East Tanfield

East Tanfield is a quiet civil parish in North Yorkshire beside the River Ure. No modern village remains, only the earthworks and low walls of a deserted medieval village near Manor Farm. The Domesday Book recorded it in the 11th century as Count Alan of Brittany’s holding. By the 16th century the settlement had been abandoned. Today the parish covers open fields and scattered farms. The place is worth visiting for its long history and peaceful setting. It appears in the Domesday Book and once supported a thriving medieval community. The remains show how ordinary villages looked before they vanished. The parish became separate in 1866 and later joined Richmondshire district until 2023. It now belongs to North Yorkshire Council and shares a parish council with West Tanfield. A visitor finds grassy hollows where houses once stood and low banks marking streets. The River Ure flows past on one side, and farmland stretches on the other. There are no buildings to enter, only the quiet fields and the sense of a lost village. The surroundings feel remote, with only the occasional tractor or walker passing by.