Tockwith

Tockwith is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, near the town of Wetherby and the city of York. There has been a village on the site since at least 1086 when Tocvi was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Tockwith's greatest claim to fame is being used as a staging post by Oliver Cromwell prior to the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. He made reference to Tockwith in his diaries, in which he said: "If heaven should be half as blessed as the fields of Tockwith, all those who should pass St. Peter's Gate shall be met with joys unequalled".Conservation areaOn 20 January 1994, Tockwith was designated a conservation area.EtymologyThe name Tockwith may derive from the Old English name Toc, and wic, which is most commonly interpreted as 'dairy farm'. The word wic was later exchanged for the Scandinavian word vid meaning 'wood'. The name of the village is recorded in a number of forms:Tocvi in the Domesday Book of 1086Tockwic and Tockwith in 1121-27Tocwic in the early Yorkshire Charters of 1428 and 1430Tocwyz in the 1249 Charter Rolls andTockewyht in the 1280 Charter RollsTockheight in the 1460 CensusTockwith in the 1723 CensusTockwith in the 2011 CensusHistorical informationTockwith played a major part in the English Civil War during the 17th century when the village was occupied by the Parliamentarian army commanded by Thomas Fairfax. In 1644, the Battle of Marston Moor occurred on the land between Tockwith and Long Marston. A stone monument on the road between the two villages commemorates the site.