Malton is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town has a population measured for both the civil parish and the electoral ward at the 2011 Census as 4,888.
The town is located to the north of the River Derwent, which forms the historic boundary between the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire.
Until 2023 the town was part of the Ryedale District and was the location of the headquarters of the district council.
Facing Malton on the other side of the Derwent is Norton. The Karro Food Group (formerly known as Malton Bacon Factory), Malton bus station and Malton railway station are located in Norton-on-Derwent.
Malton is the local area's commercial and retail centre. In the town centre there are small traditional independent shops and high-street names.
Malton has been described as "the food capital of Yorkshire" and was voted one of the best places to live in Britain by The Sunday Times in both the 2017 and 2018 lists.
Malton was named the dog-friendliest town in the UK at the annual Dog Friendly Awards, in association with the Kennel Club, in 2018/19. In 2020 Malton was named as one of the most dog-friendly staycation spots in the UK and the best in Yorkshire.
History
British A seven-foot-long British oak canoe was found on the farm of Mr Hebden Flowers of South Holme in 1869. The relic was taken to Malton, being intended for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society's museum. Moreover, a skeleton similar to the one found at Kirkby Misperton Hall in 1866 was found beneath the clay in the coffer dam. These skeletons were buried in the customary British fashion, with the knees drawn up to the chin. A flint axe was also found some 150 yards away from the Derwent, near the old entrenchments, in 1868.
Roman
The earliest established building in Malton dates from the late first century AD when a Roman auxiliary fort was established, probably under the governor Petilius Cerialis around the same time as Eboracum, although it has been suggested that both sites may be slightly earlier. The site was established on the north bank of the River Derwent. A large civilian settlement developed opposite the fort, on the south of the river at Norton.Jones, R. 2009. Roman Malton. Malton: Malton Museum A single Roman cavalry unit, the Ala Gallorum Picentiana, is recorded from the site. The Romans left in 429AD when the empire collapsed.
The site remained occupied (and subject to continued development) throughout the four centuries of Roman occupation in Britain, particularly in the Trajanic, Severan, Constantian and Theodosian periods and is notable for the manufacture of jet jewellery at the site as well as a single unique inscription identifying a goldsmith shop.Collingwood, R. G. and Wright, R. P. 1965. The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press. no.712
Medieval The name Malton derives from either the Old English mæðeltūn meaning 'settlement where council meetings were held' or from a combination of the Old Norse meðal and the Old English tūn meaning 'middle settlement'.
There was some form of settlement in New Malton by 1138 and Old Malton was probably also founded in the 1100s; a Gilbertine monastery was built between 1147 and 1154 in Old Malton, and the monastic church was probably built around 1180. The first reference to a market in New Malton was in a 1283 document, indicating that craftsmen and others, such as butchers, were selling their wares.
Earlier, in the 11th century, a wooden Norman castle, Malton Castle, was built in what is now Castle Garden, on the site of the Roman fort. It was given to Eustace Fitz John, who rebuilt it in stone; he negotiated its surrender to King David I of Scotland in 1138, though it was recaptured later that year. Richard I visited the castle in 1189, and other visitors included Edward II in 1307 and Robert the Bruce in 1322. When Eustace de Vesci (1169–1216) rebelled against King John in 1212, the king ordered the castle slighted. The great house subsequently became ruined.
The castle site was inherited by Lord William Eure (c. 1483–1548) in 1544, when he was also made a baron.The Eure family had a long and interesting connection with the area – William's son Ralph, born in 1510, defended Scarborough Castle against the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and became Warden of the East Marches. He was also involved in the burning of Edinburgh in 1544. The exploits of this bloody warrior are commemorated in Sir Walter Scott's poem entitled 'Lord Eurie'. In 1569 Ralph Eure built a new house on the castle site and in 1602, the house was rebuilt in much grander style. This was a spectacular property and it was described by the diarist Sir Henry Slingsby as the rival of many other great houses, including that at Audley End.
The house was subsequently demolished in 1674 and the stones divided between two sisters, Mary (who married into the Palmes family) and Margaret Eure. (The site is now Castle Garden.) They had quarrelled over their inheritance and the demolition was the settlement ordered by Sheriff Henry Marwood. The Old Lodge Hotel is the remaining fragment of the original Jacobean "prodigy house" and its size hints at the grandeur of the complete structure.
18th, 19th and early 20th centuries
According to contemporary archives, during the 18th century attention was paid to improving the facilities for traders in Malton, in particular for the numerous butchers.
Malton Town Hall was first used as a butter market, butter being the main marketable product for many farmers of the day. The town hall was extended and changed at various intervals over the years.
The town's Shambles, currently opposite Malton Town Hall, used to be located on the north side of St Michael's Church, which still stands in the centre of the Market Place. The Talbot Hotel still standing and renovated, dates back to the early 17th century and may contain remnants of the medieval town wall. It was initially used as a hunting lodge and became an inn in 1740; it was also a coach stop. The property, with its associated buildings in Talbot Yard, is now Grade II listed. In the Victorian era, it was known as Kimberley's Hotel.
A sure sign of a town 'up and coming' was the advertisement of a 'light coach, setting out from Leeds to Scarborough returning to Malton to dine.'
In the last year of the 18th century, there was a famine in the area, and a soup kitchen was set up in a brew house in the town. The Earl Fitzwilliam of the time subscribed to a fund, which helped provide 'good strong soup' for the hungry poor.
In 1801 the population of Old and New Malton numbered 3,788. The workhouse contained 15 elderly people and 17 children.
In 1809 Malton's Talbot Hotel was extended and modernised with a third floor being added and new stables being constructed across the road from the hotel.
The town's Assembly Rooms were opened in 1814, a place in which 'polite society' could mingle. An 1833 Gazetteer stated that New Malton did a great deal of trade in coal, corn, butter, etc. There were two churches, four meeting houses for "dissenters", a free school and a national school. A bridge connected this town to Old Malton. Several schools or academies were operating by the 1820s, on a fee basis.
According to the 1840 edition of White's Gazetteer, Malton's "town and suburbs have much improved during the last twenty years, by the erection of houses; and gas works were constructed in 1832." The streets of Malton were lit with gas for the first time on 12 November 1832; the first electric light was lit in 1893, powered by a dynamo, in a single location. By 1867, the Malton Waterworks was supplying residents with water.
By 1835, medical care was being provided at The Dispensary on Saville Street; this was a predecessor of the Malton Cottage Hospital which would not open until August 1905, funded by donations and a subscription. As late as 1841, dental care was provided by barbers; a Mr. Moseley was a prominent "surgeon-dentist".
Newspapers were well established in 1855, when the tax on newspapers was repealed. The Malton Messenger and The Malton & Norton Gazette were both weekly publications.
In 1856, the town was policed by the North Riding, with four men and a superintendent. Thomas Wilson was the Chief Police Officer. The Malton Town Gaol had been opened decades earlier. Work on new police house started in October 1893. By 1881, the Malton Fire Brigade, was operating with a steam engine.
In 1881, the combined population of Old and New Malton was reported as approximately 8,750 persons (contemporary gazetteers give varying figures, some of which may include the neighbouring township of Norton-on-Derwent). Newer industries in New Malton included iron and brass foundries....
The development of the local railway network flourished during the mid-1800s – the York to Scarborough railway opened in 1845 and the Malton and Driffield Junction Railway opened in 1853. The Malton railway station is now Grade II listed (since 1986).
During the early 1900s, electricity was installed in much of the town. Before the Second World War, several buildings were erected, including the Court House, Cottage Hospital and Police Station. The town was bombed during the war.
Navigation on the River Derwent The navigation capacity on the Derwent was one of the earliest in Britain to be significantly improved around 1725, enabling extensive barge traffic to transport goods and produce.
The navigation continued to compete with the railway, having been extended as far as Yedingham after 1810. The river's use as a highway declined only after it was bought by the railway itself and cheaper coal began to arrive by rail, while river maintenance was deliberately neglected.
Governance In medieval times, Malton was briefly a parliamentary borough in the 13th century, and again from 1640 to 1885; the borough was sometimes referred to as 'New Malton'. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868, among them the political philosopher Edmund Burke, and by one member from 1868 to 1885.
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of Ryedale District. It is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.
The current Member of Parliament for Thirsk and Malton (since 2015) is Kevin Hollinrake of the Conservative Party.
Today
The Fitzwilliam family has been important in the history of Malton for centuries, and its descendants, as the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate, own much of the commercial area in and around the town. In 1713 The Hon Thomas Watson-Wentworth (father of the 1st Earl of Malton and Marquess of Rockingham) purchased the Manor of Malton, beginning a long association between the town and the Wentworth, Watson-Wentworth, Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, and Naylor-Leyland families. A book detailing the history since 1713 was published in 2013, written by Norman Maitland, entitled 300 years of continuity and change: families and business in Malton from the 18th century to the present.