Topcliffe | |
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Front Street Topcliffe |
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Topcliffe shown within North Yorkshire | |
Population | 1,489 (2011 census) |
OS grid reference | SE402760 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | THIRSK |
Postcode district | YO7 3 |
Dialling code | 01845 |
Police | North Yorkshire |
Fire | North Yorkshire |
Ambulance | Yorkshire |
EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
UK Parliament |
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Topcliffe is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated on the River Swale, on the A167 road and close to the A168. It is about 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west of Thirsk and 11 miles (18 km) south of the county town of Northallerton. It has a population of 1,489. An Army Barracks, formerly a Royal Air Force base, is located to the north of the village.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Topeclive" in the "Yarlestre hundred." At the time of the Norman invasion, the manor was the possession of Bernwulf. Afterwards it was granted to William of Percy. The manor became the chief seat of the Percy family until the middle of the 17th century, though there was some confusion of the line of inheritance in the 12th century. There was a short interruption to this line in the 15th century when the manor was granted to the Neville family following the death of Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland at the Battle of Towton in 1461, where he was fighting for the Lancastrians who lost. This was reversed in 1469 and the manor restored to the Percy family. In the 16th century there were two other brief periods when the manor was granted first to the Archbishop of York and then to the Earl of Warwick. The manor was restored to the Percy family in 1557. The last of the family to hold the manor in their name was Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, though it passed to his daughter who married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. Their son inherited the manor, but he died heirless and the manor was passed to his nephew Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont. The manor remained in the Wyndham family into the 20th century.