Kirby Hill, Richmondshire


Kirby Hill, historically also known as Kirby-on-the-Hill, is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is about south of Ravensworth and about northwest of the town of Richmond.
The parish population is about 60, remaining less than 100 at the 2011 Census. Information regarding the population is now included in the parish of Gayles.
In 1866 Kirby Hill, until then a township in the parish of Kirkby Ravensworth, was made a separate civil parish.
In 1859 the centre of the village green featured "a beautiful spring", which continued to be used by residents until at least 1932. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described Kirby Hill as "a perfect village, but... also... exceptional".

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of SS Peter and Felix served the large ancient parish of Kirkby Ravensworth. It was built in the 12th century on the site of an Anglo-Saxon church.
The east window of the chancel is 13th-century. In the 14th century the vestry, north aisle and south porch were added and several new windows inserted. The west tower was built in 1397. In the 15th century the clerestory and south aisle were added. The church is a Grade I listed building.
The tower has two bells. One is inscribed Venite exultemus domino, which is Latin for "Let us come and praise the Lord", a quotation from Psalm 95, and SS 1664, which the year it was founded and the initials of the master founder, Samuel Smith of York.
A monument in the church commemorates the former rector Dr John Dakyn, who was Archdeacon of the East Riding. He who took part in, and is a noted chronicler of, the Pilgrimage of Grace, but "managed to exculpate himself".
Other notable rectors of the parish include George Fitzhugh, who was Chancellor of Cambridge University and Dean of Lincoln, William Rokeby, who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Alan Percy, who was Master of St John's College, Cambridge.
The church has also a monument to Thomas Wycliffe, who died in 1821 and was the last surviving male descendant of the religious reformer John Wycliffe.

Grammar school

Dr John Dakyn was a vicar of Kirby Ravensworth in the 16th century. He left a legacy to found a grammar school in the village. It was built in 1556 and enlarged in 1706.
Notable alumni of the school include Matthew Hutton, who was born here and was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1757, the astronomer William Lax and the antiquarian and topographer James Raine.
The school closed in 1957, just a year after its 400th anniversary, and the building is now a private house. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Amenities

Kirby Hill has an 18th-century public house, the Shoulder of Mutton.