History Page Two

Did you know?

Asenby is home to one of only 10 rare medieval turf labyrinths in the country.

It is situated on the triangular grass area belonging to Crab Manor and measures 27 metres across and its path is 330 metres long. It is overgrown but, apparently, intact underneath the surface. It is recorded as a National Monument.

It is of the Chartres type and it was said in 1908 that ‘there are persons yet alive who have trodden it on many a summer’s evening and kneeling down at the centre have listened to hear the fairies singing’ (Allcroft ‘Earthwork of England’)

Facts about the river Swale

• The fastest rising river in the country.
• Asenby Parish Council hold the fishing rights from the bridge to Highfield’s plantation
• Find out how YOU may get a fishing permit for free (ask a parish councillor!)
• Before Thirsk Swimming Pool was opened by voluntary subscription in 1970, swimming in the Swale was a popular pastime.
• Villagers donated 1d or 2d a week towards the building of the pool – it was collected with the milk money on a Friday evening
• Several local people have drowned in the river over the centuries, either accidentally or deliberately
• Work to make this section of the Swale navigable in the mid 1700s was stopped by money problems
  More facts this way

Chain Ferry

There used to be a chain ferry across the river near the present sewerage works.

Pinfolds in Asenby Picture of a Cow pinfold is a pound with high walls in which stray animals were confined Pinfolds were usually located on the edges of villages, near smithies or inns so that drovers could secure their animals there overnight.

Villages were obliged to have pinfolds and in 1675 the residents of Asenby were fined for not hav​ing a pinfold!

There used to be 2 pinfolds in Asenby:-

1. At the Rainton crossroads near The Forge and The Shoulder of Mutton. 2. Next to the smithy which used to be to the rear of where Pear Tree House is now.

All that remains is part of the high wall but the bungalow named ‘Pinfold’ commemorates the place.