Scotton, Harrogate

Scotton is a small village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England with a population 524 in the 2001 census,[2] increasing to 624 at the 2011 Census.[1] It is 3 miles (5 km) north of Harrogate, 1.2 miles (2 km) north west of Knaresborough[3] and is just north of the River Nidd where it flows through Nidd Gorge.[4][5] However; all the watercourses through the village and the parish flow eastwards via the River Tutt and empty into the River Ure despite Scotton being very close to the Nidd.[6]

Scotton
The Guy Fawkes public house (centre)
Scotton Location within North Yorkshire
Population	624 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SE327592
District	Harrogate
Shire county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KNARESBOROUGH
Postcode district	HG5
Dialling code	01423
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Harrogate and Knaresborough

The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Scotone[7] and was listed as belonging to Gilbert Tison with only two households.[8] Scotton was the home of Guy Fawkes during his teenage years,[9] Scotton has a Guy Fawkes Night celebration in his honour. The village has an annual summer fete called the Scotton Feast. Not held in 2005 for the first time in several years (the organising committee claimed that it was because of a lack of support from the village), it returned in 2006. One of the old houses near the present day church was the setting of a local folktale that the Gunpowder plot was concocted there; however, Speight determines that there is no evidence that Fawkes visited the village after 1603, which makes this tale extremely unlikely.[10]

Apart from the Guy Fawkes Arms public house,[11][12] the village has little in the way of public amenities. It has a village hall,[13] a cricket team and a boys and girls junior football teams, but no shop, as the post office closed down rather than become a national lottery outlet. There is a Methodist church[14] and Anglican one (the Church of St Thomas the Apostle). St Thomas' church was consecrated in May 1889; previous to this, worship used to be held in a house in the village.[15][16]

Scotton Cricket Club play in the Nidderdale Cricket League with the 1st XI in the 2nd division, and the 2nd XI in the 8th division of the same league.[17]

Scotton is sometimes used as a shortcut by people wishing to travel from the A6055 to the B6165 and vice versa.