Yorkshire is by far the largest of the English counties. It is bounded on the E. by the sea, separated on the N. by the river Tees from the county palatine of Durham, divided mainly from Westmorland and Lancashire by the water-parting of the Pennine chain on the W., and bounded on the S. by Derbyshire and Notts, while the Humber separates it from Lincolnshire. The western boundaries of the county were not fixed till the erection of the Earldom of Lancaster in the reign of Henry III., in Domesday Book the northern part of Lancashire and portions of Westmorland and Cumberland being included in the West Riding. For administrative purposes Yorkshire is divided into three Ridings (thridings, or 'thirds'), each of which has its own lord-lieutenant, magistracy, and constabulary. There are eleven wapentakes in the North Riding, nine in the West Riding, and six in the East Riding. The wapentake of the Ainsty, or county of the city of York, is a 'peculiar,' under a jurisdiction of its own, that of the lord mayor and aldermen of York; but it is included in each of the three Ridings for certain specific purposes. Sundry subdivisions of the county go by the name of shires, as Hallamshire, Richmondshire, Allertonshire, Howdenshire, Cravenshire or Craven, Holderness, and Cleveland. The county contains three cities, York, Ripon, and Wakefield, 19 municipal boroughs, 59 market-towns, and 1639 parishes and townships separately rated for the poor. The total area is 3,882,851 statute acres, or nearly 6067 sq. m., all, with the exception of the catchment basins of the Esk and parts of those of the Tees and Ribble, being drained by the Ouse and its great tributaries, the Swale, the Ure, the Nidd, the Wharfe, the Aire, the Don, and the Derwent. Since 1885 the county divisions have returned twenty-six members, and the cities and boroughs the same number. Pop. (1801) 859,133; (1841) 1,592,059; (1881) 2,886,564; (1891) 3,208,813, of whom 399,412 were in the East Riding, 368,237 in the North, and 2,441,164 in the West Riding.
In Yorkshire the older rocks lie mainly to the north-west, and the newer to the south-east. On the extreme western border of the county are found the most ancient strata—viz. the slates and flags of Hongill Fells and Ingleton. These are overlaid by the mountain-limestone and the millstone grits of the Pennine chain, which are intersected by the magnificent dislocation of the great 'Craven fault,' to which is due some of the most striking scenery in Yorkshire. The lift varies between 300 and 3000 feet, causing the precipitous cliffs of Gordale, Malham, Settle, and Ingleborough, which are honeycombed by extensive caves. The Pennine chain rises to its highest point in Mickel Fell, 2581 feet, while Ingleborough and Whernside touch respectively 2361 and 2384 feet. On the eastern side of the chain are the famous 'Yorkshire dales,' Wensleydale, Wharfedale, Swaledale, and others, in many of which are picturesque waterfalls, or forces, as they are locally called—such as Caldron Snout and High Force in Teesdale, or Aysgarth Force and Hardraw Force on the Ure, where the rapid mountain-streams leap over ledges formed by the harder strata of the mountain-limestone. The Yorkshire coal-measures, on which are situated the manufacturing towns of Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Rotherham, Huddersfield, and Halifax, are confined to the southern portion of the county, and are continuous with the coalfields of Derbyshire and Notts. In the North Riding we have a great development of the Lias, in which are imbedded the ammonites well known to visitors at Whitby; while the Cleveland moors, which rise to heights of 1400 feet, are dissected by a great trap dyke running from west to east, which is extensively quarried at various points for road-metal. The prosperity of Middlesborough is due to the celebrated hematite iron ores of Cleveland, which have been extensively worked of late years. In the East Riding the Oolitic beds are overlaid by the Kimmeridge Clay and by the Chalk, which forms the high tableland of the Wolds, while the greater part of Holderness is covered by a thick superficial stratum of glacial drift and alluvium. The rich level tract of the Vale of York also consists of glacial and alluvial deposits, thickly overlying and concealing the New Red Sandstone.
The sepulchral barrows on the Wolds, and the caves of Craven and Kirkdale have yielded results of the highest importance, forming the basis of our knowledge of the prehistoric animals and races of Yorkshire. At the time of the Roman conquest the country was inhabited by the Celtic tribe of the Brigantes, or 'hillmen,' whose capital was at Boroughbridge (Isurium), where gigantic monoliths still bear witness to their rule. The country was invaded by the Romans about 50 A.D., more than a century after Cæsar's landing in Kent, the conquest being completed in the reign of Vespasian, by Agricola, c. 79 A.D. York (Eboracum) is first mentioned as being the headquarters of the Sixth Legion, which came into Britain with Hadrian, and for 300 years remained stationed at York, which became the chief city of Northern Britain, the surrounding country being studded with camps and covered with a network of Roman roads. Several of the emperors visited York, and here in 211 died Severus, and in 306 Constantine Chlorus. And from York his son Constantine the Great, having been proclaimed by the soldiery, set forth to assume the purple. In 410, in consequence of the Vandal invasion of Gaul, the legions were withdrawn by Honorius, and for 150 years utter darkness closes in, and envelops the overthrow of the Brito-Roman civilisation, and the establishment of the Teutonic kingdoms. The earthen ramparts, thrown up to hinder the march of the invaders, may still be traced. In 500 A.D. St Samson of Dol, we are told, was driven from his bishopric of York, and in the middle of the 6th century (547) we find that the heathen Angles had established their rule, although the little British kingdoms of Leeds (Loidis) and Elmet held out till 616, when they were conquered by King Edwin of Northumbria, the Yorkshire portion of whose realm was known as Deira. Edwin, who had been baptised by Paulinus on Easter Day, 627, was defeated and slain at Hatfield Chase near Doncaster in 633, by Penda, the heathen king of Mercia. Toward the end of the 8th century the Northmen began to appear in the Humber, ravaging and finally settling in the country; while York became the capital of a Danish kingdom.
In 1066, three weeks before the battle of Hastings, Harold and Earl Morkere issued from York to vanquish the Norwegian army at Stamford Bridge. It was not until 1068 that William marched into Northumbria, and on the suppression of the final struggle for independence in the following year a broad belt of country underwent that ruthless devastation of which we find notable traces in Domesday Book. Henceforth Yorkshire is known by its modern name.
At the battle of the Standard, fought near Northallerton, David, king of Scotland, was repulsed in 1138 by the northern barons. During the Wars of the Roses, Richard, Duke of York, was defeated by Queen Margaret and slain at the battle of Wakefield, in 1460; and in the next year Edward IV. won the bloody victory of Towton over Henry VI. The year 1536 is signalled by the rebellion in defence of the old faith, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace; York, Pontefract, and Hull being captured by the insurgents. In 1569 Yorkshire was the scene of another rising on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots. During the Civil War the county was mainly royalist. Bradford, Hull, Pontefract, and Scarborough were besieged, and the attempt of the royalists to raise the siege of York was frustrated by their crushing defeat at Marston Moor (July 2, 1644).
No part of England is richer in the remains of monastic houses, of which there were at the dissolution fifty-three abbeys and priories and twenty-eight friaries. The beautiful buildings of Rievaulx, Jervaulx, Fountains, Kirkstall, and Bylands are unequalled among the Cistercian houses not only of England, but of Europe. The three great Benedictine houses were Whitby, Selby, and St Mary's, York, the two latter being ruled over by mitred abbots. The magnificent pile which goes by the name of Beverley Minster was the church of a college of secular canons, as also were York Minster and Ripon Cathedral. Newburgh, Nostel, Bridlington, Guisborough, Bolton, and Kirkham were all Augustinian priories. The Priory of Mount Grace was Carthusian, Easby Abbey was Premonstratensian, and Malton Priory Gilbertine. Lasingham, where there is an ancient Saxon crypt, possesses great interest as being the seat of the early Irish Christianity introduced into Yorkshire by St Chad; while in the ancient crosses and inscriptions at Kirkdale church we have some of the oldest ecclesiastical remains in England.
Among the Yorkshire castles may be named those of Knaresborough and Pontefract, the old and interesting ruin of Conisborough, Richmond, with its fine Norman keep, Middleham, the residence of Warwick the king-maker, and Bolton, the prison of Mary Queen of Scots. Wressle Castle was once the seat of the Percies, and Gilling, which is still used as a residence, of the Fairfaxes.
Since the beginning of the 19th century the manufactures of Yorkshire have enormously developed. Leeds and Bradford are the centres of the woollen and worsted trades, while the cutlery of Sheffield is unrivalled. Of the numerous smelting and puddling furnaces the chief are those at Rotherham and Middlesborough. The agricultural portions of the county are well served by railways, while the manufacturing districts are covered with a network of lines; the chief towns being also connected by a system of canals, extending from sea to sea, and piercing the Pennine chain, at a height of 656 feet above the sea, by a tunnel three miles in length. Beyond the mining and manufacturing districts the population is agricultural, one of the principal industries being horse-breeding, for which Yorkshire is famous. Among the inland health-resorts Harrogate and Ilkley rank first, while the coast southward from Redcar and Saltburn is fringed with small watering-places, in addition to the larger towns of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, Withernsea, and Hornsea.
Allen's History of Yorkshire and Baines's Yorkshire Past and Present are the only general histories, but are inadequate in scale and execution. Certain districts have been well treated. Poulson's Holderness and Hunter's Hallamshire and South Yorkshire deserving special com- mendation; Drake's Eboracum, Ormsby's Diocesan History, Lawton's Collections, Dixon's Fasti Eboracenses, and Phillip's Geology of Yorkshire may be consulted, together with many less important works enumerated in Anderson's English Topography. See DIALECT; Rev. C. F. Morris, Yorkshire Folk-talk (1892), &c.