Appleton Wiske - today just a tiny parish within the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire - is actually one of the 41 ancient parishes of the Wapentake of Langbaurgh in the Cleveland division of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was also a part of the sessional division of Yarm. The parish was gifted by William the Conqueror to Robert de Brus of Skelton, an ancestor of Robert the Bruce, the famous Scottish king. De Brus’s son gave it to St. Mary’s Abbey, York, along with Hornby and other lands. It remained in the possession of the St. Mary’s until the dissolution of monasteries, when it was granted by Henry VIII to Charles Brandon, who later became the Duke of Suffolk. The parish then passed through several hands and was finally split up in the early 19th century after the death of Robert Henry Allan, whose family had owned the parish since the early 18th century. The village is thought to date back to Saxon times and is referred to in the Domesday Book as Apletona. The village church is not quite as old - the first reference to it is in 1299, when Edward I visited and heard Mass. Parish records indicate that it was being called The Chapel of St Mary Magdalen in Appleton by 1586. It is a small Norman structure, consisting of nave, chancel and porch. The church is now a grade II listed structure, as is the Wesleyan Methodist chapel built in 1821. In the First World War, of land to the north east of the village was used by two squadrons of the Royal Air Force in the Home Defence role. The squadrons were based at RAF Ripon and used Appleton Wiske as a Relief Landing Ground. Whilst the airfield was scoped out for a possible role in the Second World War, it was never used. In 2009 it was suggested that a planning application for nine wind turbines was due to be raised with Hambleton District Council. With each turbine planned to be high and the nearest some from the village, some locals started an opposition group to oppose the development.
Geography
The village is north east of Northallerton and south west of Yarm. The River Wiske passes to the immediate south of the village, just by the primary school.
Education
Appleton Wiske Primary School has a roll of around 80 to 90 pupils with an age range of four to eleven. Children from East Harsley attend Appleton Wiske Primary School alongside children from the village itself. All are in the catchment area for Northallerton School and Sixth Form College.
Plaudits
The village won a Gold medal in Yorkshire in Bloom in 2006, 2007 and 2008, also winning best village in 2008. Appleton Wiske has also represented Yorkshire and Humberside three times in the national Britain in Bloom competition. In 2002 winning a Silver Medal, in 2004 a Silver-Gilt and Best Village and in 2009 a Gold Medal.
