Kirby Sigston is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Northallerton.[1] The village is situated on the Cod Beck river,[2] and the wider parish contains the hamlet of Jeater Houses[3] due east of the village on the trunk A19 road.[4]
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having 75 ploughlands, and its name derives from a combination of the Old Norse Kirkju-býr (a village with a church) and Sigges tūn (Sigge's farmstead or settlement).[5] Sigston is also the name of a village nearby.[6]
During the 14th century, the parish was part of a huge deer park and hunting area on the eastern side of what is now known as the Vale of Mowbray.[7] A deserted medieval village (DMV) lies to the south of the church.[8]
The village has never had a shop, post office or pub, and its school, which opened in 1846 and would teach around 35 pupils, closed in 1944.[9][10]
To the north is the site of Sigston Castle, a 14th-century quadrangular castle, surrounded by a now largely dry moat.[11][12] South of Sigston Castle, near the grade II listed Manor House,[13] is St Lawrence's church.[9] The church is largely Norman but the tower was renovated in the 18th century.[14] The grade I listed church is decorated with carvings of dragons, which Pevsner states show the Danish influence in the area.[15]
The population taken at the 2011 Census was fewer than 100, so details are included in the civil parish of Winton, Stank and Hallikeld.[16] North Yorkshire County Council estimated the population of the village in 2015 to be 100 people, an increase of ten since the 2011 census.[17]
The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Conservative MP for Richmond (Yorks), Rishi Sunak, currently lives in Kirby Sigston as his constituency home.[18]
Kirby Sigston is referred to in The Mountain Goats' song "Going to Kirby Sigston".[19]