Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for ALDBOROUGH

ALDBOROUGH, a decayed ancient town and a township in the district of Knaresborough, W. R. Yorkshire; and a parish chiefly in the same district, but partly in Ripon district, N. R. The town stands on the river Ure and on Watling-street, near the Boroughbridge and Pilmoor railway, 1 mile E by N of Boroughbridge; and it has a post office under York. It was the capital of the Brigantes, the Isurium of the Romans, and the Ealdburg of the Saxons. It became a borough in the time of Queen Mary; and it sent two members to parliament till disfranchised by the act of 1832. It anciently covered about 60 acres, within defensive walls about 12 feet thick; but it is now a mere village, irregularly built. Some vestiges of the walls remain; and many Roman coins, urns, utensils, and other relics have been found. A Roman citadel is supposed to have stood in its centre; a Roman bridge crossed the Ure contiguous to it; and Roman works of art, including sculptures, wall-paintings, baths, and fine pavements, have left sufficient remains in it to show that it must have been a scene of luxury and power during a considerable period of the Roman occupation. Many of the relics are preserved for the inspection of the curious. The parish church adjoins the site of the supposed citadel; is an edifice of some antiquity; and probably was built with materials from the ancient town. A statue of Mercury occurs in the outside of the vestry wall; and a gravestone, believed to be Saxon, is in the churchyard. Aldborough Hall is at the east gate of the ancient town; and Aldborough Manor is at the west gate.-The township includes the village, and comprises 1,890 acres. Real property, £6,300. Pop., 522. Houses, 115.—The parish includes also the townships of Boroughbridge, Rocliffe, Minskip, Ellenthorpe, and Lower Dunsforth, and parts of the townships of Humberton-with-Milby and Upper Dunsforth-cum-Branton-Green. Acres, 9,323. Real property of Aldborough, Boroughbridge, Rocliffe, Minskip, and Dunsforth townships, £17,002. Pop. of the parish, 2,279. Houses, 519. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £380.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of York. The vicarages of Boroughbridge, Rocliffe, and Dunsforth are separate benefices.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a decayed ancient town and a township"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ripon RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Aldborough

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