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Introducing Grantley, Sawley, Skelding and Eavestone​ Parish Council

Grantley, Sawley, Skelding and Eavestone is a Grouped Parish Council formed in 1970. The name derives from the four individual parishes from which it was comprised, each of which still retain their own separate legal identities.

The Grouped Parish Council has seven councillors. Three represent Sawley parish, two represent Grantley parish and one each for Skelding and Eavestone Parishes.

We are situated approximately 9 miles north of Harrogate and 5 miles west of the historic city Ripon within the Nidderdale National Landscape, adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Studley Royal which contains the ruins of the 12th century Cistercian, Fountains Abbey.   

Sawley and Grantley are the two largest villages in the combined parishes with populations of 293 and 120 respectively according to census data of 2021 and 2015 respectively. Skelding, situated between the river Skell and high moorland west and north of Grantley has an estimated population of 40 (2015 date) and Eavestone, population 30.

Both Sawley and Grantley date back to the Anglo Saxon times. Historic buildings of note in Sawley include the 16th century Hog Hall, believed to be the original manor house, and the 17th century Lacon Hall. Lacon’s Cross was a medieval way marker on the Cam High Road, an ancient pathway serving travellers, traders and pilgrims. Butterton Bridge is a pack horse bridge built by the monks of Fountains Abbey. 

Grantley village which comprises High and Low Grantley is home to Fountains Primary School which service the local villages. High Grantley was the estate village of Grantley Hall from the 1600’s until 1948. The Norton family built the current Grantley Hall around 1710. Renovated in 1900 by Sir Christopher Furness, and in the 2010’s by the Sykes family after decades as a convalescent hospital and college, Grantley Hall opened as a luxury hotel in 2019. 2025 saw the reopening of the fully refurbished Grantley Arms under the same ownership.

Eavestone boasts Eavestone Lake which sits in a steep sided valley, created in the 1800’s as part of a designed landscape and at one time an extended part of Grantley Hall’s gardens. 

There are a number of walking routes in the parishes, including parts of the Ripon Rowel Walk, the Skell Valley Explorer Walk and the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust Abbots Way.