Dalton, east North Yorkshire
Dalton is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is about south of Thirsk and near the A168 road. It mainly consists of farmland as well as an industrial estate. It has a population of 518.
History
The toponym is first recorded as Deltone in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is derived from the Old English dæl "valley" and tūn "settlement", so means "valley settlement".Dalton had 10.2 households in 1066 which is quite a small amount in comparison to other parishes according to the Domesday book. The total tax assessed is 5.2 geld units, which is quite large for a parish. The Lord in 1066 was called Bernwulf and the value to the lord was £4. The Lord as well as tenant-in-chief in 1086 was William of Percy and the value was £5. Dalton had 15 ploughlands, one mill, one church and four furlongs worth of woodland.
In 1086 Dalton was a berewick of Topcliffe, and by the 15th century was known as a manor. Until the 19th century it remained a township of the large ancient parish of Topcliffe in the wapentake of Birdforth in the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1866 it became a separate civil parish.
In 1870, John Marius Wilson recorded:
In 1890 Dalton was made up of 2,649 acres of land and 177 acres were covered in plantations. Some of it was elevated moorland and the rest was fertile land. A small ‘chapel of ease’ was created here in 1839 in which a service used to be held every second Sunday morning of the month, and every evening on all the other Sundays. In 1855 the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was created which was described as “a very small and plain building”.
During the Second World War, RAF Dalton was used as an airfield by RAF Bomber Command. It was home to No.102 Squadron in November 1941. In 1943 it was allocated to No.6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force.
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton. It is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.