Welcome to St. Margaret's Church, Aislaby
CHURCH PROGRAMME FOR 2006
Village-Historical Notes
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Domesday Book
 | The above extract from the Domesday Book is the Aislaby mention. It is in the Yorkshire section which lists the lands owned by the Count of Mortain. The survey was ordered by William I in 1085 and the Aislaby extract translates as follows:
"In Aislaby (near Whitby) are 3 carucates* to the geld, and there could be two ploughs. Uhtraed had 1 manor there. Now Richard Sordeval has it of the count. There are six acres of meadow, (and) pasture 1 league** long and 1 broad. TRE (it was worth) 10s.8p. now it is waste."
*The carucate was notionally the land that could support one family. It consisted of 120 acres ie; an amount that could be tilled by an eight-ox plough team. The geld was a tax value. **A league is approx. 1 1/2 miles. *** TRE means .."in the time of King Edward"(Jan.1066) and "now" refers to the time of the survey in 1086. "Waste" is believed to mean that a great drop in value had taken place due to a catastrophic fall in population and economic resources. |
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The Romans
 A Roman road ran through the village at one time and was believed to be part of the military route from Dunsley to York. Traces of it can still be found at Dunsley, New Biggin and at places across the moors to Malton and on to York at Monks Bar. There is a commemorative stone, engraved "Pathway of the Romans", on the left hand side of the Egton Road just beyond the village. |
Aislaby Quarry
The village was once well known for a quarry and for the quality of it's durable stone. It was a great source of local employment until the 1914 - 1918 Great War when nearly all the men were called to arms. It is now completely overgrown and difficult to discern except in outline. Legend has it that a large quantity of cut stone remains there, buried somewhere in the undergrowth.
From this Quarry great quantities of stone were dragged 4 1/2 miles by oxen to Whitby, not only for building Whitby harbour, but to be shipped from the port for the construction of the piers at Margate and Ramsgate, and for the foundations of the Strand Bridge. A Harbour return for 1847 alone shows 27,424 tons of blockstones shipped out of Whitby during that year.
Tangier was the first English colony and the building of the Mole there was the first foreign public work undertaken by the Government. Samuel Pepys asked for Sir Hugh Cholmley, the Younger, to be Director of Works and he took eleven men from this area to be the foremen masons in charge of building the Tangier Mole.
As a reminder of the Aislaby Quarry history, an enscribed blockstone, extracted from one of Whitbys' oldest piers, can be found on the right hand side of the Egton Road just beyond the village. |
Frank Meadow Sutlcliffe
| Sutcliffe the photographer, renowned throughout the world for his wonderful pictures, is buried in our churchyard. His photographs are almost exclusively of the port of Whitby and the surrounding area, and were taken between 1875 and 1922, after which he became curator of the Whitby museum. His incredible images of Victorian life in this part of Yorkshire are still in demand from young and old and are a testament to his artistry. |  |
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