Boroughbridge, West Riding

Description
Boroughbridge, a market-town, township, and parish in the W.R. Yorkshire. the town stands on the Ure, has a station on a branch of the N.E.R., and is 64 miles ESE of Ripon. It was formerly called Newborough, in contradistinction to the neighbouring small town of Aldborough, and it takes the latter part of its present name from a bridge built liere over the Ure soon after the Conquest, and now superseded by a modern bridge. A battle was fought in its vicinity in 1322 between the forces of Edward II. and those of the Earl of Lancaster. Three rude monumental pillars, called the Devil's Arrows, somewhat like obelisks, and respectively 18, 22, and 31 feet high, stand, about 1/2 a mile to the west, and have been (he subject of much discussion among antiquaries. A neat, fluted, Doric column, seemingly of the 14th century, stood in the market-place; and a quondam mansion of the Tancreds is now an inn. The town has a post, money order, and telegraph office under York, a railway station, and two banks. A weekly market is lield on Tuesday, and various fairs during the year for horses, cattle, and sheep. The town was made a borough in the time of Mary, sending two members to Parliament, but was disfranchised by the Act of 1832. Acreage of township, 95; population, 924. the living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon; net value, £273 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Aldborough. The church is a substantial modern building with a tower; and there is a Wesleyan chapel, a cemetery, and a temperance hall.