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Grindale Parish Council is a democratically elected body with a mandate to speak on behalf of all the people living within the parish boundary of Grindale. The function of the Council is to act as a focus for local opinion and to liaise with other bodies and authorities in a constructive way to achieve the desired outcomes where possible.
Grindale In the Past
Grindale: A Village Steeped in History
Nestled within the rolling agricultural landscape of East Yorkshire, Grindale is a rural village whose origins trace back to medieval times. Its layout has changed little since the mid-19th century, with cottages and farmsteads arranged around a near-oval roadway that encircles the village mere — a serene feature that has long been central to village life.
The farms that shape Grindale’s character today reflect the expansion and reorganisation of agriculture that took place during the late 18th and 19th centuries, when larger-scale farming began to define the Yorkshire countryside.
Grindale’s roots, however, reach far deeper. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, within the hundred of Hunthow and the county of Yorkshire. At that time, it was among the smallest settlements noted, with a population equivalent to half a household, and listed under two landowners. Despite its modest beginnings, Grindale endured — a quiet yet constant thread in the fabric of English rural history.
By the 19th century, the village was described by John Marius Wilson in his Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–72) as:
“A chapelry in Bridlington parish, East Riding of Yorkshire; two miles south-west by south of Speeton railway station, and four miles north-west of Bridlington. It has a post office under Hull. Acres, 2,415. Real property, £2,739. Population, 174. Houses, 24. The manor belongs to T. Lloyd, Esq. Fragments of Roman tessellated pavement were found in 1839. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the parish of Sewerby-with-Marton, in the diocese of York. The church was built in 1834.”
These historical details paint a portrait of a village that, though small, has long been woven into the wider story of Yorkshire’s rural and ecclesiastical heritage. The discovery of Roman tessellated pavement hints at an even earlier chapter, suggesting that Grindale’s landscape may have been touched by settlement or activity long before its medieval foundations.
Today, the village remains a living reminder of England’s agricultural past — its peaceful lanes, traditional farmsteads, and enduring community spirit offering a rare continuity with the generations who shaped it centuries ago.
St Nicholas Church, Grindale
Standing proudly amid open farmland, St Nicholas Church commands gentle views across the surrounding countryside — a tranquil setting for a building that has served as the spiritual heart of Grindale for centuries. Though the present structure is largely Victorian, rebuilt between 1873 and 1874, its story stretches back nearly a thousand years.
The Victorian church replaced an earlier brick building of 1830, which itself had succeeded a much older medieval structure. Of the earlier church, little remains, yet the Norman tub font — much restored but still unmistakably ancient — provides a tangible link to Grindale’s earliest days of worship. Beside it rests a larger, early font bowl believed to have originated from the lost church of Argham, a poignant relic from a vanished parish nearby.
Inside, the church showcases the craftsmanship of the Victorian revival, with a beautifully carved pulpit and an elegant stone reredos adorning the altar. One particularly curious feature is its unusual orientation: unlike most English churches, which face east, St Nicholas faces west, setting it apart from convention and lending it a quiet distinctiveness.
The first written record of a church at Grindale appears in 1153, when a curate named Serls resigned his prebendary post for reasons now lost to time. Earlier still, the Domesday Book notes that both the king and the archbishop held land here — though the archbishop’s estate lay waste, while the king’s land eventually passed to the de Gant family.
By 1115, Grindale’s church seems to have been closely connected to Bridlington Priory, though it retained some measure of independence with its own patronage. For many years, however, its curates were likely supplied by the priory, reflecting the strong ecclesiastical ties that bound this small rural community to one of Yorkshire’s great religious houses.
The medieval church stood for centuries before being almost completely rebuilt under the patronage of the Lloyd Greame family of Sewerby in 1874. The result was the graceful Victorian building seen today — a testament to the village’s enduring faith and its layered, living heritage.