Driffield

East Riding of Yorkshire

Driffield is a market town in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The town is also known as Great Driffield, which distinguishes it from the nearby smaller village of Little Driffield, to which it has now nearly spread, separated only by the Driffield by-pass.

Driffield is 12 miles north of Beverley, 12 miles east-south-east of Bridlington and around 16 miles south-east of Malton. The town is around 26 miles east of York and 20 miles north of Hull.

The town is in the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds, an area of rolling chalk hills stretching across the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Agriculture plays and important role in the area which is emphasised each year at the Driffield Show, a large one-day event in July at the Driffield Showground. The showground also hosts the East Riding Country Fair on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.

Driffield Showground website.
Driffield has a busy street market in the centre of the town each Thursday.

Driffield once had a castle at Moot Hill. Although now only traceable as an earth mound and surrounded by houses it is listed as a scheduled monument because of its archeological importance. The mound was part of a Norman motte and bailey castle, but excavations beneath it found remains of 4th century Roman occupation. It is also believed to be near the location of an 8th century Northumbrian royal palace situated in Driffield during the period when Northumbria had united the former Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Deira, equating to Yorkshire, and Bernicia, which stretched across Durham, Northumberland and into Scotland. St Mary's Church at Little Driffield is reputed to be the burial place of King Alfred of Northumbria. The king, who ruled for 20 years and whose name has through history been variously written, including as Aldfrith, Aldfridus and Ealdferth, is recorded to have died in Driffield in 705.

Driffield CanalThe Driffield Navigation was opened in 1770 to provide a link to carry goods to and from Driffield using the River Hull and Humber estuary. The 11-mile long navigation combines the Driffield Canal and a stretch of the River Hull. It prospered for around 100 years, by which time the railway had taken over most of the goods traffic. The navigation remained in use until the early 1950s. More recently the Driffield Navigation Trust has been responsible for restoring and maintaining the canal.

Driffield Navigation Trust website.

The town has had a railway station on the line between Hull and Bridlington, Filey and Scarborough since 1846 and became a busy railway junction as lines were added from Malton and from Selby via Market Weighton. The route was at one time a very busy short-cut for tourists heading for the coast. After the Beeching axe of the 1960s only the earliest line from Hull along the coast is still retained.

Town features

The town is near to the River Hull.

Driffield is on the Driffield Navigation.

Driffield has local traders and a supermarket.

Driffield holds a traditional outdoor market - Thursdays.

The town has a Post Office.

The town has pharmacies.

Driffield has banks and a building society agency.

Driffield has a choice of pubs.

Takeaway food outlets in the town include fish and chips, chinese, curries, pizzas, sandwiches.

Driffield has a selection of places to eat.

Driffield has a community hall - Cass Hall.

Driffield has schools.

Places of worship: Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, other.

Travel

Bus travel

The town has buses to neighbouring towns and villages.

Driffield station

Station managed by: NORTHERN. Operator/s: NORTHERN.

NATIONAL RAIL - Departure and station info

External link to National Rail live departure board for services at this station (opens in new tab).

Road travel

Driffield can be reached via the A614 A166 A164 B1249

Places to visit

Burton Agnes Hall

Burton Agnes, near Driffield
Burton Agnes HallDating from around 1600, Burton Agnes Hall is an Elizabethan stately home that has stayed within a family which can trace its ancestry at the estate back to the Norman manor house built around 1170 remaining beside the hall. The hall is a Grade I listed building and in recent years its grounds have been turned into a thriving visitor attraction featuring award-winning gardens, woodland walk, children's playground, cafe, gift and home and garden shops and a courtyard gallery featuring the work of local artists. The hall, situated 6 miles south-west of Bridlington, also hosts a variety of events, including a Jazz and Blues Festival, classic car rally and a variety of seasonal fairs.
For more information see the

Burton Agnes Hall website.
Locate on map:

Burton Agnes Hall

Wharram Percy

Near Wharram-le-Street
Wharram Percy is the best preserved of many deserted medieval villages across Yorkshire. Situated in a beautiful hidden valley in the Yorkshire Wolds, the village was abandoned early in the 16th century after being occupied for around six centuries before that. The part-ruined church with its half-collapsed tower provides some clues as to when the village initially grew. Foundations of other buildings have also been exposed during archealogical excavations. The village can only be reached by a walk along sometimes muddy paths, the nearest road being just under a mile away. However, the deserted village offers an attractive place to pause on longer walking routes, including the Yorkshire Wolds Way and Centenary Way.
Find out more at the

English Heritage - Wharram Percy website.

Beverley Minster

Minster Yard, Beverley
Beverley Minster is built on the site of a monastery founded in the 8th century by John, Bishop of York, who died in Beverley in 721. He is credited with founding Beverley. He became St John of Beverley after he was canonised more than 300 years after his death and the church is built around his tomb which was a place of pilgrimage. Work started on the present church after the collapse of the tower of the Norman church on the site in 1214. Saved by wealthy businessmen from destruction in the 16th century, the Minster saw restorations in the 18th and 19th century. Around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries more than 100 statues were placed on the west towers and other statuettes inside the minster. New stained glass windows were also added. The first of the staues, in 1897, was of Queen Victoria, to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee.
More information at the

Beverley Minster website.

Yorkshire Wolds Railway, Fimber

Yorkshire Wolds Railway

Fimber Halt, Beverley Road, Fimber, near Wetwang
The only heritage railway in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Wolds Railway has ambitions to restore at least part of the former Malton and Driffield Junction Railway. In 2019 it offers cab rides and driver experiences in its diesel locomotive Sir Tatton Sykes along 100 metres of track at Fimber Halt. There is also a history exhibition in its railway carriage visitor centre and a shop. The railway is currently hoping to extend the line by laying a mile of track in the direction of Wetwang. The railway opens on Sundays from the start of April to the end of October and also has occasional running days on other days.

More information at the

Yorkshire Wolds Railway website.

Sledmere House

Sledmere, near Driffield
The family owners of this fine Grade I listed Georgian country house with its interesting estate village in the Yorkshire Wolds have welcomed visitors for more than 250 years. The beautiful gardens and grounds, with a coach house cafe, children's play area and stables, are open to for public admission around the year and the house itself opens on selected days through the spring, summer and early autumn season. Sledmere also has a small museum dedicated to the Wagoners of the First World War and seasonal art gallery and events. Although the origins of the house lay in the late 1700s, it was splendidly rebuilt from its shell after a major fire in 1911 and has much of its original rescued furnishings.
More information can be found at the Sledmere House website.
Locate on map:

Sledmere House

Emergency services

Humberside Police

Humberside Police website.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service website.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust website.

Local government

Civil parish council

Driffield Town Council
Provides some local services in the area.
Link to council website:

Driffield Town Council

Unitary authority

East Riding of Yorkshire Council
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council is now a unitary district rather than a county authority but the least changed of any of the historic Ridings of Yorkshire.

It does now cover a small part of the former West Riding, while it has lost portions of the historic East Riding to North Yorkshire and York.

County Hall, BeverleyBeverley is the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire and the location of its County Hall.

Other towns in the East Riding include Bridlington Driffield Goole Market Weighton Hedon Hornsea Howden Pocklington Snaith and Withernsea.

The authority covers a near full range of council services, except the limited services handled by the various civil parish/town councils which exist throughout its area.

The 26 wards in the authority each elect one, two or three councillors to make up a 67 member council. An election for the entire council is held every four years with the most recent election in 2019.

Link to East Riding of Yorkshire Council website .

Political composition after May 2023 election:

2922943 YP
67 members YP = Yorkshire Party

Police and Crime Commissioner

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside
Oversees Humberside Police covering an area made up of the unitary authority councils of East Riding of Yorkshire, City of Hull and, south of The Humber, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.
Elected P&CC: ❚ Jonathan Evison Conservative

Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside website.

Fire Authority

Humberside Fire Authority
The fire authority is made up of elected members of each of the four unitary authorities served by the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service - East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire.

Humberside Fire Authority website.

Parliamentary constituency

Bridlington and The Wolds
Elected MP: ❚ Charlie Dewhirst Conservative

National government region

Yorkshire and the Humber

Ceremonial county

East Riding of Yorkshire

Historic

-1889 East Riding of Yorkshire (historic admistrative division)
1889-1974 East Riding of Yorkshire (county authority)
1974-1996 Part of a borough within the artificially-created county of Humberside

Also in Yorkshire.guide

Places in East Riding Yorkshire attractions