Wensley, North Yorkshire

Not to be confused with Wensley, Derbyshire.

Wensley is a small village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a few homes and holiday cottage, an inn, a pub and a historic church.^[2] It is on the A684 road 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west of the market town of Leyburn. The River Ure passes through the village.

Wensley
Holy Trinity Church, Wensley
Wensley Location within North Yorkshire
Population	151 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SE092895
• London	200 mi (320 km) SSE
Unitary authority	North Yorkshire
Ceremonial county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LEYBURN
Postcode district	DL8
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
List of places UK England Yorkshire 54.30175°N 1.85862°W / 54.30175; -1.85862

The etymology of the name ultimately originates either from a compound of an Old English form of the god Woden (attested Wednesleg c. 1212, earlier Wodnesleie, see Wednesday), and the Old English leah meaning wood or meadow.^[3] Another possible route for the first part is the personal name Wændel.^[4] Wensley gives its name to the dale Wensleydale.^[5]

From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Richmondshire, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

For a century after its charter in 1202, Wensley had the only market in the dale and this continued into the 16th century. Plague struck Wensley in 1563,^[6] some surviving villagers fled to Leyburn, but the village recovered a century later when Charles Paulet built Bolton Hall in 1678 and became Duke of Bolton.^[7] Bolton Hall, is now 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from the heart of Wensley, near Preston-under-Scar, Richmondshire; it was rebuilt after a fire in 1902.^[8]

Wensley's Holy Trinity Church dates to 1300 and is a Grade I listed building.^[9] It is now redundant and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.^[10] It was featured as the wedding venue of James and Helen Herriot in the 1978 BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small, in the episode "The Last Furlong".^[11][12]

Wensley old railway station buildings and platform, Wensleydale Railway, North Yorkshire

Wensley's railway station is now closed. It was situated 1-mile (1.6 km) to the north between Wensley and Preston-under-Scar, on the Wensleydale Railway line which still passes the village.

Leyburn Old Glebe nature reserve lies about 440 yards (400 m) east of the village.

Ernie Gillatt, a footballer active in the 1920s, was born in Wensley.^[13]