Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located at the point where Swaledale, the upper valley of the River Swale, opens into the Vale of Mowbray. The town's population at the 2011 census was 8,413. The town is north-west of Northallerton, the county town, and north-west of York.

In the Domesday Book of 1086 the area was collected under Yorkshire and the town was in the Gilling Wapentake. After the book it became the centre for wapentakes in the Honour of Richmond for the North Riding of Yorkshire. Between 1974 and 2023 the town was the administrative centre of the Richmondshire district of the North Yorkshire non-metropolitan county. Richmond is located near the eastern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, for which it has become a tourist centre.

History Richmond in North Yorkshire was the Honour of Richmond of the Earls of Richmond (or comtes de Richemont), a dignity also held by the Duke of Brittany from 1136 to 1399.

Richmond was founded in 1071 by Alan Rufus, a Breton nobleman, on lands granted to him by William the Conqueror, though it was called Hindrelag initially. The name derives from Old French "Riche and Monte", meaning "Strong Hill", and is probably named after his Richemont in Normandy. Richmond is one of the most commonly re-used English place names: there are over 56 other Richmonds around the world. Richmond Castle was completed in 1086 with a keep and walls encompassing the area now known as the Market Place.

Richmond was part of the lands of the earldom of Richmond, which was intermittently held by the Dukes of Brittany until the 14th century. John V, Duke of Brittany, died in 1399, and Henry IV took possession. Richmond is one of a few settlements that was spared from being raided by the Scots during The Great Raid of 1322 by bribing them off. In 1453, the earldom was conferred on Edmund Tudor, and it was merged with the crown when Edmund's son became King Henry VII in 1485. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Covenanter Army led by David Leslie, Lord Newark, took over the castle, and conflict ensued between local Catholics and Scottish Presbyterians.

In 1608, Robert Willance became the first alderman of Richmond, two years prior in 1606, whilst hunting on the nearby Whitcliffe Scar, the horse Willance was riding became nervous when thick mist descended, bolting over the edge and falling over to the valley floor, Willance survived this fall with a broken leg and erected a monument on top of the cliff as a show of gratitude for his survival. Willance died in 1616.

The prosperity of the medieval town and centre of the Swaledale wool industry greatly increased in the late 17th and 18th centuries with the burgeoning lead mining industry in nearby Arkengarthdale. It is from this period that the town's Georgian architecture originates, the most notable examples of which are to be found on Newbiggin and in Frenchgate. One of Europe's first gas works was built in the town in 1830. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Richmond Barracks in 1877.

During the First World War, Richmond's own Green Howards Regiment raised 24 battalions for the war effort, the castle assumed a role as a barracks and training camp for new recruits and members of the Non-Combatant Corps, in 1915, the first troops occupied the area south of Richmond in what was to become Catterick Camp, the planning of which was commissioned by Lord Baden Powell during his residence at the town's barracks.

In 1916, a group of "absolutist" conscientious objectors known as the Richmond Sixteen were held at the castle after refusing to undertake even non-combatant military duties. After being transported to France, they were court-martialled and formally sentenced to be executed by firing squad, but this sentence was immediately commuted to ten years' penal servitude, and the men were eventually released in 1919. Richmond Castle's 19th-century cell block continued to be used to house prisoners into the Second World War.

In June 1927, Richmond was a centre line of totality during a solar eclipse. The event is marked with a plaque at the top of Reeth Road.

Governance

Local government

Richmond was located in the eponymous district of Richmondshire, created under the Local Government Act 1972 by a merger of the municipal borough of Richmond with the rural districts of Richmond, Aysgarth, Leyburn, Reeth, and part of Croft. Richmondshire was abolished in 2023, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

The town itself is split between three local government wards, Richmond East, Richmond North, and Richmond West, however the most southerly residential areas including Holly Hill and the area surrounding the former railway station are covered by the Hipswell ward, and as a result these residents are not able to elect members of the town council. The town council consists of 15 councillors elected from the three Richmond wards, a new town mayor is elected by the council members each February and taking office in May; meetings are held at Richmond Town Hall.

Parliamentary representation

The serving member for Richmond and Northallerton constituency in Westminster is the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, who has held the seat since 2015 when he succeeded former party leader and Foreign Secretary William Hague. In modern times it has been an ultra-safe seat for the Conservative Party with them having held it continually since 1910.

Geography Situated approximately north-west of the county town Northallerton, Richmond straddles the eastern border of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, at the edge of a valley or dale known as Swaledale, which takes its name from the river that flows through the town, said to be one of the fastest flowing in England.

The nearest official Met Office weather station to Richmond is Leeming, about to the south-east. Temperature extremes have ranged from during August 1990, down to during December 2010.

Demography According to the 2011 United Kingdom census, the parish of Richmond had a total resident population of 8,413, of which 4,374 females and 4,039 males. 95.8% of the population identified as white British, 1.4% as other white, 1.1% as Asian or Asian British, and 0.8% as black, Afro-Caribbean or black British. The place of birth of the town's residents was 93.8% United Kingdom, 3.3% from European Union countries, and 2.5% from elsewhere in the world. 71.7% said they had religious beliefs; 70.4% of those were Christian, 1.3% is made up of all other religions, the largest being Buddhism at 0.8%, 21.4% said they had no religion.

A quirk of the demographics in the town is that 2% of the population was born in Germany. This is a result of the nearby Catterick Garrison.

The following table shows historic population changes in the Richmond parish area between 1801 and 2011. + Population at census yearsYear1801181118211831184118511881189119011911192119311951196119711981199920012011Population2,8613,0563,5463,9003,9924,1064,5024,2163,8373,9343,8874,7696,1665,7767,2457,7008,4808,1788,413Sources:

Economy As a gateway town to the Yorkshire Dales, tourism is important to the local economy, but the single largest influence is the Catterick Garrison army base, which is rapidly becoming the largest population centre in Richmondshire. National chain retailers such as Lidl, WHSmith, Boots, and the Co-op, as well as local independent shops, restaurants and pubs, also provide a source of employment. The Gallowfields Trading Estate in the north of the town accommodates several builder's merchants, car garages and showrooms, a Royal Mail delivery office and a veterinarian surgery.

A traditional market still operates every Saturday in one of the largest cobbled market places in England, as well as a week round indoor one in the 19th-century Richmond Market Hall. The origins of the markets date back as far as 1093 when they were authorised by the Earls, and the first known royal charter was granted in 1155.

According to the 2011 United Kingdom census, the economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 37.6% in full-time employment, 15.5% in part-time employment, 10.4% self-employed, 3.4% unemployed, 2.4% students with jobs, 3.6% students without jobs, 20% retired, 2.9% looking after home or family, 2.8% permanently sick or disabled, and 1.4% economically inactive for other reasons.

The average price of a house in Richmond for the 12-month period ending February 2020 was £241,583 compared to £223,537 for North Yorkshire and the national average of £232,320.

Landmarks

Richmond Castle in the town centre overlooks the River Swale and is a major tourist attraction, bringing in close to 40,000 visitors a year. Scolland's Hall is the gatehouse and was staffed by the Lords of Bedale, such as Bryan FitzAlan, Lord FitzAlan, and Miles Stapleton, Founder KG. Other staff residences were Constable Burton and Thornton Steward. Also, Richmond had an extended Wensleydale castlery initially consisting of Middleham Castle, Ravensworth and Snape (Baron FitzHugh & Neville Baron Latymer). The Conyers, Wyville, Gascoigne, Stapleton and Lovell families were all notable gentry.

Within walking distance from the town centre are the ruins of the premonstratensian Easby Abbey, managed by English Heritage, and adjacent Easby Hall, built in 1729. A popular town legend tells the story of the Little Drummer Boy, a young member of an 18th-century regiment who was sent by soldiers to investigate a tunnel leading away from the castle towards Easby, playing his drum to guide the soldiers above ground, however the drums ceased suddenly and the boy was never seen or located since, a stone marker stands at the point at which the boy's drumming stopped, on a footpath between the town and Easby.

Richmond Market Cross or "obelisk" was built in 1771 to replace the medieval cross that stood before it. On the south-west side of the town stands the folly of Culloden Tower, originally built in 1746 to commemorate the Duke of Cumberland's at the Battle of Culloden, after falling into disrepair it was restored in 1981 and now is used a holiday let. Another small folly is Oliver Duckett on the northern outskirts of the town, a rounded bastion tower, built from the same stone as Richmond Castle and now lying on public land.

Swale House on Frenchgate, built around 1750, was home to the headmaster and students of the nearby grammar school, before being used as a hospital for wounded officers in the First World War. For many years, it was the headquarters of Richmondshire District Council, before being closed and sold off in 2013. Millgate House bed & breakfast has received mentions in several national publications for its accompanying gardens.

There are two war memorials sited in Richmond. The Gallowgate Memorial stands overlooking Frenchgate, taking the form of a Celtic cross and is dedicated to the losses suffered by the Green Howards regiment during both the First and Second World Wars; the other monument commissioned is located in the friary gardens and commemorates all of the victims of the two World Wars who resided in Richmond.

Richmond Falls are a short walk from the town centre and to the west of the town, on the road to Marske, is the unusually named Richmond Out Moor.

Religious sites