Northallerton (/nɔːrˈθælərtən/ nor-THAL-ər-tən) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the River Wiske in the Vale of Mowbray and had a population of 16,832 in 2011.[1] Northallerton is an administrative centre for York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and North Yorkshire Council.[2]

There has been a settlement at Northallerton since Roman times. That grew in importance from the 11th century when King William II gifted land there to the Bishop of Durham, and it became an important religious centre. The Battle of the Standard fought nearby in 1138 involved the death of up to 12,000 Scots.[3]

Northallerton was an important stopping point for coaches on the road between Edinburgh and London until the arrival of the railway.[4]

History
Early
Due to its proximity to a Roman road, entrenchments and relics, the earliest settlement at Northallerton was a Roman military station. There is evidence that the Romans had a signal station on Castle Hills just to the west of the town as part of the imperial Roman postal system and a path connecting Hadrian's Wall with Eboracum (York) ran through what is now the neighbouring village of Brompton.[5][6]

The first church was set up by St Paulinus of York on the site of the present All Saints Parish Church sometime in the early 7th century.[5] It was made from wood and nothing survives of it. In 855 a stone church was built on the same site; fragments of stone have been found during restoration work which provide strong evidence of this Angle church.[5]

It was believed that an Anglo-Saxon town known as Alvertune then developed. In Pierre de Langtoft's history of King Alfred he writes that in 865 it was the site of a number of battles between King Elfrid and his brother Alfred on one side and five Danish kings and a similar number of earls.[6] Later, in the 10th century, Danes settled at Romanby and Brompton. A fine example of English stonecarving from the period, the Brompton Hogbacks, can be found in Brompton Parish Church.[7]

In the Domesday Survey, Norman scribes named the settlement Alvertune, Aluertune and Alretone and there is a reference to the Alvertune wapentac, an area almost identical to the Allertonshire wapentake of the North Riding, which was named after the town.[8]

The origin of the town's name is uncertain, though it is believed that the name derives from a derivation of the name Aelfere, Aelfereton translates as the farm belonging to Aelfere[5][9] or even of King Alfred.[6] Alternatively it may be referring to the Alder trees which grew nearby.[9] The prefix of North was added in the 12th century to differentiate from the parish of Allerton Mauleverer, 25 miles (40 kilometres) to the south.[9]

Its position on a major route brought death and destruction to the town on many occasions. In 1069, in an attempt to quell rebellion in the north, the area between the Ouse and the Tyne was laid waste by the armies of William the Conqueror. The town of Northallerton was almost totally destroyed or depopulated. Just a few years later it is described in the Domesday Book as modo est in manu regis et wastum est (put down as waste).[10]