Draughton, North Yorkshire

Draughton has been historically written in various forms, including Dracton in the Domesday Book, and later Drahton, Draython, and Draghton. It was spelled Draughton as early as 1423. The name includes the Old Danish drag, meaning a slope or a portage, and the Old English tūn, simply meaning a dwelling-place or settlement. The Old Danish part may have replaced another Old English element, dræg, meaning a portage or path.^[5][6]

Draughton is located east of Skipton. The boundaries of the civil parish extend around and to the east of the village proper, and include the Chelker Reservoir. To the east, the parish extends about 1.9 miles (3 km) to the River Wharfe and includes three hills and some pockets of ancient woodland; the hamlet of Bolton Bridge, outside the parish boundaries, marks the north-east corner. The parish boundaries extend 1.2 miles (2 km) to the south of the village, and include Draughton moor. Northwards and westwards, the parish boundaries follow becks.^[7]

The parish of Draughton is surrounded to the north by Yorkshire Dales National Park, to the east by the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and to the south by the Bradford green belt.^[7]

The heritage Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway passes near the village,^[8] and that line's Bolton Abbey Railway station lies within the parish boundaries. The A59 road lies just outside of the parish's northern boundary, while the A65 passes through the centre of the parish.^[7]

Work on the A65 bypass started in early December 1990, by Shand Construction, costing £2.18 million. It was one mile, to open in March 1992.^[9] The bypass was opened in mid-December 1991 by the Chairman of the county council, Angela Harris.^[10]

The main street of the village, Low Lane, runs roughly north–south; there is a small stream that runs just east of the village. The A65 road marks the bottom of the settled area. There is a church named after Saint Augustine in the village.^[11][12]

The Dales Way passes through the parish's area, in the segment that connects the village of Addingham with Bolton Abbey. In 2024, a new footpath was added to take walkers off the B6160 road east of the village proper, near Bolton Bridge.^[13]

The village itself sits mostly on carboniferous mudstone, part of the Hodder Mudstone formation, and is partially surrounded by large patchy swathes of limestone dating to the same era. The rest of the parish is more geologically diverse: a large area to the east of the village is shale, followed by sandstone around the River Wharfe.^[14]

The population of the civil parish was 270 in 2015.^[1] In 1911, it was 166; this continued to decline during the 20th century until an increase by 1971.^[15]

The village was recorded in the Domesday Book.^[16] In St. Augustine’s Church, there is a plaque honouring the four men from Draughton who died in the First World War, and the one man who died in the Second World War.^[17] The Draughton post office was closed in 2008.^[18] In 2022, disinfection measures were temporarily introduced to a water treatment plant near Draughton to help improve the water quality of a swimming spot at Ilkley in the River Wharfe, after a report that May showed that the river at Ilkley had the lowest water quality in the UK that summer.^[19][20]

There are several listed buildings in the parish of Draughton, including buildings and boundary stones. The Flat Bridge, which takes the B6160 road over a stream, was built around 1800. Besides five boundary stones and other markers, there is also an 18th-century farmhouse, a lime kiln, and a house dating to around 1810.^[21] In addition, there are two ancient woodlands – forests which have existed since 1600 – within the parish, Lob Wood and Eller Carr Wood.^[7]