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Elvington (Holy Trinity)

ELVINGTON (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the wapentake of Ouse and Derwent, union, and E. riding, of York, 7 miles (E. S. E.) from York; containing 478 inhabitants. This place derives its name, according to some, from the ancient eel-fisheries in the district; according to others, from Aluf, a Saxon, to whom Elvington, then written Alvintone, is described in Domesday book as belonging: some, again, deduce it from the Latin Alveus. The parish comprises 2246a. 3r. 17p., of which 1426 acres are arable, 470 pasture and meadow, 172 inclosed, but uncultivated, moorland, and 177 wood and plantations. The surface is generally level, and the soil various, comprehending rich alluvial meadow-ground, locally called Ings, adjoining the river; a friable loam on the acclivity; and a strong clay suitable for wheat and beans; while a portion is poor sand and heath. The Derwent, which forms the eastern boundary of the parish and manor, abounds with fine salmon, for which, and lampreys, there is a fishery of very ancient establishment; large sturgeon, also, some weighing 14 stone, have occasionally been caught. The Hall was, for a considerable time anterior to the close of the last century, the property and seat of the Sternes, from a junior branch of which family was descended the author of Tristram Shandy, who was maintained at the university of Cambridge by his cousin, Sterne, of Elvington. The village is pleasantly built on an acclivity rising from the western bank of the Derwent, and contains several good and substantial houses, with about 70 neat brick cottages. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 17. 2., with a net income of £280: the patronage is in the Lord Chancellor. The tithes were commuted for land and a small money payment, under an act of inclosure, in 1769; the glebe consists of 238a. 3r. 13p., of which 50 acres are wood. The church is a neat plain building, erected in 1803, by the Rev. A. Cheap, then rector, who contributed two-thirds of the expense, and by whom the glebe-house was also built. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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