Potto, North Yorkshire

Potto is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England.^[3] It is 5 miles (8 kilometres) southwest of Stokesley and near the main A172 road. Potto has a pub, a church and a haulage company, Prestons of Potto, which was established in 1936.

Potto
St Mary's Church
Potto Location within North Yorkshire
Population	324 (Including Seahow. 2011 census) [1]
OS grid reference	NZ473036
Civil parish	Potto
Unitary authority	North Yorkshire
Ceremonial county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NORTHALLERTON[2]
Postcode district	DL6
Dialling code	01642
Police	North Yorkshire
Fire	North Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
List of places UK England Yorkshire 54.426°N 1.270°W / 54.426; -1.270

From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton and is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

History

The settlement of Potto can be traced to the 13th century, when it was owned by the Meynell family as part of the manor of Whorlton. Part of the estate passed to Dame Elizabeth Strangways in the 16th century and then to the Earl of Rutland. Another part, held by the original de Potto family and awarded to various land owners by royal grant, was merged into the Whorlton estate of the Marquess of Ailesbury.^[4]

In the 19th century the village was connected by a rail freight line from Swainby to serve the ironstone and jet mines in the area. Potto had a passenger station on the Picton–Battersby line, but its remoteness from the village and the introduction of buses that could take roads direct to Middlesbrough led to its closure in 1954.^[5] The former station was bought by Richard Preston Snr, whose son used it for his haulage company, Prestons of Potto. It is now a private dwelling.^[6]

In the mid-to-late 1950s the village became known as the village with "the pub that never opened". If a person wanted to enter, the owner looked through the window to see if you were respectable.^[7] After his death the pub and contents were sold.

Geography

Located close to the western border of North York Moors National Park, the surrounding villages are Swainby to the south, Hutton Rudby and Rudby to the north and Faceby and Carlton in Cleveland to the east. It is 11.5 miles (19 km) from Northallerton and 14 miles (23 km) from Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees.

See also

• Civil parishes in North Yorkshire