - when the Scots tried to put various of their kings on to the English throne. During the last of these, the Duke of Cumberland - or the Butcher of Cumberland, as the Scots prefer to call him and with good reason - rested his troops at Northallerton on his way to Culloden where he defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie’s men and slaughtered many of the survivors. Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped to France with the help of Flora MacDonald... but that’s another story.

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Fair Trade

As the Anglo-Scottish wars diminished, commerce picked up and Northallerton became more and more important as a trading settlement. People came from all over to buy and sell at the fairs and markets - some buyers coming from the mainland of Europe.

A market has been held in Northallerton on a Wednesday since before 1100, although the town’s market charter was not granted royal assent until 1200.

This is the timeline:

  • King John granted two fairs in 1200, one each February at Candlemas and the other in September at the Feast of St Bartholomew.
  • Phillip and Mary granted a market in 1555 to be held on Wednesdays between the Feast of St George and Lammas Day. They also granted the May St George's fair.
  • In 1610, King James I granted an October fair on St Matthew’s day, and the Wednesday market was extended to the period between Lammas Day and Christmas.
  • By 1792 a market was held on every Wednesday of the year.

Northallerton gained a national reputation for its fairs and markets:

  • William Camden wrote in 1586: 'Northallerton... which is nothing but a long street; yet the most throng Beast-fair upon St Bartholomew's day, that ever I saw.'
  • Matthew Rawdon visited the town in 1664 and said: 'For oxen, kine and sheep, it is the greatest (fair) in England.'
  • Ingledew in his History & Antiquities of Northallerton (1858) wrote that the Candlemas and St George's fairs were two of the most noted gatherings for the exchange of horses and cattle in the North of England.

Markets have been very important to Northallerton’s prosperity and it still holds markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays - when stalls line both sides of the broad High Street. Originally a centre for the trading of horses, sheep and cattle from Northumbria and Scotland, and local produce, the connection with agriculture is still very strong and sheep were sold in the High Street market up to around 80 years ago. The cattle market - yes, livestock are still sold in Northallerton - is now held in a part of the town called Applegarth.

If you aren’t quite ready to take a premium quality bull back as a holiday gift, there are now plenty of other opportunities for shopping - Northallerton has a large department store and a host of interesting shops and boutiques in Barkers Arcade.

And, to bring things right up to date, there’s a modern Leisure Centre at Stone Cross in Northallerton - complete with a leisure pool and sauna.