Village of the Week: Fridaythorpe is the highest settlement in the Wolds and what it lacks in amenities it makes up for in character

A family outing to Brid for some chips and a walk on the beach may well have often taken you over the A166 as you head towards the Yorkshire Wolds on your journey via the more well known spots of Stamford Bridge and Driffield.

In between the two though, is the village of Fridaythorpe.

I think East Yorkshire villages have some common features and similarities that set them apart from the more obvious chocolate box type street scenes you get in the likes of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.

In a way there is something more agricultural about them as they are less about the tourist sell. They are ‘working’ villages, perhaps even they are a little forgotten about - but I like that.

You will see tractors in fields, trailers here and there, farmers around and about and maybe a little more familiarity between locals as they still are.

Houses are hard to come by if you are looking to purchase and when they do - they’re not cheap.

Maybe, after the COVID driven desire for green spaces left city dwellers flocking to the likes of Whitby and Sandsend by the coast and Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales and these places became saturated by both people and price - attention is being paid to places more low key?

There are about 300 or so residents in Fridaythorpe. At the last census count in 2011, the population was recorded as being 319 and in 2001, it was 183.

Amenities are not in abundance. The nearest doctors services are in Driffield which is nine ish miles away. Most major banks are at Driffield and the nearest big four supermarket. The village butcher shop has closed down. There is no local school, there are no takeaways. The petrol station and shop close at 7pm.

There is, however, a local pub The Manor Inn which recently reopened.

That said, there not being 24 hour convenience or any neon shop lights, makes village life all the more charming, quaint, peaceful and generally appealing to myself.

You get the sense people are there because there is a value and appreciation for that way of life.

The unmistakable East Yorkshire village traits, which Fridaythorpe shares, are long narrow roads, with cottages lining each side. The sort where you step straight off the pavement and into them. It is almost as if they are peering down on you when you drive by.

Some are rendered, others are made from narrow red brick. There are half derelict barns dotted around, some have been converted to beautiful family homes, others are soaking up the spring sunshine and some don’t have a single straight line about them.

But they all add to the character and remind you of an era past where farming and village life were one and the same thing and the pace of life was less hectic.

I am thinking about Back Lane, the country lane out to Thixendale, in particular when I say this.

A record of village life from 1823 has Fridaythorpe inhabitants numbered at 275. Occupations included 11 farmers, three wheelwrights, two blacksmiths, two grocers, two shoemakers, three tailors, a tanner, and the landlords of the Cross Keys and Hare & Hounds pubs.

Also on Back Lane is a particular point of village interest (and seemingly another East Yorkshire Village trait) - Fridaythorpe’s village pond.

In a Yorkshire Post article from 2015, the writer noted that within an hour’s driving through the southern part of the Yorkshire Wolds he had noted six village ponds.

As the ground can be porous chalk, it doesn’t hold water on the surface and there are few rivers or streams to provide a reliable source of water. Some can dry up and disappear for years.

Saxon farmers, who colonised the Wolds from the 5th century onwards, found a solution and constructed clay-bottomed ponds to collect dew and rainwater, and this was where they built their settlements.

Many of those Saxon ponds are the village ponds we see today and story has it that when Fridaythorpe’s pond once dried up during a particularly hot summer, the villagers sent raiding parties to steal water from the pond at the neighbouring village of Fimber, which had held its water supply for longer.

Also steeped in history is St Mary’s Church. As of 1966 it has been grade I listed and dates back to the 1100s. Alterations were made in the 1700s and more recently at the turn of the 20th century with works carried out on the instruction of Sir Tatton Sykes, the 5th Baronet of Sledmere.

The church features as one of those on the Sykes Church Trail, a tour of East Yorkshire churches which were built, rebuilt or restored by the Sykes family.

Approached by a narrow country lane and a gap in the hedge, St Mary’s sits somewhat proudly above the village and from its stance, commands panoramic views across the Wolds for miles.

Fridaythorpe is the highest village in The Wolds and St Mary’s is on the top at about 170 metres.

The village is also the mid-point of the Yorkshire Wolds Way national trail which covers 79 miles between Hessle and Filey Brigg.

However, perhaps the village’s best claim to fame is a tradition that stopped a few years ago and I have no doubt would be welcomed back.

Fridaythorpe used to host the World Flat Cap Throwing Championships. It was last held in the village in September 2014 with the event raising £104.77 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The record is now 36.7 metres thanks to Kurtis Thorpe.