West Burton, North Yorkshire

West Burton is a village in Bishopdale, a side valley of Wensleydale, in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies south west of Leyburn and west of the County Town of Northallerton. It is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Burton-cum-Walden.HistoryThere is some evidence of an Iron Age settlement on top of nearby Burton Moor that has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It consists of about eighteen hut circles and defined fields.The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as just Burton. The topynomy of the village is derived from the Old English burh-tūn meaning a fortified farm. Until the 17th century the village was known as Burton in Bishopdale. "West" distinguishes the village from the village of Constable Burton, 9mi to the east, also known simply as Burton in the early Middle Ages.At the time of the Norman invasion the village was part of the manor belonging to Thorkil, but afterwards the manor was granted to Geoffrey of Swaffham by Count Alan of Brittany, who had been awarded the lands by the Crown. West Burton (or Burton in Bishopdale or Burton-cum-Walden) was a manor or township of the ancient parish of Aysgarth, and was always coupled with Walden. The manor befell the same fate as other lands belonging to Geoffrey in that they eventually passed to Richard Duke of Gloucester in 1480. Thereafter the descent of the manor followed that of Castle Bolton into the 19th century.