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Snape Castle
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Village history
 The village of Snape stands three miles south of Bedale and three miles west of the A1. A community of some 350 souls, it is located around the long and narrow village green and is evenly split by Snape Beck. This pretty and well kept village is best approached from the west along the avenue of Lime trees which lead to Snape Castle.
The Castle is privately occupied and is not accessible to the public but its old domestic chapel is now a 'Chapel of Ease' where divine Service is held on alternate Sundays. Public access is allowed to the chapel.
Not quite so old, dating from the 18th century, and still offering access to the public, is the Castle Arms Inn , the only survivor of the three earlier village inns.
Snape's historical associations include the site of a Roman Villa; the residency of Catherine Parr prior to her marriage to Henry VIII; involvement in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 but not in the Rising of the North in 1569.
In more recent times Snape developed as a centre for the wool combing trade and the population rose to 689 in the year 1823. This cottage industry fell to industrialisation, and the establishment of the woolen mills of the West Riding resulted in a marked reduction of the village population. Today, Snape holds much of interest and it is hoped that, with the aid of this Guide,the reader will find something to his or her own interest.
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Village Institute
 | The Village Institute was erected in 1885 by Miss Edith Millbank in memory of her father M.V. Vane and her grandfather Mark Millbank. It originally consisted of a reading room and a lecture hall but was extended in 1905 by W.C.Gray of Thorp Perrow. In the wall by the west entrance is set a boundary stone, which stood until, recently on the far side of Kings Kell on the Bedale road. It is inscribed 'Heare Endeth Snape Hy:rode 1755' ; it marked the limit of the township's responsibility for the upkeep of the road.
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Monument
 At the top of the village is a Monument in the form of a cross erected by grateful friends to Lady Augusta Millbank of Thorp Perrow, who died in 1874. |
The Castle Arms Inn
 | The Castle Arms Inn is probably early to middle eighteenth century and is a grade 2 listed building Evidence from the exterior shows it to be of two quite separate periods. Inside, beams run from end to end, and from front to back respectively. The front door opens into a small vestibule directly facing the side of the chimney. The Inn was at one time a Farm and Buildings ~ a cowbyre, foldyard, and piggery now converted into a function room stand behind. The covered Foldyard, possibly from the late eighteenth century, was an important agricultural improvement, which enabled the wintering of more cattle than previously. Pigs were an important item in village economy and most villagers would have kept one. The feeding chute, through which skimmed mild, the residue of butter making, was fed to the pigs, is still visible.
To the right of the pub stands an earlier Cruck Framed Cottage. The central pair of matching timbers take the weight of the roof and stand on large stones (stylebates) visible from the outside, to keep the feet of the crucks dry. The cottage would once have been thatched, possibly with reeds from Snape Mires.
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Village School
 The School (formerly Snape Endowed School), for which there is a logbook dating from 1880, is believed to have been both a schoolroom and living accommodation for the Headmaster and family. The number of children on the roll rose, at times, to nearly one hundred.
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