Place:Acaster Selby, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

In the 19th century and previously, Acaster Selby was a village in the parish of Stillingfleet, on the southern edge of the area known as the Ainsty. The Ainsty was a wapentake or hundred covering an area of about 40 square miles to the south, west and northwest of the City of York. York and the Ainsty were considered to be in the West Riding of Yorkshire until the local government reorganization of 1974 when the area was transferred to North Yorkshire. At the same time, some of the parishes within the Ainstry were transferred to Selby District, while those closer to York stayed with the City which became a unitary authority.

The parish of Stillingfleet was a special case. The River Ouse flowed through it and the river was the dividing line separating the West Riding from the East Riding. Acaster Selby was on the west bank of the River and, thus, in the West Riding, and also in the Ainsty.

In the 1974 reorganization, Acaster Selby, which had formerly also been part of Tadcaster Rural District, was transferred to the Selby District of North Yorkshire where it combined with the neighbouring village of Appleton Roebuck to make one parish.

Acaster Selby is about 6 miles south of York. The village has an area of 1,523 acres and it is 1.3 miles (2.1 km) south-east of Appleton Roebuck. According to the 1881 census the population was 115. The 2001 census showed a population of 56 in 20 households. [Data from Wikipedia]]

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The name is derived from the Latin word for a camp, 'castra', indicating that the Roman army may once have been based near here. There is no longer any signs of such an encampment which was thought to have provided protection of the waterway to Tadcaster. The use of Selby indicates that the lands were brought within the control of Selby Abbey. This was done by Osbert de Arches at the time of the Norman Conquest and confirmed in the reign of Richard I.^[1]

The village is listed in the Domesday Book as Acastre in the wapentake of Ainsty in the West Riding of Yorkshire, having 11 households under the lordship of Wulstan, who was replaced by Robert Malet in 1086.

College Farm at Acaster Selby is named after a former college, or a chantry, which was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII.^[1] The site of the St Andrew's College, to the north-east of the farm, is a scheduled monument and includes extensive earthworks of buildings and a moated enclosure.

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