Levisham

Levisham is a small village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, located within the North York Moors National Park about 5 miles (8 km) north of Pickering. At the 2011 Census the population was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Lockton.

Levisham
Levisham Location within North Yorkshire
OS grid reference	SE833905
Civil parish	Levisham
Unitary authority	North Yorkshire
Ceremonial county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PICKERING
Postcode district	YO18
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Thirsk and Malton
List of places UK England Yorkshire 54°18′14″N 0°43′15″W / 54.303840°N 0.720930°W / 54.303840; -0.720930

History

The village is recorded as a very small settlement in the Domesday Book of 1086.^[1] The name of the village was first recorded in 1086 as Leuecen, and it derives from Old Norse, meaning the farmstead of Leofgeat's people.^[2][3] The village is believed to have moved location due to the Black Death in the 14th century.^[4] The Church of St Mary, a grade II* listed building which dates to the 11th century, is now isolated from the current village,^[5] and is thought to mark the site of a Deserted Medieval Village.^[6] The church fell into disuse in the 1950s, though burials continue, and the main place of Anglican worship is the Church of St John the Baptist, which is in Levisham village, some 2,600 feet (800 m) away from St Mary's.^[7]

Between 1974 and 2023 the village was part of the district of Ryedale.

Locations

It has a station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.^[8] Nearby villages include Newton-on-Rawcliffe and Lockton.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, details were recorded with the parish of Lockton,^[9] however, an estimate by North Yorkshire County Council in 2015 stated that the population was 70.^[10]

Miscellaneous

Heartbeat actress Lisa Kay (nurse Carol Cassidy) is from Levisham.^[11] In April 2021 the village was used as a filming location for the forthcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One film.^[12]

References

1. "Levisham | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
2. "Levisham :: Survey of English Place-Names". epns.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
3. Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 296. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
4. Bagshaw, Mike (2014). Slow Yorkshire Moors & Wolds : including York & the coast. Chalfont St. Peter: Bradt. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-84162-548-5.
5. "A view looking down onto St Mary's Church, now isolated from the village of Levisham, but thought by local legend to be all that remains of an earlier village wiped out by plague in medieval times (AA083569) Archive Item - John Gay Collection". Historic England. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
6. Historic England. "Church of St Mary (Grade II*) (1280303)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
7. Hall, R. A.; Lang, J. T. (1986). "St Mary's Church, Levisham, North Yorkshire". Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. 58. Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society: 58. ISSN 0084-4276.
8. Kelman, Leanne (2020). Railway Track Diagrams; Book 2 - Eastern. Frome: Trackmaps. 48D. ISBN 978-1-9996271-3-3.
9. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Lockton Parish (E04007602)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
10. "2015 Population Estimates Parishes" (PDF). northyorks.gov.uk. December 2016. p. 16. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
11. "Lisa's home advantage". Manchester Evening News. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
12. "Tom Cruise films Mission: Impossible scenes in Yorkshire". BBC News. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Levisham.

• Levisham and Lockton Past and Present