HISTORY OF SKELTON VILLAGE YORK The name of the village was originally Shelfton 0r Scelfton, meaning a settlement on a shelf

8th century approx :  Anglo - Saxon name given to a small settlement on a ridge of land just above the 50 ft. contour. The original settlers must have begun to drain the marshy land around to cultivate it, and dug out the ditches which still surround the village - Hurns Gutter, White Sike, Pennells Drain and Burtree Dam.
 
1088
Domesday Book records a manor with a hall in Skeltun, belonging partly to St Peter's (York Minster) and partly to Earl Alan, a French nobleman and a supporter of William the Conqueror.
 
Medieval period
Village laid out with a street plan similar to the old village centre today, and open fields for strip farming.
South Field, North field, Park Field, Well Field.
Brecks Field was a later addition.
 
1247
Skelton Church built by the Treasurer of York Minster.

16th century
Skelton Manor built.
 
1538
Parish registers began. Most of Skelton was in the parish of Overton until the 1870's.
 
1630
Earliest known map of Skelton, at the time of the disforestation of The Forest of Galtres. This shows the parish boundaries which have persisted into the 21st century.
 
1644
Civil War. Skelton had to pay a £126 tax, and a wagon and horses, to the Royalists.
Troops camped around Skelton the night before the Battle of Marston Moor, crossing the Ouse by "bridge of boats" at Overton.
 
1675
Skelton Grange built (re-built in the 19th century), by the Place family. Demolished in the 1970s.
 
1745
Threat from advancing army of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Plans made by some villagers to escape by boat.
Preparations for boarding up of the church.
 
1752
The Kings Highway was turnpiked, and a toll bar cottage built at Skelton.
 
1806
Enclosure Act. The End of the open fields.
Land was divided between six landowners.
 1806 Map of Skelton
 
 
1815
Fairfield Manor built, owned at one time by racehorse breeders. It later became a hospital and is now a Hotel.
 
1831
Skelton Hall built by Mary Thompson. Benefactor to school and church.
 
1840 Approx
School opened in Pyramid House.
 
1864
Moorlands House built 2 miles outside the village.
Owned by the Tew family, then became a hospital The wood is now owned by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
The house is in private ownership.
 
1873
C of E School built, replacing Pyramid House. Now the Village Hall.
 
1898
Churchyard closed for burials, replaced by a burial ground outside the village on Moorlands Road.
 
1914 - 1918
First World War 57 villagers served in the forces and 6 were killed.
Memorial Lychgate erected at the entrance to the cemetery - British Legion hut erected after the war. Now Skelton Social and Ex-Servicemens Club.
 
1939 - 1945
Second World War. 22 Men and 2 Women served and 2 were killed.
Evacuees and troops billeted in village.
Air raid shelters constructed under the village green.
 
1955 - 1959
School moved to Skelton Primary School, Brecksfield.
The old school was opened as Skelton Village Hall.

20th Century
Housing Development
Very few new houses built until after 1945. Population grew from 274 in 1901 to about 1600 in the early years of the 21st century.
The Meadows and Brecksfield built in 1950s, The Dell and The Vale from the early 1960s and Grange Park in the late 1970s.

TO READ ABOUT SKELTON AS IT IS TODAY