Latest Video
Great Asby Walk
History Group Secretary, Keith Cooper, takes us on a perambulation to uncover the historical context of many of the buildings and assorted landscape features to be found in Great Asby.
August 2024
About Us
The Asby History Group was formed in May 2005 by a number of local residents who wished to find out more of the background to their local area. The object of the Group is to advance the study of the history of the district and in particular the Asby villages.
Our Meetings
During the winter months these usually comprise a talk from a visiting speaker. In the summer guided walks are held to sites of some historical interest. [Photo albums of some of these past walk may be found on Flickr.] Non members are most welcome to attend our meetings for a small charge.
View the Minutes of our most recent AGM.
Asby’s Historic Landscape
Asby Parish is in Cumbria, within the ‘Westmorland Dales’ extension of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Asby History Group publishes a number of videos about the historic landscape of the parish, using ‘flights’ built around ‘Google Earth’ images. This series includes material on specific associations, together with more general ‘flights’ over the landscape which you can then follow, on the ground, if you wish.
A number of these videos have been published and others are in the pipeline.
Names in the Landscape
One major theme has been to understand the meaning and derivation of place names in the landscape. The meaning of field-names, for example, can help us to better understand the changed use, over time, of the landscape we ‘fly over’ or walk through.
The first in this series is entitled “Tracing a Medieval Estate of Byland Abbey“. What’s in a Name – focuses on a wider range of names of landscape features.The Asby Villagescape
A Medieval Villagescape– A Westmorland Dales Heritage Talk broadcast on 2nd June 2021. Great Asby Walk uncover the historical context of many of the buildings and assorted landscape features in Great Asby.Other Video Presentations
Len Gibson – My Life in WWII .Past Projects
Members have carried out various projects during the life of the Group.
Perhaps one of the most significant was the Our Green Space project which included:
- The publication of a book about the history of St. Peter’s church.
- The production of an interpretation panel of the village in 1911, which can been seen elsewhere on this web site.
Find out More
Annual membership is currently £15 (2024) and new members are always most welcome to join us.
For further details please contact Graham Parkin (Chairman) on or Keith Cooper (Secretary) on
You can also find detail about our past projects and available resources on the old Asby History Group website. [Eventually we would hope to properly catalogue these resources; possibly following the principals in the CLHF Archive Management Project.]
