Yorkshire

Formerly largest county in England, Yorkshire is in the north-central part of England between the Pennines and the North Sea. The region is composed of four broad belts of land stretching from north to south: in the west the high Pennine moorlands dissected by the Yorkshire Dales; in the southeast the central lowlands (including the Vale of York) draining into the River Humber estuary; in the east the North York Moors and Yorkshire Wolds; and, farther southeast, the Holderness plain along the North Sea. Yorkshire was bordered by the historic counties of Durham to the north, Westmorland to the northwest, Lancashire to the west, Cheshire and Derbyshire to the southwest, and Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the southeast. Yorkshire is now composed of all or most of the following administrative units: the county of North Yorkshire; the unitary authorities of Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough, Kingston upon Hull, and York; the part of the unitary authority of Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees; and all or most of every metropolitan borough in the metropolitan counties of West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. The exceptions are the parish of Finningley and the area west of Bawtry (both in the metropolitan borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire) which lie within the historic county of Nottinghamshire; the area around Beighton and Mosborough in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, which belongs to the historic county of Derbyshire; and the area west of Todmorden in the metropolitan borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, which lies within the historic county of Lancashire. The historic county also includes three large areas in other administrative units: much of the eastern part of the administrative county of Lancashire and much of the borough of Ribble Valley, including the entire Forest of Bowland region; Garsdale, Dentdale, and the area around Sedbergh in the South Lakeland district of the administrative county of Cumbria; the area south of the Tees in the Teesdale district of the administrative county of Durham; and small areas along the southeast border of the historic county of Yorkshire lie in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire. Yorkshire has a rich history: there are many prehistoric remains, including the impressive earthworks at Stanwick, and it was a Roman military stronghold from the 1st to the 5th century CE. After a time being controlled by indigenous Britons, Yorkshire became part of the kingdom of Deira from the 6th to the 9th century. It was taken by Danes 875 and recaptured by kings of Wessex 954. The region remained strongly Anglo-Scandinavian in culture until the Normans took control in 1069. Important monasteries were founded here and large artistocratic estates were established. After the Black Death of the 14th century, most of Yorkshire's crop land became pasture for sheep and woolen manufacture became an important industry. It was the base for Yorkists during War of the Roses (1455-1485) and two of the most important battles were fought here (Wakefield and Towton, 1460 and 1461). The battle at Marston Moor in 1644 was one of the most crucial of the English Civil Wars. Yorkshire's long history has left behind an outstanding array of architecture: pre-Norman churches; impressive ruined abbeys such as Rievaulx; castles such as Bolton; the outstanding Gothic York Minster; and notable country houses such as 18th-century Castle Howard.