Wheldrake, United Kingdom
Wheldrake is a town of 1,984 people in England, United Kingdom.
Why visit Wheldrake
Townapedia lists 2 parks and trails, 2 places to eat, 3 places to stay and 1 attraction in and around town.
Highlights include Sutton Bridge.
Weather in Wheldrake
Forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0). Full forecast
About Wheldrake
Wheldrake is a village and civil parish located 7 miles (11 km) south-east of York in the unitary authority of the City of York, which is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,909, increasing to 2,107 at the 2011 census.
From the Wikipedia article Wheldrake (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Things to do1
Sutton Bridge
Bridge · 2.2 mi
Bridge between Sutton upon Derwent and Elvington, Yorkshire, England, UK
Parks, trails and playgrounds2
Restaurants and cafes2
Where to stay3
History
On air photographs an extensive Iron Age or Roman field system is visible as crop marks. There are ditched enclosures, round houses, enclosures, a track way and possibly a square barrow.
In 2002 a Roman farm was discovered at Wheldrake. Excavation of the site revealed structural remains, four Roman graves, animal bones, pottery and the remains of a main Roman road.
The name Wheldrake possibly derives from the Old English cweldric meaning 'death strip', i.e. a strip of land where a death occurred.
In Saxon times Wheldrake was in the Danelaw area of England and so probably consisted of a number of scattered family farming enclosures. In 1066 the land was held locally by a person called Norman but the overlord of the area was Morcar, Earl of Northumbria. It was worth 20 shillings in tax and there was enough arable land for four ploughs to be used.
After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 Wheldrake was given by the new king, William I to a follower called William Malet.
By the time that the Domesday Book was written in 1086 it belonged to William de Percy and was known as Coldrid. The local lord was William Coleville. There was extensive woodland, 20 acres (81,000 m2) of meadow, three fisheries, a water mill and the church.
From a nucleus of about 350 acres (1.4 km2) of land lying around a small deliberately planned village of 16 plots the cultivated area began to be expanded.
Read more of the history
In the 14th century the land was farmed as four open arable fields with common land for grazing animals.
Several gifts of land in Wheldrake were made to monasteries and by the end of the 15th century Fountains Abbey owned a large part of the land in the village.
When King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the land in Wheldrake which had belonged to Fountains and other abbeys was confiscated and granted or sold to private individuals including Robert Robotham, servant to Edward VI and Blanche Parry, servant to Elizabeth I, And Sir Thomas Le Carre, son of French nobleman Sir Henri Le Carre, close friend of Henry VII and former owner of Sheriff Hutton castle. These individuals became the landlords, collecting rent from the farmers and householders who lived in the village.
In 1609 the open fields of Wheldrake still existed. There were 58 leaseholders and 13 freeholders in the village. There were 65 houses. Fifteen people rented only their dwelling houses. These included a weaver and a miller. There was a windmill in the village on a field which is still called Millfield.
In 1773 the landlords applied to parliament to enclose the land of the manor. It was then that the land was made into enclosed farms with fences and ditches around them. In 1778–9, the body of the village church was demolished and rebuilt in the Georgian style, although the thirteenth-century stone tower was retained.
There were between 30 and 40 farmers in Wheldrake in the early part of the 19th century. Some lived on farms outside the built-up area of the village but many still had farmhouses with yards, barns and stables in the village Main Street. The chief crops that were grown were oats, peas, turnips and rape. Much of the farm land was used for pasture for animals or as hay meadows. Most of the land was still owned by a landlord and rented to the local farmers. At this time there were a large number of shopkeepers and traders in the village providing for the needs of agricultural workers in Wheldrake and the neighbouring villages.
In the 20th century the main landowner sold many of the farms and houses that he owned in the village. These were bought by farmers and other private individuals. From the mid 20th century as people became more able to travel to their places of work and to larger shops in towns by motorised transport, the village shops and craft businesses suffered a decline in custom and started to close down. Conversely, people employed in towns found the rural environment attractive and chose to make their homes in Wheldrake. The result of this was an increase in the number of houses being built so that the old nucleus of the village is now almost surrounded by late 20th century housing developments.
The Wheldrake telephone exchange became ADSL enabled from September 2004, and ADSL Max enabled in March 2006. It has been accepting orders for FTTC BT Infinity since March 2014.
From the History section of Wheldrake on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
More about Wheldrake
Geography
Wheldrake is in the southern part of the Vale of York. It is situated 7 miles (11 km) to the south east of York. It lies between the A19 trunk road and the River Derwent and is reached by an unclassified road which leaves the A19 at Crockey Hill. Minor roads to Thorganby, Elvington and Escrick meet at Wheldrake.
There is a bus service to York which leaves Wheldrake every two hours. The journey to York takes 20 minutes.
Between 1912 and 1926 Wheldrake was served by a passenger service on the Derwent Valley Light Railway. The line was open for freight traffic until 1968. The former station is now preserved at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming, at Murton near York.
The rocks underlying this area in the south of the Vale of York are Triassic Bunter sandstone but in this area they are largely overlain by later glacial drift deposits. The village is sited on the slightly raised Escrick moraine. This is one of the terminal moraines that was left in the Vale of York when the ice retreated at the end of the last ice age. The resultant soils vary from thick clay to sand and alluvium and their fertility is consequently very variable.
The river Derwent flows in a southerly direction at the eastern boundary of the parish. This river was tidal until a flood barrier was built downstream in the mid 20th century. The height of the land is between 7 metres (23 ft) and 17 metres (56 ft).
Arts and culture
The Wheldrake Singers is a local choral group that presents two or three concerts each year. They sing mostly Baroque works and are usually accompanied by an accomplished orchestra of local musicians.
The local public house, The Wenlock, closed in May 2011 but has since reopened. There is usually an annual exhibition by local artists and crafts people and two or three accept commissions for watercolours.
The Wheldrake Recreational Association provides a venue for sports and social activities and St Helen's Church promotes a number of Christian social groups. A mobile library visits every two weeks and there is a children's playground with basketball facilities for older children.
Local clubs use the tennis, football and cricket facilities at the village hall. Swallow Hall is the local golf course and there are two angling lakes, Raker Lakes and Westerly Lake. Public footpaths through the fields are maintained by York City council. The Wheldrake Woods and Wheldrake Ings are also popular with walkers.
The parish magazine Parish News is circulated to six hundred homes in the village each month and has a wealth of information about local interests. The radio stations are BBC Radio York and Hits Radio East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire and the local newspaper is The York Press.
Education
Wheldrake with Thorganby Church of England (Aided) Primary School caters for children up to the age of 11. The school moved to its present location on North Lane in 1973 from White Rose House, which can be found next door to the Church on Main Street. The school has recently constructed an extension as the catchment area has seen an increase in the number of younger children and the original building became too small. Older pupils usually attend Fulford School in York.
From the Wikipedia article Wheldrake, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Notable people from Wheldrake
Robert ElliotEnglish naval officer (1790-1849)Photo: Robert Elliot, Public domain
Born in Wheldrake, according to Wikidata (CC0). Each name links to its Wikipedia article.
Churches and places of worship6
Schools, colleges and libraries1
Map of Wheldrake
15 places. The map loads OpenStreetMap tiles when you open it.
Getting there and nearby towns
Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 29 miles away.
- York 6 mi northwest, about 10 min by car
- Selby 9 mi southwest, about 14 min by car
- Haxby 9 mi northwest, about 15 min by car
- Skelton 10 mi northwest, about 16 min by car
- Church Fenton 11 mi southwest, about 18 min by car
- Sheriff Hutton 13 mi north, about 22 min by car
- Goole 14 mi south, about 22 min by car
- Monk Fryston 15 mi southwest, about 23 min by car
- Thorp Arch 15 mi west, about 23 min by car
- Wetherby 17 mi west, about 28 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
Towns near Wheldrake
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Sources and licences
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, coordinates, regions and time zone
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): places, airports, map data
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website, landmarks and historic places
- Wikimedia Commons (see each image): photos
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Photo credits
- St Michael's Church, Sutton upon Derwent, Own work, Public domain
- St Marys Church East Cottingwith, Roger Gilbertson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Page built November 10, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us or suggest a place.